Before we begin, with round two of the FIA World Endurance Championship, at the fabulous Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, a note. This first part, will be the opening half hour of the race. Then, we will break away from the coverage, for a while (so, use the FIA WEC App if you have it or go online). Then, the last three hours of the race, will be covered, in part two.
Go HERE for live results.
http://live.fiawec.com/
Brendon Hartley, and Porsche, have the pole position for this race. Can they be stopped from winning another consecutive event? After Audi's disqualification at Silverstone last time out, it has been a year, since they've won. The last time, was in this race, last year. Keep an eye on the live timing and scoring, while the TV coverage is off air, to cover a soccer match for the Bundesliga league out of Germany, folks.
The English race was an adventure for Audi, and we saw Porsche win, and one crashed, while Toyota had a great race. Sweeping through the Ardennes Forest in Spa Francorchamps, Belgium, this is round two of the FIA World Endurance Championship. It is unseasonably warm today. Le Mans is in six weeks, and this is a dress rehearsal for Le Mans. Porsche has pole for this race. They were two seconds clear of Audi and Toyota.
The weather is too good, for Spa. We may see raindrops before this race is over, as we get ready for a start. 1,000 horsepower, ready to be launched. 34 cars start, now! We are green at Spa as Brendon Hartley goes nthrough La Source as a Manor, spins. Flast out through Eau Rouge for the first time. Six hybrid LMP1 cars are all together. Porsche, Audi, Toyota. It's a tricky corner, through Pouhon. Handling is paramount, just like the Porsche Curves, at Le Mans. Extreme Speed Motorsports is moving up with their Ligier JS P2 Nissan, with Scott Sharp at the controls right now. Low downforce is not good for the Ligier compared to their rivals from Gibson and Oreca.
The Audi has great pace with their six megajoule hybrid system. Toyota is on softer tires. Ford and Ferrari lead LM GTE Pro. GTE could be adjusted with the BoP before Le Mans, next month. Audi and Porsche will go to Spain, to test. Lots of teams ran at Aragon in Spain. #31 is turned in Les Combes, with the #35 Alpine. Pippo Derani is at the wheel of #31. Brendon Hartley is now ahead, in this race as Pippo Derani is challenged by the AF Corse Ferrari 488 as they fly into Eau Rouge. Gianmaria Bruni leads Sam Bird, and James Calado ran very well last time out at Silverstone. Sam Bird and Davide Rigon were the drivers of one of the cars.
The two Porsche's are quickest of anyone right now, running in the 1:59 lap time range, while other top drivers and teams are at 2 minutes for their lap times. Porsche, Porsche, Audi, Audi, Toyota, Toyota. Rebellion and ByKolles in the non hybrid privateer Prototypes, follow, with drivers Alexandre Imperatori, Nick Heidfeld,and James Rossiter. In LMP2 at La Source, Roberto Merhi in one of the Manor Racing cars, spun. Tire down on one of the LMP2 cars, from SMP Racing, a Gibson chassis.
Lucas di Grassi leads Benoit Treluyer at Audi and Sebastien Buemi passes Mike Conway, and the Toyota's have high downforce and soft tires. Rene Rast is driving the LMP2 leading G Drive car. Rast is on loan from Audi. The speed differential between the GTE Pro cars and the Prototyps is pretty amazing. The GTE production cars just don't have the downforce. Prototypes, going through Eau Rouge, can bottom out, and you have to be mindful of not wearing down the wooden legality plank. Bruni runs wide! Sam Bird, is actually the driver to run off the road. Run the cars higher off the ground.
Don't run afoul of regulations. Bird crosses over the bow of Mike Conway at Toyota. Audi is also racing DTM in the opening round of their championship in Hockenheim, Germany. Whoa! Toyota goes all four wheels off the road, as Sebastien Buemi is pushing, and pushing, hard! Marc Lieb in the #2 Porsche has dropped to sixth place. The world feed director, shows us where #2 is on the road. So many complex electronics with these space age hybrid racers. The battle intensifies as Sebastien Buemi grabs third! Yikes! Mike Conway tries the Audi into La Source. These two are rivals in Formula E competition.
LMP1 cars are amazing machines to drive at places like here at Spa, and at Le Mans. A moment ago, Marc Lieb has lost the hybrid drive in the Porsche 919. The team told him, "you will just have to deal with it." 24 minutes, into a six hour race. These cars are designed to work at optimum situations. The hybrid system affects everything about the car, adding 500 extra horsepower, and all wheel drive. Ooh! Benoit Treluyer runs out of road in Blanchimont as he battles with Mike Conway. Audi vs. Toyota. Conway gets past Treluyer. Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima are Mike Conway's co drivers.
Toyota tries to rebound from a miserable 2015. This speedway was once an eight mile loop of public roads. It is the second longest track on the schedule, only to Le Mans. It is a favorite of yours truly. We will be back, later in the day, for the final three hours of the Spa 6 Hours, later today. Vitaly Petrov makes his return to racing here in FIA WEC. Treluyer is off the road, again! He cuts deep inside Mike Conway, but cannot make it. Brendon Hartley is pushing, as Lucas di Grassi is trying to catch him. In a few seconds, this portion of the race, will be done. We'll take you to the conclusion of this race.
We'll see you a little later, as we make way for Bundesliga match day soccer.
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