We are at round four of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The 6 Hours of the Nurburgring from the legendary Nurburgring in the Eiffel Mountains of Germany. Hills, trees, and a castle, set the scenery for this fabulous race track. The green inferno. Enter the legend. Feel the race... next! We are at round four of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Le Mans, last time out, was amazing. You remember, I'm sure... Toyota being denied victory in the last few minutes, and Porsche winning. Ford, also returned to glory for the first time in many years.
Porsche leads a wide open field for the championship. Qualifying took place on a wet/drying track. Abu Dhabi Proton with Khaled Al Qubaisi and Pat Long are on pole. Marco Sorenson and Nicki Thiim are on pole in LM GTE Pro. LMP2 sees G Drive on pole with Roman Rusinov and Rene Rast. In LMP1, the #7 Audi R18 eTron Quattro with Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler, racing without Benoit Treluyer who is hurt. But, stand by. Six hours of the world's greatest sports car racing, coming up!
This is the Sudschleife.... as opposd to the Nordschleife, the north course, which is the legendary course right next door. 3.2 miles for this course, with 17 corners. We are in western Germany. Here we go! We are racing at the Sudschleife! The 6 Hours of the Nurburgring is on! Very tight in LMP2 and four wide! One Porsche has split the Audi's. Porsche was dominant in practice and Audi came to the fore in qualifying. Timo Bernhard splits the two Audi's. Bernhard was one of the winners here last year. Audi and Porsche are from Germany. Toyota has theiur factory in Cologne, 90 miles away from the Nurburgring. The longest straightaway is barely half a mile long.
These hybrid cars are going for it. Don't abuse the curbs. G Drive leads LMP2 with Rene Rast at the wheel in his home race. Tire temperatures and pressures are getting into the sweet zone. LMP1 Hybrids are opening the gap. The Aston Martin's are going for it in GT. The Ford's and Ferrari's are in hot pursuit as there's smoke from one of the Aston's. The AF Corse Ferrari's had a horrid race at Le Mans, and need to bounce back. Harry Tincknell feels the heat from Gianmaria Bruni. Tincknell will finish the WEC season with Ford. Stefan Mucke drives the sister car. Ford scored double points at Le Mans.
The #45 Manor is here but was not entered in time for Le Mans. Matt Rao, Richard Bradley, and Roberto Merhi share the car as Tincknell locks the braks coming up to the Schumacher esses. The Nurburgring is a high downforce circuit compared to the long straights at Le Mans. Will Benoit Treluyer be well enough for the next round in Mexico? Maybe. That race is in early September. You will hear about it. The Aston Martin is still on the course. The smoke was temporary it seems. The high downforce package will be used for the last six races of this season including here.
#7 is leading. The whining sound you hear under braking, is the hybrid recovery system. It is not the turbocharger, even though it kind of sounds like a truck, because of the Audi's diesel motor. It is sunny at the Nurburgring right now. Patrick Long and Wolf Henzler battle in LM GTE Am and Stefan Mucke races Gianmaria Bruni. Ford vs. Ferrari. Will rain hit halfway through this race? We'll see in hour three or four. ESM has switched from Dunlop to Michelin tires. Pippo Derani can drive a loose race car, but neither Chris Cumming nor Ryan Dalziel like it.
Judge when you brake and how hard, and also acceleration. There is an art to recovering and using the energy. You are sailing, basically. You have to be within fuel thresholds while you are in competition. These boys are like fighter pilots. The Manor cars are being passed. Don't exceed track limits. I don't like Balance of Performance and I don't like track limits. There's time for opinion, and yours truly will say, that he does not appreciate these new rules. It's hard to do this, when you are feeling and looking for places to go. How can you know where the limit is? Put a gravel trap or a wall there.
Timo Bernhard has won at the new Nurburgring, and five times on the old course in the Nurburgring 24 Hour GT endurance race. Traffic jam time as Timo Bernhard is closing on the Audi of Marcel Fassler. We've completed 12 laps of this race already. Richie Stanaway in the Aston, Gianmaria Bruni in the Ferrari, and both Ford's of Stefan Mucke and Harry Tincknell, are going for it. Nicky Thiim had a huge crash in a very rare, one of seven, Koenigsegg Swedish hyper car. But he came out without a scratch and is now racing his GT Aston Martin. Timo Bernhard tries Marcel Fassler. This is wild racing right now.
Audi holds off Porsche. Marcel Fassler is giving Timo Bernhard nothing, and Oliver Jarvis and Neel Jani in the sister cars, are going for it. Toyota does not have the high downforce setup for the Nurburgring. Kazuki Nakajima and Mike Conway run fifth and sixth, currently. Ford's and Ferrari's are still tussling in LM GTE Pro. Ferrari is the bread, and Ford is the meat in the sandwich. Or, the bratwurst in the bun, if you will. Bernhard tries for the lead, and no grip into the braking zone, so, he loses out to the Audi! Marcel Fassler defends, and Wolf Henzler in the KCMG GT Porsche, almost gets chopped!
There's prestige for leading on home turf for Audi and/or Porsche. Wolf Henzler in the #78 KCMG Porsche 911 RSR made contact. Patrick Long leads in the #88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR. Long didn't race at Spa back in May. Richie Stanaway leads Gianmaria Bruni, Stefan Mucke, and Harry Tincknell. Marcel Fassler wants by and here's Timo Bernhard again! He wants the lead and wants it bad, here at the Nurburgring. This is the shortest track these guys have raced on. A 33 car field is really bunched up.
Fassler defends and Neel Jani makes contact with the Ford, and spins the Porsche 919! He made contact with Harry Tincknell. He tried to take advantage of Stefan Mucke, but it didn't work. He locked the brakes. He was in too deep. You tend to run a lot of front downforce. But, if you use a lot of braking, there's pitch on the front end. They go through the final corner... Jaguar corner. Mucke washes out wide and Gianmaria Bruni is right on him through the Mercedes Arena. Mercedes does not race in FIA WEC at the moment. They do in Formula 1.
The #4 ByKolles car with Pierre Kaffer, is running well. CLM and ByKolles are also based in Cologne, Germany, just like Toyota. They had a horrid Le Mans with two engine fires. Wondering if the LMP1 non hybrid cars will continue. The privateer cars may run a DRS system by collapsing a wing element. There cannot be a DRS on the front wing. Too dangerous and too complex. Oliver Jarvis has a run on Timo Bernhard and makes the pass. 45 minutes into this race. We are close to the end of the first hour of racing.
Pit action, as Oliver Jarvis hits the lane. No penalty for the collision between Neel Jani and Stefan Mucke. Neel Jani is charging back after his spin. In replay, Harry Tincknell passes Gianmaria Bruni. Also, Davide Rigon is right in the fight. Ford now has a four year program through 2019 as you have heard. Audi is headed for the lane. #7 is in. The diesel gets less fuel than the gasoline car does. Audi is diesel. Porsche uses gasoline. Balance of Performance is a real bugaboo. Stefan Mucke has caught Richie Stanaway in the Aston Martin. Andre Lotterer takes over the #7 car. Oliver Jarvis is doing a double stint. With two drivers, you have to do single stints. Benoit Treluyer misses this race, because of falling off his mountain bike.
Jani in the lane. 30 laps into this race. Benoit Treluyer will lose points. Not good to have bike accidents when you are a racing driver. #2 Porsche in the lane. Bernhard out, and Timo Bernhard in. Both Toyota's pit at the same time. Highly unusual. Lots of testing has happened since Le Mans. Porsche tested at Barcelona. Porsche and Audi tested. Toyota did not. Mucke goes across the curbs. Toyota had 90 seconds to make a decision, but what they came up with cost them everything at Le Mans. Chaps, that's why we run the races.
The cockpits are hot with the heat and humidity today.
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