Francois Perrodo has beached his Ferrari. Full Course Yellow, freezing everyone at 80 kilometers an hour on the track. 80 kilometers an hour is 50 miles per hour. GT cars asre pitting. Pit lane speed limit is 60 kilometers an hour (37 miles an hour). #88, pole sitter in LM GTE Am, has had a pit fire, or, they are getting the windshield really clean. Has there been another pit fire? Khaled al Qubaisi has stayed at the wheel of the #88 Abu Dhabi Proton Porsche. In LMP2 drive time is an hour and fifteen minutes for the Pro Am driver as car #35 exits the lane. Hats off to the corner workers. Races could not happen without them.
Danish driver David Heinemeier Hanson is part of the #88 squad. The car could not get restarted. The fire was put out. But, this is not how you win races in a World Championship. Heinemeier Hanson is not a full-time driver. He is an internet developer. He's run Prototype and GT racing. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Green! We're back to racing. Hearing the Porsche accelerate with the energy boost sounds like the Starship Enterprise. Mark Webber. Andre Lotterer, and Lucas di Grassi are the top three. Andre Lotterer uses all the curbing, and he's well into his double stint.
Alex Wurz is still involved with Toyota, and is President of the Grand Prix Drivers Association, and is the reserve driver for Toyota. RGR By Morand, does not have Monsieur Morand racing with them. We will see these cars racing in Mexico and in the U.S. at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, coming soon. For the Mexico City race, it will be run at high altitude, and special rules have been issued for that event specifically. It looks like, earlier in the weekend, the drivers and mechanics had a Lego building contest. Clearly, the pitr crews are more proficient at it, than the drivers.
We aren't even halfway yet and more tight battles for position in LM GTE Am! Christian Ried passes Yutaka Yamagishi. Porsche vs. Corvette. Lots of tire buildup off line. If weather comes, it isn't expected until towards the end of the race, at the five hour mark. Mathias Lauda is up there, Niki Lauda's son. Christian Ried, passes offline. Will the stewards look at that? Watch out when you arein your own battle and get overtaken by a Prototype. Matthias Lauda keeps the lead in LM GTE Pro. Gustavo Menezes puts a lap on Maurizio Mediani. Dominik Kraihamer makes contact with another car, but keeps the lead in the non hybrid LMP1 class.
The #8 Audi leads the #7 in the championship. The clouds are building here in the Eiffel Mountains. Moments ago, Andre Lotterer let Lucas di Grassi by, to take second, and chase down the leading Porsche. Toyota is running well, with their 2.4 liter turbocharged V6, using braking energy. Audi recuperates under braking as does Toyota. But, Porsche, uses the braking and also, the turbocharger. You start adding systems to a race car, and all that does is add weight. Audi didn't want to because the diesel engine is so heavy.
The design of the car has to be considered for how much the driver needs to see. Timo Bernhard will get into thje #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid for the second time, soon, taking over from Mark Webber. The #4 ByKolles car pits and Oliver Webb takes over from Pierre Kaffer. Simon Trummer is the third driver in that lineup. #26 is in the garage. The G Drive team has tumbled down the order and it looks like they have gearbox, starter motor, or alternator issues. Gustavo Menezes leads for Alpine who won Spa and Le Mans. Menezes is sharing with Nicolas Lapierre and Stephane Richelmi. We wonder what the issue for G Drive coulod be. Suspension? Axle? Gear selector? Hmmm.
#1. Box, box, box. Hit the lane. In Europe, it's box. Not pit. Lucas Di Grassi leads. Timo Bernhard is going to take the reins of the #1 Porscge. Timo Bernhard should get back out in fourth ahead of the Toyota's. The #5 Toyota just pitted with Anthony Davidson at the wheel. Too early to pit. He ran 26 laps in his stint whereas earlier, they were going 32 laps. Audi hits the lanee with both cars. #8 leads #7. Patrick Long, Khalid al Qubaisi, and David Heinemeier Hanson, are being black flagged for exceeding track limits. Porsche #2 has had traction problems all day. Lucas di Grassi does a double stint and into the #7 goes Marcel Fassler.
Eric Schuyjens is the new lead race engineer for Audi. Lucas di Grassi is busy with his steering wheel with all the adjustments, as busy as my fingers typing this race report. Anthony Davidson had to get a new nose, as he bounced the Toyota off the rumble strip, someplace. We have our second full course yellow of the race and Romain Dumas pits his Porsche ahead of schedule. Neel Jani will take over. Debris is retrieved, and it could have been from the Toyota. Neel Jani and Timo Bernhard run 1-2. The #6 Toyota pits. Mike Conway takes over from Stephane Sarrazin.
We are back to green now with Neel Jani in the lead. The Prototypes seem to shred their tires here. Bigger cornering loads here at the Nurburgring. Gianmaria Bruni has taken over the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE from James Calado. Their team mates, Sam Bird and Davide Rigon, have won this year already. The #66 Ford GT of Stefan Mucke leads LM GTE Pro and is 20th in the overall. Ford GT, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, and Ferrari 488 GTE, top three in class. Neel Jani thunders past these cars. The LM GTE Pro blokes are battling for position. Neel Jani is flying at a much greater closing speed. But, don't pick up the clag on the tires.
AMR produces very good results. Nicky Thiim is closing in on Stefan Mucke for the LM GTE Pro class lead and the Audi does not know where to go. The Audi just disappeared. We still have sunshine at the Nurburgring, almost halfway into this race.
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