Neel Jani leads this race by a good ten seconds. Stefan Mucke hangs onto the lkead as Nelson Panciatici has a bit of a moment in the #35 Alpine. Nick Leventis leads LMP2 in the #42 as the #44 Manor LMP2 of Tor Graves from Thailand is off the road. Matthew Howson from Norwich, England, is in the car. Antonio Pizzonia has run Formula 1, IMSA, and other series. Pizzonia ran with a couple of races with some of these drivers. Silver rated drivers who have had long careers like Stefan Johansson and Scott Pruett still want to race. 'Tis true, that racing drivers never retire. The Nurburgring is under new management, and is finding it's way back to fiscal health.
With their problems, G Drive has fallen to 33rd and last in the running order. Neel Jani is ten seconds ahead of the sister Porsche 919 in the hands of Timo Bernhard. Bernhard is quicker. Good battle between Patrick Long and Yutaka Yamagishi. As a Bronze rated driver, Khaled al Qubaisi has to do an hour and 45 minutes to score points. Gentleman drivers have been the backbone of sports car racing over the years. We see a problem with the #4 ByKolles car. The CLM P1/01 AER. He is stranded on course and will bring out the third full course yellow of the race. Oliver Webb is at the controls.
There was smoke out of the #4 ByKolles car. It's got burning bodywork and finally, the marshal with the fire extinguisher hits it. Another countdown to green as David Heinemeier Hanson comes close to Joel Camathias in a sister Porsche. Paul Dalla Lana leads LM GTE Am in the #98 Aston Martin V8 Vantage. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Track is back to green. Battle for the lead in LM GTE Pro between Nicki Thiim and Gianmaria Bruni. Gianmaria Bruni passes Nicki Thiim for the LM GTE Pro lead! Marc Lieb and Brendon Hartley have taken over each of the Porsche's. Porsche 1-2. Audi 3-4. Toyota 5-6. Mike Conway is 52 seconds behind Marcel Fassler and over a minute behind the race leader.
Olivier Pla passes Richard Lietz. Yutaka Yamagishi moves out of the way. Game over for the #26 G Drive car. No mechanic's hands on that car. It is out. Saw a ;problem with the #42 Strakka machine. It was a close moment in the final corner. Porsche #2 of Marc Lieb is navigating traffic right now. You see the same car, but with a different driver. With the data available the BoP between turbocharged and normally aspirated cars, it's an incredible thing. The Ford GT40, the namesake of the new Ford GT, had the number 40 because of the height of the roof line. Mike Conway is in the lane, but, he's now in the garage. They've had problems with the 2.4 liter turbocharged V6. The #5 is on their third motor, and if they have a new motor, it's a pit lane penalty at the next race.
Nicolas Lapierre is in the #36 Alpine and working his way through LM GTE Pro traffic. One has to wonder if Toyota is having turbo issues, which is what took them out of contention at Le Mans. Mechanics working all over the car. Stephane Sarrazin is now into the car. Two hours and 12 minutes to go. Clouds remain overhead, but, we do not expect any rain. Lucas di Grassi is making ground on the Porsche's. Maybe we will still have a deluge of rain. We'll have to find out. Loic Duval has not driven the Audi yet today. Kamui Kobayashi has taken over one of the Toyota's. The Nurburgring is the tighest, shortest track the championship runs on all year.
Pit stops coming for Porsche. The cockpit temperatures in these cars are monitored and have to be within the ambient temperatures that are forecast for the races. Does Porsche have problems with the dashboard in one of their cars? The electronic data display isn't working. We are coming up on two hours to go at the Nurburgring. In replay we see Vitaly Petrov take a position and dive for pit lane in one fell swoop. Petrov's career went from Formula 1, to DTM, to sports cars. The #13 Rebellion is running well in the privateer LMP1 class, with Matteo Tuscher at the wheel of it,
For position, Antonio Pizzonia passes Nick Leventis. Jonny Kane will finish the race for Strakka. Leventis' family has an olive oil business and he also recruits and tests new drivers, management, nutrition, and fitness. Strakka was going to do a private LMP1 car. But, they couldn't. The Asian Le Mans Series is also picking up attention, as the championship clinch helps earn a berth into the 24 Hours of Le Mans. For the new LMP2 cars next year, the 450 horsepower Nissan engines will be replaced with motors with 600 horsepower. LMP2 teams in WeatherTech competition, might not get to race at Le Mans, if they have to change engines. They will have to team up with teams from Europe.
Two hours to go now.
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