Porsche, Audi, Porsche, Toyota, Toyota, Audi. This is the top six in the running order right now. 34 laps have been completed. Paul Dalla Lana takes over the #98 Aston Martin. People continue to file into the speedway to watch the race. You have plenty of time to see the action, as Proton Abu Dhabi Racing pits. Andre Lotterer in the Audi is catching Anthony Davidson in the Toyota. Khaled Al Qubaisi is in the #88 car. Romain Brandela is in the #50 Larbre Competition Corvette. Brendon Hartley stretches his lead over Lucas di Grassi.
Once more, let's go back to hour one. Yours truly missed it. Green light! Brendon Hartley was beaten into the first corner by Sebastien Buemi in the Toyota. Mathias Bche spun in one of the Manor's and there was a huge wreck for the Ford and Aston Martin GT cars. Game over for Richie Stanaway who got clouted after hitting the Ford GT. LMP1 has seen some battling. Alex Brundle had a fabulous start, fighting through to take the lead from the Alpine #36 leading the championship in LMP2. Porsche #2 has been able to have a competitive race so far as Mike Conway passes his Toyota team mate. Tire grip is at a premium here in Shanghai.
Stefan Mucke moved ahead of the Ferrari's in LM GTE Pro. Under the safety car, the pits were closed, putting some teams out of sequence. Brendon Hartley leads this motor race by 6.6 seconds. Hartley is told to look after the car and watch out for the turn 16 curve. #71 is pittingh for a full service stop and a driver change. Sam Bird, takes over the car. Mikhail Aleshin and Vitaly Petrov battle in LMP2 right now. Big lockup for Vitaly Petrov in the #37 SMP Racing BR01. Strakka Racing will not run the final few WEC races this year as you read in the news update yesterday.
Vitaly Petrov has to respect track limits. Mikhail Aleshin has also been warned about track limits. Tisk, tisk, tisk. Watch your lines, boys. The drivers will be able to push harder deeper into the tire stint. Michael Christensen is driving the #77 Porsche. Nicolas Lapierre is off the road somehow trying to move past James Calado in the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE. We are just over an hour in and the trouble is going off line and picking up tire clag. These are not tiny crumbles of rubber. They are big wads of it, softball size.
Uh oh. Fueling rig issues for Audi. Thhis means they will have to short stint their fuel. Lucas di Grassi did not get a full fuel load on the most recent pit stop for his #8 Audi R18. The #97 Aston Martin and one of the Manor's as mentioned, are two of the cars that are now out of this race. Ooh. Some close racing as Anthony Davidson gets around a GT car. Audi has been on the back foot with the fuel, because the fuel cell size is smaller with the diesel motor. #2 leads the championship. Porsche leads Toyota and Audi.
Audi's woes continue with their fueling rig. We watch a couple Porsches racing each other. Francois Perrodo has been passed by a couple of the Porsche drivers. Audi chief Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich explains the fuel system was out of sync, so the tank was half full. There was no chance to refuel the car. The pit crew has to change the hose that is attached to the fueling rig itself. Neel Jani has made his way to second. Both Porsche's lead both Toyota's and both Audi's. No further action from the marshals for a kerfuffle between the #78 KCMG Porsche and the #51 Ferrari.
More battles in LMP2. Ho Pin Tung tries but runs wide. Vitaly Petrov could not get by his rival Vitaly Petrov. Outside pass. No room. He runs wide and just barely makes the corner. Earlier, we saw an LMP1 car go by, and push the "bye bye button". Tee hee! Next year of course, we will see spec LMP2 cars next year, with spec engines. Will there be driver shuffles based on the driver ratings system? It could be. It could be an end of an era here in the current guise of LMP2. Teams could have to find well funded, silver rated drivers, from GP2 and GP3. Make that gold rated drivers, who bring in the dough.
Porsche looks good. They have a big lead in the manufacturer's championship and are in the catbird seat to clinch it at the end of this race should they keep their lead. SMP Racing was battling with both cars and poor old Andre Lotterer was caught in the scrap, losing a dive plane off the front of the Audi. That's not good. Aerodynamic issues ahoy. Alex Brundle runs well in the G Drive car in LMP2. Reel off the laps. He's fought through the field and now has gotten to the front and is controlling the LMP2 pace at the moment.
Romain Rusinov will be the next driver in followed by Will Stevens. Pierre Kaffer is trying to get a position back. No dice. Third place in LMP2 is Antonio Giovanizzi. These huge chunks of rubber are still on the road. Matt Rao is pulling in on the Toyota to get a free draft off the LMP1 car. Damage to the front of the #35 car. The Baxi DC Racing car has gotten damaged and the nose is insecure with the headlight cover broken off.
You cannot race at these high speeds with damage like that. It isn't safe and isn't effective. #35 is in the lane now. Driver change for car #35. The #71 Ferrari has made a pass. Ouch! #35 clobbered one of the Porsche's! Khaled Al Qubaisi in the #88 car wanted the same space as the Alpine. Two into one won't go. Baxi is back out with a new nose. No worries. Paul Loup Chatin at the controls. Harry Tincknell and Paul Dalla Lana are the GTE Pro and GTE Am leaders right now. Chris Cumming makes a routine stop for ESM.
Brendon Hartley has been in the Porsche for an hour and 40 minutes at the moment. Alpine may continue with ORECA next year. The bulkhead of the new 2017 car, can be transformed for the Alpine. But the Ligier cannot be transferred to the new spec. #36 could earn the LMP2 championship in today's race depending on what happens between now and the end. Hartley leads for Porsche over his team mate by 18 seconds. Antonio Giovanazzi is leading LMP2 right now. Ford is 1-2 in LM GTE Pro. Paul Dalla Lana are pushing in LM GTE Am.
Will Porsche change their tactics to open the gap? This hasn't been seen yet. At the start of this race, Brendon Hartley got in front of the Toyota of Sebastien Buemi just before the safety car was called. Problems for the #13 Rebellion. There's an issue that the team has found after their routine fuel stop. Porsche has done so well this year. They had three points at the beginning of the year until they won Le Mans. We watch the two Ford GT's running together in LM GTE Pro. 34 seconds between the Ford's and the rest of the field.
We are now ten minutes away from the close of the second hour. Pit stop time for Porsche #2 and Audi #7. ESM #30 now leads in LMP2. An on track pass between Anthony Davidson and the sister car. Porsche #1 pits and the Audi #7 pits and has an unsafe release. Audi just does not have the pace here. Stephane Sarrazin leads in the #6 Toyota TS050 and will have to pit ASAP. The Larbre Corvette has made a pit stop in LM GTE Am. A new nose for the #1 Porsche. Oh dear.
Toyota leaves the lane and Kazuki Nakajima has taken over. The Porsche underwent a nose change because the rubber debris buildup has clogged the radiators, overheating the brakes and also putting a load on the aerodynamic surfaces under the car. Porsche has things under control now. Remember that Toyota pulled a surprise to win their home race in Japan. What will happen as we continue in China? Toyota #6 has now entered the pit lane. Timo Bernhard has now taken the lead of this race. Marc Lieb is now in the #2 car. Loic Duval is third in the #8 Audi.
Porsche #2 has had lots of bad luck since they won overall at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Both SMP cars go side by side. Andy Priaulx is now driving the #67 Ford GT, after a pit stop where he replaced Harry Tincknell.
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