Porsche still leads Toyota. But, the #5 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi is pushing the sister #2 Porsche. It is game on for Toyota right now. Turn up the heat. More tire debris is out there. The racing surface is being reduced here at Shanghai International Circuit. How much does everyone have left in the locker insofar as their tires? We also have to look at the LM GTE Pro manufacturer's cup battle between Aston Martin and Ferrari. It will be a pit stop battle between the two. The #7 Audi will get back out but be at the bottom end of the top 20 cars. The car went onto the jacks and then, straight down.
Sam Bird is eleven and a half seconds behind the Porsche. James Calado is now in the car. This is in the GT class. Aston Martin #95 will hit the lane, with Nikki Thiim at the wheel. Game over for the team car, #97. Garage door down. Nikki Thiim will hand the car back to Marco Sorenson. Toyota is in the lane as well with car #6. Sebastien Buemi will hand over to Mike Conway. Check that, no, he won't. #95 is in the box. Conway is still in the Toyota. Fuel only. No tires at all. 46 seconds for the stop. That's a bold move in terms of tire degradation. Wow. Aston Martin #95 pits and thunders away with the big V8. Oh no. Never mind. Toyota #6 only changed one tire, because of a tire puncture.
It is long enough for their extra stint. Toyota can go to the end of this race. They only need a couple stops. They did change tires and top off the fuel tank. That's the #5 Toyota that had the tire issue. One left rear tire. Check that. It's Conway in #6, as our LM GTE Pro leader hits pit lane. Mark Webber leads with Neel Jani second on the road. Mike Conway is the fastest bloke on the road right now. Mike Conway could do just one more stop to stay filled with fuel to the end of this race. Porsche #77 and Ferrari #71 pit. This is about manufacturer's points. Davide Rigon will take over for Sam Bird. Richard Lietz will take the wheel in the #77 machine.
Can Mike Conway get to the end on one more pit stop? Everyone ahead of him needs to make that work. Conway will be pretty close. Conway must close the gap. He has to get 31-32 laps out of his fuel tank. He needs performance in the tires, too, for the final six or seven laps of his stint. Talk about having to have a boatload left in the locker. He's going to have to get on with it. Fuel saving can make a difference, and he can maintain pace. Car #30 pits with Sean Gelael at the controls. These boys are still in it. Stephane Richelmi takes the LMP2 lead. Can they win the championship? #43 has to finish sixth or better. Filipe Albuquerque is in the car.
Tom Blomqvist is actually at the wheel of car #30. Blomqvist ran single seaters and then DTM. Now he is in sports cars. Oliver Webb passes Sebastien Buemi and is holding up the Toyota driver. Get after him, Sebastien. The CLM team should be back next year. Toyota could run three cars next year including for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It will be a Porsche vs. Toyota battle it seems. LMP2 cars could surely also be on the podium. They need to be reliable, and quick. If they are, what will the rule makers think?
Mike Conway cannot afford to come up two laps short. He just can't. Neel Jani is being hounded by Sebastien Buemi. Mark Webber leads by 52 seconds. Has Mike Conway eliminated one pit stop to get to the checkers? We'll see. Whoa! Sebastien Buemi has a run on the Porsche struggling for grip and Buemi takes it over Neel Jani! Jani isn't giving up. These two boys need two more pit stops. Mike Conway is close, too. He can do it on one more pit stop. Conway is 20 seconds behind Buemi and Jani. It is the if. Will Conway be in the catbird seat? If the Porsche 919 runs out of hybrid power, it doesn't have enough oomph from the internal combustion engine to maintain speed. The 2.0 liter turbo 4 cylinder really has to work hard.
The leaders are in the 1:48 range. Brendon Hartley will soon get into the #2 Porsche. The Toyota also suffers a performance drop, but not as much as the Porsche. This comparison is in terms of tires, not necessarily engine. So, maybe it is irrelevant. In the lane now, is Stephane Richelmi in the #36 Alpine. Tom Blomqvist chasing. We have just under an hour and a half to go. Can the championship in LMP2 be kept open? The leaders are due a pit stop in the next few laps. Brendon Hartley will take over from Mark Webber. Some circuits suit certain drivers. Ford runs 1-2 in LM GTE Pro. Andy Priaulx leads Stefan Mucke. Paul Dalla Lana leads LM GTE Am.
Porsche in the lane. Mark Webber, out. Brendon Hartley, in. Sebastien Buemi assumes the lead briefly. Tires for Hartley. Four tires, to be precise, and a very quick stop. He got out in front of Mike Conway by a shade. Mike Conway has to push to close the gap. This is the real gap between first and second. This is going to be close. Mike Conway will have to do two 31 lap stints, for a total of 62 laps. Brendon Hartley will resume in the race lead. Oh dear. Mike Conway is in the pits. Thre has to be a problem with the Toyota. Conway is out, and into the car goes one of the team drivers. We don't know who.
Tires have to be the concern here. Not fuel. We didn't take the tire factor into account. Buemi pits. This will be a tire strategy race and not a fuel race in Shanghai. Porsche #2 now gets second spot back. Toyota is on the back foot. There is a sting in the tail for Toyota. This race is getting interesting. We have an hour and fifteen minutes to go. Oh dear. Mike Conway may have suffered a puncture to be forced to make the second pit stop we saw. It comes down to sheer pace. If the #2 car finishes where they are, the clinch the driver's championship today, with an hour to go. Will that happen?
Kamui Kobayashi will be in the aero wash of Anthony Davidson in the sister Toyota. Driver changes for the finish have been made. Ooh! He nearly runs into the team car! This is crucial to keep the driver's championship alive, to give Toyota a real chance for the finale in Bahrain. They won't swap these two cars around. Ah. There it is. They do swap, cleanly, on a clean part of the circuit. We saw this with Peugeot at the Nurburgring a few years ago and they came away with zippo. Porsche won't fall into the trap of making a mistake.
Neel Jani has been caught and he'll be massively caught in a few more laps. Just wait. Anthony Davidson has to stay with his team mate. Car #6 cannot win anymore. They can't do the two long stints to gain track position. Kamui Kobayashi has to chase Porsche #2 with Mike Conway following him home. Filipe Albuquerque is being led by Will Stevens for LMP2. Stevens leads the class. Tom Blomqvist is still hanging in there, too. Gianmaria Bruni is in touch with the two leading Ford's in GTE Pro, but he won't catch them.
The #83 Ferrari of Rui Aguas, Francois Perrodo, and company, will win the LM GTE Am championship at the end of this race. Filipe Albuquerque and Nicolas Lapierre, they are battling for the final spot on the podium, and the LMP2 championship. If it finishes this way, the championship may go to Signatech. If Kobayashi wins today, Porsche would need to win in Bahrain to score the title. We have just a single hour left in this race in Shanghai.
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