The contact between Calado and Christensen is under review by the stewards. Alessandro Pier Guidi is now at the wheel after Calado's stint. Pier Guidi is a veteran of IMSA. Lucas di Grassi and Miguel Molina will run at Le Mans, and so will Alex Riberas. Well, Riberas is in Pirelli World Challenge right now. Pier Guidi was the third driver with Bruni and company at Le Mans last year. We will see all Gibson motors, but other chassis'. Oreca, Ligier, Multimatic, and I am not sure of the fourth make. The LMP1 cars are rocket ships. So are the LMP2s. Conway is looking at his team mate. This is Conway's home turf. Toyota had just one victory last year, and of course, they lost Le Mans as well.
Conway passes Sebastien Buemi through Stowe and Vale. Conway ran in the U.S. for the Whelen Engineering Cadillac in IMSA. Does Sebastien Buemi have an issue with the Toyota? If either of these cars win, we'll have a British driver winning. Mike Conway is one, and the other is Anthony Davidson. Conway has gapped Buemi by three seconds, and three additional seconds to the Porsche in the hands of Brendon Hartley. The teams are double stinting their tires because of the reduced allocation for this year. Conway leads Buemi by four seconds. Nicolas Lapierre, Andy Priaulx, and Paul Dalla Lana are your other class leaders for LMP2, LM GTE Pro, and LM GTE Am. Is Buemi dealing with tire degradation? That's the question.
Brendon Hartley stopped later than the Toyota's did. Pit strategy is going to be a real factor. Tire debris is forming offline as a Jackie Chan DC Racing entry pits. The LMP2 cars will hit the lane very soon. The skies are darkening again. More rain on the way as Bruno Senna pits, and Nicolas Prost will take over the car. Bruno Senna may have hurt his reputation when he was racing in the first season of Formula E. He drove a little aggressively. These two are second generation drivers. Bruno Senna is Ayrton Senna's cousin, and Nico Prost is Alain Prost's son.
Brendon Hartley is coming and fast. In the grass for Toyota passing those GTE cars! The boys are fighting for it today as we see more pit action for the Rebellion squad. The team is sponsored by a Swiss watch company. Lots of pit action going on right now. Cold tires on pit exit are a bear. LMP2 vs. LMP1 hybrid, that;s a big difference. The pit lane reconfiguration here at Silverstone has a downhill entry and an uphill exit. Buemi is stretching out a gap over Hartley. Olivier Pla tested the new Ligier LMP2 car and said the speeds are phenomenal.
This speedway is 3.67 miles with 18 corners, and there might be more rain to come. Wing change time for G Drive. They will put a new rear clip on the car, in order to balance the car out with different tires. This is only hypothetical as we see another door issue for the G Drive car, with Pierre Thiriet at the controls. He shares with Romain Rusinov and Alex Lynn. Racer's tape isn't going to solve issues. David Heinemeier Hanson is racing for Rebellion this year, bouncing around between LM GTE Am and LMP2. More rain on the way according to the radar.
Mike Conway had issues with track limits in qualifying. Kamui Kobayashi may be ready to step into the car. Full service for one car, tires for the other. Buemi signals to his team, "hey, tell him to let me by!" Conway is getting more tire deg right now. Brendon Hartley and Neel Jani are a ways behind. Buemi takes the race lead now. Toyota #8 in the lane, and he locks the brakes! Don't get pinged for being a few clicks over the speed limit (60 kilometers an hour, 37 miles an hour). Anthony Davidson is now at the controls.
Brendon Hartley goes to second in the #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid. One air gun to do all four tires. Anthony Davidson rejoins the race. Conway is in the lane, now. Is something broken on Conway's car? Is there an aerodynamic problem? Is there an issue with regenerating the energy through the battery to the front wheel electric motors? Kamui Kobayashi will take over from Conway on this stop. Lots of warnings to drivers about respecting track limits. Former Toyota driver Alex Wurz is now a team strategist. There's a software issue on car #7. Wurz is an ambassador and backup driver. Pit stop time, too for Porsche. A driver change for Porsche #1.
Check that, car #2. Timo Bernhard at the wheel of it. In the rain, suspension settings are softened. Alex Wurz is a busy man. A father of four, and also, President of the Grand Prix Drivers Association in F1. We saw a spin, a tandem spin for David Heinemeier-Hanson and also, Jonathan Hirschi, through The Loop. Stefan Mucke leads LM GTE Pro in the #66 Ford GT. The new Porsche has the rear engine moved forward. So, the handling is improved. Porsche has the new 911 with the forward engine, and the older version, last year's GTE Pro car is too difficult. GTE Am customer cars are two year old cars, from 2015.
Some of the GT Daytona teams in IMSA may move to GT Le Mans with the new Porsche's. The Ferrari 488 GTE's are also really strong. The rules have to stabilize in the future. AF Corse has seven cars, here. There was a round of the European Le Mans Series yesterday, too. Stay tuned for news on that race, coming soon. Alessandro Pier Guidi and Sam Bird battle. Side by side stuff between Pier Guidi and Bird. Pier Guidi takes the spot away. We may have issues for Toyota who lead this race. If this race becomes wet, then that'll throw a real spanner in the works here, chaps. Nick Tandy is giving Kamui Kobayashhi all he can handle, and passes for third!
Rain continues to mist on the road around this 3.67 mile speed palace. We look to the skies as Anthony Davidson leads Timo Bernhard in the overall. Ford GT in the lane. It's the lead car. Stefan Mucke will share with Olivier Pla and American Billy Johnson, as the Spirit of Race Ferrari goes wide. Raindrops appear on the camera. It's a catch 22, as it gets slipperier, then you slow down, even on slicks.
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