More pit action. Take a look at the tires. Tire inspection is allowed during fueling, but you cannot change tires until the fuel is in the tank. We have seen some argy bargy here in the English midlands. This track, like Sebring, Florida, is a WW. II. airfield. Someone's sheep was hit on this speedway when there was a sports car race before Formula 1 came in 1950, and those first sports car races were called the Mutton Grand Prix. Close action as Anthony Davidson wanted to go to the outside, but the LMP2 cars are still VERY quick along with the LMP1 cars. Earl Bamber shares Porsche #2 with Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard. It used to be a battle between Silverstone, the Osterreichring in Austria, Monza in Italy, and Spa in Belgium for which track was fastest. The pit lane is long, but the delta from pit in to pit out is 25 seconds.
The pits are now between Club and Abbey compared to being between Woodcote and Copse in the old configuration. There's still some drizzle around. In England, in springtime, you just never know. Will it rain? More than likely, it will. The shifting on these cars is pretty incredible. The ByKolles car is still racing well, with a Nissan V8 motor in the car. Their AER engines from last year, were unreliable. Robert Kubica was nominated as a driver, but pulled out, being replaced by James Rossiter, sharing with Oliver Webb and Dominik Kraihamer. Rain isn't heavy enough to change tires over. These cars are real works of art. China is becoming a force in worldwide motorsport now.
Watch out for track limits. We have nnot seen overall penalties, but warnings. There's some tough, hard racing going on out there right now, ladies and gentlemen. This is the RAC Tourist Trophy, technically, a sports car race that has been put into the annals of history. Pippo Derani is now behind the wheel of one of the Ford GT's. He will have this ride in addition to racing for Tequila Patron ESM in IMSA. Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, are still racing together well in the Ferrari. It's great that a track like Silverstone still has named corners instead of numbered ones.
Kevin Estre is running very well in the factory Porsche. He started out for K-Pax McLaren in Pirelli World Challenge here in the U.S. Heavier rain is bound to come. Calado and Estre battle for third in LM GTE Pro. The GTE cars just don't have the braking prowess of the LMP racers. Anthony Davidson and Timo Bernhard battle for the overall lead. The basic design of the Porsche 919 has held true. There may be a regulations freeze. Peugeot representatives were here talking about new regulations coming in 2020 that will be fully announced at Le Mans. Cost containment is necessary. These are $300 million cars and teams. 70 people at least, are employed on these teams today.
There was talk of putting more hybrid systems into the car, but those decisions have been tabled for now. These cars have about 1,000 horsepower. A turbo V6 for the Toyota displacing 2.4 liters, and a four cylinder turbo with 2 liters of displacement for the Porsche. Kamui Kobayashi is having suspension issues. Bernhard has driven with Porsche since 1999, except for winning Le Mans with Audi in 2010 when he was on loan. Rain is coming, folks. These cars can get very hot with their tightly confined cockpits.
Timo Bernhard and Nick Tandy now run 1-2 as Anthony Davidson pitted and is now fourth in the overall. The #7 Toyota may need a rear end change. Nick Tandy is flying, and he's running close behind Timo Bernhard. David Heinemeier-Hanson will get a 15 second pit stop time added penalty for making contact with Jonathan Hirschi driving the #24 car. That is one of the Manor cars. Pit stop time for Toyota, and they are getting some understeer with a broken rear sway bar. Reduce the rear downforce to bring the car back. Nick Tandy is in the lane, and he's doing a mega stint right now.
Davidson and Tandy are close together. Timo Bernhard cycles through to the lead. The rain is here, now. Bernhard will pit soon. With cold tires, you can't get the tires to optimum performance. Brnhard in the lane. This will be very close. Tandhy is closer to the Toyota. They race through Maggots/Becketts/Chapel. No tires for Tandy. Tandy goes by Anthony Davidson. The porsche has more mechanical grip than the Toyota and Tandy forces the issue, and goes off the road! Yikes! Tandy is looking for grip. The conditions are getting ugly.
Bernhard is in the lane, and what will transpire next? The rain is getting worse. We have a long way to go. Three and a half hours. Toyota #7 of Kamui Kobayashi is in the gravel trap. Lock the front brakees through Vale and slide the car. He didn't go off the road. With the straight cut gears, these cars just don't want to find reverse. Tandy is in the lane and Bernhard is now the leader. Fuel and tires. It's an intermediate, super soft tire. This is a hybrid tire, just as the engines are hybrid units. Watch out for the conditions to avoid sailing into the kitty litter. Bernhard leads. The rain has arrived.
Pippo Derani had the lead in LM GTE Pro, but now, Billy Johnson in the sister Ford takes over. The track is drying, and so, Porsche bringing Tandy in for intermediate tires, that might end up backfiring in their face. Richard Lietz, Kevin Estre, and Davide Rigon battle each other as Rigon takes over the Ferrari from Sam Bird. Signatech Alphine in the lane. Gustavo Menezes was put into the car for this year. Menezes shares with Nicolas Lapierre and Matt Rao. Ferrari and Porsche door to door. Two pair actually. A little casual contact. The Ferrari has the SMP logo on it. The Russian team, SMP is not in active WEC competition in 2017.
Bernhard runs a 1:47.7, and Anthony Davidson has a 1:44.2. 1:44 laps seem to be the norm right now. A lot can happen as we are soon to approach the second half of this race. Porsche wants to get mileage for their aerodynamic setup that is the same as they'll run at Le Mans later in the year. Nick Tandy may have to stop for slick tires. The intermediate tires are a lot softer than the dry weather or full wet tires. Romain Rusinov passes Jonathan Hirschi for position. Porsche will run low downforce here, at Spa, and at Le Mans. Toyota will run a third car at Spa and use high downforce and low downforce when we get to the next race at Spa Francorchamps in three weeks.
We may be done with the rain now. So, it was not as severe as first thought. No downpours. Porsche #2 will pit and Earl Bamber will get in. Check that, as #1 may also be coming in. This is #1. Andre Lotterer is now in the car. He's as cool as a cucumber and doesn't crack under pressure. For those of us who are not used to the weather of the English midlands, this is weird. Manor is running nose to tail and they almost wrecked! Dive down the inside, and it will go pear shaped. Vitaly Petrov and Jean Eric Vergne, two ex-F1 drivers, on that squad.
Billy Johnson still leads GTE Pro. Balance of Performance will be managed by computer and electronics now. Billy Johnson is in the thick of it, and so is Kamui Kobayashi in the Toyota, trying to get around the ByKolles CLM. FIA President Jean Todt is here watching.
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