Kazuki Nakajima may need tires before we end this race. Less than 55 minutes to run at Silverstone now. Brendon Hartley is second, 18.3 seconds behind Kazuki Nakajima in the Toyota. Final pit stops coming up as clouds cover the sky once again. Bruno Senna leads LMP2 with Oliver Jarvis second in class. Jarvis is a Bentley driver in Blancpain GT competition as well. Traffic has been a major deal all race long. Harry Tincknell is running very well. Pit stop time for the #8 Toyota. They will lose some time, if Porsche pits and does not take tires. They have another set of sticker tires. Sebastien Buemi is back at the wheel. Meanwhile, in the lead, Tandy and Hartley are pushing. Tandy in the lane, as we see an Aston Martin involved in contact with the ByKolles LMP1 car which has gotten all the bodywork torn up.
Tandy stays in the #1 car, Are there tires? The ByKolles car tapped the Aston Martin. Toyota might win this thing, if Brendon Hartley can't answer the call. Sebastien Buemi is in car #8 of course. Local yellow flag at the scene of the wreck. The front runners are going to have to take risks in traffic hut beware the local yellow flag. Could Matt Griffin win in LM GTE Am? He's dealing with lots of experience in Pedro Lamy even though he's running three or four races this weekend. Oliver Jarvis pushing. We have a lead change in class as the director goes to slow motion pictures. Oliver Jarvis did not get around Bruno Senna.
Porsche will race Toyota out of pit lane. The Rebellion LMP2 car pits. LMP2 cars pit now within their fuel window. The #36 car is in with Nicolas Lapierre. Stephane Sarrazin and Nicolas Lapierre back with Toyota. Lead battle in LM GTE Pro. Pedro Lamy leads in class. The Ford boys have had a great race today. Alessandro Pier Guidi has the Ferrari second in LM GTE Pro. Oliver Jarvis might need to make another pit stop. G-Drive makes a pit stop after they went off the road. They are fifth in class in LMP2.
Brendon Hartley makes his final pit stop and will beat the Toyota back on track. Here comes Kazuki Nakajima. This will be very close. Buemi will have fresher tires than Hartley will. This is going to be a barn burner to the end. Eight seconds between Hartley and Buemi. We have 30 minutes to go and have run 179 laps (646 miles). Andreas Seidl has done very well leading the Porsche squad. He used to be team boss for the BMW DTM squad. Buemi is eating into the gap. 7.3 seconds. Make that 7.7 seconds between Hartley and Buemi. This one is going to be close!
Just twenty five minutes to go as the gap is 5.5 seconds between Hartley and Buemi. Matt Griffin chases Pedro Lamy. Lamy will have to pull out all the stops. Ferrari on the inside for the class lead into Copse! Whoa! Michelin vs. Dunlop tires too. Good grief! Toyota threads the needle. Can Buemi pass Nicolas Lapierre? Yes. Toyota demands more boost in the turbos and something to do with boost recovery from the ERS. Driver change issues for one of the teams. One of the teams may have run afoul of the drive time limits. Being strapped into these space age Prototypes is like being strapped into a fighter jet.
We should see one more stop from the LM GTE Pro contenders. Harry Tincknell leads in class and is 25 laps down to the race leader, with just twenty minutes remaining in the race. Ford will pit soon. Box, box, box. Tincknell is in the lane. He's had a mega stint. Harry Tincknell believes it is good for him to have one single objective, racing for Ford and only Ford in 2017. Sebastien Buemi is going for it. He's got the hammer down and the bit between his teeth. The tire is in it's sweet spot. Porsche is concerned. The gap decreases as we have 17 minutes to go. Stand by as we finish this race, from Silverstone, and who is going to hoist the cup for the RAC Trophy.
Check this out! First and scond are right together! Brendon Hartley has to hold off Sebastien Buemi. But Seb has fresher tires. There's some spritzes of moisture on the windscreens of these cars. Buemi got blocked and went sideways! He's now recovered. Traffic ahead. Buemi trties the over/under and plows inside going to the front! Toyota leads Porsche! This is going to be hot stuff. Buemi sets up Hartley, steps through the door and slams it in Hartley's face! Hartley won't give in and crack like an egg, though. He's getting his game face back on. Buemi has things in hand with eleven minutes left in this six hour odyssey.
Oliver Jarvis leads LMP2 for DC Jackie Chan Racing. More raindrops fall. Gently, boys. Pedro Lamy in second runs ahead of the Ferrari on Miguel Molina. Aston Martin has their 2016 car and is knocking on the door of a championship in the WEC this year. Harder rain could fall in these last eight minutes of the race. Brendon Hartley has had quite the drive today. We've lost Audi from the championship, but that has not affected the racing at all. It will be poetic justice if Toyota is going to win after the first one crashed in the hands of Jose Maria Lopez. Problems again for Harry Tincknell and the right side door.
As Yogi Berra used to say, "it ain't over 'til it's over." So true in FIA WEC racing. The #61 Ferrari pits. This hands the class lead in GTE Am back to Pedro Lamy. Hmmm. Miguel Molina is now second, with Matt Griffin third in class. Clearwater Racing will not be able to win this race today. Maybe their hand was forced. Maybe it was a miscue. Matt Griffin was doing very well today. Ganassi will have their first GTE Pro class win at Silverstone. Harry Tincknell, Pippo Derani, and Andy Priaulx.
Jackie Chan DC Racing will win LMP2. A minute and a half to go. Toyota is going to win their second race at Silverstone. But, don't forget that last year, Porsche won because Audi was disqualified in post-race tech inspection. Sebastien Buemi will get his WEC season off to a great start after also being successful in Formula E. For your information, we are P1. I know! We've won! Toyota are the champs at Silverstone! Pedro Lamy and Miguel Molina have come together right at thend. Lamy had damage, perhaps. He's parked. So, the 6 Hours of Silverstone is now done and dusted. Here are your winners.
Overall/LMP1: #8 Buemi/Davidson/Nakajima Toyota TS050 Hybrid
LMP2: #38 Jarvis/Tung/Laurent Oreca 07 Gibson
LM GTE Pro: #67 Priaulx/Tincknell/Derani Ford GT
LM GTE Am: #61 Mok/Sawa/Griffin Ferrari 488 GTE
The next race for the FIA World Endurance Championship is the 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps at another legendary course, in the Ardennes forest in Belgium, in early May, so about three weeks from now. We'll see you then, for more action. So long, everyone.
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