Radiator redesigns have been put together to keep tire rubber out of them. Just under four hours left on the clock as the battle at the front stays hot. Pit stops for LM GTE Pro. Porsche is right on strategy for a five stop race. Alessandro Pier Guidi takes the LM GTE Pro lead and Brendon Hartley tries for the lead, but Neel Jani holds him at bay. Porsche management must be glad those two boys didn't come to blows and raced cleanly. Mike Conway is now at the wheel of Toyota #7. LM GTE Am leader, in. Paul Dalla Lana hands over to Matthias Lauda. This is Aston Martin #98. Something happened to the wheel nut. Did the lollipop man kick the nut back into the garage. There are captive wheel nuts or magnetic ones. Windshields are beginning to get pitted because of al;l the tire debris on the road.
Anthony Davidson is now at the wheel of Toyota #8 that remains five laps down to the race leaders. There's some heat haze out there at the Nurburgring. Working lap 72. 216 miles have been run. Problems for Andre Negrao and the #35 SignaTech Alpine which has had a fraught race to this point. Alpine is running well with their second car, with Gustavo Menezes at the controls, in a scrum with David Heinemeier Hanson. Matthias Lauda continues to pursue other cars. He's passed Clearwater. Dempsey Proton and Spirit of Race are ahead. Thomas Flohr brings the Spirit of Race Ferrari to the lane. Porsche still leads overall and they are 1-2. Jackie Chan DC Racing continues to lead LMP2. Ferrari leads LM GTE Pro over Porsche and Ferrari. Porsche leads LM GTE Am for Dempsey Proton Racing.
Neel Jani continues to lead overall by 3.2 seconds as the #61 Clearwater Racing Ferrari drives off the road and into the gravel trap. Weng Sun Mok at the wheel of it, sharing with Keita Sawa and Matt Griffin. Potential problems for Porsche? Hmmm. Overnight rain washed the rubber off the road, but the track is starting to become grippy again. Porsche knows Brendon Hartley is struggling, but they tell him, "hang on to the end of the stint." #38 pits from the LMP2 class lead. Ho Pin Tung will do a double stint.
TDS Racing #28 is in the lane. Matthieu Vaxiviere is at the controls, and he's back on track, scrapping with Simon Trummer. Porsche #1 continues in the overall lead. Manage the pace all the way through the race. This is crucial for GT cars, when they are overtaken by LMP1. Nothing has changed at the front. 3.6 seconds is the gap between the two Porsche's. Anthony Davidson is fifth in the overall in Toyota #8. #38 still leads LMP2. Bruno Senna is now in the booth with lead commentator, Toby Moody. Toyota is playing with turbo boost settings it sounds like.
Senna is frustrated by slower cars in LMP2 that are not fighting for the championship, overtaking improperly and ignoring blue flags. Bruno Senna shares with Julien Canal. Porsche still leads with Neel Jani ahead of Brendon Hartley. The Jackie Chan DC Racing car still leads LMP2. Porsche and Michael Christensen leads James Calado and Fred Makowiecki in LM GTE Pro. Aston Martin continues to lead LM GTE Am. Stefan Mucke is suffering from understeer in the Ford GT #66. Turn the brake bias knob gradually, in coordination with the team and engineers so you don't cook the brakes.
Michael Christensen's lead in LM GTE Pro, is 12 seconds or so. LMP1 Porsche passes LM GTE Pro Porsche. The Nordschleife on the other side of this speedway, is unreal. We saw that with the production sports cars in the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, back in May. The lap times of the open cockpit LMP2 cars and these new cars, are close, but the new Oreca is even quicker. Oreca has a sloped nose on their car. Ligier, Dallara, and Riley, are hopeful of making updates to their cars, so they can join Oreca in the FIA WEC in years to come. LMP2 and GTE cars have been a shade unstable into turn five.
Brendon Hartley is the fastest car on the road by a couple hundredths of a second. The cars are very stable, according to Bruno Senna compared to last year. The grip on these LMP2 cars is very similar to a single seater. Drivers are so focused, they keep their eyes wide open for the whole lap. Sometimes, you have to squint so your eyes don't get sore. Don't rub your eyes while you are driving a race car. Brendon Hartley is finding the balance in the car, and keeping right with his Porsche team mate, Neel Jani. A broken gearbox for the #35 Signatech Alpine. Game over for Pierre Ragues, Andre Negrao, and Nelson Panciatici.
Matthias Lauda and Matteo Cairoli scrap for position in LM GTE Am. Lauda has his mirrors filled with Cairoli. The lead battle has gone on for a good 20 minutes. Gustavo Menezes makes a move on Julien Canal. We're just ten minutes from halfway into this race. Very few incidents have happened here at the Nurburgring, but a lot of great racing has happened. The Clearwater Ferrari has passed the Dempsey Proton Porsche. Cairolli it looks like, missed the corner at the final chicane. Neel Jani is out of the #1 Porsche which pits, and now, Nick Tandy will take over. The #71 Ferrari 488 GTE for AF Corse is in the garage.
Mechanics check for little bits of rubber that may be caught in the gurney flap on the wing. Porsche #2 is now in the lane. Jose Maria Lopez was all over Nick Tandy. Brendon Hartley will give way to Earl Bamber. Jose Maria Lopez is now pitting, too. Toyota #7 is finishing it's service and goes on it's way. Three pit stops have now been completed by the leaders.
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