There is a gearbox compressor issue for the #71 Ferrari. The gear changes happen electronically. Davide Rigon and Toni Vilander share the car. Harry Tincknell is out of sync on the LM GTE Pro pit stops. Gustavo Menezes gets out of the Signatech Alpine. Matt Rao gets in. This is car #36. Nicolas Lapierre is the third driver. Porsche continues to run 1-2. Porsche leads in three classes they are a part of. But, Ferrari is applying the blowtorch to them in LM GTE Pro. The Calado/Christensen battle rages on. Porsche wants their first win both in the WEC and stateside in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.
Andy Priaulx says tires will be key in the final stints in the final hours of this race. Sixtten to eighteen tires are all that's allocated to LM GTE Pro teams. You have to use scrubbed, older tires. Tire conservation is big, big stuff in one of these races as David Cheng, Filipe Albuquerque, and others, battle for LMP2 as Ferrari goes around the Porsche in LM GTE Pro. Chjeng, Matt Rao, and poh wow! Filipe Albuquerque takes second from both of them in class! Leave the door open, and step right on through, thank you very much. Fuel for the Porsche. Michael Christensen takes tires on his Porsche. Matthias Lauda pits the Aston Martin and Miguel Molina takes a spot away from Matteo Cairoli.
109 laps completed with two hours and 46 minutes to go, just the distance of an IMSA race, left. 109 laps, 327 miles down so far. Porsche #1 is warned by the stewards about track limits. Porsche has told their drivers to go for it and unleashed them. Toyota could still be a threat. Thomas Laurent and Jackie Chan DC Racing, continue to lead in the LMP2 class. This has been an action packed event all around today. David Cheng got caught off guard after being passed by a Toyota and put another lap down. Pippo Derani in the #13 Rebellion Oreca Gibson is coming, fast. Porsche #91 is in the lane for fuel, and Fred Makowiecki will stay in the car. Tires also are changed.
David Cheng continues to fall into the clutches of Pippo Derani. He was with Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, but only for the opening three races of the 2017 FIA WEC season. It's been close into turn onje at the Nurburgring always, and we can see that through the amazing slow motion replay pictures brought to us on the world feed. Plenty of clsoe racing and some argy bargy, but not much. Porsche #2 leads it's sister car by two seconds. Nick Tandy is ahead of Earl Bamber as Daniel Serra brings the #97 Aston Martin to the lane. Fuel goes into the car. The Ford GT had a fire last year, when a tie wrap flowed out and got jammed into the breather valve of the fuel tank.
At the halfway mark, 29 cars completed 2,000 laps total, 14,874 kilometers raced. 1,512 total overtakes, and Jose Maria Lopez has passed 106 cars, equivalent. Yikes! Earl Bamber stretches his lead and so do both Porsche's who are gapping the Ferrari in LM GTE Pro. Nick Tandy is closing on Porsche team mate Earl Bamber. These two were team mates at Porsche last year before being split between the team's two cars. These cars basically have four wheel drive, the Porsche LMP1 cars. Ooh! Ford #67 of Harry Tincknell, spins! Was there a touch? Did the Ford tap the Porsche? Not sure.
Not the best camera angle Mr. Director. But there was definite contact. Harry Tincknell is rallycrossing the Ford GT through the gravel trap. Tincknell needs Ken Block as a co-driver in the GT for this one. Now, he's back on the road. Could Tincknell's tires be completely knackered? Maybe. There's no damage to the car. We look again. The Ford washed out at the apex of the corner as the Porsche sweeps around. Tincknell was off line into the clag on the outside of the road. It was a racing incident. The Porsche did not dropkick the Ford off the road. Bamber and Tandy still run 1-2 with Mike Conway third in the Toyota, 52 seconds back. Porsche remains in the race lead.
Mike Conway is leading the Toyota charge as the sister #8 car is still five laps down. Harry Tincknell has now dropped a few spots after his off course excursion. We have two hours and 20 minutes to go in this race. It's getting close to crunch time. Anthony Davidson still has the controls of the second Toyota. Andre Negrao continues to hold on just behind Filipe Albuquerque. The top three cars in LM GTE Pro, neither the two Porsche's or the first of the AF Corse Ferrari's, has won in class yet in 2017.
The LMP2 cars with the Gibson 4.2 liter V8 motors, have become a whole lot faster than they used to be. Rebellion is in pit lane. Sam Bird won the first Formula E race in New York City yesterday. There is another Formula E race today, coming up soon. Yours truly has another blog where those races will be written about. BMW will bring their M8 GT to the FIA WEC with MTEK next year. What will BMW bring to the table? They will be a welcome addition to compete with Porsche, Ferrari, Ford, and Aston Martin. Pit stop time for Signatech Alpine. Who will drive for BMW? They have top drivers in their squad such as Tom Blomqvist, Alexander Sims, Augusto Farfus, and others.
They will have a factory squad globally and in North America. Pippo Derani is now up to fourth in LMP2. The #35 Signatech Alpine remains in the lane but has not officially retired from this event as of yet. 29 cars continue, just the same number that started this race. Nick Tandy brings the #2 Porsche into the lane. 130 laps done. 390 miles. Problems for the Manor and also for the leading LMP2 car of Thomas Laurent. Manor #25 in the lane, and it could have been out of petrol. Porsche #2 is also into pit lane. It needs a 57 second stop in order to not lose the lead. Rear clip change for car #38. They have issues. The rear tail has been replaced. Jackie Chan DC Racing is now 1-2 in LMP2.
Fuel only for the #2 Porsche as Toyota #7 pits from third. Mike Conway at the wheel of it. Fuel only for Toyota. No tires. Porsche looking on, and the brass of Fritz Ensinger and Andreas Seidl. The intention in 2020, is to do at least one full lap on electric power. The high downforce aerodynamic kit Porsche has developed for their home race, seems to be working. Harry Tincknell's fracas was purely a racing incident. What are the cars in GTE Pro capable of at certain points on the road? Christian Ried and Paul Dalla Lana are scrapping right now. Dalla Lana is quicker, the Canadian, compared to the German.
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