The gap is closing for the lead between Kazuki Nakajima and Mike Conway as the GTE Pro battle remains hot and heavy. Giedo van der Garde also makes a pass. We are now on the clock, not on the lap counter. Just under half this race to go. Jose Maria Lopez is going to go into the #7 Toyota, shortly. Mike Conway has been pushing, pushing, pushing. He is at the back of the queue while Nakajima is at the front. Mike Conway is chasing Kazuki Nakajima. Rob Leupen and the Toyota mechanics looking on. Thomas Pryning in the #86 Gulf Porsche is a lapped car they are making their way by. Andy Priaulx is now at the wheel of the #67 Ford GT. Anthony Davidson says they have no more rear ends, so, they will have to beg and borrow a rear tail for the car. This is the third tail section they are on in this race.
4.7 seconds is the gap between the two Toyota's. Jose Maria Lopez is kitted up and ready to drive. Nathaniel Berthon is in the lane with Rebellion #3 for scheduled service. Nicky Catsburg is having the blowtorch applied by Kevin Estre. Kazuki Nakajima now leads Mike Conway by 1.1 seconds. Three hours, 47 minutes remaining now that this is a timed race, and won't get to it's scheduled 1,000 mile distance it doesn't seem. We are due comprehensive LMP1 driver changes as Mike Conway goes by both Bruno Spengler and Alessandro Pier Guidi. Mike Conway got balked by the Ferrari and is chasing Richard Lietz in the Porsche 911 RSR as well as the beleaguered #31 LMP2 car. Darren Turner has gone off the road, spinning off and being passed by the leaders. He made a mess of turn ten there. Jose Maria Lopez and Sebastien Buemi are exchanging good luck handshakes before their respective driver stints in the two Toyota's. If #7 finishes ahead of #8, they regain the lead in the driver's championship with two races to go in the "Super Season".
The weather now isn't so hot, not like it was before. #7 dives into the pit lane and Jose Maria Lopez will take over the car. Loic Duval brings in the TDS Racing Oreca LMP2 car as well. Tire allocation is sufficient, and no one has to double stint everything. The crews are checking for debris in the wheel wells. They have a decent tire allocation, but a challenging one. Sebring is a place where you can double stint tires. The track surface is rough, and old, but it isn't abrasive to the tires. Will Stevens takes over his LMP2 car and now Toyota #8 is in the lane, and Sebastien Buemi will get in. The marshals are investigating the fracas between the #92 Porsche and the #95 Aston Martin.
Darren Turner's earlier incident was not contact, it was completely what we'd call in sports car racing, a Marco Solo incident. #38 is in the pit lane after an off course excursion. The door is broken. The #36 Alpine is also in the lane. Gabriel Aubry is in the #36 Alpine. The ACO marshal has to see if the driver can open the door without assistance from the cockpit. The ACO marshal watches their work. Ben Hanley is in the lane with the #10 LMP1 DragonSpeed car, as the mechanics are looking for a problem with their torches. By torches, yours truly means, flashlights. This is not good news for Ben Hanley. The transmission or the gear selector is busted, perhaps. It's the ability to use all the gears that are still there.
We will likely go to the full eight hours for this race. Sebastien Buemi's gap over Jose Maria Lopez has ballooned somewhat, as Kevin Estre chases Nicky cats burg, and we have liftoff for the rocket at Kennedy Space Center. We are trying to find where the rocket is. The fire ought to be in the sky, soon, for NASA's latest launch. Richard Lietz is sitting back, perhaps letting Kevin Estre do all the heavy lifting. Rocket, oh rocket, where are you? There's the Delta 4, our space rocket blasting off. Maybe the satellite launch crew would have gotten on the phone to Sebring, yelling at the race organizers, "please, turn down the volume of your race cars!" followed by slamming the phone down and the utterance of "humph!"
Nicky Catsburg is cutting slightly into Andy Priaulx's lead. Julien Andlauer and Jonny Adam battle, and #92 hits the penalty box as the #1 rebellion has spun, Swiss Mathias Beche at the wheel of it. He's slightly offline, too much welly, and loops the car, turning it 'round and nearly getting clobbered by the Toyota's! Deary me! The marshals will surely call him to the sin bin for that one. Don't burn the clutch out. These clutches are only used for going out of pit lane, not for spinning victory donuts. I want a plain donut. Oh no you don't. Trust me. Mathias Beche says he was OK but got stuck in gear and couldn't downshift. He stalled the engine. You've to keep cool as a cucumber when that happens.
Problems for Jose Maria Lopez in the #7 Toyota, as the team has the back deckled off the car. He's made contact with another car's wheel. This is getting really tasty, but that taste is quite sour at the moment. Something has been knocked loose, and is being tie wrapped back on. Maybe it's a cooling hose. Lopez has already lost a lap or two. A new tail is going back onto the car, because at high speeds, the aerodynamic bits will tear themselves to pieces, as he was walloped by the TF Sport Aston Martin. It's totally unrelated to the Rebellion. Sebastien Buemi will be in a good spot.
The cookie is crumbling in favor of the #8 Toyota at the present time. New lap record as there's a broken Rebellion for Matthias Beche. right rear damage again for him, at turn, well, it's hard to tell. Oh! Jeepers! He spun and hit the wall, breaking the right rear corner of the car. The tail has been uninstalled, and a new one will go on, but check the rear suspension. that was quite the clatter. The right rear suspension is bent up, and the floor is dropped, delaminated across the bottom. they'll have to take it behind the wall.
He spun, as we look again, and... bang! Criminy! That was a horrid crash. #1 is being pushed to it's tent, and the marshal posts indicate that Renger van der Zande is slow, and he is still having transmission issues on the DragonSpeed car. He's probably got a box full of neutrals. Matthias Beche is OK, but he knows he was in trouble, committed to the corner, and he got pushed wide by his competitor. Martin Tomczyk has taken over the #81 MTEK BMW M8 GT. Bruno Spengler in the sister car has dropped to seventh in class. A softer compound tire might move around a tad more, and that doesn't mean the car is going to slide around.
But, the tires for a GT car are going to work different than they are for a Prototype. Contact between Toyota #7 and Aston Martin #90 is being investigated by the stewards. Vitaly petrov in the #11 SMP Racing BR01 has stopped. He spins in the first turn. How did he lose the car? The car seems OK. That was a one way conversation. Vitaly Petrov was a lucky chap just to spin the car. He steered, got behind in his steering, and spun off the road. The tighter you are to the wall, the more trouble you will be in, as there's more bother for the DragonSpeed car. Sebastien Buemi went off the road briefly. Andy Priaulx continues to lead GTE Pro, eking his lead back out over the last few laps with just over three hours left in this motor race.
BMW #82 is in the lane. This is routine service for a driver change. #81 was in the lane earlier. Will Stevens takes over the DragonSpeed car. GTE Pro leader Richard Lietz, as the ford is in the lane for service. Left side tires the call for Ford right now it seems. The rules have changed about tires and fuel on these pit stops. #63, the Corvette, only has one door number panel illuminated. Race leader, in the lane, the #8 Toyota.
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