The wheel nut did not seem to be right on the wheel for the #92 Porsche. Not good. Toyota lead LMP1. United Autosport lead LMP2. Aston Martin leads GTE Pro and Project 1 #57 Porsche leads GTE Am as we are into the second half of this motor race. The factory Porsche's are two laps adrift and their race is going pear shaped at the moment. Again, this race is the last one for the calendar year and the last one of the decade, before the second half of the season begins in 2020. The rain has passed. So, we have a dry track again here in the Arabian gulf. Ferrari #51 in the lane, but AF Corse dropped the car off the air jacks before the nut was secure on the left front wheel. That's not good. That has put the #71 sister AF Corse car into contention, and we now have Aston Martin 1-2 in GTE Pro, something we did not expect to see.
It's been quite the battle between Porsche, Ferrari, and Aston Martin in GTE Pro. A battle in GTE Am between Jonny Adam and Thomas Flohr. A change for fifth in GTE Am between TF Sport Aston Martin and AF Corse Ferrari. The #57 Team Project 1 Porsche continues to lead LM GTE Am. Larry ten Voorde leads both Mike Wainwright and Ross Gunn. If it happens to rain heavily and people want wet weather tires, they can use them, but the red, high intensity rain lights are now turned off. Jose Maria Lopez continues to lead this race, but, he is having to fight to keep the rear tires under the Toyota. #7 has led since coming out of the first turn at the start of this motor race.
Job van Uitert is going to take over from Romain Rusinov in the G-Drive Aurus LMP2 car. Aston Martin #97 is in the lane, leading GTE Pro. The car is splattered with specs of tire rubber in a big way. Romain Rusinov is pushing hard, defending from the #38 Jota Sport car of Ricardo Gonzalez. Ho-Pin Tung is catching up as well. Pit stop time for G-Drive, and a new set of boots on all four corners. Can Jota and Jackie Chan DC Racing come back and challenge G-Drive? The Goodyear shod cars are surely moving in on Filipe Albuquerque in the United Autosport car, leading in class. Porsche #91 leads the sister car #92 by a minute. Larry ten Voorde has the #57 Project 1 Porsche in the lead in GTE Am right now.
Aston Martin #95 leads GTE Pro. 135 laps, 454 miles complete. Toyota lead and run 1-2. #7 ahead of #8. Ferrari #71, Davide Rigon, gets pinged by the stewards with a drive through penalty for overtaking under a local yellow. AF Corse has shot themselves in the foot with one of their cars. Kenti Yamashita is back into the #33 High Class Racing LMP2 car. Yamashita is the junior driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing. Mark Patterson has done two single stints in that car so far. Pit stop time soon for Toyota #8 currently in the hands of Kazuki Nakajima. Thomas Laurent, in the #36 Signatech Alpine has been allowed to unlap himself.
Mark Patterson says he is running in the same bracket as Roberto Gonzalez and Frits van Eerd. Mark Patterson wants to be back at Le Mans this coming June. He's a real character. He is fit as a butcher's dog. Fit as a flea, and he loves his motor racing. We are set for more pit stop action. Mike Wainwright is in, and will hand over the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR to Ben Barker. The #88 Dempsey Proton Porsche is out of the motor race. The garage door is down, and it's game over. They have to get it back in one piece to head to the next two races in North America, here in the United States.
Whoa. Ho-Pin Tung goes off the road and back on in that double apex left-hander. Cool Racing is slow. They have trouble with that LMP2 car. Alexandre Coigny at the wheel of it. He's got a problem. He's twelve seconds down in the middle sector. Does he have a puncture? Is there a mechanical issue? Cool Racing is one of four teams that have come from European Le Mans into WEC. Cool, High Class, United Autosport, and Cetilar. Antonin Borga, the Swiss driver, is back into the car. Alexander Coigny is hard as nails. He had a fractured pelvis from a wreck at Silverstone in the European Le Mans Series, did not race at Silverstone, but, he clambered onto the podium to celebrate with the team when they won.
Giancarlo Fisichella is now in the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari. Fisichella raced here in Formula 1. Fisichella also raced here for Ferrari in GTE Pro. Larry ten Voorde has done FIA WEC, Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup and Porsche Carrera Cup. The next round of LMP1 pit stops are coming up in a lap or so. Giancarlo Fisichella has run five Formula 1 races here. The LMP2 cars will pit soon again as well. Pit stop time now for the #70 MR Racing Ferrari. Olivier Beretta at the wheel. Big damage on the left front corner. Motoaki Ishikawa got into argy bargy with someone. Mike Simpson, is walking backwards in the lane. What's that goofiness about? Audible laughter from your commentator.
Jota and Jackie Chan DC Racing, are both in the lane. No tires for #37. Tires for #38. Ross Gunn brings the #98 Aston Martin to the lane, and maybe, Paul Dalla Lana will still need to drive. Yes. He has about a half hour of driving he needs to do. 20 laps. Driver change as Racing Team Nederland. Nyck de Vries, a man of average height, is in the car now. Rebellion pit from third spot, actually fourth. Jordan King in the LNT Ginetta has made up a place. Norman Nato at the wheel of the Rebellion. Mike Simpson at the controls of the Ginetta. Motoaki Ishikawa explains that he has done a lot of GT racing, but the damage caused to the car had to do with oversteer. He says, "today, Kei, Olivier, and me, are not so fast."
Toyota #7 has just pitted and the #5 Ginetta is now parked. Jordan King has stopped at the hairpin between turns eight and nine. He's pulled to the side, on the sand. He's got a problem. He needs power and the car just loses drive. The driveshaft or the input shaft is busted. The engine is still running, but he's got a box of nails, a box of neutrals. Game over for the #5. New tail for the #8 Toyota. They had the previous tail on the car, wobbling, as it was not properly fitted. It is a ways behind the sister car.
The boys at Ginetta are obviously worried about their car. The Ginetta is now behind the crash barriers but it could be game over. Job van Uitert slips past Ho-Pin Tung in LMP2. United Autosport is now fifth in the overall. Poor old Team LNT is out of this motor race. It looks like it's game over. Jordan King is back in the cockpit, talking to Ginetta boss Lawrence Tomlinson. Just as he lifted off and started to downshift, it sounds like either the gearbox, the input shaft, or the differential, busted itself. The sister Ginetta, Mike Simpson at the wheel of it, is guiding the sole remaining Ginetta. If one car has an unexpected failure, you look at the data coming from the sister car to search for potential trouble.
Game over for Jordan King. He and his team mates will be the second retirement of the race here in Bahrain. Aston Martin #95 is in the lead of LM GTE Pro once more. Davide Rigon is monstering the lead Aston at the moment. The Aston Martin is consistently delivering performance. #71 had a penalty, and it's been rescinded by the stewards. The Porsche and the Aston, and the Ferrari, there's not a whole lot between them. They are all extremely competitive. Anthony Davidson is up the road running second in LMP2. Excuse me, third in LMP2, the #38 Jota Sport Oreca. Marco Soresen's younger brother, Lassi Sorensen, will test an Aston Martin in the rookie test, tomorrow. Once again, you will hear about that in a news update, next week.
It is a two horse race in LM GTE Pro right now. The Ferrari gains on the Aston as he's compromised by an LMP2 car. Yikes! Mike Conway leads this motor race in the #7 Toyota by two minutes over the sister car. 156 laps, 525 miles down. Pit stop time for Aston Martin and Ferrari for fuel and for tires. No driver changes. Left side tires for both cars, a car length apart. Actually, a few seconds is the difference. The same two drivers in the same cars and the Ferrari is skating around already, look. The Aston Martin per the Balance of Performance, gets six more liters of fuel, but no adjustments in BoP have happened since the previous race in China, and here. Jeroen Bleekemolen replaces Larry ten Voorde in the #57 Project 1 Porsche. Darren Turner leads now in the #98 Aston Martin ahead of Mike Wainwright in the #86 Gulf Porsche.
Jeroen Bleekemolen is in the class lead, ahead of Darren Turner who is slower than his pursuer, Ben Barker. They are turning laps in the 1:58-1:59 range. We continue to watch the battle between Turner and Barker. They lap past the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche, Christian Ried at the wheel of it. Mike Conway is asked to switch with Sebastien Buemi so that Buemi can get on the same lap with the sister Toyota.
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