Left side tires for the Porsche in GTE Pro. Three wide in the GT classes! Yikes! Sebastien Buemi is upset about tires. He is struggling with the temperature window, and it seems like he feels as though he's driving on ice. Meantime, in LMP2, Job van Uitert is in a fair scrap with Andre Negrao in the Signatech car. Brendon Hartley is now at the wheel of the #8 Toyota. Phil Hanson is running quicker than Anthony Davidson in LMP2 right now. Pit stop time for the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche, the sole remaining Dempsey Proton entry in the race. Matteo Cairoli is now driving. The #97 Aston Martin pits from the GTE Pro lead as well. Two hours and 48 minutes left on the clock. Aston Martin will put a full set of fresh tires on the car. New boots all the way 'round the car as they have a squizz at the nose, and put some gaffer tape on the front of the car to hold a piece of bodywork. Alex Lynn has taken over from Maxime Martin.
Matteo Cairoli is not in the Dempsey Proton machine. He is in the Project 1 #56 car. #77 is another Italian driver, Ricardo Pera, sharing with Matt Campbell, the Australian, and Christian Ried from Germany. Darren Turner leads his fellow Brit, Ben Barker. Pit stop time for United Autosport in LMP2, the #22 car. Pit stop time as well for Racing Team Nederland. Nyck de Vries is into the car. Two more stints for the LMP2 cars with less than two hours and 45 minutes to go. Actually, we have just over the standard distance to go, of an IMSA WeatherTech Championship sprint race. Gabriel Aubry is now at the controls of the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca. Norman Nato pits the #1 Rebellion and stays in the car.
A full set of sticker tires for the #37 machine, and actually, they might be scrubbed. Half fresh, half scrubbed. Are tires unidirectional? Michelin does not like you using the tires in the opposite direction. The tire construction is designed to go in one direction. United Autosports have dominated LMP2 today. Mike Conway and Toyota continue to lead the motor race. If the #7 wins, they will take the world championship points lead, and also, the win lead for the season. The lead in the wrold championship will swing, for sure. The #6 Team LNT Ginetta pits. Mike Simpson out, Chris Dyson in. Penalty for the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche. There is some infraction. There could be a myriad of things.
Leader in the lane. Mike Conway is at the end of a double stint. Giedo van der Garde is the driver in the Racing Team Nederland Oreca. Mike Conway stays in the car. Aston Martin #98 in the lane for new tires. Darren Turner brought the car in and Ross Gunn is in for another stint. We have time to burn for Paul Dalla Lana. He still needs to go for another stint. Actually, we are not sure if it is Ross Gunn or Paul Dalla Lana. Ah. It is Ross in the car now. Toyota #8 is second, just about a lap down to the sister car. #7 has had the edge today in the Toyota camp. Toyota #7 sends it past the #8, lapping his team mate.
The two cars are very slightly different. The #7 has a little more energy and a slightly larger fuel restrictor. They are both on the same weight. There has been no success ballast added. If I were a driver, I would take an advantage over my team mates in the sister car. #7 is a lap up on the whole of the rest of the field. Brendon Hartley is second in the sister Toyota and third is Rebellion #1, Norman Nato still at the wheel of it. Aston Martin #95 is coming back into the picture. They have been 85% there for the last two races at least. If Nikki Thiim can'[t get closer to the Ferrari, he should save his tires and cool his brakes, and then, try to go for the pass in a few laps.
Your radiator and brake ducts at this time, are getting filled with clag from the track surface. You need to have track position though, in the last two hours. We have had a lot of green flag running. United Autosport is ready to pit. At some point in this race, we have run the four millionth lap in WEC modern history! Holy cow! Since 2012, we have been pounding the miles. 178 laps, 599 miles. We have gone 600 miles. Francesco Castelacci is in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari right now. He is ahead of Ross Gunn and Andrew Watson.
Mike Conway now starts the 182nd lap of this race, running in the lead. 21 minutes away from the traditional six hours. But, we have two hours left to go. 29 of 31 cars that started this race are still running. Only two retirements. A loss of power is reported on the Ginetta. Maybe the transmission misselected a gear and it sounded like someone dropped a spanner into the gearbox, much like poor old Nigel Mansell retiring on the final lap of the 1991 Canadian Grand Prix. The #29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca is sixth in LMP2 in class.
Romain Rusinov is flying in the G-Drive car, still. He is quick, and consistently quick. He does wear his emotions on his sleeve, and that sometimes may hamper him to be able to win. Nikki Thiim will hand over to Marco Sorensen soon. Alex Lynn is eking tenths out over the two Porsche's which are caboose on the GTE Pro field as they have had a bad day at the office today. The GT drivers' world championship, sees the points for the factory Porsche drivers, being taken away, by an Am class, privateer Porsche. That's got to be embarrassing. Jeroen Bleekemolen has been struggling and co-driver Larry ten Voorde has been quicker.
Toyota #8 in the pit lane, for scheduled service. They need to manage their spot in second, and they know they can't contest the win with their sister car. Don't chuck it off the road. Keep going. Toyota #7 leads by a whole lap, by two minutes at least. Ross Gunn in the Aston Martin has run the fastest lap in GTE Am, 1:57.242, and he is faster than any of the factory drivers in GTE Pro. Ross Gunn is a factory driver, but in the Am class. Cool Racing are in the pit lane. Alexandre Coigny is out of the car. Not sure who will replace him for this next stint. United Autosport are preparing for a pit stop. Cetilar Racing in the lane as well. Giorgio Sernagiotto is out, and then, it will either be Roberto Lacorte or Andrea Belicchi in the car.
Belicchi might be getting into the car. Belicchi ran with Rebellion for many years. United Autosport is still in the lane. Could they have trouble. Paul di Resta is in the car, but has relinquished the LMP2 lead to Anthony Davidson. No tires for United Autosport as the LM GTE Pro lead battle hits the pit lane. It's Ferrari vs. Aston Martin, the hand span of a diminutive mechanic. Alex Lynn went by James Calado. Four tires for the Ferrari, scrubbed. Maybe it was a two tire call for Aston Martin. Jota Sport in the pit from the lead in LMP2. It'll be close between Jota and United. What did these teams do for tires?
Both stayed on their same sets of tires. So, Paul di Resta will lose time and Gabriel Aubry is the meat in the sandwich. Aubry needs to stop too. Rebellion #1 in the lane, too.
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