This is a great battle and a good move for Bamber. Access to pit lane is forbidden, as we have a Full Course Yellow. Access blocked between the Formula 1 pit lane and the endurance pit lane. Someone has made a mistake with how they are in the pit lane. Someone has hit head on, a wall with a gap in the pit lane. Did they understeer in a puddle? Was there a loose wheel? Who was the car to hit this wall? We'll have to do process of elimination. Pit lane is prohibited according to Alain Adam's message. Porsche #991 was in the lane. What is going on? Who is not moving in sector one on the course? Cars are in the pit lane. #51 is in the lane. Maxime Soulet is in the lane as well. Pit, or, stay out, but people need fuel. The cars are rumbling around at 80 clicks.
Bentley #3 has taken their technical pit stop. We are under the safety car. Some takers on the pit stops. We will assume everything is peachy right now and just go bish bash bosh, and see where things stand. The cars can now warm their tires. Nicklas Nielsen leads Andrea Caldarelli. Mueller, Winkelhock, Jaminet, next up. The safety car will be into the lane and we will go green next time 'round. Porsche #99 is in tenth place, making a pit stop. #98 is seventh, still on the lead lap. Ferrari #72 for SMP is a lap down. Those who didn't go into the pit lane when it was closed will get a double whammy when we go back to green flag racing.
Lights off on the safety car. Green flag. Green flag, and a clear road for the #51 Ferrari, Nicklas Nielsen. He will have three solid laps of great visibility, and no traffic. Don't bin it. Keep it on the road, sunshine. They scream through Eau Rouge. Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, all into one corner. Where is the next car in the queue, behind the Honda? We also know the Ferrari was first in the queue. Where is Lamborghini #63? We need a GPS tracker. #88 is still in the pit lane. I believe they are out. Audi #66 and Porsche #12 are battling for third.
Patrick Niederhauser is defending from Earl Bamber, I believe. Gabriele Piana leads the Silver class in the HRT Mercedes. Jonathan Hui is crushing it in the Ferrari right now. He is really driving superbly. Jonathan Hui is in the zone. He isn't fighting the wheel through Campus, down the hill through Stavelot, joining the old circuit, the old public road. That Ferrari sounds great. Twin turbo V8./ Wow. Brake on the grippy side, and move across to the racing line. Earl Bamber is fifth and he has passed the Parker Racing Bentley, in the hands of Nicolai Kjergaard. Matthieu Jaminet is bish bash boshing it through traffic at the moment.
Jaminet up to second. Andrea Caldarelli moves to third ahead of Patrick Niderhauser, Earl Bamber, and Sven Mueller, in the top six. #10 and #35 are being investigated for pit lane speed infractions. Dane Cameron in 15th now at the wheel in the Honda NSX GT3. Sven Mueller, Dorian Boccalacci, Davide Rigon, Thomas Preining, and Vincent Abril, the top ten. Earl Bamber in fifth has clear track ahead of him. Matthieu Jaminet should be catching Nicklas Nielsen. Preining wants to unlap himself but he can't quite make it. Davide Rigon is being chased by Thomas Preining, right behind leader, Nicklas Nielsen. Audi #66 and Porsche #22, are under investigation.
Preining wants by that Ferrari and he runs very wide into the Bus Stop. Preining is balked by the race leader at the La Source hairpin. The Ferrari's are giving Preining fits. Rigon is wedged between a rock and a hard place. Every time he goes offline, he opens the door slightly for Preining. #72 goes around #51 and #51 is getting out of the way. The pit crews organized that one and it's perfectly fine. Davide Rigon was probably howling on the radio, "get him out of the way so I can get by this wretched Porsche!" Patrick Niederhauser is still glued to Andrea Caldarelli. Fred Schandorff is battling Ferdinand Habsburg as well.
Half a second is the magic number in a car with downforce. It matters less in cold, wet weather like we have at Spa now. The times being set by Audi and Lamborghini are identical. The Audi and the Ferrari are battling for position. The cutback and good defense. Check that. That's Audi and Lamborghini, not Ferrari. Pardon me. This is wild racing and we still have ten hours and ten minutes left on the board. The Lamborghini is behind and the Audi is now in front. Was there contact at La Source? Ezequiel Perez-Companc has the fastest trap speed into Eau Rouge. Wow! He is in a Mercedes AMG GT3.
Ferrari #72 and Porsche #40 are still pushing as well, after they've unlapped themselves. Davide Rigon is a second and a half ahead of Thomas Preining. The Bus Stop chicane is no longer a real bus stop. I take that back. So, it is very similar to the Bus Stop at Daytona International Speedway, which is also not a real bus stop. Anyhow, Jonathan Hui is still pushing. The grip0 levels are rising slowly, and it's chilly. It was chilly before the rain, and is still that way. The track temps have plummeted. Ditto for the air temperature. We will have some early morning mist for sure. Jonathan Hui runs six places ahead of Chris Goodwin and eight places ahead of Sandy Mitchell, talking of the Pro Am contenders. Ralf Bohn in the #991 Porsche is 27th overall. Bohn sharing with the Renauer brothers, Alfred and Robert, and Daniel Alleman. Three German drivers, and a Swiss driver.
The Ferrari is 9/10ths quicker than the Lamborghini. Everyone is being warned for track limits because the track conditions changing. It's pitch dark and we have ten hours to go yet.
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