1,000 Miles of Sebring: Hour 4

We have had a very busy race with no safety cars or Full Course Yellows.  Louis Deletraz now leads in LMP2.  Prema are beginning to show themselves.  It is their first sports car endurance race and first FIA WEC race after being very successful in Formula 2 and Formula 3 with open wheel cars.  Prema have perhaps gone through more tires than United Autosport have.  Insofar as pace, Lorenzo Colombo and then Louis Deletraz, they are chipping the seconds away from Paul Di Resta's advantage.  Di Resta is losing time hand over fist.  He is falshing the lights and is going to swap places with Will Owen.  Jose Maria Lopez leads Brendon Hartley and Andre Negrao in Hypercar.  

Paul di Resta moves ahead of Will Owen while Louis Deletraz leads in LMP2.  Mike Conway is set to take over the #7 Toyota ahead of the sister car.  "Pechito" Lopez may become the race leader.  The #708 Glickenhaus is in the pit lane now.  In and out, down and away with no worries.  No tires at United Autosports.  Fred Poordad receives no further action on his pit entry.  He says he had to drive around with a punctured left rear tire and he was trying to give other cars the right of way before the car spun on the curbs.  Too bad the tire went flat and he has to run a further 11 minutes of his scheduled driver time.  He was going through turn three, letting a Pro level car go by and then he got passed.

Fred Poordad says he might get his drive time finished if there is a Full Course Yellow but we have not seen one yet.  That is a disaster.  Oh my God!  Oh my God!  Jose Maria Lopez has gone around the outside and pinched in on a Porsche, spinning the car and clouting the wall!  There is front end damage for Toyota #7.  No steering and Lopez flips the car!  Race stopped.  Red flag.  Huge accident.  Lopez is out of the car.  Lopez went up the fence and barrel rolled the car!  Oh my God!  That was a frightening wreck.  Jose Maria Lopez spun and then tried to continue and between turn 15 and 16, on acceleration, the nose lost aerodynamics and he hit the tire wall and barrel rolled.  Holy cow!

Julien Andlauer was in the #88 Dempsey Proton Porsche and that was the car Jose Maria Lopez ran into.  The nose dropped down and the smoke is the friction from the nose section rubbing on the concrete.  Lopez can't steer, he brakes, and the car can't stop and vaults over sideways.  He had zero steering.  Sacre bleu!  Going to take a brake for lunch during this red flag period and we will be back soon.  The clock will continue to tick.