31 laps now completed. 102 miles. We have the 2 Seas Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 pitting, car #1. Hunter Abbott started the car and has handed over to Martin Kodric. The third driver in the trio is double Gulf 12 Hours race winner is Isa Al Khalifa. Davide Rigon into the pit lane now, too, having completed 33 laps and into the lane, is car #92. But something is wrong with one of the GruppeM Mercedes AMG GT3's. Finaly Hutchison is also given a penalty for track limit offenses. Davide Rigon in Ferrari #50 is turned loose from the pit lane, and this puts the #43 MDK Motorsports Ferrari 488 GT3 into the lead with Jan Magnussen driving. Magnussen tags poor old Alessandro Cozzi who gets rotated again, after also being involved with Marco Pulcini, in the Kessel Racing Ferrari as the pit stops continue. Pulcini sharing the Kessel Racing entry with Niccolo Schiro, Nicolo Rosi, and Emanuelle Tabacchi.
More pit action. Alessandro Cozzi to the lane and now, Simon Gachet has also copped a five second penalty and we are watching for pit lane speeding too, which is inevitable. No safety cars through the first hour. The #88 Garage 59 McLaren will have to serve a time penalty for speeding in the lane. Poor old Alessandro Cozzi is being wheeled back into the garage on the dollies. Manuela Gostner into the pits for MP Racing and their #58 Mercedes AMG GT3. Giorgio Roda is the erstwhile leader by two secinds, the sole car that has not pitted yet. We see that Klaus Bachler has not pitted yet either, but we saw the #44 Porsche in the garage right from the start of the race earlier.
We have a very wide pit lane here in Abu Dhabi but one that is very busy. We have truly reached the grid limit capacity here in Abu Dhabi at 37 cars that started the race. The pit lane is long and wide. But all the cars are parked parallel to the lane on the apron. This is an invitational event really. You cannot have more than 40 cars in the race, honestly. Someone might have to get a makeshift Air B&B for one of those garages. Two pit stops each for Mercedes #89 and Ferrari #71 as Antonio Fuoco has taken over the Ferrari and Luca Stolz is also back in the lane and so is Kelvin van der Linde.
Time for driver changes for both of those cars with 38 laps on the board. Too busy to do a mileage check. Problems for the #98 continue and I think that Mercedes is out of the race. Game over. Dennis Marschall takes over the #66 Attempto Racing Audi R8. Nicklas Nielsen is now in the lead of the motor race in one of the Ferrari's. This race updates at the end of each hour but it is hard to figure out who exactly is in the lead bang on the hour. Niccolo Rossi for Kessel Racing scrapping with the AF Corse Ferrari's working lap 40. Brendon Iribe going for it against Alex Aka through turn one. Trouble nw and we have a Full Course Yellow, but why? Debris? A stalled car? Race Director Peter Roberts neutralizes the field.
Rear end damage for the #33 Ferrari that has spun off and crunched the wall, clonking the barriers, facing the wrong way. We are going to go safety car. This is the Pro Am entered Ferrari for Kessel Racing with Murat Cuhadaroglu of Turkey driving. All the regulation ten pit stops have to be done with 45 minutes of the race to go. Cuhadaraoglu sharing with David Fumanelli, Axcil Jeffries, and Giorgio Roda as the barriers are being repaired. Nicklas Nielsen leads Patric Niederhauser, Jonathan Hui, and Simon Gachet, followed by Alexander West, and Conrad Grunewald. Behind him is Darren Leung, Alex Aka, Brendon Iribe, and Robert Renauer.
AF Corse, Sainteloc, Sky Tempesta Racing, Sainteloc, Garage 59, AF Corse and others, as we are going to go to safety car conditions here. The trouble is, safety cars breed safety cars. We see that in other championships all the time. Conrad Grunewald pitted the #61 Ferrari and is doing a double stint. A ten second pit stop penalty for Jan Magnussen and MDK Motorsports when he crunched Alessandro Cozzi and there is a track limits issue for the #8 Mercedes AMG GT3 with Morgan Tillbrook at the controls. Tillbrook sharing the RAM Racing Mercedes with Ian Loggie and Mikael Grenier.
In replay, Murat Cuhadaraogluds, crunched the barriers after losing control. 43 laps now completed. 141 miles. Ferrari #71 will stay on the lead lap and the #8 Mercedes will lose a lap as we are under the control of the safety car as the marshals repair the barriers at turn four when the circuit drops away towards the hairpin. The pit stops taken under the safety car procedure do not count towards the official ten pit stops that must be taken. Nicklas Nielsen leads overall and in Pro. Pro Am is the #93 McLaren of Jonathan Hui. GT3 Am is Conrad Grunewald, and in Porsche Cup, the #95 Duel Racing by Toro Verde Porsche is Nabil Moutran.
There will be no wave by for this restart. Morgan Tillbrook will want to push. He is a quick amateur driver who has a family as well. He wanted to do a full year of racing but made the decision that his family is also very important. Safety car in this lap. We know these three blokes want to push. Patric Niederhauser will want by Morgan Tillbrook ASAP so he can chase down the leading Ferrari of Nicklas Nielsen. Green flag. Nielsen pounces and is eking out a lead already. Catching is easy but passing is far more difficult. That is the nature of GT3 racing. Jonathan Hui passes Alexander West in a battle of the McLaren's.
Ernst Kirchmeyer also goes past. It is a tight squeeze into the corner. Niccolo Rossi and others are all over the shop/ Cold tires for sure. Nicklas Nielsen leads by 1.9 seconds over Patric Niederhauser, 47 laps completed. Darren Leung, Antonio Fuoco, and more, are in a scrap for position while Simon Gachet and Aaron Walker both pit and so does Ernst Kirchmayr, and Raffaele Marciello who will be relieved by Jules Gounon I believe. Gounon is very upset, though, for some reason. The car is on the dollies and that is why Jules Gounon is unhappy. Both AKKA ASP cars are now in the garage, changing things for the title.
We will have to watch Luca Stolz and see where he is. There is smoke coming out of the GruppeM Mercedes from under the bonnet with over ten hours remaining. We have a long, long, long way to go yet. Now perhaps, there is a loose pipe connection for the fuel injectors or something. You just cannot fall behind a lap. Patric Niederhauser is reeling in Nicklas Nielsen but there is trouble in paradise for the Intercontinental GT Challenge championship leaders. The #25 Sainteloc Audi is in the lane for service and a driver change while the sister #26 car for their team has been taken over by 23 year old rookie Gilles Magnus. Magnus taking over from Simon Gachet.
A scheduled pit stop at Sainteloc. No dramas. The Mercedes situation is that car was losing water and they had an air bubble in the radiator causing it to become a geyser. The luck is not shining on the GruppeM team. At GruppeM they will have to shut the engine off to get the water in. Haste makes waste. Conrad Grunewald, Robert Renauer, Dennis Maeschall, and more, scrapping for fifth through eighth spot. Marschall almost hits Alexander West under the bridge between the W Hotel and the marina. The order remains the same. Alexander West in the McLaren is indeed the cork in the bottle.
Antonio Fuoco also wants a bite of the cyerry. Stolz wants by West and now, Fuoco tries but will get squeezed by the McLaren, look. Stolz is pushing for all he's worth, dead set leveo, ad Renauer dives past West and here comes Fuoco up two places. Crunch! Nabil Moutran has spun out and hit the barriers. Can he restart the car? Yes. He will have to head for the pit lane to check the car. Braking as late as he dares, puts the power down, and rotates, the barrier says come to me, and... clang. Right into ye olde fence. Five second time penalty for Dominik Baumann for speeding in the pit lane at the SPS Automotive Performance team with their Mercedes AMG GT3.
Alex Aka is now second I believe and has been motoring. Phillip Ellis also passes by Jonathan Hui. He is third in the overall and has to go by Morgan Tillbrook in the lapped RAM Racing Mercedes in the legendary silver, blue and red D2 livery. Mercedes used that livery in DTM and FIA GT1 for years. Work continues on the #98 Mercedes. Dennis Marschall is the next driver in the queue to look for. He has stopped twice, or the car has, and he wants to pass Jonathan Hui ASAP. Marschall came out of the German Volkswagen and Audi Cup one-make championships. Marschall is lapping quicker than the race leaders. So we shall have a Captain Cook at Dennis Marschall for the time being while Christopher Haase, too, has uncorked a 1:52.634.
Conrad Grunewald is also pushing hard. Poor old Nabil Moutran is getting mugged by these quick cars. Dennis Marschall was a last-minute stand in at Audi Sport Team Attempto for Ricardo Feller. GruppeM are still pouring water into the #89 Mercedes AMG GT3. No hole in the radiator I don't think but there could be a blown head gasket on that car if it is bubbling while the engine is still running. A head gasket failure is a hugely unusual failure on a GT3 car. Grunewald and Stolz pass Jonathan Hui both and Conrad Grunewald is a class winner in GT World Challenge America and is showing what he is made of on the world stage.
Luca Stolz passes by Conrad Grunewald who has also been a drag racer and a drifting racer.
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