Ferrari #71 has run a 24-lap stint and the stints have become shorter than we anticipated at about 30 laps compared to 35 laps which was forecasted. Lucas Legeret is 18.2 seconds down on Alessandro Pier Guidi I believe. Alex Aka continues to fend off Fabian Schiller and we have not seen any blue flags yet. Have GetSpeed gotten on the horn to the stewards? These cars are so incredibly evenly matched. It is unreal. Fabian Schiller is now an hour and 20 minutes into his stint, losing time hand over fist being stymied behind Alex Aka. Aka too, held up by traffic as well, look. Philip Ellis is the chaser and finally, contact, twice between Schiller and Aka! OK. This short track stock car style contact is just not necessary, however, Schiller really, really had to push! Alex Aka is about to be swallowed up by the AF Corse Ferrari and it is a piece of cake, look, for Alessandro Pier Guidi.
Fabian Schiller pinged for track limits offenses with a five second penalty! Ouch! Oh man oh man, that stings! A lead balloon, a broken elevator. Contact noted by the stewards as Alessandro Pier Guidi continues to lead and he should pit in three or so laps. Ralf Bohn pits the #69 Pro Am class Herberth Motorsports Porsche to hand over to Robert Renauer I believe. Pier Guidi leads Lucas Legeret by 17.6 seconds and Kelvin van der Linde is running far quicker than those two chaps. Patrick Kolb has taken over the Herberth Motorsports Porsche. Okie dokie then. The top seven cars are all IGTC entrants. Lucas Legeret in the lane now at the end of 143 laps. Have to check the distance.
Lucas Legeret out of the Sainteloc Audi handing back to Simon Gachet. Clean the windscreen, fuel the car. 36 laps to a stint. Lucas Legeret's drink bottle broke in the car, and he was getting thirsty. That is why he ended his stint early. There are so many fascinating drivers, interesting characters, in this race. Alessandro Pier Guidi continuing to lead over Kelvin van der Linde as we see the SunEnergy1 by SPS Mrrcedes AMG GT3 of Philip Ellis leading Pro Am. Martin Konrad still has not driven the car. Kenny Habul and Martin Konrad have already won in class in an Intercontinental GT Challenge race this year in 2022.
Pier Guidi leads van der Linde by a minute and 11 seconds. Alex Aka dinged again for track limits, a five second penalty. Jean Claude Saada still leads in the Am class at AF Corse in the #61 car, the American AF Corse team that runs primarily in SRO GT World Challenge America or at least they have the last couple years. We have seen very few Full Course Yellows/safety car scrambles. We have had three safety car interventions in this race so far. Pit stops beckon and the first of these is the #99 Attempto Racing Audi team. Fuel and a driver change set. I think they might do tires as well. 34 laps done by the leading Ferrari as Alessandro Pier Guidi comes to the pit lane. Finlay Hutchison takes over the #99 Audi.
He is a former British GT racer and ran in GT World Challenge Europe with Audi and WRT who are now a BMW affiliated team. Also into the pit lane again is Fabian Schiller in the #77 Mercedes AMG GT3 at Al Manar Racing by GetSpeed. 53 seconds. Maybe there was a puncture. It was not a regulation pit stop. It was emergency service I believe, according to the rules. Kelvin van der Linde leads Nicklas Nielsen, Erwan Bastard, Antonio Fuoco, and Simon Gachet. It was a flat tire for the #77 Mercedes AMG GT3. Some teams still have wet weather Pirelli P Zero tires handy. We could perhaps see raindrops again before this race ends. The wind is picking up.
Kelvin van der Linde continues leading the motor race. You really haven't missed anything at the top of the shop. Schiller and Aka have both been given warnings by the stewards. I see. There is a chunk of debris at turn 14 on the outer edge of the circuit under the bridge. Kelvin van der Linde makes his way to the pit lane for service from the lead of the motor race. A 30-lap stint for van der Linde compared to 34 laps for Pier Guidi and 36 laps for Legeret. I see. I see. Tires changed on the car and Kelvin van der Linde will be replaced by Dennis Marschall who is next into the car, cleaning the windscreen and not yet touching the tear offs on the windscreen. This event does not have a 65-minute stint length limit. The minimum is two hours and maximum is two and a half, I think.
There is no real set in stone regulation on drive times. Porsche #44 in the lane as well. Erwan Bastard will do another stint and Alessio Rovera has taken over the AF Corse car as the #11 Ferrari has skidded into the barriers, Marco Pulcini getting out of the car, with steam or smoke billowing from the car. This will be our fourth Full Course Yellow. He lit up the tires through turn 16 and crunches the wall. Ah. He was way off into the corner, unsettles itself, he is at the point of no return, and hits the nose on the... boom. Crunch!
As track cleanup continues, we are oh, 20 minutes away from the halfway mark as yours truly was taking a short break to grab a coffee at 6:20 A.M. in the morning U.S. time on this Sunday morning. Alex Aka had a slight electrical issue on the Audi in the gearshift, in the gearbox as it was. This is bizarre with recovery vehicles blocking the road trying to retrieve the #11 Ferrari and Patric Niederhauser was trying to work his way between the Ferrari and the breakdown truck. Breakdown truck? That is what we call a tow truck here in the states. There is an option to use the pit lane but you need to be behind the safety car in single file.
We continue under Full Course Yellow with Antonio Fuoco leading over Simon Gachet, Phillip Ellis, Dennis Marschall, Fabian Schiller, and Benji Goethe. The car has to be jammed in gear, maybe in neutral and it is not yet on the flatbed breakdown truck. Flatbed truck? Flatbread truck? Oh no! Hunger is setting in. I told you it was breakfast time! Flatbread truck! Hardy har har. Tee hee! jEAN Claude Saada and Ivan Jacomo are both leading their respective classes, still. You need a team engineer to do technical jiggery pokery to help the marshals move the automobile. Of the 34 cars that started, we shall have 27 cars still in the field and seven retirements.
You cannot put under Full Course Yellow or the safety car scramble. Poor old #11 in 20th place is jammed in gear and the marshals, the orange army, are loading it on the flatbed truck but the car is stuck in the mud, or the sand. If it won't go backwards, well, chaps, it ain't going forward it. Push it! Push it! OK. OK. I'll push it! No, wait. Pull it! Don't pull it! Put a dolly under the wheels. Well, we'll see if that works. We aren't going to be putting the safety car out yet by any means. Bring the cars down the pit lane and get people more space to work. Race Director Peter Roberts and Deputy Race Director Chris Norman are making decisions right now, talking on the radio, making a plan.
The Ferrari comes into the lane but maybe for just a splash and a dash. Hold the phone. They are doing a brake change. They are changing brake rotors on that car. This is a perfect time for doing the brake change but it won't count as a regulation stop for a rotor and pad change, a disc and pad change. Why are they doing it on the pit apron instead of in the box? I wonder. They can replace pads and discs in that spot. Now, they are only doing front brakes on the Ferrari. Just the front rotors. The other things they could do would be to top up fluids or clean out the grille or radiator inlets.
Simon Gachet assumes the lead, ten minutes shy of the halfway mark in the race. Antonio Fuoco drops back in the queue. The marshals tell everyone to run wide to give the appropriate space to move the #11 which they cannot move because the dollies are not positioned right. AF Corse have won this race before Kessel Racing, too, have won here. AF Corse have not won this race since 2014. Simon Gachet and Audi go back to th race lead. I see. Ferrari #71 is only about three seconds back from the leading Audi. 3.7 seconds and they've lost barely anything after the brake change.
Jonathan Hui brings the #93 McLarend down the pit lane and had a penalty but I don't think he can serve it under yellow. The marshals have removed the dollies and they have found neutral and the #11 is now on the flatbed and we will move that car and go to safety car conditions before we turn them loose and go back to green again. We are waiting for two course vehicles to move back behind the barriers are we can get the safety car out and pick up the speed before we go back to green. Pit stop time for Dominik Baumann and a brake change is being done on his Mercedes as well, same as we just saw for the Ferrari, but this on the right side of the car.
We will get the safety car out to bring the tires back up to pressure and temperature. Remember, for the final pit stop of the race, you have to have made it and be on the track to finish the race, before the clock has elapsed 11 hours and 15 minutes, with 45 minutes to go. Some teams might be trying to do a splash and a dash before the green, but I don't think that is going to work necessarily as everyone is going to be picking up speed here. Fabian Schiller though, might duck to the lane here from fifth spot.
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