Alessandro Pier Guidi continues to lead, and we have a tad over the regular duration of a GT World Challenge Europe race left. Get ready for a very frantic final hour. Mercedes #75 is second overall leading Pro-Am, but they have completed just six pit stops and needs one more yet. The Mutran brothers Porsche pits again. Robert Renauer in the top ranked Herberth Motorsports Porsche and more issues for Manuela Gostner and MP Racing and their green Mercedes AMG GT3. Car #58 in trouble, again! Jeez! More time penalties piling up. Stefano Constantini has one in his future aboard the #52 AF Corse Ferrari and now, Martin Konrad pits from second in Pro-Am as Alessandro Pier Guidi continues leading this motor race. We thought Mercedes would be the winners, but they are not quite where we expected them to be. Still over three hours to go yet. Things can change.
The #66 Audi for Attempto Racing has never led the race at the ending of each hour. Time will tell as Alessandro Pier Guidi has just become a stalwart Ferrari endurance racer. #75 back to the race but the #58 MP Racing Mercedes has been wheeled back into the garage on the dollies. Not good. Marvin Kirchhofer's McLaren is getting new boots installed and we shall have Marvin Kirchhofer driving I think and now, the #51 Mercedes AMG GT3 is back on the pit lane after fixing their exploded brake rotor from earlier on. The car is being refueled but it is car that is walking wounded. The Mercedes AMG GT3's have not lived up to what we've expected them to do as fans and as writers about GT and sports car racing tonight in Abu Dhabi.
Alessandro Pier Guidi has a comfortable lead as Alex Aka is still pressing on in 11th overall. Aka cuts a 1:53.5 as his most recent lap, a lap adrift of the car he is trying to catch. We are in full darkness at 6:15 P.M. in the evening in Abu Dhabi. Kelvin van der Linde trying to catch Alessandro Pier Guidi. Fuel pump woes again for the #58 MP Racing Mercedes which they are going to try fixing, again. Conrad Grunewald is back in the #61 Am class AF Corse Ferrari ahead of Stefano Constantini. Alessandro Pier Guidi leads Kelvin van der Linde by 41 seconds, but he has a minute and change in hand. There's nothing in it between two quality cars and two all-star drivers.
There is a long way to go yet. In 45 minutes, we shall reach 75% race distance as the #49 Porsche pits with Johannes Zelger driving. Ferrari #91 is slow, again, the Barron Motorsport entry is in strife again, in limp home mode. Is this mechanical? Is it fuel related? It is still crawling. Wait. It fires up and then konks out. Now, he might get to the lane but is almost stopped dead stick! Jeepers creepers! #91 have had a litany of woe today. The car is stopped and how on earth do the marshals move it? Eddie Cheever III. has pitted and here comes Stefano Constantini at AF Corse with the #55 car as well. Full Course Yellow.
Daniel Allemann has just nipped it in the bud as far as pitting before the yellow flew! #25, Christopher Haase in the lane for another regulation pit stop, stop number seven. Good strategy call, for Sainteloc. That's a wise decision. Hopefully a tow rope is the only thing needed to rescue that Ferrari. #25 is undergoing another brake pad change too I think. Nope. Nope. Never mind. Ferrari #91 stalls but then gets back into full power. It had to be rebooted and that was it or so I'd think. We may or may not need a safety car. 231 laps, 758 miles completed. Full Course Yellow still on the speedway, running at 80 kilometers per hour.
The marshals are also doing a track cleanup here. The #20 SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes, given a ten second penalty for causing a collision after Martin Berry hit the Ferrari with Laurent De Meeus at the wheel. Philip Ellis is now running in the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes and he shall be scrapping with the #71 Ferrari for IGTC honors. This would be the first race of the IGTC season in 2022 to not be won by Mercedes Benz should things stand the way they are for the next three and a half hours. The safety car is now on the circuit. Scoop up the field and get ready to go for it. Le Mans race winner Stephane Ortelli is here doing driver coaching. What a legendary driver he is! Ortelli owns an Audi that he won the Blancpain GT Europe series, and he raced the car in the historic exhibition races at Spa Francorchamps before the 24 hours last summer.
We are picking up the pace behind the safety car and readying for a restart. 233 laps now on the board. Stephane Ortelli will be the nominated driver for the Paul Ricard test day to set Balance of Performance for all the 2023 GT3 cars for next year. Jamie Stanley and his team are happy about catching a lucky break from the Full Course Yellow with three and a half hours to go. Back to green flag racing. Pit stop time for Luca Stolz in the #77 Mercedes and the #48 Porsche. That is Saalocin Racing with Stephane Kox, Peter Kox, Nico Pronk, and Tom Boonen. Team manager of #91 report to the stewards immediately. Thank you.
#48 back on track with Stephane Kox at the wheel of it. Daniel Allemann hands the Herberth Porsche to Daniel Allemann. Ivan Jacoma comfortably leads the Cup class in Porsche 911 GT3 Cup #92 for Centri Porsche Team. Alessandro Pier Guidi leads Kelvin van der Linde by nearly 13 seconds. Christopher Haase is losing time as he is trying to unlap himself and Jan Magnussen runs ahead of Ralf Bohn who he is trying to pass. MDK Ferrari vs. Herberth Porsche as Conrad Grunewald is still running very well in the Am class. Davide Rigon is about to bring the third place #50 Ferrari into the lane and has driven for the last hour. Car #25 of Christopher Haase being told it is not being counted for it's last pit stop because it was under yellow and it was supposed to be under green I believe, or maybe I am getting that rule wrong.
The stop does not count! Sheesh! What a waste! #50 to the pit lane with Davide Rigon. They come in three laps short of their forecasted entry. No driver standing by so presumably Rigon will do a double stint. He will. No one down there waiting. They are on the air jacks and are going to do a brake pad change but only pads, not full brake systems, under green. This could be trouble wuth the brake pad change as the clock ticks down and this is going pear shaped and Rigon is now a lap down! Oh dear! They still don't have things worked out on the righthand side of the car. #50 hemmorhaging time with the brake change. The brake rotor won't come off.
So, the pad comes out of the disc. It just is so hot it won't engage because the metal expands. That was extremely long just for brake pads on the front. Porsche #92 leads the Cup class in 19th place, running reliably. That is how a lot of Porsche's are. #71 into the pit lane from the lead. We know #71 won't need to change the brakes. Alessandro Pier Guidi hops out and we will see Kelvin van der Linde assume the lead in the #66 car for Audi Sport Team Tresor. James Calado was standing by and is now back in the #51 car. Christopher Haase will get a lap back but they are behind on pit stops and on pace.
So Sainteloc will have to dig their way out. James Calado is not in the Ferrari. It is Alessandro Pier Guidi. Kelvin van der Linde pits now too. Audi #66 is a pit stop ahead. Antonio Fuoco has to be in the #51 Ferrari. James Calado just confirmed it. Calado says they are pushing to the limit and that they know the Audi is quicker. They are still pushing, crossing their fingers, running smoothly. Alex Fox brings the #55 Ferrari to the lane for service as well. Ferrari #43 with Kevin Magnussen now at the wheel. Jan Magnussen I think, has just ended his stint and he is sweating bullets and needs a drink. All the drivers are absolutely boiling inside these cars even with a cool suit. There is so much heat soak in these closed cockpit race cars.
Audi #25 has been warned and they will be penalized I believe. They will cop a time penalty on the next pit stop as Antonio Fuoco leads the motor race by nine seconds but things are beginning to stabilize. The quickest car we have seen is Luca Stolz in the #77 Al Manar Mercedes, going purple in Sector 1 I believe. Phil Ellis, Benjamin Goethe, and Kevin Tse lead the Pro Am class and in Am it is Conrad Grunewald, Giorgio Sernagiotto, and Stephane Kox. The leading car has a driver ID setting problem and Antonio Fuoco did not plug his radio into the right connection I think for the transponder, the ID tag.
Oh my! A puncture at the right rear tire on Dennis Marschall's Audi! Big damage perhaps and there is no turn in that right rear wheel at all! The tire is off the rim. I wonder but I think that will be a good bit of damage. He turns right at an angle at a high rate of speed. A new tire is bolted onto the car and he hit the #92 Porsche. That's what happened. They have changed the tire and they've got bodywork damage at the right front corner I believe, according to our pit reporter Alan Hyde. Flapping right front bodywork was not repaired. The Gulf painted Porsche with the desert mural, car #92, has scuff marks and the #66 has stopped on the road! Game over for Dennis Marschall and company! Goodness gracious! Ivan Jacoma back on track now and on his way.
Dennis Marschall misjduged where that Porsche Cup- car was going into the corner. Marschall had a lapse in concentration or, the Porsche turned in. I think Marschall made the mistake and he knows. What has broken? Alfred Renauer aboard the #44 Porsche pushed back into the box. Christopher Haase to the lane for an official pit stop,hopefully, the sole remaining Attempto Tresor Audi, the #99 of Alex Aka is now in the pit lane too. Benjamin Goethe has the #88 Garage 59 McLaren in the lane as one of the leading Pro-Am contenders.
Full Course Yellow inj 20 seconds. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow. McLaren #88 and Garage 59 doing a brake change. ROFGO have really caught a lucky break here. Game over for the #66 Audi. They are out of it, probably at the exit of corner number one and up the hill. It may have been crabbing down the lane as well but it is hard to say looking at the camera angle. Kelvin van der Linde and Mattia Drudi's efforts come to naught.
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