Mercedes are having a party with two hours to go. The BMW's have been having some troubles of course. Valentino Rossi is finished with his driving and there's still trouble with a broken pedal box compared to other drivers. David Fumanelli is now back in the #11 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. Al Faisal Al Zubair is now at the controls of Mercedes #3 and Ralf Bohn will stay aboard the Herberth Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. Mercedes looks as if they could win it all when this whole deal is over. We'll have to see what happens. Mercedes perhaps will overtake BMW who came into the weekend nine points up.
Frank Bird is catching Ollie Milroy but to make it work, he will really have to turn up the heat, working on Al Faisal Al Zubair. Ollie Milroy has indeed done his maximum stint time. Phillipp Eng in the #32 BMW M4 GT3 has been pinged with a track limits penalty to rub salt into their wounds. Joel Sturm has completed his stint in the #21 Porsche. New sticker Pirelli tires and a full fuel load as Greg Guillvert has come back up the order in the #2 entry. Frank Bird pits the #77 Mercedes-AMG GT3 for it's ninth pit stop of the race. Joel Sturm finally gets to drive the #21 Porsche! All right! He has finally earned his drive time in the last hour and fifty some odd minutes to go.
GruppeM still have to press on and can't get complacent. Some of the newly profiled corners here at Yas Marina are really working out especially turn nine. Rob Bell is now driving the McLaren and now, Maro Engel, fractionally slower than the BMW, but he can cruise for the last hour and 45 minutes of the Gulf 12 Hours. I must warn that this motor race could get anticlimactic in the close stages, the closing stanza. Jules Gounon and 2 Seas Mercedes need one more pit stop to get home for this race. All the imposed pit stops must be completed by the 45 minutes remaining mark. In Am, Joel Sturm is a couple laps ahead of everyone else in the Car Collection Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R.
Matteo Cairoli will be extremely rapid, and he has passed the Ferrari 296, the Revell/Carrera model cars entry of Rammez Azam. 293 laps now completed here in Abu Dhabi. 961 miles. Make that 294 laps, 965 miles. Minimum time in the pits is one way you can win a race. David Fumanelli for Ferrari and Matteo Cairoli for Porsche, they are both expert drivers. Cairoli is all over Fumanelli like a rash. My gosh. This could be for the final spot on the podium in the Pro-Am class. It is. Cairoli is going for it. One car to the pit lane, Rammez Azam. Trouble for the #26 Racing One Ferrari 296 GT3 being pushed backwards into the garage.
Corina Gostner brings the #73 MP Motorsport Mercedes into the pit lane and then into the garage with braking issues. The wear and tear begin kicking in. That is why this is called endurance sports car racing. The right front brake is extremely hot, and they are disassembling the right front brake. Debris on the road inturns three and four as Matteo Cairoli is closing on David Fumanelli. Cairoli dives into the turn and slams the door in Fumanelli's face! Holy smokes! Debris still on the road and not too far off the racing line. It looks like a wheel arch insert and not carbon fiber that is razor sharp.
The Fumanelli and Cairoli scrum is going to continue as we watch Maro Engel in the lead. Engel is under no pressure from Dries Vanthoor, but he has been reported to the stewards for a fourth offense of track limits abuse. An hour and a half of racing remain in the 2023 season. More track limits penalties for the Audi and one of the Ferrari's. Nothing yet for Dries Vanthoor, currently. BMW may just need to settle for second when that fat lady sings for this one. Dries Vanthoor is chipping away. The gap is down to 8.8 seconds. He will wring the neck of the BMW, but Maro Engel has more left in the locker and can turn the wick up. A five second penalty copped by Vanthoor. That puts a nail in the coffin on the championship ambition for Munich.
Phillipp Eng is now at the wheel of the #32 Team WRT BMW passing by Xavier Knauf. Porsche #33 into the pit lane. Matteo Cairoli out and Tim Heinemann will finish this race with 85 minutes now remaining. Cairoli is leaving Porsche at the end of 2023 and rumors are he is headed for Lamborghini for 2024. Nick Yelloly says that his left leg was cramping under braking. Valentino Rossi may have been having the same issue. Stephane Lemeret is in the lane with the #20 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3. More debris on the road and it is off of the #7 Porsche. Al Faisal Al Zubair has ninth place in the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 for 2 Seas Motorsports. They can get both cars on a couple of podiums depending on if they get the rub of the green.
Marvin Kirchhofer and company have flown Plummet Airways to 14th place after the tire puncture from the contact with one of the Ferrari's earlier today. GruppeM look like a different team compared to last year when both of their cars dropped out of the race within the opening handful of hours, and by 1/3rd duration, it was game over for both cars. This year, they are having a much better motor race. Dries Vanthoor is chipping the gap away, but they have a penalty in their future. Corinna Gostner is now at the wheel of the #58 MP Motorsports Mercedes. The #26 car, we must check and see about the issues of that car overheating or overheating the brakes.
Maro Engel is eight seconds to the good, in the lead. Porsche #33 of Tim Heinemann, he has passed Ralf Bohn for 11th place. Tim Heinemann and Matteo Cairoli both had extremely impressive races at the 24 Hours of Spa last summer. Alessio Rovera is a minute and ten seconds ahead of Tim Heinemann and he may just hold station. Maro Engel leads, and nothing has happened with respect to Dries Vanthoor making inroads. Heinemann is 11th in the Pro-Am #33 Herberth Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. Heinemann threads the needle to pass the sole Audi in the field with Xavier Knauf at the wheel of it.
310 laps now completed, 1,017 miles. Make that 311 laps, 1,020 miles. We are steadily closing in on one hour of racing remaining. Conrad Grunewald is 17th aboard the #61 Ferrari. Miguel Ramos or Jean Claude Saada will finish. It will be Ramos, the Portuguese veteran endurance driver. Rob Bell at the wheel of the #27 McLaren 720S GT3. Any car failing to complete the number of imposed pit stops, you get three laps worth of penalties. It triples with every offense. Trust me, you don't want to cop a three-lap penalty. Ralf Bohn makes his last pit stop and so does Xavier Knauf. Knauf, the Belgian driver. Herberth Motorsports are doing a driver change. Dries Vanthoor will be in the lane at WRT and the 2 Seas Mercedes is also in the pit lane, the #3 car.
Herberth Motorsports have pitted both their cars, here comes #33. Dries Vanthoor will be good to go to the end of the race. No driver present for the #33 so Tim Heinemann will take the car to the checkered flag. New slick Pirelli P Zero tires for Dries Vanthoor. BMW have never won this race overall. Maro Engel now into the pit lane from the lead and they are sitting pretty with an hour to go because unlike 2 Seas, GruppeM have not had to do a brake change. Maro Engel will finish the race and all he needs is fuel and new tires and a clean windscreen.
There shall be a driver change for the #77 Mercedes and I think Lucas Auer will take the car to the checkered flag after Lorenzo Ferrari finishes his stint. Maro Engel is down and away. Final pit stop in the bag. Ferrari #25 in as well. Alessio Rovera was driving and I think he will continue. He will take the car to the end because he is the team's fastest driver. Your slow bloke, if he is in the car he will get mugged by his rivals.
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