A Calmer Forth Hour

Aug 30, 2015
2 min read

Hour four brought a calm among the racing, as everyone seemed to settle into the grove. Porsche still continued to lead with car #17, holding off the threat of an attack that Audi began to show. But nothing ever came of it as after the pit stops car #17 had a pit stop in hand to second placed #7. Car #18 managed to get up into P2 for a few laps as they are out of sync in the pit stops due to all of the stop/go penalties. They were beginning to catch on the #8 Audi just before it pit which was promising that the Porsche still has the pace needed. It appears that the damage management Porsche had been controlling on car 18 has been resolved as the pace from the car increased back up to a challenging pace just as the new hour started. Toyota are still running a solid fifth and sixth, unable to catch the Porsche even with the issues it received.

The lead of LMP2 kept changing as the hour went by as the pit stops happened at different times, but the KCMG car still leads the class, and if it remains like this they will also continue to lead the championship. As the hour draws to a close the battle from second through to fifth is very close. Both of the G-Drive cars in contention for second place in class, with car #28 leading #26 as the current standing. #42 and #36 are back together, once again fighting for forth in class. However, #42 gets hit with a thirty second stop/go for speeding in the pit lane as the hour comes to a close, which will make that battle very easy for #36.

The GT cars continue to take small bumps and knocks from the passing prototype cars, but no massive collisions or race stopping incidents have taken place. Car #92 is still under investigation for the contact with AF Corse #71, but there will be no further action for the contact between car #4 and car #88. The 91 Porsche still leads the Pro class as Dempsey Porsche 77 leads the Am class (it was noticed over this hour that #77 has lead the Am class for most of the race, but the time that I took the times from the timing screen was after #77 had pit but before #91 had).