Porsche Continue To Lead An Incident-Packed Third Hour
- Sep 20, 2015
- 2 min read
The third hour started with the first full course yellows of the race. Ed Brown was driving the #31 Extreme Speed Motorsports car when he took it off track, loosing brakes, having heavy and fast contact with the tyre barrier. The pilot got out of the car and walked away from the accident fine, Brown being released from medical only twenty minutes after the incident with an all clear. The full yellow course lasted for around thirteen minutes before racing commenced again. Webber, back in the #17, extended his lead over the hour, ending hour three with around a forty second gap to teammate #18. However, a cloud hovers over the race leaders as they are currently under investigation for their pit stop. Along with them Audi #8 is also under investigation for their pit stop. As of the end of hour three no action had been taken with either team for the potential infringements. The #2 Toyota had a spin with car #88 driven at the time by Le Mans Winner Earl Bamber. The Toyota spun but managed to keep the car going and lost only a little bit of time as he continued round the track.
Both LMP2 cars that were disqualified from qualifying yesterday have made impressive progress as they now run first and second in class (#47 leading #36). The two G-Drive cars follow behind with #26 finishing the current podium. The Sard Morand #43 took a long run off the track, potentially missing braking or the apex around the corner. Track limits are, as has been mentioned in earlier posts, being highly scrutinised but as it stands no one has yet gained a penalty.
A Porsche 1-2 can be found in three of the four classes: LMP1, LMGTE Pro, and LMGTE Am. Not a lot of change to position happened in the LMGTE Pro class. Still Porsche #91/92 are battling for the lead in class but the Ferrari back in third place doesn’t seem to be capable of making a charge on them. LMGTE Am has been lit up for the entire race. Le Mans winner Earl Bamber took his stint in the car for the third hour and made it his priority to gain as many places as possible. He charged through the field to finish the hour in P3, with only an AF Corse Ferrari between him and the leading Porsche of the Dempsey car.
As the hour drew to a close the light fell, bringing us half way through the six hour race and entering the night-time stage of this race. With visibility so poor in this last section of the race it will get a lot more interesting and potentially risky as the faster LMP cars try to weave through the slower LMGTE traffic. The darkness can seriously mix up the order as the second half of the race begins, but how much of a change will it create?
(image: www.fiawec.com)
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