A Wet Start to the Six Hours of Shanghai

Nov 1, 2015
3 min read

As the start of the six hours of Shanghai drew closer so did the rain. All teams and drivers opted to put on the intermediate tyres as the race was deemed to start behind the safety car. The formation was abandoned when the safety car picked up the cars as they left the grid. After about ten minutes of running the track was deemed safe enough and the safety car pulled into the pits, letting the racing for the six hours of Shanghai get underway.

LMP1 was started by Hartley, Lieb, Jarvis, Lotterer, Davidson and Conway in the cars. Once the safety car had dove into the pits Lieb took the battle to teammate Hartley and managed to get in front at the start. But in an attempted to let his teammate back through into the lead, Lotterer in #7 saw the opportunity as well, trying to follow #17 through but instead knocking into the side of #18 and spinning them round, dropping them to the back of the field. Whether or not #7 will be penalized for this is unknown but the incident is under investigation. Due to the turn of events it was recorded that Hartley lead the first racing lap. Toyota #1 managed to get in between the two Audi’s off the start of racing and fought hard to hold the position.

Things went from bad to worse for KCMG #47. Having lost the championship lead last time out in Fuji due to G-Drive #28 taking them out during the final laps of the race, Nick Tandy and the rest of the crew were looking to fight back and, starting second behind now championship-leaders #26, look ready to take the fight to them. But the wet conditions sent Tandy spinning and beaching his car into the gravel. The safety car was released only a few minutes after it had initially come to retrieve the stricken KCMG. Although, as Tandy did not leave the car, he was allowed to continue in the race it put him at the back of the field with all hopes of taking the fight to G-Drive #26 looking very slim. Brundle had the #29 Morgan in second place for the majority of the hour thanks to KCMG’s misfortune but he was demoted by G-Drive’s second car #28 as the hour drew to a close. #31 had a spin in the last moments of the hour showing that, even though a dry line was emerging it was still fairly wet on track.

The GTE cars started the race by diving into the pits or spinning around. From one lap to the next it appeared the order didn’t remain the same. AF Corse #51 managed to retained the lead in the Pro class as the safety car period ended, pulling away from the chasing and spinning pack behind them. But they weren’t quick enough for title-challengers and second-place starters Porsche #91. The #91 car took the lead just ten minutes after racing had got underway leaving the #51 Ferrari in its wake. Things got worse for the AF Corse car as sister car #71 demoted them to third just as the hour closed.

The Am class was a lot more in the air as cars dropped in and out of the pits as well as spinning off the track. The Dempsey Porsche #77 lost the car, spinning just after the safety car came in. It managed to continue but lost a few places. #98 Aston Martin held the lead from the start but due to most of the grid coming in to pit (including the #98 Aston) the Corvette #50 took the lead for a brief spell before pitting and handing it to #77. No one was risking a change off of the wet weather tyres and most pit stops were driver changes. The assumption being that the starting drivers were not as comfortable with the wet conditions.