At the half way point of the 6 Hours of Bahrain it was Toyota which still led the race, with the no8 TS030 of Stephane Sarrazin out in front. However the no7 Toyota Hybrid of Alex Wurz pulled off the track with engine failure, forcing the Austrian to abandon his car with two hours of the race run.
The champions elect in the no2 Audi R18 e-tron also hit trouble with Loic Duval pulling off in the no2 Audi R18 on lap 93 at T10 and had to be pushed back behind the guard rail. Because the car had not completed 70% of the race the no2 car will not be classified and all three drivers will be confirmed as world champions. The no1 Audi of Marcel Fassler moved up to second place as a result of the two retirements and was 26 seconds up the road but pushing hard to close the gap to the leading Toyota
It was action all the way in LMP2 for the past 90 minutes with Mike Conway in the no26 G-Drive Racing Oreca-Nissan taking the lead after putting the pressure on the leading car of Luis Perez Companc, the no49 Pecom Racing Oreca running wide at the final corner to allow Conway to nip through into the lead. Jon Lancaster in the no41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan was closing the gap to the two leading cars but Roald Goethe in the no96 Aston Martin Racing Vantage spun in front of the Zytek, delaying Lancaster as he took avoiding action.
Status Quo in GTE in the Second Quarter
While there has been high drama in the LMP1 category, the LMGTE Pro and Am has settled into a rhythm and Ferrari and Aston Martin hold the lead in both classes respectively.
All the drivers have now cycled through the cars, and it is the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari of Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander which is leading in the manufacturer-led category ahead of the sister Ferrari (No.71) of Giancarlo Fisichella and Kamui Kobayashi. Third in class is the No.97 Aston Martin Vantage of Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke which is on a slightly different pit stop strategy to its competitors.
The two Porsche AG Team Manthey Porsche 911 RSRs are forming an Aston Martin ‘sandwich’ for the final three places in LMGTE Pro – the No.91 of Bergmeister-Pilet ahead of the No.99 Senna-Lamy-Stanaway car and the No.92 of Lieb-Lietz.
In LMGTE Am, the No.95 Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim, Kristian Poulsen and Christoffer Nygaard now has strong lead over the No.81 8Star Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia of Aguas-Potolicchio-Rigon, with the No.76 Porsche of Narac-Palttala-Vernay in third place.
The No.57 Krohn Racing Ferrari suffered from further disappointment when it slowed on track and stopped with no drive, leading to retirement. Also delayed during the race has been the No.88 Proton Competition Porsche of Ried-Ruberti-Roda but it is now running again.
RACE FACTS - 180 Minutes
17:59:32 No.25 Oreca into its pit garage
17:58:49 No.1 Audi into pits - Fassler stays in no tyre change
17:56:46 No.2 Audi has gear linkage failure.
17:52:29 McNish has not driven No.2 Audi yet, needs to do 45 minutes in car to qualify as finisher
17:51:04 No.2 Audi has stopped at T10
17:50:06 No.2 Audi going slowly
17:48:28 No.8 Toyota leads No.2 Audi by 13.789 secs after 92 laps
17:42:29 No.88 Porsche into pits
17:39:58 No.88 Porsche has rear suspension problem
17:38:06 No.71 takes 2nd place in GTE Pro from No.91 Porsche
17:37:03 No.26 takes lead in LMP2 after small error for No.49
17:35:20 No.97 Aston into pits - Turner in
17:29:32 No.96 Aston spins and forces No.41 Zytek to almost stop
17:27:48 No.95 Aston leads GTE Am by 20 seconds from No.81 Ferrari
17:26:33 No.51 Ferrari leads GTE Pro by 9 seconds from No.97 Aston
17:24:44 No.49 Oreca leads No.26 Oreca by 1.6 secs in LMP2
17:19:41 No.8 Toyota leads by 15 secs after stops from No.2 Audi
17:18:34 Leading No.8 into pits - Sarrazin stays in
17:17:56 No.49 Oreca LMP2 leader into pits - Minassian out Perez Companc in
17:14:12 No.2 Audi into pits - Duval stays in
17:12:49 No.1 Audi into pits, Fassler stays in
17:10:36 Leading GTE Am car Aston No.95 in pitlane
17:09:46 No.24 Oak passes No.25 Oreca on track to take 3rd in LMP2
17:07:21 Fully dark now and floodlights on - humidity now 68%
17:06:12 No.88 Porsche back out now 24 laps behind
17:03:00 No.8 Toyota now leads No.2 Audi by 14 seconds - Audi lapping a second quicker
17:01:18 Spin for No.71 Ferrari
17:00:36 Engine or gearbox says Wurz in No.7
16:59:09 Wurz getting out of No.7 Toyota
16:56:59 No.7 Toyota pulls off at end of pit lane, losing fluid
16:55:21 No.41 Zytek stopped after only 11 lap stint - drops to 5th on LMP2
16:47:39 No.12 Lola retired
16:45:46 Kraihamer reports rear suspension broke on No.32 Lotus
16:39:07 Light starting to fade, 27C track temp, 62% humidity
16:38:15 No.88 Porsche having very long pitstop
16:35:37 No.8 Toyota still in lead by 2 seconds after pitstops from No.7 Toyota
16:31:58 No.7 Toyota into pits - Wurz takes over - 26 lap stint
16:31:14 No.8 Toyota leader in pitlane - Sarrazin takes over
16:30:08 No.2 Audi in pitlane - Duval takes over
Photo: BAHRAIN INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT (SAKHIR, BAHRAIN), 6 HOURS OF BAHRAIN, SATURDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2013, RACE. The No.51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia leads the LMGTE Pro category at the half way mark.
