At the mid-way point the mixed weather conditions continue to play a part in the 6 Hours of Silverstone, and the action in the pits has been as busy as the action on the track.
A further rain shower plus a number of penalties awarded by the Race Director for infringements such as overtaking under yellow flags and speeding in the pit lane has changed the order in both LMGTE Pro and Am.
In the Pro category, Porsche Team Manthey’s No.92 of Holzer-Makowiecki-Lietz leads the class by a mere 0.3s from the team’s No.91 of Bergmeister-Pilet-Tandy which was one of the cars to serve a stop and go penalty for overtaking under yellow flags. The No.51 Ferrari 458 Italia, which led the race in the early stages, has also had to serve a similar penalty and is in third place in class.
The order in LMGTE Am has also been considerably altered, and the No.98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 of Dalla Lana-Lamy-Nygaard is now ahead of the No.81 AF Corse entry of Sam Bird, Italian Michele Rugolo and Australian Steve Wyatt. Third in class is the No.95 Aston Martin of the Danish Poulsen-Heinemeier Hansson-Thiim line up.
One of the biggest losers in the last 90 minutes has been the No.90 8Star Motorsport Ferrari 458 which has had to come into the pits twice for infringements and suffered a spin. Another team and car to have encountered problems was the No.61 AF Corse Ferrari which suffered a small fire in the pits. No one was hurt and the car has continued in the race.
Full results can be found
14:55:43 #8 Toyota lead down to 44 seconds
14:51:43 Spin for #99 Aston of O'Young but continues
14:50:24 Nakajima in #7 Toyota gaining about one second a lap on the leader now 49 seconds behind #8 Toyota
14:48:01 Ferrari #90 has 20 second stop and go for 2nd offence of speeding in pit lane
14:46:58 Aston #95 takes lead in GTE Am from #81 Ferrari
14:44:57 G-Drive Morgan #26, problem with headlight
14:42:22 Porsche #92 of Holzer now leads GTE Pro after stop & go for #91 which now lies 2nd
14:40:29 Toyota #8 retains 1 lap lead over #7 Toyota
14:37:50 Ferrari #61 back out - Mirko Venturi at the wheel
14:36:49 Matt Howson into leading LMP2 #47 Oreca
14:35:36 Now raining harder again
14:35:04 Porsche #20 into pits - Hartley stays in
14:34:03 Ferrari #61 pushed into garage
14:32:41 Ferrari #61 has fire in pit lane
14:31:27 #97 Aston under investigation for overtaking under yellow flags
14:30:22 Porsche #91 GTE Pro leader has stop and go for overtaking under yellow flags
14:27:50 Spin for #53 Ferrari drops down to 6th in GTE Am
14:26:52 Leader #8 Toyota into pits - Lapierre stays in
14:26:03 Mark Patterson takes over #53 Ferrari which drops to 4th in GTE Am
14:23:51 Steve Wyatt takes over leading GTE Am Ferrari #81
14:22:29 Oreca #37 stopped at Copse
14:21:38 Jorg Bergmeister takes over leading GTE Pro Porsche #91 and Holzer takes over 2nd place #92
14:18:51 Ferrari #61 up to 3rd in GTE Am
14:13:53 Toyota #7 has scheduled stop after 28 lap stint and retains 2nd place
14:12:31 #51 Ferrari has stop and go penalty for overtaking under yellow flags
14:11:40 #90 Ferrari has 10 second stop and go penalty for speeding in pit lane
14:08:01 Some rain reported again
14:01:48 Porsches #91 and #92 back to 1-2 in GTE Pro class
14:00:35 Audi #2 is now over 3 laps behind the leading #8 Toyota
13:54:39 Sam Bird in #81 Ferrari takes lead in GTE Am from Ben Collins in #53 Ferrari
13:53:14 Audi #2 into pits - Treluyer takes over
13:51:28 Toyota #8 leads by 74 seconds from #8 Toyota
13:49:44 Lotterer now up to 4th in #2 Audi
13:48:12 Circuit now appears to be dry
13:47:28 Oreca #47 back into lead of LMP2 after 32 second slower stop for #26 Morgan
13:45:21 Porsche #14 retired due to drive train problems
13:44:08 Toyota's #7 and #8 in first two places after #20 Porsche pit stop
13:42:54 Porsche #91 leading GTE Pro, under investigation for overtaking under yellow
13:41:34 Morgan #26 retakes lead in LMP2
13:40:20 2nd place Porsche #20 into pits - Hartley into car
13:38:32 LeadIng KCMG #47 Oreca into pit
13:36:41 Toyota #8 retains lead after pitstop by 17 seconds
13:35:42 Ferrari #90 reported for speeding in pit lane
13:34:57 Toyota #8 into pit on lap 50 - Lapierre into car - fresh slick tyres
13:33:32 Porsche #14 has been retired
13:32:52 Heavier rain now reported again
13:32:23 Audi #2 and Toyota #7 both spin off - no visible contact
13:30:54 Aston #95 takes 3rd in GTE Am
