While the nr1 Audi of Marcel Fassler continued to lead the 6 Hours of Bahrain, the nr7 Toyota TS030 made up some ground on the nr2 Audi of Allan McNish after the Scot had to pit twice to replace the nose cone of the e-tron quattro after the right headlight wasn’t working.
The nr21 Strakka Racing HPD of Danny Watts took the lead in the LMP1 Privateer Class when the nr12 Rebellion Lola pitted. The LMP2 battle continued with the nr44 Starworks HPD of Tom Kimber-Smith holding a 50 second lead over the nr49 Pecom Racing Oreca of Nicolas Minassian. The nr29 Gulf Racing Middle East Lola ground to a halt out on track after completing 97 laps.
The battle for the GTE honours continued to provide some great entertainment with the two AF Corse Ferraris holding all the aces. Toni Vilander in the nr51 458 had a 69 second advantage over Andrea Bertolini in the nr71 car, with the nr77 Felbermayr Porsche and nr97 AMR Vantage on the same lap.
In GTE Am the nr88 Felbermayr-Proton Porsche of Paolo Ruberti held a comfortable one lap advantage over the nr61 AF Corse-Waltrip Ferrari of Rui Aguas, with the nr57 Krohn Racing Ferrari of Michele Rugolo in third place.
Jeff Carter
Track Data
Air t° :31.6°C
Track t° :36.1°C
Wind :NW at 1.6 kph
Humidity :70%
Michelin Green X Challenge Top 3 at the end of Hour 4
2-1-21
RACE FACTS – HOUR 4
18:07:18 Leading LMP2 #26 Signatech into pit garage
18:11:48 Christian Reid in #88 Felbermayr-Proton Porsche currently leads GTE Am from Brian Vickers in AF-Corse Waltrip #61
18:16:36 #12 Rebellion into pits from 3rd place overall
18:18:55 Long stop for #12 Rebellion Lola as it slips to 5th
18:20:55 Driver change for leading #1 Audi R18 now Treluyer hands over to Fassler
18:22:32 Pit stop for 3rd placed Strakka HPD #21. Danny Watts takes over from Jonny Kane
18:24:29 Ihara in #29 Gulf Racing Middle East Lola going slowly out on circuit between turns 13 and 14
18:29:08 After 4 pit stops each for leaders, Lapierre in Toyota #7 has regained 3rd place, 3 laps behind.
18:30:16 #29 Gulf Racing Middle East Lola now recovered behind the barriers
18:31:59 #41 Greaves Zytek has track exit into gravel and rejoins. #31 Lotus also into gravel
18:33:35 Waved yellow at turn 12 for recovery of #31 Lotus
18:35:43 #31 Lotus Returns to pit lane - no obvious damage
18:37:31 #2 Audi comes into pitlane for stop with headlight out
18:39:16 New nose for #2 Audi but headlight still not working as it rejoins - must pit again
18:44:19 McNish in #2 Audi back into pitlane for headlight to be fixed - and rejoins still in 2nd place
18:49:44 Toyota #7 comes into pitlane for regular stop - driver change Lapierre hands over to Wurz - drops to 4th as Danny Watts takes 3rd in Strakka #21
18:53:10 Wurz in #7 Toyota passes Watts in #21 Strakka to re-take 3rd place
18:59:24 With just over 2 hours remaining, Audi remain 1-2 from Toyota #2 (4 laps down)
19:00:46 #44 Starworks HPD leads LMP2 from Pecom #49 and #23 Signatech
19:02:26 AF Corse Ferraris 1-2 in LMGTE Pro #51 leads from #71 - #77 Porsche 3rd
