Hour 5: Audi Continue to Dominate, While Rebellion Lead Petrol LMP1 Battle
After two safety car periods in the previous 60-minutes, the penultimate hour of the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps was fairly uneventful as the teams got ready for the final run to the chequered flag in the final hour.
The nr3 Audi R18 Ultra of Romain Dumas was still leading by a good margin from the nr1 Audi R18 e-tron of Marcel Fassler. The battle for the final podium saw the nr4 Audi Sport North America R18 of Marco Bonanomi pulling out a 32 second lead over Dindo Capello’s nr2 hybrid Audi.
The battle of the petrol powered LMP1 cars saw the nr12 Rebellion Racing Lola-Toyota of Nicolas Prost holding a comfortable 1m34 second cushion to the nr21 Strakka Racing HPD of Danny Watts.
The nr23 Signatech Nissan Oreca-Nissan of Jordan Tresson spun off on the exit of T18 and slid across the grass into the barriers at 7pm, damaging the rear end of the car. An attempt to get the car back down to the Signatech garage resulted in the Oreca becoming stranded in the pit entry and the marshals had to manhandle the stricken car away.
Problems for the nr17 Pescarolo Dome-Judd saw the car dragged back into the team garage for 30-minutes before Nicolas Minassian emerged to rejoin the fray.
The nr77 Felbermayr-Proton Porsche continued to be the GT car to beat at Spa, Richard Lietz leading the LMGTE Pro class ahead of the nr51 AF Corse Ferrari of Gianmaria Bruni and the nr59 Luxury Racing Ferrari of Jaime Melo.
It has been a good day for Porsche as the nr67 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche continues to run at the LMGTE Am class, well ahead of the nr81 AF Corse Ferrari 458 of Matt Griffin, the Irishman moving ahead of the nr88 Felbermayr-Proton Porsche of Paolo Ruberti.
Tweets from Twitter:
18:37 #38 JOTA Zytek Nissan LMP2 leader has a 30 sec stop go penalty for speeding in the pitlane
18:37 #24 Oak Racing Morgan Judd slowed dramatically but then speeded up again
18:38 With 2 hours to go #3 Audi leads #1 Audi by 45 secs in LMP1
18:40 In LMP2 # 25 Oreca leads #38 Zytek by 37 secs
18:42 In GTE Pro #77 Porsche leads #51 Ferrrari by over a minute with 2 hours to go
18:45 #13 Rebellion Racing Lola routine pit stop
18:47 #49 Pecom Racing Oreca into pits with smoking front tyre, may be bodywork rubbing.
18:48 #49 Pecom Racing into pit garage for repairs
18:49 #35 Oak Racing Morgan Judd routine pitstop
18:55 #24 Oak Racing Morgan Judd pits
18:56 #12 Rebellion Racing Lola Toyota pits, routine stop
18:58 #1 Audi Sport Team Joest pits, routine stop, Marcel Fassier stays in the car
19:00 #2 Audi Sport Team Joest routine pit stop .. Capello driving
19:01 #17 Pescarolo Dome suddenly slowed and then speeded up again
19:02 #29 Gulf Racing Middle East routine pits
19:03 #4 Audi Sport North America routine pits
19:04 #23 Signatech Nissan stopped at Turn 19 Jordan Tresson driving
19:05 #3 Audi Sport Team Joest routine pit.. Dumas stays in the car
19:13 #23 Signatech Nissan rejoins but finds he no steering and partially blocks the pit lane entrance
19:15 #17 Dome into the pit garage - probable gearbox problem
19:19 #15 Oak Racing Pescarolo in pits
19:20 #23 Nissan returns to its pit after accident
19:21 #23 Signatech Nissan in pit garage
19:24 #51 AF Corse Ferrari routine pit stop
19:25 #55 JWA-AVILA Porsche spins and rejoins, nobody else involved
19:28 #71 AF Corse Ferrari routine pit stop
19:29 #17 Pescarolo Dome back out after long pit stop
19:29 #13 Rebellion Lola Rejoins after pit stop
Jeff Carter
Photo: FRANCORCHAMPS (LIEGE, BELGIUM), SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS CIRCUIT, 6 HOURS OF SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, RACE, 5th May, 2012. #38 Jota Zytek Z11SN - Nissan