Audi’s No.1 and No.2 R18 e-tron quattros are at the head of the field, still racing under blue skies and warm sunshine at the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps as we move into the last third of the race. Marcel Fässler holds a 26 second lead over Allan McNish in these two LMP1 prototypes.
After a competitive showing in the first half of the race, the 2013 specification No.7 Toyota TS030 has had two unscheduled stops in the pits to resolve a hybrid energy recovery problem which affected the rear brakes. The sister Toyota, No.8 is in third position behind the No.2 Audi but the two different marques are on different pit stop strategies.
Rebellion Racing remain dominant in the LMP1 Privateer category, Neel Jani in the No.12 Lola-Toyota ahead of the sister No.13 car, Cong Fu ‘Frankie’ Cheng lapping well around the Spa track.
The race has been one to forget for the Delta-ADR team. After the earlier demise of the No.25 LMP2 ORECA 03 Nissan, the No.26 G-Drive Racing ORECA Nissan spun out of contention – with Roman Rusinov at the wheel – in the fourth hour. At the head of the class and experiencing no problems at present, is the No.49 Pecom Racing car of Minassian-Kaffer-Perez Companc, one lap ahead of the No.38 Jota Zytek Nissan. Chasing the British car hard has been Alex Brundle in the first of the three OAK Racing Morgan Nissans.
The leading LMGTE Pro car is still the No.71 Ferrari of Vilander-Kobayashi, with Bruno Senna working hard in the No.98 Aston Martin Vantage V8 to reduce the gap between himself and the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari which is currently 7.4 seconds behind the class leader.
LMGTE Am has also held station with the order staying Ferrari-Aston Martin –Aston Martin, although there has been some swapping of positions between the No.95 and 96 Gulf-liveried cars. 8Star Motorsports’ No.81 Audi has a one lap lead over the first of the Aston Martin Vantages.
RACE FACTS
• 18:30:33At 4 hour mark #1 Audi leads by 28 secs from #2 Audi with 3rd Audi #3 in 3rd
• 18:29:19Stop and go for #76 Porsche for speeding in pit lane
• 18:28:38Roman Rusinov reports drinks bottle cord got caught in steering when he left pit!
• 18:24:4220 second stop/go for #28 GRME Lola for several pit lane speeding incidents
• 18:23:068.5 minute stop by #26 G-Drive Oreca to fix frontal damage
• 18:20:36Stop and go for #28 Lola for overtaking under safety car
• 18:18:14Toyota #7 now dropped 6 laps of the lead
• 18:16:39Black and white flag for #96 Aston for not respecting limits
• 18:15:24Toyota #7 is having "energy recovery issues"
• 18:14:1813 changes of lead so far in the race on lap 103
• 18:12:52Alex Brundle takes 2nd in LMP2 in Oak Morgan #24
• 18:12:12Audi #3 into pits Di Grassi hands over to Oliver Jarvis
• 18:11:31Toyota #7 pushed back into garage
• 18:11:00Jota Zytek #38 takes 2nd in LMP2 and #24 Oak Morgan 3rd after Rusinov incident
• 18:09:19G-Drive Oreca #26 hits barrier at Fagnes - damage to front left
• 18:06:53Audi #3 now leads but will stop in 3 laps
• 18:06:11Kristensen in #2 Audi into pits - McNish takes over
• 18:05:00Toyota #7 back into pits - problem with rear brakes
• 18:03:06Toyota #7 has top speed through the speed trap clocking 308.6kph
• 17:57:4217 minute pit stop for #28 GRME Lola
• 17:54:57Leader #1 into pits on lap 94
• 17:53:37On lap 93 Fassler leads by 24 secs from Kristensen and 53 secs from Di Grassi
• 17:50:13Black and white flags for #61 and #95 for not respecting limits
• 17:47:39Audi's now fill first 3 places in race on lap 90
• 17:46:31Leading Toyota #7 into pits Nakajima stays in - fuel and tyres
• 17:44:35Bruniin #51 pits from lead of GTE Pro handing top spot to Bruno Senna in #98 Aston
Full results can be found HERE
