American Le Mans Series

Sebring 12 Hours - Fifth and Sixth Hour Report

© American Le Mans Series

The fight goes on underway to half race point in an eventful race with its usual dosis of full course yellows and Audi domination after an initial Peugeot period in the first few hours, althogugh the French car is still fighting 3 laps behind Will the LMP2s have a shot at an overall win? Stay tuned to Planetlemans as we guide you minute by minute through this American classic

14:05- With the Peugeot behind the wall and an Audi 1-2 we enter the 5th race hour, Penske leads LMP2, Corvette GT1 and Risi GT2

14:07- Both Audis are the quickest at present lapping at 1.47 1.48, the LMP2s are doing 1.49s mostly, no news yet on the Peugeot while Fellows leads comfortably in GT1 since the Bell Aston is in the pits having lost 6 laps already

14:10- In GT2 Risi 62 leads 1min 04 secs ahead of the 45 Lizard which is in turn 24 secs ahead of the 87 Farnbacher car. A lap behind the 87 we have the 44 Lizard the 5 VICI and 73 Tafel cars

14:12- Mc Nish is pushing hard only 15 secs behind lead man Rockenfeller who is lapping in similar times to counter Mc Nish’s attack, Dumas only 30 secs behind the scotsman with Fittipaldi 8 secs behind him

14:14- Rockenfeller in the pits for a regular stop, no tyres

14:15- Peugeot is changing the hydraulic pump…massive loss of time

14:17- The Bell Aston has fallen now 2 laps behind the 4 Corvette which is in turn 8 laps behind the leader, their #3 sister car

14:18- After his pit stop Rockenfeller’s Audi is 3rd behind Dumas now, 6 secs and getting closer…

14:19- McNish complains about vibrations will come in shortly…

14:20- In the meantime Guy Smith has passed the AGR Acura putting the 16 Dyson Porsche in second in LMP2 13 secs behind the class leader. Johansson gets into the Highcroft Acura which has a normal pit stop from 5th in class 7th overall.

14:22- Slow Farnbacher Loles Porsche with tyre or suspension issues….actually they were running out of fuel and barely made it to the pits

14:25- Chris Dyson takes over from Smith in the pits while getting fuel and tyres and rejoins behind the Farnbacher Loles car

14:26- Rockenfeller right behind Dumas and pushing…..and goes thru! Audi is 1-2 again on the track

14:29- Capello takes over from McNish as Rockenfeller takes the lead

14:30- GT2 running order 62 Risi 45 Lizard, 44 Lizard, 87 Farnbacher Loles, 5 VICI

14:31- In LMP2 it’s 7 Penske, 16 Dyson, 26 Andretti, 20 Dyson, 15 Fernández, 9 Highcroft, 27 Horag

14:32- Corvette number 4 gets a stop and go for pit lane speeding while number 3 gets a normal pit stop and keeps its massive lead

14:33- Peugeot has lost 19 laps to the Audis now, clearly this will be a learning lesson in reliability but their chances to win the races are zero now

14:35- Dumas is only 3 secs behind the leader with Capello 35 seconds behind, the Penske car is doing a very good job of staying in contention with the Audis at this point of the race

14:38- Dumas in the pits now for the 6th stop of the number 7 car. He stays for another stint. times are now in the 1.50-1.51 for this class while the Audis are in the 1.46-1.47s

14:39- Theys spins on his own and gets the Horag Porsche damaged against the tyre wall…on his way to the pits….

14:40- And another full course yellow…to repair the tyre barrier that the Horag car hit. The lead on GT2 comes in first but pits were closed… the Risi team is waiting to work on the car

14:42-(SC)A small off for the ARC Bratislava Porsche while Melo takes over from Bruni in the Risi car, will they be penalized?

14:45-(SC)A retirement for the LG Corvette GT2 puts the Robertson Ford GT effectively as 10th in class

14:46-(SC) Collard took over from Dumas actually during the last pit stop on the 7 Penske Porsche

14:51-(SC) Pit stop for the number 2 car, Werner takes over from Rockenfeller and rejoins in 3rd, Collard now overall leader

14:52-(SC) The Peugeot rejoins 25 laps behind the leaders, 22nd overall

14:54-(SC) Collard also stops, Capello and Werner make it again an Audi 1-2 under full course yellow, Colllard 3rd on the 7 Penske car the 16 Dyson car and Herta on the 26 AGR Acura complete the overall top 5

14:55-(SC) No news yet on the potential penalty for Risi who lead GT2 1 lap ahead of the 45 Lizard, 87 Farnbacher, 44 Lizard and 5 VICI Porsches

14:58-(SC) The Intersport Lola (12th overall, 12 laps behind the Audis) and Autocon Creation (16th overall in the pits, 40 laps behind) are having dismal results today…

15:04-(SC) Still behind the safety car, Horag Porsche is back on the track

15:09-(SC) That wall repair is taking a long time… we’re still under full caution after almost half an hour

15:13-(SC) Still under yellow, from 6th to 10th in GT2: 73 Tafel, 61 Krohn-Risi , 11 Primetime Viper, 77 ARC Bratislava, 40 Robertson Ford GT

15:19-(SC) Andretti is protesting the accuracy of the scoreboard so this will take a while still…

15:22-(SC) The bell Aston and Fernández Acura have been in the pits as has Capello leaving Werner on the lead

15:24-(SC) The Autocon Creation is also returning to the race 46 laps behind the leaders…

15:25-(SC) Only 4 retirements up to now: 6 Penske, 007 Aston, 28 LG Corvette and 32 Barazi Zytek

15:28-(SC) Pit stops for Highcroft, Farnbacher and the 44 Lizard

15:30-(SC) The Andretti car is waved by and recovers the lap they were protesting about, we’re almost ready for the green flag

15:32-(SC) The ARC Bratislava car got a problem with the rear left tyre and is delaying a number of cars …but they are now allowed to overtake it

15:34-(SC) Herta takes advantage of their recovered lap to get a pit stop, this could be a good advantage for them

15:35-(SC) When green is waved the order will be Audi 2, Penske 7, Dyson 16, Audi 1 and 26 Andretti Green

15:36-Almost an hour later BACK TO GREEN !!!!!!

15:38- And a big come together between the 62 Risi Ferrari and the 87 Farnbacher Porsche… big damage to both cars. A huge mistake in braking for Melo, the 62 Risi looks like a retirement.

15:40- Melo is out of the car… this is over for the 62 car.

15:41- Dirk Werner is desperately trying to get the car back to the pits but the damage is just massive

15:43- Werner out of the Farnbacher Loles Porsche…it is apparently over for them as well

15:44- After this incident the running order in GT2 is: 45 Lizard, 44 Lizard, 5 VICI, 73 Tafel and 61 Krohn-Risi

15:46- In the meantime Audi is 1-2 overall again Werner ahead of Capello with Collard on the 7 Penske Porsche, Dyson on the 16 Dyson Porsche and Herta on the 26 Andretti-Green Acura complete the top5, all on the same lap

15:49- Magnussen still leads GT1 and is 9th overall on the 3 Corvette, 9 laps ahead of the sister car #4 wich is 17th overall

15:51-LMP2 running order behind the top 3 (7-16-26) is 15 Fernández, 20 Dyson, 9 Highcroft and 27 Horag

15;54- Lally on the 20 Dyson Porsche is now 4th in class after overtaking Díaz on the Fernández car

15:57- Both Lally and Díaz are running 1.48s, comparable times as the Audis currently

16:00- Approaching half race the Audis still lead, Collard leads LMP2 ahead of Dyson and Herta, Magnussen leads GT1 and Gt2 is Lizard 45(Henzler)-Lizard 44(Davison)- 5 VICI(Swartzbaugh)

16:05- At half-race point the leaders running in 1.49-1.50