Stippler pitted the #3 Audi just before the one hour mark – the first stop from the leading group of ten – and handed over to Christopher Mies. Hassid moved back up to ninth, an excellent stint for him in the #12 TDS BMW and a great foundation for the inevitable Catsburg fireworks.
Parente’s lead over Smith at the one-hour mark was 9.2 seconds, the Bentley by then already two seconds clear of third-place Chiyo’s #35 Nissan GTR. Just after the hour, Leclerc pitted the #8 Bentley from sixth overall.
Parente came through the final sequence of corners behind the #22 Parker Racing Audi and that held up his pit entry, too, as both cars came in for their first routine stops. Gregoire Demoustier rejoined second as Chiyo pitted for Aksenov to take over.
Dusseldorp handed over the #85 HTP Mercedes to Luca Wolff and then the new leader Guy Smith pitted, leaving Buhk to come through in the lead.
Bentley’s stop was 10 seconds faster than the Nissan GT Academy RJN crew, so Smith rejoined ahead of them, and in fact only 6.3 seconds behind Demoustier’s still leading McLaren (Buhk having stopped and Primat taking over #84). The #80 Nissan was up to sixth place before Strauss pitted to hand over to Nick McMillen.
With the first round of pitstops complete, #98 led #7 by 5.5 seconds, Wolf had #85 up to third, 13 seconds further back, with sister Mercedes #84 just behind and Ortelli joining in too, recovering from Sandstrom’s slip down the order it seemed. But with an hour and 15 gone, D’Ambrosio made a pass on the Audi with the #8 Bentley on the Mistral and took fifth place with it.
Aksenov was the unsurprising loser in the early stages of his stint, being swamped by some very quick guys, but still doing well to lap in the 2:02s and hold seventh.
Catsburg was next in the #12 BMW (having taken the scalp of Mies’ #3 Audi) but at three seconds a lap faster than the Nissan he took the Pro-Am Cup lead with an hour and 19 minutes gone, then Mies began to hound Aksenov. Mies was the ninth-placed car and the top nine were covered by 35 seconds, Gai having fallen a further 15 seconds back in tenth having taken over from Rizzoli in the #90 Ferrari.
The #8 Bentley was then slow on track and pulled off the circuit, seemingly still under some power, losing fifth place and indeed out of the race. M Sport team boss Malcolm Wilson suspected a transmission problem.
Meyrick had been reeling in Demoustier and was right on his tail for the lead at the halfway point. The headlights on the Bentley were starting to flare through the fading light as the sun made its way to the horizon. Demoustier was flashing his headlights at an empty track – problems getting them to stay on?
An aggressive but perfectly fair lunge into the final corner saw the Bentley take the lead, coming from a long way back into the left-hander and then holding his line as Demoustier moved left in preparation for the last (right-handed) corner, only to find the apex vanish behind the not inconsiderable snout of #7. Great stuff from Meyrick.
Mark Poole in #38 tried exactly the same move a few moments later but without success, both cars shuddering to a halt as the #49 Ferrari simply turned in on him as if he wasn’t there. Poole was the one to be dealt a drive- through penalty however.
Not happy with leading Pro-Am Cup by 20 seconds, Catsburg was sizing up Ortelli with an hour and 23 to go as the light began to fade quickly, the sun having gone behind a band of thickening cloud near the horizon. Catsburg, who wanted to just get a solid finish today, made the move anyway and almost ran straight past fourth place Primat in the process, too!
Mies and Gai (#90 Pro-Am Ferrari) both passed Aksenov to take seventh and eighth overall, Mies then succumbing to Gai after a mistake cost him 3.5 seconds.
Catsburg disproved his theory on the poor straightline performance of the BMW by taking Primat on the Mistral and sweeping into Signes just ahead, doubtless with a sniff of an overall podium now. The #85 Mercedes was three seconds up the road.
With 1:15 to go at 9pm, the ‘lights on’ notification was given by the race director, but there was no sign of any penalties for the drivers making up their own version of the track limits at Signes. Catsburg in particular often ran wide there – as did anyone following him like a line of lost sheep.
Wolf was under massive pressure from Catsburg but pitted with 1:09 to go rather than have fight. Aksenov pitted too, allowing Miguel Faisca to take over the #35 until the end.
Ortelli passed Primat, so the #26 Audi was ahead of the #84 Mercedes again and up to fourth place, the strongest run of any of the Audis. Primat then pitted on the next lap.
Meyrick had been quietly (well, actually very loudly) going about his business in the #7 Bentley and with 1:05 gone he was over nine seconds to the good over Demoustier’s McLaren before pitting from the lead. So in the hour the Bentley had gone from a nine-second deficit to take the lead exactly halfway and then build a nine-second lead. No wonder they chose to run in a series sponsored by a watch manufacturer…
PS
