1450: Predictably, the majority of the field took the opportunity presented by the safety car to make a slightly early routine third stop.
1459: Safety car comes in at the end of lap 82, with two hours and 45 minutes of the race remaining. A hectic restart with a lot of lapped traffic for the leaders to contend with, but no major incidents.
1501: The #52 AF Corse Ferrari spins off and gets beached in the gravel at T4, effectively ending Francesco Castellacci’s Pro-Am title hopes.
1503: Primat in the #84 Mercedes appears to yield to his team-mate Afanasiev in the #85, but Andy Soucek in the #99 McLaren also gets through. Mies is running second in the #1 Audi behind an out-of-sequence Hubert Haupt, who leads for now in the #19 Black Falcon Mercedes. Catsburg now leads Pro-Am in the #12 TDS BMW.
1507: Mies having a slightly tough time getting past Haupt to retake the lead, meanwhile the #17 Insight Ferrari, which has been off the track a lot today, has another spin at T3. Also, Soucek has got past Afanasiev for third.
1510: Haupt defending the lead very hard, while the #7 Bentley gets a drive-through for pit-lane speeding.
1512: Mies goes around the outside of T3, to take the lead, then gets a light tap from Haupt as they exit T4, but remains first. Bad news for the #84 HTP Mercedes, though – Primat has spun into the gravel at the last corner. Telehandler helps him back on track and there’s no need for a safety car.
1514: Afanasiev has re-passed Soucek but their battle for third continues. Soucek re-takes third and fifth-place Nick Catsburg starts attacking Afanasiev. He takes fourth as they go through T5 and T6.
1519: MP Motosport having a quietly effective race, with Abra currently running sixth overall behind Afanasiev and second in Pro-Am. Young Brit Devon Modell is fourth in class and seventh overall in the #18 Black Falcon car, having just lost third in class to a resurgent Florian Strauss in the #80 Nissan.
1523: Catsburg has really got the bit between his teeth now and has passed Soucek to go third overall.
1530: It seems Strauss’ pass of Modell wasn’t a clean one, as the RJN Nissan team manager Bob Neville has been summoned to race control. Soucek meanwhile is struggling for pace in the #99 McLaren, losing fourth to Afanasiev.
1537: Another position lost for Soucek – he’s now down to sixth behind Abra in the MP Aston.
1543: Strauss has got stuck in the gravel on the way into T5. Telehandler out to recover him, but once again it’s a local yellow rather than a safety car.
1545: Mies gets the second-last set of pitstops underway as the fourth hour comes to a close.
SE
