2307: Saudi driver Abdulaziz Al-Faisal is out front, with 222 laps completed by the leading #2 Black Falcon Mercedes as we enter the 10th hour of the race. The #28 KPM Aston and #88 Dragon Ferrari are second and third, with Alex Muller fourth in the #33 SPS Mercedes.
2313: A quick check of the oil level in the #23 Nissan as Florian Strauss gets on board after Nick Hamann brings the car in. The GT Academy crew are in sixth overall thanks to an impressively consistent run all race so far.
2330: Word from Ram Racing’s Dan Shufflebottom: “We’re trying to stick to double-stinting the tyres and short-filling, as refeuelling takes a long time here. We’ve manged to go from 25th to fifth, but I think it’s going to get tougher now during the night. The Benz is well proven here and serious robust – we’ve had no problems and the drivers don’t have to work quite so hard as in the Ferrari. It’s nice to be back and hopefully we can do a few more of these. For the forseeable future GT3 is what we’re going to stick with.”
2340: Al-Faisal out after a single 33-lap stint and Ollie Webb gets into the race-leading Mercedes. Al-Faisal says it’s getting cooler, making it tougher to get the tyres up to temperature and get into a rhythm.
2347: A hint of something happening at the front of the field – Stefan Mucke less than 40 seconds behind the leading car after its pitstop and lapping a good bit quicker.
2353: Jamie Campbell-Walter is currently rounding out the top 10 in the Gulf Racing Lamborghini, while looking just beyond the top 10, the #19 Corvette is 11th after its earlier power steering fluid leak and the #7 Lechner Racing Porsche is 12th overall and second in the Cup class. The next three places are filled by Porsche Cup cars, too: the #87 GDL car, the #25 Black Falcon entry and the #45 Forch Racing Polish-entered 911.
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0005: Problems for #150 BMW-bodied GC of Kurt Thiel – which had been metronomically leading the SP2 class and running 21st overall until now – as it comes into the pits sparking and with loose bodywork. It goes into the garage and the mechanics get to work repairing the damage caused by a torn-off front wheel after contact with a Porsche. Second and third in that car’s class are the #92 MARC Cars Focus V8 and the Boutsen Ginion Maserati Trofeo.
0043: A quiet hour in the race as we approach the middle of the night, with gaps of around a lap or more separating all of the top 10 runners. It will take a problem for one or more of the frontrunners to spice things up now.
0045: The GT4 leaders are the #163 Optimum Motorsport Ginetta in 25th overall, the #169 Speedworks Ginetta in 29th overall and the #160 Alfab Aston Martin in 31st overall.
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0134: It’s still #2 and #28 up front, with Matt Griffin in the A6-Am-leading Dragon Ferrari briefly holding third ahead of the #33 SPS Automotive Mercedes as the pit stops cycle through. Patrick Assenheimer retook the podium spot on lap 289.
0150: Buurman at the wheel of the leading Mercedes right now, lapping very efficiently through traffic at a pace of 2:03. The second-place Aston is doing 2:05s with Paul White at the wheel while the third-place SPS Mercedes is doing high 2:04s. Matt Griffin in the fourth-place Dragon Ferrari is limited to a maximum time of 2:04 as it’s running the A6-Am class.
0155: Code 60 thrown as the #90 SEAT is clipped by a faster (as-yet-unidentified) car, which itself spins at the exit of the final corner. Timing screens report two cars stopped – one at T10 and one at T16. One of them is the #138 KPM VW Golf.
0157: Smart move from the #33 Mercedes, taking a penalty under Code 60, while Buurman elects to pit the race-leading Mercedes, too.
Stephen Errity
