A committed Pierre Kaffer and Alexander Voltz tried to hold the lead in Black Pearl Racing by Rinaldi’s #66 Ferrari 458 but after lengthy scraps with the HB Racing Team, Ram Racing and GDL Racing, the jet black Ferrari would slip to third after a spin with 20 minutes to go by Voltz. Emerging in the lead was the hard-charging Ram Racing Mercedes SLS, after two great stints by Tom Onslow-Cole and Paul White.
From pole Kaffer was able to hold the lead, while second place Matteo Malucelli went off the track trying to get by the Argentinian on the first lap of the race. Malucelli would eventually fall further down the order after burying the #4 Scuderia Praha Ferrari in the gravel at turn 2 later on in the first hour.
The key to this part of the race is staying on the lead lap as no points are awarded at the break. The 458 found itself down in 62nd place after finally rejoining the race, and off the lead lap, meaning the rest of the four hours was spent climbing the order, finishing the day’s action fifth but still a lap down.
With the Praha Ferrari out of the running, this left Kaffer and Alfred Renauer in the HB Racing Porsche scrapping for the lead of the race. The pair gapped the rest of the field, and Renauer took the place as they negotiated the relentless amounts of slower cars as the end of the first hour approached.
The HB Racing Porsche led until the end of the first stint, when a lighting quick stop by the Black Pearl squad handed the lead back to Pierre Kaffer.
Aside from a couple of Code 60 stoppages due to a couple of minor incidents, it was plain sailing for the Black Pearl crew until the final hour of the day’s action. With Steve Parrow aboard the 458 and Max Braams in the hard charging GDL Racing Mercedes SLS, the gap was reduced to just a few seconds, as the Mercedes made its way up the order, eventually taking the top spot briefly before everyone pitted for the final time.
Seemingly out of nowhere though, the Ram Racing Mercedes took the lead at the very end of the pit stop cycle, and just under 20 minutes left to run. Votlz had a spin at turn one on Paul White’s outlap, costing Black Pearl the lead and second place which was inherited by the HB Racing Porsche who kept in touch with the leaders throughout. The GDL Mercedes ended up fourth behind the Pearl Ferrari after the the four main contenders were back in-sync.
Paul White’s stint for Ram Racing after Tom Onslow-Cole’s start kept them firmly in the running for the race win after a shaky start, and in return the British team ended the day with a solid lead of over 15 seconds.
‘The pace is high, really high. With our set up on the SLS so we are gentle on the front tyres. We don’t have a car to play with early in stints, so little by little we catch up. We’ve got double-stinting in our pocket if we need it,’ said Onslow-Cole after his first stint.
The #1 Stadler Motorsport Porsche and Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW looked to be in the fight for a podium spot too, but the Z4 it suffered from issues with radiator, forcing the team to retire the car early and the Stadler car lost a ton of time in the garage after a hub cap failure.
The action resumes tomorrow morning at 9:30 local time, as the remaining eight hours of the race are run.
Stephen Kilbey
