Asian le Mans/ILMC, Zhuhai - Hours 2-3

...and we're back!

The numerous internet problems being suffered by the media here in China are not being helped by some timing anomalies that are showing cars losing several laps, only to return suddenly to their actual position.

Meanwhile, back at the track......

Update from the pits:

The first Drayson Racing pitstop was caused by an unknown vibration. The team suspected rubber pick-up, but couldn't confirm this. This could be an issue for a number of teams later in the race, with the lack of high-speed corners meaning scrub-off is difficult; although Drayson Racing don't know yet why it should have been affected so early, while others haven't.

The JLOC Lamborghini and RSR Jaguars are both first-hour retirements. Neither team has yet been able to establish a definite cause, but the Lambo lost drive while the Jaguar lost power.

Andrew Kirkaldy: "I took the lead at the first corner on lap two when Bruni made a mistake and went wide. I was then able to hold off the BMW until about three-quarters of the way through my stint. I then got tapped by the lead Peugeot and that allowed the BMW to get a run on me and he got by. I then chased him down again and retook the lead before the stop. Our car is definitely superior on brakes."    

Dirk Werner took over the wheel of the GT2 leading BMW. The No. 78’s position was secure thanks to other class cars stopping at about the same time and handing over to the second drivers. Phil Quaife relieved Kirkaldy in the No. 90 Ferrari and Darryl O’Young went aboard the now third in class No. 75 Prospeed Porsche. Gianluca Roda replaced Martin Ragginger in the No. 88 Felbermayr Porsche while Pedro Lamy is in the Saleen.  Jaime Melo took over the no. 95 Ferrari, but did so fairly late in the overall sequence. 

Danny Watts handed off to Richard Meins and the No. 96 Audi continues to lead GTC. Its sister car came in with wheel bearing failure just after Alain Li took the wheel. Roald Goethe took over the Gulf Lambo and had a spin.

The Tokai Courage is finally going (and going well) after a long, long stop to cure what looked like steering ailments, probably a holdover from their ding earlier in the week. The situation at the front completely stabilized with the Peugeots streaming away and the Audi challenge effectively ended.

The cat had no power and the bull had no drive—the reasons for our retirements thus far. The top petrol car is the LM P2 runner, now with Patrice Lafargue driving.  The expected car in this spot, the Cocker / Drayson Lola, lost oodles of time chasing a water leak.The hybrid is continuing its clean run at 6th overall with Patrick Long driving. The BMW remains in command of GT2.

A spin and stop (to be confirmed) by the Richard Meins-driven United Audi has allowed Alex Yoong back in to the GTC lead. Meins has resumed, but is almost 14 seconds behind the class leader just past the two-hour point.

With 89 laps gone, the order is:

2, 1, 7, 8, 35, 92, 78, 75, 77, 50, 47, 90, 95, 88, 98, 96, 23, 11, 99, 91 and 97. 

Danny Watts confirmed that Meins visited the gravel, but that the car is fine. He also thinks that the KK Audi is changing pads at every stop. We tried to confirm this, but were denied access to the pit garage without a firesuit.

At the 2:15 mark Werner brought the GT2 leading BMW in with a 90 second lead and handed back to Müller. One of the longest opening stints ended at the 2:20 marque when local Chinese driver Zhang handed the Oreca over to Jeffrey Lee.  Longest of all was Yoong, the Malaysian man getting relief from Hong Kong’s own Matthew Marsh in the KK Performance Audi.

After a long period of status quo, the battle for second heats up again, very similar to what we had during the first half hour of the race. It’s now McNish in the No. 7 Audi hounding Pagenaud in the No. 1 Pogo.

However, it’s clear that double stinting tires is taking its toll at Audi. Dumas stops with the No. 8 R15 at 2:30 elapsed time and takes on a new slice from Bibendum’s belly. Wolfgang Ullrich later reported that they’ve changed the strategy to single stinting the tires as the time lost during the wear out period is not worth it.

At the 2:40 mark the battle for second in GT2 sharpens a bit with Pierre Ehret (No. 90 CR Ferrari) catching the similar F430 of the AF Corse team, Toni Vilander driving. Behind them, Richard Westbrook (Prospeed Porsche) is fighting off a challenge from Marc Lieb in the No. 77 997.

At the 2:45 point Ehret’s chase ended when he speared off into the dirt at the lap ending Turn 14. He got the Ferrari going again with no apparent damage, but now the Westbrook – Lieb fight is for a podium spot. However, a lap later that fight breaks off in a scheduled fashion when Westbrook stops.

Somewhat surprisingly, the No. 91 Aston is actually the fastest car in the GTC cars. A bit of revelation about that the class. The “GT3” cars were assigned 30 kilos of ballast following their good showing in qualifying—can’t let those FIA types upstage the ACO.

The hour ends with McNish closing in on Pagenaud’s Peugeot for second place—stay tuned.

14:56 - Nishy takes second.

The much-delayed Drayson Racing - its owner now at the wheel - is back ahead of the Tokai Courage and up to 11th overall, albeit 20 laps off the lead.