ELMS, 6 Hours of Le Castellet - Hours 2 and 3

13:02
Just been advised that it has not been Jack Clarke in the #45, despite his name on the screens, and Bastien Brière is driving the Boutsen car.

Beche leads by 29 seconds from Dominik Kraihamer, but Tom Kimber-Smith is all over the back of the Oak Morgan. The Greaves Zytek sweeps through unopposed and TK-S rockets off into the distance.

Jaime Melo continues his dominance of the GT category, and has now passed the second of the LMPC cars, that of Vignali, though has yet to stop. James Walker has worked his way by the 'Am' Porsches to be second in GT, second in 'Pro'. Marco Cioco has inherited third in GT and leads the 'Am' pack by dint of being the only one of the group (Melo aside) yet to pit.

13:07
Tight tussle between Minassian and Kaffer, with the Frenchman getting the better of it in the end, although Stuart Hall's Aston very nearly got mixed up in the party. So, Minassian holds 6th over Pecom in 7th.

13:08
Buurman has rapidly closed onto the tail of the Oak Morgan, and the two cars are tight as a drum into Turn 1. Buurman gets a great run out of the first element and sweeps through to take third as they run down to the complex. Kraihamer looked to give way with some resignation, the Lola evidently so much quicker.

After such an impressive first stint, the delayed pitstop hasn't served Warren Hughes well, and the Murphy Prototypes Oreca has dropped to 9th.

13:15
Out at the sharp end, Beche continues to lead, from Tom Kimber-Smith, with the margin standing at around 25 seconds.

Melo finally pits from the GT lead. He's gone 36 laps on that first tank.

Sam Hancock takes Kraihamer for fourth place. Oak were one of few teams that elected not to fit fresh rubber at the end of the opening stint, and Kraihamer is now suffering the consequences. Conversely, Beche also took on only fuel for his first pitstop, but is still laying down good times, and holding his lead.

13:29
Buurman sets a new fastest lap for the race as he pushes hard from third place.

Kraihamer has pitted the Oak Morgan, and handed over to Moreau. He’ll be delighted to get out of a car that was starting to be almost unmanageable to drive.

13:35
Buurman’s pace is very impressive, and he’s now closing down on Kimber-Smith for second. Beche has done well to hold on to the lead, as his tyres must be nearing the end of their shelf life after two hot stints.

13:38
End of lap 52, and both Kimber-Smith and Buurman head for the pits. It's a very quick pitstop for the Greaves Zytek, and no driver change, and a much better pitstop than the last.

The Extreme Limite Norma is into the garage.

Warren Hughes brings the Murphy Prototype Oreca into the pitalne for the car's second pitstop. The TDS Oreca is also in for pitstop and driver change.

13:41
Sam Hancock, yet to make his second pitstop, powers across the line to take the lead for the first time, and celebrates with his fastest lap of the race so far, before pitting next time around.

That swift pitstop from Greaves has assured Kimber-Smith of the lead, with Buurman almost 7 seconds behind in second, and TDS third. Simon Dolan takes over from Hancock in the Jota.

13:43
Phil Keen pits the #42 Curtis Racing Oreca 09 from the LMPC lead, 10th overall.

Tom Kimber-Smith baulked into Signes after a good run along the Mistral, in his attempts to put a second lap onto the #11 Race Performance Oreca Judd. This has allowed Buurman to close significantly, and it gets more blatant as Meichtry continues to hold off Kimber-Smith through the complex. Not a good display from the Swiss.

13:46
With all the pitstops resolved, the order in GT is also clearer now. Marco Frezza leads GT 'Pro' from 12th overall, with the IMSA Porsche second, and JMW third, Jonny Cocker having taken over from Walker.

13:48
The situation continues to cause problems. Kimber-Smith finally gets through ahead of Meichtry, but in the interim Buurman has closed to within a few tenths of the Greaves Zytek. Further on round the lap, it is Buurman's turn to fall foul of the traffic, taking a tap from the AF Corse Ferrari and diving for the infield, but no damage done, and little time lost.

13:52
Kimber-Smith has regained his advantage, and possibly got a grip on his frustrations as well, and there's air between the two leaders again now. Pierre Thiriet himself is now at the wheel of the TDS Racing Oreca, and pushing hard in third, just three seconds behind Buurman. He moved ahead of Meichtry on the run through Signes, flashing his lights wildly as he closed.

13:56
Pierre Kaffer has stayed in the Pecom Racing Oreca for another stint, and has a firm grasp on 4th, ahead of Nicolas Marroc in the Sebastien Loeb Racing Oreca. There's a good 20 seconds or more between the two. Next up is Moreau in the Oak, the car now turning in a much improved pace, thanks to some fresh rubber. Simon Dolan is 14 seconds behind Moreau.

Luca Moro took over from Warren Hughes in that last pitstop, and the Italian is turning in some highly respectable times aboard the Murphy Oreca. He holds ninth (thanks to the lengthy and troublesome pitstop for Hughes) but his times are well on the pace.

Positions At End of Second Hour (PDF)

14:02
John Hartshorne stepped aboard the Curtis Racing Technologies LMPC after Phil Keen's last pitstop. The #42 is still holding 10th.

14:05
There's a car on fire behind the barriers at Turn 2. It looks to be the Murphy Prototype Orreca, and the fault appears to be remarkably similar to the one that hit Boutsen's example in practice. This one seems to have affected the right-hand rear of the car. The problem on Saturday was thought to stem from a fractured exhaust. This time the fire is swiftly extinguished, with Moro getting the car off the track very quickly and allowing the marshals easy access to the fire.

14:15
Confirmation that the Murphy Prototypes Oreca is another retirement, and apparently for the same reason that befell the Boutsen Ginion Racing 03 in practice yesterday.

No other significant developments.

The GT leader is in for his next pitstop, Jaime Melo to get back in to the JMB Ferrari. As a result, Jonny Cocker goes through to take the class lead, and it's a lengthy pitstop for JMB. Cocker was already closing, so this further delay for the erstwhile leader could pay dearly even after the JMW car comes in for its next scheduled stop.

14:18
Pierre Kaffer pits the Pecom Racing Oreca from fifth, and hands over to Luis Perez Companc, the Argentinean. Elsewhere, problems for the #40 Boutsen Ginion LMPC car. Thomas Dononeau is in the #40 and had been lying a lowly 17th (several laps down now on the Curtis Racing example) and moving very slowly.

14:21
Jonny Cocker puts from the GT lead. Faultless pitstop, and the yellow 458 is soon back out on track . . . but is it ahead of Melo? The timing screen is yet to catch up.

Mention of the Curtis Racing Oreca, #42, the car (with DSC's Danny Bear on board, no less!) has moved up to 9th now, with John Hartshorne maintaining the excellent pace established earlier by Phil Keen.

14:25
Tom Kimber-Smith leads by almost six seconds from Yelmer Buurman in the Status GP Lola. A further 11 seconds back down the track is Pierre Thiriet in the TDS Racing Oreca.

14:29
Greaves and Status both into the pits for scheduled pitstops. Once again, a marginally quicker stop by the Zytek crew. Dean Stirling takes over from Buurman.

14:33
Pierre Thiriet brings the #46 Oreca through into the pitlane, and a neat stop from the TDS crew.

14:37
Simon Dolan pits the Jota Zytek.

14:38
A smoky problem for the AF Corse Ferrari, with Matt Griffin obviously suffering from a tyre rubbing on the bodywork. He's pushing on hard, despite the obvious handicap. The message on the screen suggest that, yet again, it's the #10 car that's caused the problem after contact earlier in the lap. The Pecom Racing car has already been issued with a warning for unsporting behaviour. Griffin pits the car and the team attend to the damage.

14:41
The Pecom car also pits to have damage to the front left made good . . . and evidence of red paint hastily polished away.

14:47
Guillaume Moreau in the Oak Morgan takes Dean Stirling in the Status GP Lola for fourth, but then pits a couple of laps later.

The last series of pitstops altered the complexion of the race somewhat, and that quick work by the TDS crew gave Pierre Thiriet the lead. He has a 21 second lead over Lucas Ordonez in the Greaves Zytek, with Nicolas Marroc third in the Sebastien Loeb Oreca.

A stop-go penalty is confirmed for the Pecom car. This will be in addition to the lengthy stop that it is still undertaking to make good the damage to the nose. There's a moral here somewhere.

14:58
Thiriet's lead is narrowing bit by bit, and Ordonez is now just 20 seconds behind.

The Prospeed GT 'Am' Porsche is into the pits for another scheduled pitstop - the first for this round, and the car's third.

Positions At End of Third Hour (PDF)

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