Sebring 12 Hours 8-9
Cooling Down, Hotting Up
Porsche 1-2-3, Porsche 1-2

Collard handed the lead car over to Bernhard, but the Porsche team relinquished top spot to Tom Kristensen. That only lasted until the Audi entered the pits the next time around. It’s far from a routine stop as the nose section and a suspension pushrod have been replaced. The stop didn’t take long, but long enough that the No. 16 Dyson entry cycled around to the front. Indeed, Kristensen has now dropped off the lead lap.

We now have three healthy Porsches, three healthy Acuras, and only one healthy Audi within striking distance. The No. 15 Acura of Adrian Fernandez had a slight bauble. There was apparently some minor contact that left a piece of dangling bodywork at the front left that was readily removed at a quick stop. The Mexican continued just off the lead lap in 7th place.

Kristensen is continuing with a modest climb up the order. He’s up to fourth overall (first in LM P1 of course) and some 2 seconds per lap faster than those around him. The No. 26 Acura has been shedding some bodywork but remained out for quite some time, lapping well in the hands of Marco Andretti. It finally came in for a somewhat lengthy (2-3 minutes) change of the rear cover and wing. The team dropped behind the Audi to fourth spot.

At about the 8-hour mark Kristensen brings in the No. 1 Audi. Allan McNish hops aboard but there are problems. The front cover is off and there is major work being done to the left front brakes. The rotor is being replaced. Meanwhile, Timo Bernhard stops in from the lead and a very routine stop. Bernhard exits, but not before Guy Smith slips past into the lead.

The Audi lost close to four laps before McNish could return—now down in seventh place. The lead battle is a fine one between the two Porsches. One would expect that the factory car of Bernhard would have the advantage but it’s not the case. Indeed, Guy Smith has opened up nearly 5 seconds on the yellow Penske entry. The gap accordions a bit depending upon traffic, but there’s no real racing as the Dyson team soon needs to make a stop.

That halt comes at about the 8:20-elapsed time mark and Bernhard has retaken the lead. As it nears 7 p.m. the sun s quite low, it’s a cooled a bit and the two Dyson Porsches are flying. Chris Dyson is now aboard No. 16, in which Guy Smith had recently set that car’s fastest lap. Meanwhile, one spot further back is No. 20. It had a one-lap delay very early in the race with a fuel rig problem. Now it is running very well and fast with Marino Franchiitti setting that car’s fast lap.

The growing intensification of the overall battle comes to an interruption when David Robertson goes off hard into the barriers at Turn 13. He steps out with a bit of help, a bit groggy, but otherwise ok. This brings out our 5th full-course caution of the day.

The race resumes with 5 cars having a realistic shot at overall victory-none of them P1 cars. They are the No. 7 Penske Porsche, both Dyson Porsches, and two Acuras, the Mexicans and Highcroft—although the latter has been assessed a stop-and-go to be served under green.

Alexandre Primat via Motors TV via David Legangneux reports that there have been problems with the steering wheel on the Audis, at least the one of Marco Werner. There are also problems (again) with the No. 26 Andretti-Green Acura. It’s been in for a long stop with some work in the cockpit area.

GT2 remains as sanguine as ever with Lizard 45 two laps clear of Lizard 44.

On the restart Collard pulls out about 3.6 seconds on Dyson, who is another 12 clear of Franchitti. Diaz is the last man on the lead lap, another 15 seconds down.

Fastest laps from the P2 cars as we approach the three-quarter point of the race.
#15 Lowe’s Acura 1:46.417 Fernandez
#26 AGR Acura 1:47.274 Andretti
#7 Penske Porsche 1:47.460 Dumas?
#20 Dyson Porsche 1:47.813 Franchitti
#16 Dyson Porsche 1:47.860 Smith
#9 Highcroft Acura 1:48.026 Brabham

Hour 9 Positions (just after the green to conclude the caution for the Ford going off)
1 7 P2 1 Emmanuel Collard Run 255 0.000 1:47.460 11 Porsche RS Spyder
2 16 P2 2 Chris Dyson Run 255 3.047 1:47.860 10 Porsche RS Spyder
3 20 P2 3 Marino Franchitti Run 255 9.396 1:47.813 10 Porsche RS Spyder
4 15 P2 4 Luis Diaz Run 255 9.509 1:46.417 11 Acura ARX-01B
5 9 P2 5 Scott Sharp Run 254 1 Lap 1:48.026 13 Acura ARX-01B
6 1 P1 1 Allan McNish Run 253 2 Laps 1:45.944 12 Audi R10
7 26 P2 6 Christian Fittipaldi Run 251 4 Laps 1:47.274 13 Acura ARX-01B
8 27 P2 7 Fredy Lienhard Run 242 13 Laps 1:50.316 10 Porsche RS Spyder
9 2 P1 2 Mike Rockenfeller Run 242 5.451 1:45.954 10 Audi R10
10 3 GT1 1 Ron Fellows Run 241 14 Laps 1:57.839 7 Chevrolet Corvette LS7
11 37 P1 3 Clint Field Run 239 16 Laps 1:49.236 15 Lola B06/10 AER
12 07 P1 4 Pedro Lamy Run 233 22 Laps 1:44.536 10 Peugeot 908
13 4 GT1 2 Olivier Beretta Run 232 23 Laps 1:57.087 9 Chevrolet Corvette LS7
14 45 GT2 1 Wolf Henzler Run 231 24 Laps 2:03.193 10 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
15 44 GT2 2 Darren Law Run 229 26 Laps 2:03.614 14 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
16 61 GT2 3 Nic Jonsson Pit 227 28 Laps 2:04.074 13 Ferrari F430 GT
17 5 GT2 4 Craig Stanton Run 226 29 Laps 2:05.538 10 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
18 73 GT2 5 Pierre Ehret Run 223 32 Laps 2:03.370 12 Ferrari F430 GT
19 11 GT2 6 Joel Feinberg Run 217 38 Laps 2:06.773 13 Dodge Viper Competition Co
20 008 GT1 3 Antonio Garcia Run 215 40 Laps 1:59.802 12 Aston Martin DBR 9
21 71 GT2 7 Dominik Farnbacher Run 196 59 Laps 2:02.898 12 Ferrari F430 GT
22 46 GT2 8 Johannes van Overbeek Run 195 60 Laps 2:02.789 10 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
23 12 P1 5 Bryan Willman Run 194 61 Laps 1:54.281 11 Creation Ca07-002 Judd
24 40 GT2 9 David Robertson Run 186 69 Laps 2:06.786 11 Doran Ford GT-R
25 77 GT2 10 Mauro Casadei Ret 173 82 Laps 2:15.951 6 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
26 21 GT2 11 Tom Sutherland Run 165 90 Laps 2:04.985 10 Panoz Esperante GTLM
27 62 GT2 12 Jaime Melo Ret 137 118 Laps 2:02.434 7 Ferrari F430 GT
28 87 GT2 13 Dirk Werner Ret 136 119 Laps 2:03.660 5 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
29 28 GT2 14 Marc Goossens Ret 99 156 Laps 2:05.105 10 Chevrolet Corvette C6
30 32 P2 8 J C Ravier Ret 88 167 Laps 1:51.148 4 Zytek 07S
31 007 GT2 15 Paul Drayson Ret 70 185 Laps 2:07.103 3 Aston Martin DBRS 9
32 6 P2 9 Sascha Maassen Ret 29 226 Laps 1:49.190 2 Porsche RS Spyder
33 8 P2 -- Ben Devlin Exc -- -- ?.??? 0 Lola B07/46 Mazda

This is a Peugeot engine shot from earlier in the day.