ILMC/ALMS, Twelve Hours Of Sebring - Hours 2-3

Rocky rejoins the field in 21st position, then gets another one - same corner.  Behind the wall.

The #099 Jag takes its time in the penalty box for the call of avoidable contact with the BMW.

Gavin closes on Melo for the GT lead.

Audi utilizes a golf cart escort to clear the way back to the paddock for Rocky.

Oreca to 4th, ahead of Highcroft, 22 seconds behind McNish.

Mowlem makes his routine stop, dropping out of the LMPC lead - Dalziel back to the front.

Peugeot "battle" up front is tight, actually being side by side for a bit.  McNish about 4 seconds back and closing.

GT right now is a 3-car battle - Risi-Corvette-BMW.

Rocky back to pit lane - lost almost 15 minutes.

Panoz to pits and right out on track.

1-3 overall within 1 second.  McNish closing in traffic and the Pugs pull away in clean track conditions.

Rocky in the #1 Audi is in 50th, 7 laps back.

1:20 minutes in and the leaders have lapped all but the top 7.

#56 BMW back into the top 10 in GT but still on the same lap as the leaders.

Leitz continues to lead GTE-AM.

New leader - Wurz past Montagny.

Lambo out - retired due to safety reasons.  Not sure about why the wheel failed.

Panoz - paddle shift issues.

#004 (Ford) and #35 (Oak) - both have starter issues.

Aston Martin - ring gear on starter motor took ot the flywheel starter - still working on it at almost 1.5 hours in.

Wurz and McNish to the pits at 1 hour, 26 minutes in, fuel only for the Audi.

Pickett and Brabham in also.

Audi is reporting that damage from the first puncture caused the second puncture.

Highcroft fuel only.

Labre Corvette parked in the grass - Gardel out of the car - their race appears to be done.

Driver change for the #7 Peugeot - Davidson into the car.  McNish stayed in the Audi and retakes second overall.

Dyson to the pits as well as the leader.

Sarrazin into the #8  McNish leads.

The second in LMPC #52 stops on track - yellow number 2...

So far, 4 leaders overall - #7, #8, #2 and 1#5.

The GTE-Am is crumbling very early - 2 out of the 5 entrants are not running.  Larbre gone and the Aston is still a non-starter.

The necessary yellow procedure does cause a gap in the action, but in essence is also a way for us to catch our breath - sort of a mental recess...

P2 leader change - Diaz (Level 5) over Ordonez (Signtech).

McNish to the pits on the yellow - McNish out and TK in.  Tires and fuel. Car rejoins with no delay but drops to 5th overall - Peugeot 1-2-3.

#52 rejoins the action.

In ALMS LMP1 - it is now Graf (Cytosport) vs Cochran (Dyson) - should Highcroft be part of this?  Can't answer that quite yet.

GT stops now, reshuffling the field - Auberlen (BMW), courtesy of a fast stop leap-frogs to the lead over Vilander (Risi) and Mags (Corvette)

The #1 Audi to the pits.

Green!!!

Brabs looks to the inside of Duval but can't make anything out of it.

Big moment in GT - Mags, Long contact in turn 17 and (JVO) #01 spins to avoid - big hit for JVO, tearing off a rear corner.  Corvette to the pits for repair.  Long continues on track.  The ESM is heavily damaged and van Overbeek is still in the car - he got out ok.  Yellow #3.

#004 Ford a 4 minute penalty for improper yellow pass in the waveby process.

Out of the stops, Davidson drops to 4th, but the other Peugeots did not stop.  Driver change for Highcroft - Pagenaud into the car for Brabs.  The HPD runs in 6th.

GT is Villander (Risi) over Auberlen (BMW) and then Fisichella (AF Corse).

Green at 2 hours 17 minutes into the race.

#045 Long called into the pits for avoidable contact penalty.

Kristensen to second, passing Duval on track.  The chase is on for the lead.

Mowlem (Woodward Racing) leads in PC; Roda (Proton) leads -Am and Sweedler (AJR) leads GTC.

1.9 seconds lead for Sarrazin over TK.

Auberlen to the lead in GT.

Traffic again and TK closes but is blocked in traffic in 17 - lead just over 1 second.

Milner side by side with his old teammate Hand down the front straight for 4th in class and takes the position GTC now has.

TRG leading Black Swan, with AJR in 3rd.

P2 Diaz over Ordonez.

JVO - OK, but upset.  The car is not good  Extreme Speed loses another car at Sebring in a harsh manner.

Larbre is out - team claiming electrical issues put them out.

The gap at the lead is now 7+ seconds.

Surprise - the Gulf Aston is on track, over 2.5 hours late.

Panoz Abruzzi - gone.

Oreca Peugeot into the pits form 3rd overall. 

The leader into the pits - no driver change - TK to the lead by over 30 seconds on Davidson in the #7 Peugeot.

TK to the pits - fuel only but drops to 4th, 36 seconds back.

GT is now a BMW 1-2, Auberlen over Hand.  Vilander over Fisi for 3rd.  Milner in the #03 Corvette sits in 5th.

Don't look now, but Pagenaud has the Highcroft HPD up the 3rd overall, 3 hours into the race.

3 hours in - #7, #8, #01, #2 up front.  #55, #56, #062, #51 in GT .

GH

Hour 2-3 Summary

Hour 2 saw only the mildest settling down, at least during the first 30 minute period. We didn’t have the wheel –to-wheel fight between the two Peugeots and the remaining healthy Audi. The #1 Audi did return to the fray with only a nominal delay, but in this tight battle that is enough to relegate it among the slower P1 cars for now.

Stephane Sarrazin pitted for fuel only which give McNish the lead. GT has turned into a four car contest with Jaime Melo in the #062 Ferrari edging ahead of Gavin’s Corvette and Dirk Werner’s #55 BMW. Bruni is still very much in contention. Somewhat surprisingly the Porsches are bit further back with Patrick Long the best of the lot in the #045 Lizard. Richard Lietz (soon relieved by Gianluca Roda) lead the Amateur sub-division of the GT class—along with the bizarre ACO mandated car numbering system, this double GT class system is an endless source of confusion this year.

There was a drama for Gabriele Gardel in the privateer Corvette which ground to a halt. He’s lost contact with the gearbox. The latter half of the second hour was at first marred when Ryan Lewis came to a halt on track with the #052 PR1 PC class Oreca, requiring a full-course caution to retrieve it. The race only went green for a lap before we had a major incident at the last turn. Patrick Long was tight on the turn with Gavin closing and trying the pass. The two touched and spun with seemingly little delay or damage. But it was not the case for Johannes van Overbeek in the black and green Ferrari F458. He had nowhere to go and caught the left rear corner of the Corvette and was slammed rearward into the tire wall with extreme speed. The now #000001 Ferrari lost much of its rear section as well as an entire wheel and hub assembly. Scratch one brand new Italia—but no damage to the tall American driver.

The #004 Ford that had made such a good start suffered a major yellow flag passing violation during the first of these two caution periods and was required to make a 4-minute stop under green—yikes.  The #24 Oakarolo is out with electrical issues. A PC class favorite, the #006 of Gunnar Jeannette, has gearbox problems. Another in the class, the Intersport entry, has spent some time behind the wall repairing the steering system. The #59 Ferrari’s mechanics are not exactly living in luxury, as they are hard at work on the gearbox.

Lap 74 saw Sarrazin (in for Montagny) come in from the lead. He stayed aboard the #8 Peugeot in the fuel only stop. A lap later the new top man, Tom Kristensen (in for McNish) also stopped—tires taken on. This dropped the #2 Audi a bit further down and handed the lead to Anthony Davidson in the #7 Peugeot.

Simon Pagenaud is having an extremely good stint in the Highcroft HPD, running 3rd or 4th overall, depending upon the pattern of the stops by the diesels. Moreover, the HPD is as quick on any lap as the Loic Duval driven Oreca Peugeot. The next three cars are running very well, if a bit anonymously. They are the #15 Pescarolo of Pierre Ragues and the Lola Coupe of Klaus Graf. Jeroen Bleekemolen brings up the tail of the lead batch with the Lola-Toyota.

Elton Julian (#063 Genoa Racing) has taken a strong lead in the normally quite close PC class. GT turned to an all-BMW fight, at least for the moment, with Toni Vilander next in the #062 Risi Ferrari. Michele Rugolo is alone in the lead for GTE Am class with the green Krohn Ferrari. The GTC class is a close race between Spencer Pumpelly in the #066 TRG Porsche ahead of the Black Swan car of the other Bleekemolen, Sebastian. He’s also in a Porsche—just in case you were wondering.

At the one-quarter distance,  Anthony Davidson stopped in from the lead. It was a routine stop and the hour ends with Sarrazing moving back up front.

JW