ILMC/ALMS, Twelve Hours Of Sebring - Hours 7-9 P2 Falls Apart, While Battles Continue in the Other Classes. The 7th hour starts with the yellow from the stoppage of the #055 on track. As the pits open, many of the prototypes jumped in - the highest placed being the #15 Oak Racing pesca from 4th place. The Cytospoty Aston has been in and out (ahhh... burgers...) of the pits. Lucas reported there was contact between him and a BMW on track earlier. After the yellow, the order in GT was #51, #55, #56, #062, #03, #17... Green... 1 lap after the restart, the gap between Montagny and Franchitti was just under 6 laps, with the #1 Audi between them. Across the line, Bergmeister is right behind the GT leader, trying to get his lap back. pass for 2nd overall - Lapierre got past Franchitti. Now it is the new Peugeot leading the old. Villander around Werner for 3rd in GT. Milner closing on the BMW now... The #055 returns to pit lane from repairs and appears to be ready to rejoin the action. The leading non-LMP1 car is??? Thought you'd never ask - Dane Cameron in the #036 Genoa PC, 9th overall. The #55 BMW pits - Werner out and Auberlen into the car. This drops the BMW to 6th in class. Up front, Lapierre is closing on Montagny, while in GT, Mueller takes the point over Kaffer. Having a great run in GT is the Team Falken Porsche, 5th in class. A great start to the 2011 season for the team. Level 5 drama - #033 slow on the straight and the #055 to the pits. #033 behind the wall and P2 lives up to it's well established reputation. Nic Jonsson has brought the Krohn Racing Ferrari to the lead in the -Am category, just over Reid in the Proton Porsche. Kaffer back to the GT lead, after setting up Mueller for a pass after a mistake by the Dirk, who is now starting to get pushed by Mags's lap down Corvette. The not so Flying Lizard #45 pits from 8th in class, still a lap down. Level 5 is replacing a right rear control arm on the #33 Lola. In traffic, the #56 (?) BMW and the remaining Jag touched, spinning the cat. Into the pits are the Oreca Pug and the Highcroft. Brabs now for Highcroft and Lapierre stays in the Oreca. McNish brings the Audi up to 6th overall. Yellow number #8 - #018 Performance Tech goes out and bumps some bunny condos. Due to the P2 melt-down, now the highest placed car in the class is the #33, currently in 37th place. Kelly Moss Porsche comes down the straight dangling some of the rear bumper. Pits open - the leader enters the pit. Driver change - Sarrazin for Montagny and dropping them to 3rd overall. The #018 rejoins the slowed field. GT cars flood the pits - #51, #56, #062, #55, #017... On the Green flag, Lapierre leads Brabs, with Sarrazin in 3rd. Due to a stop on the yellow, McNish drops back behind the Rebellion again. The #03 Corvette to the pits - penalty for speeding in the pits. Mags is hanging on, not too far behind the class leaders, hoping to get his lead back. #002 coming back to the pits slowly - now overshadowed by the massive torch coming out of the back of the #052 PC car. Yellow No. #9... Gearbox issue for the ESM #002, but they can't work on it in the pits because the pits are closed. Expect an intense battle to the end in P2, as it appears that it is the class that nobody wants. Current positions? 39th, 42nd, 44th and 45th. Leaders to the pits, except for the real leader - Sarrazin. Oreca tires and fuel - Highcroft fuel only. Risi - fuel only among the massive stops in GT. Green with just over 4 hours to go - GT battle is #51, #56, #55, #017, #03, #062... Duval past Brabs for 2nd overall. NGT, which was 3rd in class to the penalty box - 4 minutes for a no-no in a wave by. #077 Magnus GTC slowing from 2nd - puncture and into the pits, where the car relieves itself. Radiator issue? Black Swan #054 leads over the #066 TRG. 8 hours down, 4 to go... The Level 5 no. #33 has woke up and rejoined the race, or at least pit lane. Let the comeback begin. Up front, things have pretty much stabilized, Sarrazin 20 plus seconds over Duval, with Brabs another 8ish seconds back. Not trying to jinx anything here, but the #098 Jaguar is still going, 28th overall and 11th in class. A positive turn for the team that is greatly needed. Bruni pits the "old" 430 from 3rd in class. Rocky brings the #1 Audi in from 7th overall for fuel only. Leader to the pits - Fuel only - drops to 3rd overall. Duval over Brabs by 8 seconds. Audi #2 pits - routine, 6th overall, 3 laps back of Dyson. Oh no - maybe I jinxed them - the #098 Kitty just crawled into the pits. Whew. Looks like it was only for a drink of E10 milk. #03 Corvette in from 3rd in class - Milner out and Garcia in. A 1:49.805 for Duval while leading - is the magic time coming? The sun is getting low, the shadows long and the photographers are gathering for the sunset shots. #55 pits from 2nd; 017 from 4th. PC drama - #018 destroys a LR tire. The leading #56 GT is now in and the Muscle Milk Aston is done for good - cooling system failure - gearbox kaput. 1:49.8 for Brabs. #034 "Green Hornet" visits the grass and rejoins. Leader in - Brabs too. Fuel only for Oreca. Sarrazin to the lead, Duval 2nd and Brabs 3rd. Bad news for OAK - the 4th place car pulls off - the driver, Lehaye appears to have a burnt foot - fuel leak into the cockpit. - Dyson to 4th. Dyson to the pits - Cochran into the car. As the PC cars start to fade, the GT cars are entering the top 10. Salo, leading GT is 9th and Priaulx is 10th overall. Dunlop tires are having some nice success here - 4th in P1, 2nd in GT and leading P2. Lucas Ordonez - a rookie to prototype competition has the Signtech Nissan Oreca up to 33rd now, leading P2. Duval is about 9 seconds back of Sarrazin, while Brabs is about 40 seconds back. Missed this - Priaulx to the lead in GT - Risi must have stopped as Villander is in the car now, back in 5th. Front left louver is broke on the leading Pug - stop pending... possible damage at the back too. Falken behind the wall and off the lead lap in GT. With 9 hours complete, the lead has stabilized, but should be changing soon - GT? Anybody's guess... GH Hours 7-9 Wrap-up This is one of the best endurance races in years. The (competitive) loss of the Audis and one of the Peugeots has done nothing to diminish the fight at the top. Before summarizing that, a quick word about those delayed cars. The Audis are “only” six laps adrift but their pace and somewhat languid stops illustrate that the team knows that this won’t be their year. The #7 Peugeot is nearly 20 laps back and more clearly out of it. It is all about the works and the Oreca 908 and the still remarkable HPD. For most of this period the #8 Peugeot has held the lead—but a very tenuous one. The slightest bobble and it’s over for them and as well all know things are never perfect among the Peugeots. The LM P2 class has suffered from a combination of being small, having some new and untested cars, and well-being LM P2. In other words, it has reverted to its self-destructive manner. Cars #33 and #055 have dropped to Level 1.5 with the Coupe first having a broken wishbone and the open black car becoming stranded with a bad gearbox. The (relatively) untroubled Oreca-Nissan heads the group but is fighting off GTCs with regard to overall classification. The spec Prototype class has vacillated between dominance and close racing. Although not a contender, events were enlivened when Jarrett Boon went boom against the wall. More dramatically, Ryan Lewis retired with fire under the No. 052 car. The contest boils down to Core versus Genoa. The #036 car has generally been the fastest while the #005, the lesser of the two Core entries, actually having the most trouble-free run. GT has had the most true wheel-to-wheel racing. Some of it has been between the two BMW team cars. The Risi and AF Corse Ferraris have been nipping at the Bimmers’ heels, but have generally been outclassed. The #03 Corvette is up there simply by not going away. The most interesting aspect of GT has been the back and forth betweeen the three cars in contention for third place and the internecine aspect of the contest for the lead. The other fascinating element has been the difference in driving styles. Dirk Müller was trying to remain metronomic, only to have the Ferrari of Pierre Kaffer cut under the M3. As the sky darkened the Dyson Lola came that much more alive, continuing with its surprisingly good run. In particular, newcomer to the team Jay Cochran has done quite well. But it is all about the fight for the overall lead and yes, Team Peugeot is fallible again. Stephane Sarrazin lost the lead to Loic Duval in the Oreca car when the factory entry made a routine stop. Meanwhile David Brabham finished a long double stint, keeping the Highcroft HPD on the lead lap. The Oreca lead and the subsequent second place of Highcroft, was strengthened when the legality louvers on the works Peugeot loosened. This necessitated a change of front bodywork. Moreover, Pedro Lamy had a lurid spin on the out lap thanks to overcorrecting on his cold tires. Another car that had spent much of the day pecking at the leaders, the No. 15 Oak Pescarolo, came to grief when Matthieu Lahaye suffered bad liquid fuel burns when a line opened inside the cockpit and forced him to stop by the side of the circuit. The slowest of the classes in the race, GTC, also saw some self-destruction. The long time second in class car, the No. 034 Kelly Moss entry of Bob Faieta, was punted off by one of the Audis. This has left the perennial winners of the all Porsche Cup class, Black Swan Racing, with a strong lead. JW | 
