FIAWEC Silverstone: First 2 hours.

The first 120 minutes of WEC 2013.

Those of you who saw anything of yesterday’s racing would think we were on a different planet. The rain has held off apart from a few drips over the last couple of hours. There is ferocious wind which would have come in handy yesterday. There is healthy looking crowd and we look set for a cracking race. As we have seen before these ‘Endurance’ races seem to start with an all-out sprint and today was no exception !! However things did begin to settle down and it came as no huge surprise to see the two Audis looking fairly comfortably ahead of the Toyotas who were some way off the pace of the two ‘new’ Audis. As usual the Audi boys seem calmly in control as always.

However as I write at @14:13hrs heavy rain started and this caught out several teams.. more of that later.

The Toyotas seem to be off the pace for some reason and when Wurtz (#7 Toyota) was interviewed he was unhappy with the tyres and handling.. it kind of showed!

In LMP2 it was hard to pick up the action since the RLM team never seem to mention them unless they crash! The Lotus’ have not impressed today, they have spent quite a bit of time in the warmth and comfort of their pit garages. #31 car has subsequently retired hurt and the #32 car was still running at the two hour mark but a mere 56 laps behind the leaders

Strakka Racing have had a bad day all round something broke, possibly in the front suspension, and it assaulted the #61 Ferrari.( and came off worse!) They have retired the car and are probably on their way home as we speak !

The GT’s have been giving us some rather good racing. There were three Astons at the front of the Pro/Am grid but at some point soon after the start the #96 LM GTE Am car slipped back. After two hours the LM GTE Pro Class was led by the #97 Aston Martin that had led from the start. The new Porsches that showed all that promise in practice have not, so far, come up with the goods and were running 4^th and 6^th . This meant the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia was running 2^nd some 18 seconds behind the leading Aston. Then came the #71 AF Corse Ferrari. So Ferrari will be satisfied with the work so far. But they don’t currently have any answer to the #97 Aston.

In LMGT Am it was Aston in the lead again. This time it as the #95 car which at the two hour mark had a very healthy lead over the #88 Proton Porsche. This time the Ferraris were being outclassed by Aston, Porsche and the Corvette.

Life is not easy by the fact that all the Astons look the same , so confusion can arise !

LMP1

1. #2 Audi Sport Team Joest
2. #1 Audi Sport Team Joest
3. #8 Toyota Racing
4. #7 Toyota Racing
5. #12 Rebellion Lola
6. #13 Rebellion Lola
7. #21 Strakka Racing

LMP2

1. #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca
2. #25 Delta ADR Oreca
3. #24 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan
4. #35 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan
5. #47 KCMG Morgan-Nissan
6. #41 Greaves M/sport Zytek Nissan
7. #45 OAK Racing Morgan Nissan
8. #49 Pecom Racing Oreca
9. #31 Lotus
10. #32 Lotus

LMGTE Pro

1. #97 Aston Martin Racing
2. #51 AF Corse Ferrari
3. #71 AF Corse Ferrari
4. #92 Porsche Team Manthey
5. #99 Aston Martin Racing
6. #91 Porsche Team Manthey

LMGT Am

1. #95 Aston Martin Racing
2. #88 Proton Competition Porsche
3. #96 Aston Martin Racing
4. #50 Labre Competition Corvette
5. #81 8 Star Ferrari
6. #57 Krohn Racing Porsche
7. #76 IMSA Porsche
8. #61 AF Corse Ferrari

So only two retirements the #31 Lotus T128 and the #21 Strakka Racing HPD ARX 03c Honda