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General

WEC Silverstone 6 Hours

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Christensen's race engineer tells him they don't have the pace to fight Bird and Mucke down Hangar Straight. By the time he reaches Vale, both Bird and Mucke are past into second and third respectively.
Christensen now has two GTE Pro rivals line astern behind him in second place. Stefan Mucke has joined the party behind Sam Bird.
GTE PRO
Richard Lietz gets the signal from the Porsche pit wall - turn up the engine map and send it. He's less than half a second behind fifth placed Nicki Thiim.
Speaking of broken LMP1s, the ByKolles is back in and being worked on too.
LMP1
Speaking of DragonSpeed, there's no sign of their LMP1 entry. Regner van der Zande brought the #7 into the pits 15 minutes ago. It's still there.

They're now last bar one, as the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari in GTE Am is also being repaired in its garage.
LMP2
Interesting follow-up from Roberto Gonzalez on his opening lap dramas aboard the #31 DragonSpeed. No mechanical dramas at all at the start. Instead he simply threw out the anchors to avoid traffic ahead of him. Remember that Pla lost the GTE Pro lead by hitting him, only for the #31 to then cause a traffic jam exiting The Loop.

One-time Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado has just taken over that car, by the way.
That was a sensible, planned move from Priaulx for the lead a few moments ago. Focussed on getting a good exit from Luffield and Copse, getting the move done on Christensen before entering Maggotts.
GTE PRO
Sorensen stopped and handed over to Nicki Thiim a little earlier. He's now got Richard Lietz - who assumed control of the #91 Porsche from Bruni - all over him for fifth place.
And as soon as I type that, Priaulx is past! That was quick.
GTE PRO
Priaulx has now caught GTE Pro leader Christensen and is all over the rear of the #92 Porsche.
GTE AM
Eastwood's not giving second up easily to Andlauer in GTE Am. He's so determined to stay ahead that he's been given a black and white flag for breaching track limits.
Van Eerd is the team owner and bronze driver in that team. He also owns an amazing collection of old Minardi Formula 1 cars, which is nice.
LMP2
Frits van Eerd has taken over from Giedo van der Garde in the Racing Team Nederland car. He spins out soon after leaving pit lane on cold tyres.
Presumably traffic played a part there - not even a personal best lap for either Toyota on out or in laps, never mind a new fastest lap.
Mike Conway retakes the race lead for the #7 Toyota!
And now Toyota #7 pits. Kobayashi out, Mike Conway in.
Alonso exits second. Both Toyotas have over a lap on the Rebellions in third and fourth.
Information
It's a full service for the #8, including driver change.

Fernando Alonso hops aboard.
LMP1
And our answer for why Buemi was allowed past Kobayashi so easily has come. Buemi brings the #8 Toyota to pitlane already.
GTE PRO
Ford's comeback is progressing nicely. Priaulx is second and catching class leader Michael Christensen in the #92 Porsche. He's cut the gap to 4.4s and is turning the timing board purple on every lap.
If Andlauer can clear Eastwood soon we could conceivably have a lead battle before the hour is up in GTE Am. Patrick Lindsey currently leads by 17.5s in the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche.
It's not exactly a fair fight. Andlauer is a factory Porsche driver and currently setting the fastest split times of the entire race in GTE Am. But Eastwood clings on for now aboard his #90 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage.
GTE AM
We've got a fight on for second in GTE Am. Julien Andlauer in third is all over the back of Charlie Eastwood.
What that does mean, for those who are not frequent WEC viewers, is that Fernando Alonso is the net leader of this race, with team-mates Kazuki Nakajimi and Buemi, who is currently driving.
It's hard to say this early on what the reason for that switch was. Let's see how the race strategies of the #7 and #8 respectively evolve over the coming hours.
That was orchestrated. Kobayashi moves over to the right hand side of the Hangar Straight and slows down, allowing Buemi to easily pass on the racing line entering Stowe.
LMP1
A change for the lead! Buemi has slipped past Kobayashi.
Information
LMP2 standings after Hour 1

1. Tan (DC Racing)
2. Tung (DC Racing)
3. Van der Garde (Racing Team Nederland)
4. Thiriet (Signatech)
5. Vaxiviere (TDS Racing)
6. Creed (Larbre Competition)
Information
LMP1 standings after Hour 1

1. Kobayashi (Toyota)
2. Buemi (Toyota) +0.7s
3. Jani (Rebellion) +1 lap
4. Beche (Rebellion) +1 lap
5. Sarrazin (SMP) +1 lap
6. Hanley (DragonSpeed) +2 laps
And would you look at that, we're already an hour in! That went by like a flash. This is as good a time as any for a quick catch-up on our current running order.
LMP1
Buemi has made up for his slow first stop earlier. His gap to Kobayashi in the sister TS050 is down to 1.1s.
GTE PRO
That gives Sam Bird the lead of his home WEC round, even if only due to pit stop cycles.
GTE PRO
The #67 Ford GT and #81 BMW M8 are also in for some fuel and a new driver.
Out gets Estre, in jumps Michael Christensen.
GTE PRO
GTE Pro race leader Kevin Estre brings the #92 Porsche in for its first stop.
GTE AM
Sixth placed GTE Am runner Mike Wainwright got a bit of a surprise with Priaulx and Sorensen rapidly bearing down on him. He goes straight on at Maggotts as an inventive manner of getting out of their way.
GTE PRO
Sorensen slides wide exiting Luffield. That's all the opportunity Priaulx needs. They run side by side down the old National pit straight, with Priaulx taking third down the inside of Copse.
GTE PRO
Priaulx has now caught third placed Sorensen and is starting to line him up. It's a matter of when, not if, Priaulx gets past, surely.
Crash
We're less than an hour in and already the #4 ByKolles has problems. Webb has plummeted to 30th overall and five laps down on the leading Toyotas. He spent seven minutes in the pits.
GTE PRO
Bruni can't get a move lined up on Pier Guidi for sixth place. Lapped traffic and LMPs lapping him just keep getting in the way.

By: Matt Beer

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