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General

WEC Silverstone 6 Hours

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GTE PRO
Sam Bird gets second place! That was very clever - Sorensen was forced wide at Abbey while being lapped by an LMP, Bird saw a space open up and flew his Ferrari through the gap around the outside of Farm.
Sarrazin now takes the remaining SMP to pitlane. He'll be off strategy thanks to his opening lap troubles.
It's quite surprising to see the disparity in those Astons. Sorensen is still holding steady up in second place, albeit with Sam Bird on his tail, while Lynn has plummeted to eighth, ahead only of the BMWs.
Pier Guidi got past Lynn unseen to us, and now Bruni flings his Porsche around the outside at Copse to overhaul Lynn too. So that's Pier Guidi up to sixth and Bruni to seventh in GTE Pro.
Crash
Aleshin pulls up in the grass after Copse. This looks like game over.
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That's the Jenson Button car, currently piloted by team-mate Mikhail Aleshin.
Crash
There's plumes of smoke blowing out of the left rear of the #11 SMP.
So Pla is now up to fifth in GTE Pro and Lynn down to sixth, with Pier Guidi and Bruni right behind.
Alessandro Pier Guidi tried to pass around the outside of Lynn at Luffield. Brave! Unsurprisingly though it doesn't work.
Lynn has been passed at long last by Pla at Village. There's now a long queue of cars behind that Aston Martin.
Only Sarrazin and Webb are staying out. Every other LMP1 car stopped on that lap.
It's a much better stop from the lead #7 Toyota than the #8. Kobayashi emerges well ahead of Buemi.
The #3 Rebellion follows the Toyotas in to pitlane as well, coming in from fifth place.
The pitstop window is well and truly open. Both Toyotas are in for a service, as are the leading LMP2 pair.
Roberto Gonzalez does something other than hitting Pla's Ford GT this time. He's slipped past Erwin Creed for fifth in LMP2.
The LMP1 #10 DragonSpeed has pitted. Ben Hanley comes in for a nose change. A bit of deja-vu there - they had to do exactly the same thing with their LMP2 car yesterday - driven by Hanley - during yesterday's ELMS race.
Those two lead Toyotas are now 0.8s apart thanks to thick LMP traffic. They're now lapping the Rebellions. Crikey.
That all happened while Kobayashi in the lead Toyota was coming through to lap them, which made things a bit tense!
Meanwhile Pla's Ford GT team-mate Priaulx finally passes Lynn at Village. He's up to fourth now. Pla is a little far back to capitalise.
Gonzalez and Pla come together again! The LMP2 #31 Dragonspeed has a look at the inside of Copse but Pla shuts the door, so Gonzalez gives the Ford GT a light tap in the right rear.
Back to GTE Pro, where Bird has been slowly edging closer to second placed Marco Sorensen.
Unsurprisingly the #17 SMP has passed more cars than any other so far. Dropping to the rear, coming through, then serving a drive through penalty will cause things like that.
Not this time. But both those Fords are looking racy. Estre will need to make hay while the sun shines out front.
Priaulx gets a good run exiting Aintree - can he grab fourth from Lynn?
Tung is already on the move after his stop, passing Nicolas Lapierre for thrid in LMP2. It's an easy move down the inside at Copse. No drama.
Stopwatch
All of this infighting in the midfield has allowed Kevin Estre to disappear out front. The #92 Porsche has a 7.5s lead over Marco Sorensen.
Priaulx has a look at Vale but Lynn slams the door shut.
Those Fords look incredibly rapid. Both Priaulx and Pla have already caught Alex Lynn in the second Aston Martin.
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Sarrazin has been given a drive through penalty for hitting Beche and triggering that first corner chaos on lap one.
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After that reshuffle, the GTE Pro order now looks like this;

1. Estre (Porsche)
2. Sorensen (Aston Martin)
3. Bird (Ferrari)
4. Lynn (Aston Martin)
5. Priaulx (Ford)
6. Pla (Ford)
7. Farfus (BMW)
8. Pier Guidi (Ferrari)
That was an excellent tag-team manoeuvre by Ford there. The mechanics clap in appreciation. Well worked.
Pla runs side by side with Farfus down the old National start/finish straight and gets the job done at Copse.
He makes it stick! That wedges a line open for Pla right behind Priaulx at Luffield.
Priaulx goes around the outside at Brooklands!
There's a mega battle in GTE Pro. Farfus now has both Fords right on his tail!
Tung pits the #38 DC Racing Oreca, so van der Garde gets a reprieve in second place. For now, at least.
Toyota are working on a spare nose for the #8's first stop to remedy the issue, it appears.
Out front, Buemi is complaining of understeer. He's now 2.2s off team-mate and race leader Kobayashi.
Giedo van der Garde has Ho-Pin Tung in the other Jackie Chan Oreca right on his tail. Van der Garde's gentleman driver team-mate Frits van Eerd flat-spotted a set of tyres in qualifying, so they've got to be gentle on their tyres here.
Jazeman Jafar leads LMP2 by 3.1s aboard his Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca. There's an interesting battle behind over second place though.

By: Matt Beer

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