24H BARCELONA | UPDATE HOUR 4 - 7
Norbert Siedler stepped back into the lucky no. 7 Porsche with the Stadler team's lead under no threat. There were two very brief Code 60s to pick stranded cars. Despite various delays of several teams we have no official retirements well into the 5th hour. Most significantly, the rain returned at about 16:30, 4-1/2 hours into the race. It remained light but persistent at first.There is yet one more family team to report. From BMW No. 29 there is Matthias and Michael Tischner. Sie sind Zwillinge!
Car #2, a Mercedes SLS, with Alexander Matschull, Peter Schmidt, Heinz Schmersal, Johannes Kirchhoff, Gustav Edelhoff are continously in second position with their car running clockwise with experienced drivers.
Another Code 60 came about 20 minutes into the rain when Heyer planted the No. 4 Mercedes into the mud.Meanwhile the leading Porsche just keeps ticking off laps. The fact that several front runners have hit problems has allowed some of the smaller cars to move up the overall ranking. Best of these is the No. 40 A3T class leading Seat. It is seventh overall and the best placed local team. Andrew Carbonell was aboard at the seven-hour mark.
The 7th hour of the race began to see the return of some of the zombies that died early one. First of the gory hulks to return is the Dread Camel Audi—but, really, hooray for them. There were again some quite short Code 60 interruptions, up to 7 total such procedures in 8 hours. One of them was really, really short at under 1 minute—quite a contrast to a safety car system.
Really heavy arrived as an accompaniement to dusk, which brought yet another Code 60, this time when Ralf Völkel became stranded with the No. 48 Gloyna Renault. The three leaders pitted simultaneously, leaving very much a status quo at the top.
Besides the metronomic Porsche, the story continues to include the rise of some lowly touring cars high up the standings. One of those shining through the gloom is the No. 45 Volkswawagen, William Paul now driving. It rose to 10th overall and second in A3T, behind the equally impressive No. 49 Seat. The best diesel, the No. 63 BMW driven by Theo de Prenter had moved to 15th overall. There are also interesting GT cars high up the ranks such as the No. 25 Ginetta which has hovered between 6th and 7th overall.
These races can be bit of a Bimmer overload and we have that with 31st through 35th overall which stood at BMW-BMW-BMW-BMW-BMW. Speaking of repeating letters, one of the drivers of the No. 44 Seat is Frank Pettitt, or as the crew has spelled his name on the side of the car, Pettitttttttt.
Carelessness has become a problem for some. The No. 42 Duel Racing Seat has been held in the pit box for too long of a stint by one of the Moutran boys. The No. 15 Speelover car has been wrapped on the knuckles for overtaking under purple.
'Heading into the race's second quarter, here are the teams that have thus far cycled through their entire driving rosters, in driving order:
- #4, Hofor Racing, Mercedes; Frankenhout / Kroll / Heyer / Eggimann
- #9, Motorsport Services, Porsche; Harvey / M. Niall / B. Niall / Pilatti
- #11, De Lorenzi, Porsche; Paletto / Fecchio / Tan / Liam Keong
- #15, Speedlover, Porsche; Diez Villaroel / Rivas / Richard
- #22, Euser Racing, Lotus; Euser / Prewitt / DiLeo / Severs
- #31, Brunswick Racing, BMW; Zhuravlev / Penttinen / Griffiths / McFadden
- #32, RTR Projects, BMW; Vitek / Miniberger / Paulavets / Cervenka
- #36, LD Racing, BMW; Vincenot / Rivet-Fusil / Bachelier / Pellerzi
- #37, Ymor, Seat; Hilders / Bessem / van den Berge / Posthumus
- #38, Astra, Seat; Zanella / Arroyo / Oliveros / Creel
- #41, Monlau, Seat; Jai. Hernandez / Zapata / Alonso / Jav. Hernandez
- #43, Motorsport Services, Seat; Glasson / Mahy / Lowrey /Harris
- #44, MMC Motorsport, Seat; Pettitt-etc. / Woodman / Lewis / Spencer
- #45, Drivex School, Volkswagen; Sarandeses / Carbo / Escmez / Paul / Bergeil
- #46, Besaplast, Mini; Lestrup / Tekaat / Kovac / Littig
- #47, Racing for Friends, Mini; Fürsch / Erlebach / Wolf / Lennstrom
- #50 Black Motorsport, Renault; A. Espargaro / Gaig / Escofet / P. Espargaro
- #51, Roadrunner Racing, Renault; Hrubesch / Gronning / Umemoto / Peter
- #52, Sola Sport, Renault; Sola / Sarrea / Antunes / Dauger
- #55, Synchro Motorsport, Honda; Byford / James / Brown / Venn
- #58, Black Motorsport, Seat; Lloret / Pares / Sturlese / Salazar / Pascual
- #59,Red Camel, Seat; Kresnik / Bassil / Dijkhof / Faber
- #60, TTC, Volkswagen; Schilliger / Hans / Kempf
- #61, SVDP, BMW; Budnik / O'Keefe / Herlaar / Vanderpal / Wishart
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