RACE POSITIONS
Saturday, 13 December 2014 – 16:00Code: Select all
POS +/- NUM TEAM / CAR DRIVER LAPS TIME
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1 +3 7 Team James Davies / Nissan J. Davies II 109 04:02:08.100
2 +9 1 Viking Racing / Holden J. Magnussen 109 04:02:08.324
3 -2 22 West Cliff Racing / DeLorean D. Mann 109 04:02:44.297
4 -2 9 Formula One Rejects Motorsport / Ford J-D. Délétraz 109 04:03:00.102
5 +4 32 Apollonia GT Racing by Hydook / Ford M. Bosevic 109 04:03:33.884
6 +8 27 Scuderia Alitalia Andrea Coloni / Holden E. Bertaggia 109 04:03:55.877
7 +1 6 Gulf Oils Ford Australia Racing Team / Ford R. Simpson 109 04:04:04.606
8 -3 12 Red Bull World Race Team / Holden M. Paasonen 108 04:02:17.176
9 +1 36 Team Ultimate / Holden C. Johnson 108 04:02:22.046
10 +7 16 Leyton Dome Engineering / Nissan M. Apicella 108 04:02:47.828
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11 +5 25 Gillet Ecurie Nationale Belge / Holden A. Moll 108 04:03:25.973
12 +6 4 Autobacs Nippon Racing Team / Nissan K. Oshima 108 04:04:15.339
13 +6 17 Aeroracing Engineering / Nissan N. Bellic 108 04:04:17.444
14 -1 15 Pac Racing Team / Nissan S. Mackintosh 107 04:02:58.030
15 +5 29 Virgin Melrose Racing Team B / Ford J. Cavalcanti 107 04:03:46.335
16 +5 34 Psycho Soldiers / Ford Y. Katayama 107 04:03:49.536
17 +5 20 Foxdale Auto Racing Team / Holden P. Mann 107 04:04:03.904
18 -11 31 Telecom Italia Trueba Corse / Nissan G. Roda 106 04:02:45.221
19 -13 19 Virgin Melrose Racing Team / Ford D. O'Lauchlan 106 04:02:53.220
20 +5 13 Cillit Bang! Trabant Factory Team / Trabant P. Chaves 106 04:04:16.458
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21 +3 21 Zombie Conglomerate / Ford D. Greenlaw 105 04:04:22.010
22 -7 2 Holden Racing Team / Holden M. Skaife 97 04:02:19.435
23 NC 33 Team Sunshine Infiniti / Nissan K. Lon 88 04:02:58.039
24 -12 23 Scuderia Minardivas / Ford S. de Silvestro 80 04:02:12.005
25 -22 8 Super Aguri Enduro / Nissan S. Nakano 77 04:02:12.918
26 NC 11 Valkyrie Racing / Holden N. Lindgren 71 04:02:21.876
As was widely predicted, West Cliff have lost the lead – though to give Douglas Mann credit in his incapacitated state, they've not lost it by much, and are still on the lead lap. Team James Davies, with the second incarnartion of their eponymous driver at the wheel, have inherited the lead, but crossing the line to complete 109 laps, Jan Magnussen in the Viking Racing Holden has blasted his way through the field to be only two tenths behind! If that could continue for the rest of the race, we'll be in for a cracker. That the West Cliff DeLorean's two-minute lead has been erased is a problem, but no disaster, even if the pressure behind has been slightly lowered by the F1RM Ford being driven by Jean-Denis Délétraz. It'll be Alice Powell versus Chris Dagnall in the third stint – watch that battle. Behind the lead pack, a combination of some exceptional driving and four cars experiencing problems has propelled quite a few cars into higher places. Mirko Bosevic and Enrico Bertaggia can be extremely happy with the work they've done at the wheel of the Apollonia Ford and SAAC Holden respectively, while Rick Simpson may have lost a place in the standings but has hauled the Gulf Oils Ford back onto the lead lap – just. Red Bull World Race Team have slid backwards slightly, as have Pac Racing a further lap back, and this is exacerbated by the cars which have dropped right to the rear due to mechanical problems. How else would there be a pack of seven cars who have all shot up the standings? Leyton Dome, Gillet ENB, Autobacs, Aeroracing, Virgin MRT's B-squad, Psycho Soldiers and Foxdale – credit the efforts of their drivers, certainly, but don't lose sight of those who are now condemned to run round at the wrong end of the field. The most rejectful driving from this stint of the race has come from Giovanni Roda, who has dropped the Trueba Nissan down to 18th and three laps off the leader, ditto Dean O'Lauchlan for Virgin MRT's main entry, who are now a lap behind the B-team, with the utterly unprepared David Besnard about to drive for the next two hours. Pedro Chaves has managed to drag the Cillit Bang! Trabant off the bottom of the timesheets, at least for those whose cars have not gone bang, and the "last" place is now occupied by Dan Greenlaw in the the Zombie Conglomerate Ford. Behind them, Nettan Lindgren has ploughed on in the Valkyrie Racing Holden, which hit trouble in the first stint, and she has now been joined by four others. One of these is Kay Lon in the Sunshine Nissan, who barged her very rudely out of the way within five minutes of getting on the track, and was rewarded not so long later with a transmission fault that took long enough to fix that the team lost 20 laps. The Holden Racing Team were hampered as Mark Skaife slithered off the track and hit the barriers hard enough to trash the bodywork, losing 12 laps while it was repaired to raceable standards, although the mechanicals underneath were still sound. Simona de Silvestro and Shinji Nakano were the other two drivers to hit trouble, the Minardivas Ford losing 30 laps with a terrible engine fault and the Super Aguri Nissan suffering the worst problems of all, losing 34 laps while the gremlins in its complicated electrical system were sorted out.