Nurburgring: Michelin three hour report

COMPETITIVE CHOICES FOR MICHELIN RUNNERS; TEAMS BEGIN TO DOUBLE-STINT

At 3pm, the two Peugeot-Michelins topped the provisional overall leaderboard, tailed by the two Audi R10s. In LMP2 and GT1, it is the cars which won their respective categories in qualifying that have emerged in front. The LMP2 pole-winning Porsche is seventh overall, while the Team Modena Aston Martin of Garcia Antonio/Enge Thomas is running at the head of the GT1 field.

Matthieu Bonardel (Four-wheel Competition Director, Michelin):

"As expected, the track was quite tough on tyres during the early part of the race and this has meant that the teams haven't really been able todraw any benefit from running a double-stint strategy.

"In the course of the next hour or so, though, the temperature will begin to dip and we will continue to see more rubber being laid down onto the track. The combination of these two factors means that we can expect to start seeing cars double-stinting.

"The weather forecasters say there is a possibility of showers towards the end of the race so we will need to keep a close eye on the sky and make sure we are ready in case rain does begin to fall.

"The teams have essentially kept to the strategies they decided upon prior to the start and might consequently start to try to profit as much as they can from the different compounds of dry weather Michelin tyres they still have available, without focusing on any one particular type of tyre."

-credit: michelin