Everyone wants to see the finish. This is going to get very interesting, folks. The crews are the heartbeat of this race. They keep the healthy cars running and the damaged ones repaired. They wait, tired, and thankless, in mind numbing repetition. Each crew member knows who they are. It is fair to say that there are no more routine pit stops. Who will win the 52nd Rolex 24? Take your hats off to the pit crews with the short fuel windows. All zeros in the hours to go column. 58 minutes and counting.
Barbosa and Angelelli are on the same fuel strategy. Action Express might be at an advantage. The transmission issues are apparently, gone. The #33 GT Daytona class Viper, is traffic, that is passed easily. Sharing that car are drivers Jeroen Bleekemolen, Sebastien Bleekemolen, Emmanuel Collard, and Ben Keating. Now, Colin Braun, Jon Bennett and company lead Prototype Challenge by a lap over Tom Kimber-Smith. Patrick Pilet continues to lead GT LM. Porsche hasn't said a word about their fuel economy. But, odds are he might not make it.
BMW doesn't have the straightaway speed to match the Porsche. In GT Daytona, Level 5's Ferrari continues to lead with Alessandro Pier Guidi at the controls. They will need one more stop. Spencer Pumpelly in the Flying Lizard Audi is still going for it. The #33 Viper pits and so does the #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari 458 Italia in GT Daytona. Marco Cioci, shares with Matt Griffin, Michele Rugolo, and Jack Gerber. All four of them are veterans of Ferrari GT cars, and 24 hour races, in Europe.
Alessandro Pier Guidi has pitted. Markus Winkelhock takes over the Flying Lizard Audi R8. Just under 53 minutes left in this race. Markus Winkelhock comes from a racing family, and he holds the distinction of racing one Formula One and going from last to first. He was put on intermediate tires, starts last, goes to first, and has a half a minute lead. The race was stopped. Then he's on pole, and Markus Winkelhock's motor blew up and he was out.
That is a wild way to run your one and only F1 race. Winkelhock comes from a racing family. Scott Dixon is in the pits. They are going to the center of the tub of the car. This car is only committed to the North American Endurance Cup. Could they run the full schedule, though? Marino Franchitti could run the full season. We don't know. But for now, they are going behind the wall. One of the Viper's pits. The #55 BMW Z4 GTE is pitting. Max Angelelli is now in the #10 car, and he's cut eight seconds out of Joao Barbosa's lead.
Joey Hand is in the BMW. Can he catch up to Patrick Pilet? Will he force Porsche's hand? The gap for the lead is now 10.2 seconds. A lot of it is about where you catch traffic. Action Express wants their second win in five years at the Rolex 24. The plot thickens. The clock continues to run down. Joao Barbosa still leads. The fuel window is coming up in just over a minute. At the 30 minute mark, you can't do the lap down wave around. Will the race be on the track?
If it is, the Porsche is faster on speed than the BMW. The Z4 has drag produced by it's big rear wing on the straight. The Porsche might have a better top end. Now, #5 and #10 are pitting for fuel. You could get caught by a safety car staying out. This is fuel only. Watch the in and out laps. Velocity and Angelelli have the same game plan. #5 is slightly quicker on it's fuel stop.
Angelelli can see Barbosa now. Both of these guys have won this race before. A car is off the road. One of the Team Seattle Alex Job Porsche's. Now, the #9 Action Express Corvette also pits. Joey Hand is able to hold off Patrick Pilet. Hand is on the tail end of the lead lap. The gap is 13 seconds between Action Express and Velocity. Angelelli has more to do. Porsche might still have to stop. They are at risk of their lead gap going away.
It's a fuel mileage chess game in GT LM. Sometimes in endurance racing, you simply run out of time. Action Express is running solidly. You can't get held up in traffic with this short time to go. Barbosa puts another second on Max Angelelli. The lap times are not clear. They are 1:41, 1:42 laps. In clear air, the times are two seconds quicker at least at 1:39/1:40. Ferrari still leads GT Daytona with Alessandro Pier Guidi a lap up on Markus Winkelhock in the Audi R8.
Correction. Markus Winkelhock is second to Pier Guidi, by only 13.1 seconds. The gap is the same between the prototypes and the GT Daytona cars. The skies darken and the clouds thicken. But no rain expected. Can Joao Barbosa hold on? This will be the second win for Action Express. It was the #9 car in 2010 with a Porsche V8 powered Riley chassis. But, this time, it will likely be the #5 car.
Colin Braun leads Prototype Challenge and is eighth in the overall. Braun will get a splash and dash. Fox Sports' Calvin Fish called that. 681 laps, 2,424 miles have been run. Tom Kimber-Smith is likely to be called in by his team to pit one final time. Alessandro Pier Guidi continues to hold the GT Daytona lead with the Ferrari. This is a new car and a new category for this team at Level 5. The last time the car stopped was a while ago.
Lets hope they make it on fuel. The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, will become the Rolex 24 Minutes of Daytona, very soon. The #911 Porsche pits for a splash and dash. No tires. Hit your marks. Joey Hand can close the gap. Uh oh. Leh Keen crashes the WeatherTech Porsche and there's a full course yellow! Whoa! Didn't see this one coming, blokes. Keen has crunched the front of the car and has busted a tire. Flat left front.
Leh Keen was coming out of the pits and he overcooked the corner and couldn't get it stopped. He was off on the pit lane exit road, without hitting the wall. Pushing too hard, perhaps? The tire was flat. Maybe it was brake lockup. He was lockued up, but couldn't stop the car. Maybe the throttle was stuck. He was on full acceleration and the rear was digging in.
Hitting the gas pedal didn't stop the wreck. He was still driving. The throttle hung open just a bit, but it wasn't wide open which would have been a lot worse. This is the sixteenth yellow flag with just seventeen minutes remaining. The wave by is happening under an expedited yellow flag, with fifteen minutes to go. This is going to be a stormer of a finish. Stand by for it. This blogger is excited.
This race will end at ten after the hour. It's the dash for the watch, speaking of time. 1:10 P.M. Central time. 2:10 P.M. Eastern time. It's Max Angelelli vs. Joao Barbosa. This has turned from an endurance race, to a sprint. Here we go. Prototype Challenge has breathing room. No one else does. Klaus Graf is a lapped car between Barbosa and Angelelli. Safety car stays on track. Green flag next time by.
Guy Cosmo, in the second Level 5 Ferrari, is right behind Markus Winkelhock. Wow. This is going to be some clincher to the Rolex. Joey Hand is in with a shout. The safety car pulls away and pulls off. Go! Barbosa runs out of the Bus Stop. Advantage Barbosa. Angelelli can see Barbosa. No traffic for some time. It'll be mano e mano. Max "The Axe" got his name because he's demonic on the brakes. Which car comes to life first?
Seven minutes left. Through Nascar turn two, down the back straight. It's a Chevrolet 1-2-3. Barbosa stretches his lead. Look at this. Ferrari vs. Audi for GT Daytona. Markus Winkelhock gets hip checked by the Ferrari. Something could be broken on the Audi. Right rear tire is down. He got robbed! It's towed in. There's a camber problem. Fortunes of war. The steering is out. There's nothing you can do, Markus. Barbosa is growing his lead.
There's no walking wounded in this race. Joey Hand is now coming on like gangbusters. He's coming towards the factory Porsche. Can he get close to Patrick Pilet? He has to get by the Corvette, and does. Hand wants a win and hasn't won since Sebring 2012. Just over three minutes to go. Oh! He's right up to the wall! There's dust in the chicane. White flag this time by. He won't have enough to beat the Porsche. Action Express will get book end trophies at the Rolex in four years.
Now, Winkelhock is back in the lead in GT Daytona. One more lap for Joao Barbosa and Action Express. They will win the Rolex 24 for the second time! Winkelhock gets passed by the Ferrari. Last lap. Level 5 almost overcooks it. Winkelhock has a wounded bird. Can he catch the Ferrari? They're wheel to wheel! At the kink, the Audi doesn't get it. He got shoved off. That was just racing. Through Nascar three and four, Joao Barbosa and his team mates, win the Rolex 24!
Level 5 wins GT Daytona and gives Ferrari the first win for them at Daytona since 1998. Porsche North America win GT Le Mans and Core Autosport. Now, Pier Guidi will get a time penalty for avoidable contact. I don't know. Will they be the winners? They didn't touch at all. Well, that was the incident that sparked the call, according to the stewards.
They didn't touch. How can you call it if they don't touch? Well, the Lizards won! But, more importantly, here's the list of the winners.
Overall/Prototype: #5 Barbosa/Fittipaldi.Bourdais/Friselle Chevrolet Corvette Prototype
Prototype
Challenge: #54 Braun/Bennett/Gue/Wilkins Oreca FLM 09 Chevrolet
GT LM: #911 Lietz/Tandy/Pilet Porsche 911 RSR
GTD: #45 Canache/Pumpelly/Pappas/Winkelhock Audi R8 LMS
Barbosa gets his second win. Christian Fittipaldi gets his second win in a decade in the overall at the Rolex. Sebastien Bourdais gets his first Rolex 24 win. With Porsche's GT LM win, they get their 76th class win at the Rolex 24. Richard Lietz gets his second Rolex 24 win. Audi is the winner in GT Daytona with Nelson Canache, Spencer Pumpelly, Tim Pappas, and Markus Winkelhock in the Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS. Canache wins two in a row, having won the old GX class last year in a Porsche Cayman.
Level 5 did not win, but they should still be given some credit. This was a great debut race for the championship. All our winners, with the exception of GTD get full points for the North American Endurance Cup, with the next race being another legendary one. It's the 12 Hours of Sebring at Sebring International Raceway in March. It's seven weeks away. We're in for an awesome season. Our thoughts are with Matteo Malucelli and Memo Gidley as they recover. This one is in the books.
We'll see you from the orange groves and the weather worn concrete runways at Sebring, in a little less than two months. Take care. So long, everyone.
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