Scott Dixon has taken over the overall lead from Joao Barbosa in Prototype. Alex Tagliani leads Prototype Challenge. The Viper leads GT LM and Bill Sweedler is leading GT Daytona. The series has cracked down on dangerous driving. The contact we've seen lately, has been unreal. You've got all sorts of drivers. A ton of pro drivers, and gentleman drivers. Nick Tandy is hounding Marc Goossens. It's a battle between Porsche and SRT Viper.
This is a game of chicken into the Bus Stop. Porsche has the advantage. They are fairly even in terms of speed. You have power curves and aerodynamics factoring into this. You are in an attack and defend mode the whole time in one of these endurance races. The torque levels and top ends are equally matched. This is Kevin Estre in the GT Daytona Porsche 911 which is much narrower. Estre shares with Jason Hart, Mike Vess, Connor de Philippi, and Patrick Lindsey. #73 pits and so does the #912 Porsche. But, Spirit of Daytona with the #90 Corvette DP has a problem. Michael Valiante came in.
There was a sensor in the motor that was not working, and the Earnhardt Childress engine techs took a look at it. Electric gremlins are hard to find and hard to fix. It is much easier now to get your lap back with this formula in the Tudor Championship. You can get a lap back on every yellow flag. This racing is very competitive right now. Watch out for the Bus Stop. Someone goes sraight... and you have to come to a stop to rejoin the race. The #57 Krohn Racing GT Le Mans Ferrari 458 is off the road.
Scott Dixon still leads. 65 laps, 231 miles, have been completed. Marc Goossens continues leading from pole in GT LM. SRT can show they've gotten better with the team aspect. The car is now 30 kilograms lighter, even since the test at Daytona at the beginning of this month. The #57 Ferrari spins and resumes in the turn six area again. Tracy Krohn at the controls. Joao Barbosa is now having more issues with overheating on the #5 Action Express Corvette. There's smoke still coming out of the car.
The oil level is burning off, according to team manager Elton Sawyer. Barbosa has run his quickest race lap to this point. The #91 Viper pits. There's a lot of pressure on the driver change, now that the rules are different. Dominik Farnbacher takes over from Marc Goossens. Gianmaria Bruni also pits the #62 Ferrari. They switch to medium compound Michelin tires. Michelin has a shortage of softer tires. Don't run the mediums when it's cool at night.
Michelin is testing and collecting their data for their tires, right here at Daytona International Speedway. Patrick Pilet has now taken the GT LM lead. Maurizio Mediani is running well in the SMP Ferrari. But, one of the SKyActiv diesel Mazda prototypes is smoking. That's the #07 car. There are several cars spinning through the Bus Stop chicane including the #33 Dodge Viper and the #94 BMW Z4. Scott Dixon makes another pit stop and returns in the lead. Memo Gidley pitted the #99 Gainsco Corvette, losing time on out laps and in laps. An out lap is when you go out on the first lap on cold tires during a stint. An in lap, is actually coming into the pits.
Don't lose time. But, don't throw the car into the weeds. Tony Kanaan has taken over the #02 Ganassi Riley Ford EcoBoost. John Pew brings in the #60 Mike Shank Racing Riley Ford EcoBoost for tires and fuel. Pew shares with Oswaldo Negri Jr., A.J. Allmendinger, and Justin Wilson. This new Ford motor is a twin turbo ngine that has already done 11,000 miles on the dynomometer. The #72 SMP Ferrari 458 Italia pits. Maurizio Mediani stays at the wheel. He shares with Mika Salo, Sergey Zlobin, Boris Rotenberg, and Mikhail Aleshin.
Stop and hold penalty on the SMP Ferrari. The #63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari 458 is running well. Alessandro Balzan is driving, along with Jeff Westphal, Lorenzo Case, and Toni Vilander. Connor de Philippi is running second in GT Daytona for Park Place Motorsport. Connor de Philippi is a Porsche Junior driver, from the United States. There is part of the splitter that's damaged. So, it will affect aerodynamics on the banking. The #62 Ferrari is in the sin bin.
The balance of performance is difficult to get to. But, chief tech director Scott Elkins has done well with this series. The Viper is now leading GT LM again. But the Porsche's are still hounding them. The good old days of sports car racing, are back. The #73 Porsche locks up, as Connor de Philippi leads GT Daytona. But he'll need a tire change ASAP. Patrick Pilet is in the factory Porsche.
Nicky Thiim is in the #30 Momo Porsche 911 GT America. Nicky Thiim's dad Kurt Thiim is a former DTM champion. Thiim shares with Christina Nielsen, Kuba Giermaziak, and Henrique Cisneros. Tony Kanaan is hunting down Christian Fittipaldi for the overall race lead. Chris Cumming leads Prototype Challenge for RSR (Rocketsports Racing). Conor Daly, Rusty Mitchell, and
The #38 Prototype Challenge car is having issues with overheating and losing water. Now, there's been a HUGE wreck for Gainsco and the #62 Risi Ferrari. Full course yellow, immediately. Memo Gidley and Matteo Malucelli are the drivers involved in this massive wreck. There was a momentary fire for the #99 car. But, everyone might be OK. The field is stopping on course. These cars don't run well slowly. This is a full course yellow flag.
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