Pit stops are coming soon. The #01 car is back in the pits. Memo Rojas is at the controls. They have done a shock absorber adjustment. Pruett shares with Memo Rojas, Jamie McMurray, and Sage Karam. Memo Rojas is seventh overall. The top 17 are all professional cars (Prototypes, or GT Le Mans). The #555 Ferrari 458 and the #22 Porsche, both pit. Fine tune the race car, because the rules packages were late in arriving. Duncan Ende, who caused the yellow flag, has an electrical problem, and the system is being charged up.
Gustavo Menenez is a Formula 3 driver, who will race in Europe. This team has had a litany of problems, unfortunately. Oliver Gavin has taken over the #4 Corvette. Pit stops are done and dusted for the time being. How do drivers keep their energy level up at night? Eat pasta for dinner. Now, Toni Vilander is in the #63 Ferrari at the moment along with his team mates. All the drivers of these Ferrari's tell how balanced the cars are. They had great speed at the test session and are running good lap times.
The #09i Prototype Challenge car was stopped again. One official retirement so far from this race. 66 of the 67 cars are still in this race. We are back to racing, and the cars accelerate onto the banking. The DP cars are heavier than the P2 cars and will get their tires hotter, quicker. But the P2 car has better top end. Alex Brundle is at the wheel of the Muscle Milk Oreca Nissan. Tony Kanaan is cleaning his tires and muscles his way through.
All the prototypes are running carbon brakes. There' s a lot of glowing at the front brake... a lot of front brake bias. The brakes have to come in quick enough, and get enough bite to stop. There is a carbon silicone compound, as opposed to a carbon carbon compound. Each car depending on it's configuration, has a different set. Also, the master cylinder is smaller, so there's more power when the driver's step on the brakes.
The action here at Daytona is still hot and heavy. Smaller fuel tanks means more work for the crew. Night lasts longer than anywhere in 24 hour racing. In this long night, the noise lasts, and is everywhere, of all these cars, zooming around the track. Rob Bell leads the GT LM class in the #93 SRT Viper. Bell has run for McLaren and their FIA GT and Blancpain Endurance Series works teams. Christian Fittipaldi continues to lead. There has been no smoke or fluid leaking from the car, after some smoke. Sebastien Bourdais will be the next driver into the car.
The track surface is cooling off. Flames shoot out of the cars as fuel burns, and they come down from the cylinder head, to the exhaust. Colin Braun and CORE Autosport lead Prototype Challenge. Again, it's Colin Braun, Jon Bennett, James Gue, and Mark Wilkins. Ryan Hunter-Reay is driving the #91 Dodge Vipers at this point. The Viper won the Rolex 24, overall, in 2000... 14 years ago. Kyle Larson is waiting for his first chance to run in a sports car.
He will run full-time in Nascar. But he will try his hand at road racing. His times are improving by following road racing veterans. The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette is getting better. They haven't done long runs. Simon Hodgson, team manager, points this out. The Mazda powered prototypes are still going for it. Mazda's diesel is running well. The car has a lot of torque, and the horsepower is also increasing. But the torque, tears up a lot of parts.
Traffic situations, and there's some argy bargy between Tony Kanaan and Max Angelelli going down into turn one. The top six prototypes currently run on the same lap. Max Angelelli passes Tony Kanaan. Mike Rockenfeller and Justin Wilson, are coming. Rockenfeller is in a Corvette with a V8. Wilson, is in another of the Ford EcoBoost turbo powered cars, for Mike Shank Racing. Max Angelelli is now working on Christian Fittipaldi, for the lead.
The sleeping giant has been awakened, and the prototypes are at full chat, as Tony Kanaan is in the lane. Kyle Larson now takes over the car. He had the most issues with doing the driver changes. Tires are changed. The radiators are blown out. He stalls the car, but is now away, as the Ford V6 roars to life. Be careful how you use your tires with a limited amount. Hot right side tires, and cold left side tires. He puts the windshield wiper on by mistake. It's frustrating. But what endurance racer hasn't done it.
Velocity Worldwide is in the lane. It's Velocity Worldwide vs. Action Express. Sebastien Bourdais takes over the car and will do a triple stint. Max Angelelli gets a better stop. Bourdais botched the driver change. Track position is paramount. Can Bourdais leapfrog Angelelli on fresh tires? Bourdais is experiemnced but needs to get into a rhythm as the #7 Starworks prototype loses a tire. Isaac Tutumlu at the controls. Tutumlu is from Spain, but is of Kurdish origin.
Tutumlu races in the FIA World Touring Car Championship, regularly. Another full course yellow. Pit lane will be closed. Bonus points, coming up. Debris is on the road. Tire carcass in the chicane, on the racing line. Kyle Larson has had some things go wrong, but he'll correct them. Now, for all racing fans, go to www.safeisfast.com. It's funded by the FIA and is for aspiring young racing drivers. Check it out. Ganassi is ahead at the six hour mark, so they get points, and money.
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