Michael Valiante loses the rear drive plane on the #90 car, getting tagged by the #88 Prototype Challenge car. The debris is clearly on the course. Three into two doesn't work into the Bus Stop chicane. Flying through the esses, on the back straight, it's the #01 Ganassi Riley Ford EcoBoost, as Gerber is still in the pits fixing the damage and the tires on the Ferrari for AF Corse. There's a great battle with Burt Frisselle, aloing with Brian Frisselle, and Jon Fogarty. Scott Pruett is hounding the Action Express car. The Ford turbo motors are six or seven miles an hour slower than the Chevrolet Corvette's. Memo Gidley continues his rehabilitation from his big crash at the Rolex 24 that forced the Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing team out of the series for the season.
We see another incident with the Patron car and the Viperexchange.com Viper. John Potter pits the #44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America. They're haivng radio problems. But, the pit strategy for the Flex Box Porsche is in good shape. Andy Lally and Sebastian Asch are also on the driver's strength. Lally burned his foot in the Continental Tire Challenge race yesterday, and has a blister on his foot. He'll have to be careful. The straightaways are the highest elevation points, while The Boot is the lowest. There's no radio reception down there, so drivfer's and crew's can't hear each other. Andy Lally is playing hurt. He'll take a couple Advil before going out for his stint.
Lally's car in yesterday's race, had a header break. So, the heat came into the foot box of the car, burning his foot. But he wanted to get the points. The battle rages between Alex Brundle and Michael Valiante. Brundle won't let Valiante go. OAK Racing had trouble at Le Mans a few weeks ago and didn't finish. The #62 Ferrari 458 Italia has an alternator issue for Giancarlo Fisichella. They may have to keep changing batteries throughout the race. The alternator creates current to charge the battery. The alternator provides power, for what is a 12 volt battery. How many spare batteries do you have? Can you charge the battery.
Everything is electronically controlled on these cars. We go onboard with the #07 SkyActive Mazda prototype. #70 is retired for cooling issues. The tow link has been reset on the #07, with Tristan Vautier at the wheel. Ben Devlin is driving with Tristan Vautier. Frankie Montecalvo is running in one of the Prototype Challenge cars, actually leading in class, and 11th overall. Gunnar Jeannette is Montecalvo's team mate. Frankie Montecalvo ran at Le Mans too, of course. Tire strategy is a big deal, because each class has a certain number of tires for the race weekend.
PC teams get ten sets of tires. 15 sets for the prototypes, and 12 for GT Daytona. More trouble for the #81 Porsche. Get over to the side of the road. The left rear tire is flat. He fourtunately controlled the car. It's like a chair. If you cut a leg down, it will not stay up. Ben Barker is at the wheel of the car along with Damien Faulkner, and another driver. Christian Fittipaldi is passing Scott Pruett. Action Express Racing is fifth. They want to win this. Darren Law who now is a pit reporter for Fox Sports, used to drive the Action Express car.
Alex Brundle and Michael Valiante continue their hammer and tongs battle. 49 laps complete. 167 miles. BMW's have run very well at Watkins Glen this weekend. They can't quite get the straight line speed. Bill Auberlen races the #55, and John Edwards, the sister #56 car. Edwards chases the factory Porsche 911 RSR of Patrick Pilet. Porsche has the first North American factory team in their history, and the Porsche 911 GT America is the first privateer car dedicated to North America. Porsche has a huge investment in the Tudor Championship.
For Cooper MacNeil, it's his first race at Watkins Glen. Now, the #4 car has apeeling number panel. They need to fix it and put a new one on. Mirko Shultis has had a mirror problem on the #8 Prototype Challenge car. The number panel is indeed peeling. But this is a weird issue. It's not a side mirror. They'll probably have to change the door. It's got a pit pin on it, to push in the center, with a spring in it. This is easier than bolting the door hinge to the frame. Pit stop time for prototypes, with Alex Brundle the first to dive in. Ho Pin Tung and Gustavo Yacaman share the car with Brundle. Tung will take over.
The #90 Corvtte is in the pits and will need to have parts replaced. Well, maybe not. But, they will have to be careful. The #01 Ganassi Riley Ford is in the pits too. Memo Rojas takes over from Scott Pruett. Cooper MacNeil has hit someone in the #22 Porsche. There's left rear damage, and possible chassis damage. He and Jeroen Bleekemolen ran at Le Mans with just two drivers. Now, the #10 Corvette pits. Max Angelelli is now the third driver in the endurance races. We saw earlier, that Prototype Challenge car of Frankie Montecalvo having issues.
The #22 Porsche has something broken on th suspension. The control arm or the upright is broken. Definite suspension damage. GT Daytona is so deep, if you have an issue, it'll bury you in the points. The #17 Porsche is in the pits. Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler are running well. Henzler ran at the Nurburgring. But, Sellers hasn't raced in eight weeks. However, he does testing for Falken tires. So, he's had drive time in the car and is still sharp. John Edwards still runs the #56 BMW. He needs a pit stop, soon. We are seventeen minutes away from the end of th second hour as the #01 car spins!
That's Memo Rojas. He's got damage. The wing end plate is off the car with a broken left rear wheel. The entire rear of the car has been pushed to the right. There's a lot of damage. Has it twisted the gearbox? The #01 team has struggled and it continues. We see Jaap van Lagen in the #73 Porsche 911 GT America driving, getting out of the car. It's our first full course yellow of this race. That's a strange incident. Here. Oh! The #73 car hit the #01.
Oh no! The #46 Fall Line Motorsports Audi R8 LMS now has a tire flat. Charles Putman at the controls. Audi factory driver Marco Bonanomi is the third driver in this car. Putman simply spun out with no contact, crunching the wall. Richard Westbrook, Martin Fuentes, Richard Lietz, and Dane Cameron, are the class leaders right now. The #01 Ganassi car is back behind the wall. The #55 BMW had to do emergency service, topping up with fuel. They have to come back in for any more service. We are approaching the end of the second hour of this race.
Drivers are cleaning off their tires before going back to green flag conditions.
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