This track is phenomenal. It's one of the best tracks in the world, and is a driver's track. We see the #22 Porsche being towed back, as the #01 is not being urgently worked on. It could be game over for that car. The #57 Krohn Racing Ferrari is in pit lane for a scheduled stop. We go back to green! Oh no! The #2 HPD of Johannes van Overbeek is stopped on course. He tries refiring the car, but the engine won't turn over. Richard Westbrook is now at the wheel of the #90. Joaoa Barbosa and Ho Pin Tung are second and third at this stage. The Patron HPD is a bad lie if this were a golf course. Can the marshal's safely retrieve that car?
The gap[ between Barbosa and Westbrook is 5.2 seconds. Ooh! We've got a spin in turn one with a Porsche and a Ferrari. It's the #30 NGT Porsche and the #63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari. Brandon Davis is the third driver in this car with Jeff Westphal and Alessandro Balzan. Mario Farnbacher in the #23 AJR Porsche hit Kuba Giermaziak in the #30. The #2 car might be having a throttle issue. There's no mechanical throttle linkage. It's all electronic and sends the signal between the driver's foot, and the engine.
Let's check in with the #27 Dempsey Racing Porsche 911 GT America. Joe Foster is at the controls while Patrick Dempsey has had his first stint. Grip goes away haflway through your stint. Race your own race. That's the big deal. The Action Express cars pitted. Prototypes can run 45 minutes on fuel. Now, halfway is coming up in 42 minutes,where points for the North American Endurance Cup will be awarded. The race stewards have assessed a stop and hold penalty to Max Angelelli. He ran the red light at the end of pit lane. Mario Farnbacher will also need to serve a penalty. The rolled up rubber offline, is building.
The BMW safety car heads for pit lane. We've got the battle between Richard Westbrook, and Ho Pin Tung, 1-2. We are green. Katherine Legge is now sixth in the Deltawing. She is right in front of the Corvette. Tim Keene is now the Deltawing team manager. The field slithers through the Bus Stop. It appears similar to the famous one at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium. Angelelli will have to stop and hold for a minute. Angelelli says, "no one told me to stop." Oh! One of the Mazda's and a Prototype Challenge car, spin.
That's Martin Fuentes in the #7 Starworks PC entry. The #54 car in the same class, is penalized for passing under yellow. Angelelli stopped at the sign but needed to be in the box. Take a number. A lot of penalties being handed out. We don't know where the red light is. It's on the wall on driver's left. Westbrook is checking out over Ho Pin Tung. Angelelli is released and will have to get going again/. Now, Fuentes spun, and the Mazda got off the road as did John Edwards in the BMW.
Corvette runs 1-2 in GT LM. Bryan Sellers is third in GT LM. The #01 Ganassi Riley Ford is actually back on the road. They did a lot of work. They are eleventh in class, and 44th overall. Tje Deltawing is slow. Katherine Legge has moved offline. The transmission is a concern, and so is the traction control. They are running a true differewntial in the car, too. Now, we've got more action between the BMW team cars of John Edwards and Bill Auberlen. Markus Palttala has taken over the #94 Turner Motorsports BMW Z4. The Finn is running very well.
Palttala is another driver who has done 54 hours of racing at the end of today. 24 hours at Le Mans and the Nurburgring, and six hours, here. Bruno Junquiera is running well in Prototype Challenge. He's an Indycar and sports car star, and almost ran Formula One with Williams, before losing the drive to Jenson Button. The #8 PC car of Mirco Shultis, has spun. Did his brakes lock? There's a dark patch on the pavement that could have had a different grip level. Maybe he downshifted too quick.
Make sure you don't get stuck. Back up. Try to turn it. He's trying to see down the hill with cars coming. Now, he's fine and will get back on his way. He couldn't see down the hill. His crew says, "keep pushing Mirko. Keep pushing." All eyes on the clock. 20 minutes until the halfway mark in the race. Team Falken Tire has done a lot of testing. Michael Christensen in the second factory Porsche GT LM car is doing really well. You have to watch out, because the cars and drivers are all at different levels. They all have the same top speed. But the braking zones are totally different.
Michael Christensen might get by, and he does, using the Flying Lizard Audi as a pick. The Falken guys, racing against the factory cars with the same equipment would be a real coup for them. But, rear grip with these new Porsche's is hard to come by. The front end of the car washes away. If it's imbalanced, the tires will go south in a hurry. We understand some thunderstorms could be coming. It's hot and humid. So, there could be rain before the end of this race.
If rain comes, that'll put the cat among the pigeons. Car #30 is in pit lane. Watch out on a Porsche for the reart exhaust if you get a puncture. Kuba Giermaziak is at the wheel. He's won at Monaco in Porsche Supercup. A big honor. Now, the #90 Spirit of Daytona COrvtte pits. We are just past the top of the hour, coming to the end of hour three as Westbrook completes his stop. Joao Barbosa, Bruno Junquiera, Jan Magnussen, and Markus Palttala, are the class leaders right now.
Now, the #55 BMW of Bill Auberlen will receive a 75 second penalty for booting Mirco Shultis off the road. It'll be a stop and hold penalty, and it will hurt BMW RLL. The #45 Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS has more damage and is pitting again. They've got a right rear wheel off. Brett Sanberg slapped the wall and had a glancing blow against the wall. Sandberg shares with Spencer Pumpelly and Nelson Canche Jr. who are the appointed drivers to earn points. It's a trailing arm that's busted on the #45 and needs to be replaced.
Put a jack stand under the car, or use a chunk of wood. A sturdy, chunk of wood. We see Dominik Farnbacher and Nick Tandy battle for fourth in GT LM. We're ten minutes away from halfway. Five bonus points for class leaders at the halfway mark. We also see a stop for the Prototype CHallenge leading car of Duncan Ende, Bruno Junquiera, and Ryan Lewis. Junquiera stays in the car. If the car's coming in, the next driver should be ready if there's a panic, or a radio problem. With three drivers, the rotation is easier. Jan Magnussen leads Oliver Gavin in GT LM.
We're seven minutes for halfway. Someone lost a big carbon fiber panel. Now, the #17 Porsche pits with Bryan Sellers changing over to Wolf Henzler. They are single stinting. The race schedule will start heating up. Speaking of heat, even with air conditioning in the production based cars, the cockpit temperatures are 120 degrees or so. In a minute and a half, there will be bonus points awarded for the endurance championship. The bonus points could play into a factor at the end of the year. At the three hour mark, timing and scoring is frozen, and will revert back to the previous lap.
Brian Frisselle in the sister Action Express car is second. Halfway, right now.
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