Sunday, June 29, 2014

Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen: Hour 5

The top four cars are all on the same lap.  One wonders how the #60 Riley Ford EcoBoost with John Pew at the wheel, has gone down three laps.  Corvette Racing is running the same cars they ran at the 24 Hours of Le Mans two weeks ago.  Corvette wants to win.  But it'll be like Elkhart Lake last year at Road America, and become a fuel race, according to team manager, Doug Fehan.  Krohn Racing did the same thing with their green Ferrari 458 Italia, who were invited to Le Mans at the last minute of course.  Christian Fittipaldi stayed in the car.  He's hot, and fortunately got a new drink bottle.

It's going to be another long day for Christian Fittipaldi.  Back in 2005, Krohn Racing won with Tracy Krohn and Nic Jonsson.  They also won in 2006 with Oliver Gavin and Nic Jonsson.  That was with a Riley Ford.  In 2009, they also took a Lola Ford to victory with Nic Jonsson and Ricardo Zonta.  David Hobbs, Jo Siffert, Paul Hawkins, Richard Attwood, Jacky Ickx, Lucien Bianchi, and others have raced here.  Chassis 1075 for a Ford GT40, won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1968 and '69 with Bianchi and Pedro Rodriguez, followed in '69 by Jacky Ickx and Jacky Oliver.

There was also a car called the Helmut Turbine that it raced against.  Valiante still leads overall.  It's interesting, because every car racing today, has more horsepower than the Ford GT40 did.  The Turner Motorsports BMW still leads GT Daytona.  The skies are cloudy.  But no rain in sight.  OAK Racing pits the #42.  Gustavo Yacaman stays in the car.  He pits from second.  He'll finish a double stint and let Alex Brundle finish this race.  The #54 Prototype Challenge car is in.  Colin Braun shares with Jon Bennett and James Gue. 

Mike Hedlund leads Prototype Challenge in the #38 car he shares with David Ostella.  Hedlund is more of a GT specialist.  The #94 Turner Motorsports BMW is headed out of the pits.  But, the #4 Corvette will get a 35 second penalty for minot contact.  Dane Cameron takes over the #94 machine.  The stop and hold is actually 70 seconds.  It allegedly hit the #35 Flying Lizard Motorsports Audi R8 LMS.  Paul Dalla Lana is supporting Will Turner and Dane Cameron, even though he has business ventures, and his commitment to running with Aston Martin in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The #90 car pits for fuel and tires.  Valiante stays in the car.  The back deck is pulling apart from the rear engine cover.  Richard Westbrook takes over the car.  Christian Fittipaldi continues to lead, hoping for a 3-peat in the Six Hours of The Glen.  We've had only two full course yellows.  Scott Sharp has not had the run he's wanted with ESM.  Oswaldo Negri Jr. and Mike Shank Racing haven't nailed their setup either.  Here's Boris Said in the #31 Chevrolet Corvette prototype, 18th in the overall, 11th in class.  Joel Miller also is soldeiering on in the Mazda Prototype. 

We're deep into the fifth hour and will soon have one hour remaining in this race.  We check in with the Prototype Challenge spec class with the same chassis', engines, and tires.  Colin Braun and CORE Autosport are leading.  The #7 Starworks car is driven by John Martin.  Alex Tagliani has the #08 car running well, too, even after his huge wreck in qualifying yesterday.  Eerily reminiscent of a wreck he had at the 12 Hours of Sebring. 

Renger van der Zande is fourth in class in the Martini car.  Frankie Montecalvo gets chopped by the Krohn Racing Ferrari!  Yikes.  David Ostella runs next.  All these cars are on the same lap more or less.  The PC race could go to the end of the six hours.  The Krohn car slides through the chicane, which you are allowed to do if you stop.  Martin Plowman is seventh in Prototype Challenge, with Stephen Simpson, next up.  We've got an hour and 21 minutes left in this race, chaps. Dark clouds are looming.  Will it come?  If it does, how will it affect the race?

Antonio Garcia leads GT LM.  Tommy Milner is in the #4 car.  They've lost the right side door numeral on the car.  Marc Goossens is running well in the Vipr.  Now, there's still a penalty and an invstigation on the car for contact by the strwards.  But, the Audi was at fault in this case.  Not the Corvete.  Dirk Muller runs next in the #56 car.  John Edwards will finish the stint off.  Pierre Kaffer is next in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari.

Patrick Pilet is in the #912 factory Porsche, with Nick Tandy in the sister car (#911).  Will we see rain?  There are dark clouds around the circuit at Watkins Glen.  It's time to get your closer up.  Eleven minuts to go in hour five.  Christina Nielsen has handed the #30 Porsche to Kuba Giermaziak.  Dane Cameron will take over from Markus Palttala in the #94 Turner Motorsports BMW.  Townsend Bell is second in the Level 5 Ferrari 458 Italia.

Andy Lally is still hanging in there in the #44 Magnus Porsche.  Andrew Davis is also running well in the #27 Dempsey Porsche.  Madison Snow and Jan Heylen are in the sister car.  Alessandro Balzan is running well in the #63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari 458 Italia, driving defensively on the Mazda prototype.  Dion von Moltke is in the #35 Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS.  The #46 Fall Line Audi R8 LMS is still hanging in there in the top ten in GT Daytona despite it's troubles throughout the day, as we have only 67 minutes left in this race now. 

Gustavo Yacaman has taken the overall lead!  Keep pushing.  The "Yac Attack" is going for it, and quickly.  Tacaman runs wide as he passes a Prototype Challenge car.  He slices around the Corvette.  Don't mess around and hurt the car.  There's debris in turn nine.  Dane Cameron still battles Townsend Bell in GT Daytona.  Bill Sweedler is Bell's co-driver.  Gustavo Yacaman is still gapping the #90 machine of Michael Valiante.  Yacaman wants a yellow.

The #4 Corvette with get a stop & go penalty.  That's acceptable, for contact with the #35 car.

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