The #4 car has the penalty, and it will cost them 20 seconds. The Audi could have turned in. Audi driver Christopher Haase (who won the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring), is having fun in his first race at Watkins Glen. Box, box, box. Gustavo Yacaman is in the pits. He'll hand over the car to Alex Brundle, to finish this one off. Four tires and fuel for the OAK Racing car. There's some slight damage to the front splitter. Alex Brundle will have to plug in the radio, and does. Colin Braun stays behind the wheel of the #54 CORE Autosport Oreca Chevrolet as the team pits.
The #91 SRT Viper is pitting. The #3 Corvette is also running well, as they are going for three wins in a row. #91 comes out of the pit. But, there's brake dust in the car. That's not good. But you have to deal with it in a GT coupe. The #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette Prototype is going to pit. There's still debris on track that the marshals haven't taken care of. #90 is staying on course, trying to get five more laps on fuel, after what has been a 47 minute fuel stint. Rolling the dice with 50 minutes left in this race. Valiante is followed by Joao Barbosa, who is looking for three straight wins in the Six Hours of The Glen.
The #90 car is in. Richard Westbrook will take the car home. They need to get good mileage on this last stint. It's going to be a close one. He'll have to go 47 and a half minutes after having to hit the reserve fuel pump. Joao Barbosa is still in the #5. Michael Valiante, is spent. Barbosa pits. Once the leader pits, you have to respond because pit lane is closed if there is a yellow flag. The #57 Krohn Racing Ferrari 458 Italia hits the wall, and there will be a full course yellow. The Krohn car is spun around into the tires.
He has to fire the car. Everyone has to get fuel and will come now. The #57 car turned in and did not see the Prototype Challenge #85 car of Stephen Simpson. Alex Brundle is still going for it. Krohn fires the car up, and there will be no full course yellow. Richard Westbrook is 20 some odd seconds behind Alex Brundle. They have to wait for a yellow to be safe. Pitting under green, would not give the #90 a decent enough delta time. No sign of rain as this race is coming to a close, steadily.
Just 38 minutes to go. Alex Brundle might still need a splash and dash before the end of this race. Colin Braun has a lap advantage over the second place car in class, of John Martin, in the Prototype Challenge class. Antonio Garcia leads GT LM in the #3 Corvette C-7-R-. The #85 car will have a stop and hold penalty for the contact with the Krohn Racing Ferrari. The #94 BMW team will have to do a splash and dash before the end of the race. It will be neck and neck with the GT Daytona victory battle. Turner strategist Don Salama, might be turning up the wick a bit too much.
The #10 Velocity Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette pits. Jordan Taylor, will take the car to the finish within the last half hour of this race. Don Salama said that he's already strategized, and the team short filled the #94 BMW. Ah, race strategists are sly dogs, sometimes. Alex Brundle might be in the catbird seat as he's up by 30 seconds on Richard Westbrook at the moment. Watkins Glen is best known as a long-time home for the United States Grand Prix. Innes Ireland won the first race in 1961.
Check out the International Motor Racing Research Center, located in Watkins Glen.
http://www.racingarchives.org/
Colin Braun continues leading the Prototype Challenge class. Ooh! We have another big wreck. Two cars crash and we have our third full course yellow. 25 minutes to go. We'll have a shootout. Ian James turns into the #08 of Alex Tagliani. The radiator on the Porsche has been holed, and there could be water pooled in the tire wall. Can the #42 car make it to the end of this race? He may be good to go if this caution flag is too long. They have nine laps of fuel left. But, how much of the clock will be eaten up with the cleanup?
This could be a lengthy yellow with time dwindling on the clock. The water we saw was not from the Porsche's radiator. But, it was water in the tire wall. Meanwhile, does Alex Brundle have enough fuel to get to the finish? In 1967, Bob Bondurant, legendary racing driver, had a savage crash at Watkins Glen. He didn't drive again, but he founded his own racing school. He had a short, but glittering driving career. We're ready for the dash for cash at Watkins Glen. It's crunch time now.
We've got just a shade over thirteen minutes to go. Alex Brundle has lapped cars between he and Richard Westbrook. This is going to be good. This is war. Green flag again at The Glen. Alex Brundle alsmost got past the pace car as Burt Friesselle tries to get the lead lap back. But here comes Richard Westbrook, and he's past Burndle! Ugh! He has to get past Westbrook. Here he is, they otuch. He's trying into The Boot. Westrbook needs to get rid of Frisselle. Oh! A wreck! Another yellow. The #01 Ganassi Riley Ford and the #7 Starworks Martini car of Renger van der Zande is off.
Full course yellow. Unreal! Scott Pruett is oput of the car. He's limping. He's had some injuries before in his carer. van der Zande slaps Pruett and Pruett crunches the wall, and then gets T boned. Alex Brundle is angry. He says, "this isn't racing!" The P2 cars don't have the speed of the Daytona Prototypes. The heavir Daytona Prototypes have quicker acceleration. Ganassi has not had the season they've wanted. No one did anything wrong. They won Sebring. But, it's a bad year for Ganassi. They have to build momentum going forward.
Brundle's car is good on the straights, but they don't have the pulling power uphill like the V8 powered Daytona Prototypes. We're going to finish this race under yellow, it appears. Action Express Racing won't get three in a row. But they'll get points in the driver's championship and in the North American Endurance Cup. Oh boy. It is a one lap sprint. Time it. Westbrook vs. Brundle. He's on it. It's a white checker. #5 passes Jordan Taylor. Does Alex Brundle have enough car? Here's the chicane. Barboda on the attack. Bbrundle needs to nail this corner. He might not have enough to get by Westbrook.
He's drawing up. He slips a bit. It's down to two. Can Burndle get to Westbrook. Here he comes. Westbrook has the gap though. He's going to win the Six Hours of The Glen! Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante do it!
Overall/Prototype: #90 Westbrook/Valiante Chevrolet Corvette Prototype
Prototype
Challenge: #54 Bennett/Braun/Gue Oreca FLM 09 Chevrolet
GT Le Mans: #3 Magnussen/Garcia Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-
GT Daytona: #94 Palttala/Cameron BMW Z4 GTE
Corvette gets their third win of the season. Turner Motorsports wins GT Daytona. The four winning teams are the leaders in the Patron Endurance Cup. We've got one more race, at the Petit Le Mans in October. Ten hours or 1,000 miles, whichever comes first. That will also be the curtain call for the Tudor Championship season.
The next race is in two weeks. It's at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. The track formerly known as Mosport Park, is another of the world's great tracks. Hard to believe six hours can go by so fast when you are having that much fun. So long, for now. We'll see you at Mosport, in two weeks, fans.
No comments:
Post a Comment