Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (formerly known as Mosport Park, or simply, Mosport), is the venue for the Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix for the Tudor United Sports Car Championship.
We are well into the second half of the season. All three classes will gather. It's game on in Ontario. Let's go sports car racing, blokes. We are an hour north of Toronto, and the track at Mosport (now called Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. The track has been around since 1961. It is said of Canadian tourism that it's "friendly, familiar, foreign, and near." The #90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette prototype is in the points lead. But, on this track, it's high speed. It's an old school, super fast track. Because of it's speed, there has been a casualty even before the race starts. A top contender is already out of action.
Memo Rojas was coming out of turn two on the formation lap, hitting a puddle and clouting the tire wall. The car and the team suffered two huge wrecks in the most recent round of the championship, the Six Hours of Watkins Glen, too. So, they are way behind the eight ball at this point. There was heavy weather in the morning, with rain. But then, temperatures began to get really hot. There are three points separating Velocity/Wayne Taylor Racing from Action Express Racing at the top of the points table.
OAK Racing with their Morgan Nissan prototype is fourth in points, and they've become the only team to win two poles in Tudor Championship competition so far this season. Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas (the only two time race winners this year), are fifth in points. Three of four classes will be in action. Prototype, GT Le Mans, and GT Daytona. Prototype Challenge machines are not entered for this event. As we look at the GT Le Mans class points, there is a mere 20 point spread between the top six drivers who represent four of five manufacturers in the category, (Chevrolet, BMW, SRT Viper, and Porsche).
Kuno Wittmer has pole for SRT Viper in GT Le Mans. There is a 21 point spread between the top seven contenders in GT Daytona as well. Mosport is a high speed course measuring 2.5 miles around with ten corners. Lots of elevation change. But, there are also plenty of places where a driver could get it wrong and pitch their car off the road. Again, on pole it's OAK Racing and the #42 Morgan Nissan shared this weekend by Gustavo Yacaman and Frenchman Olivier Pla. 37 cars are set to take the green flag.
As the race gets underway, the #01 Pruett/Rojas Riley Ford EcoBoost will not take the green flag with the rest of the field. Michael Valiante is trying to pass Scott Sharp already going downhill and uphill through turn one. For most of the A.M., this track was soaked, and there are puddles still on the course. Christian Fittipaldi wants around Scott Sharp ASAP. He's looking to make a move into turn three with Ricky Taylor looking on in the #10 car. Headed into Moss corner, this right hand bend is the hardest braking zone on the track.
The cars run 52 miles per hour into Moss. The back straightaway is high speed in comparison. Slow down in the corner, and floor it on the straight. Keep in mind, the closed cockpit prototypes (formerly called Daytona Prototypes in the old Grand Am Rolex Series), have more top speed than the P2 spec cars. Fittipaldi sweeps to the inside of Sharp into turn eight, a very fast sweeper. No lifting off the gas here. Fittipaldi is aggressively trying to pass Sharp! He needs to use the outside line! Can he do it? No dice. He can't get there.
Now Ricky Taylor wants a piece of this and tries to move on Fittipaldi! You can't go three wide into turn one. He defends, and forces Taylor to back off. Fittipaldi's Corvette has some damage on the right rear corner. Are these blokes being cautious on a wet track? No way, sunshine. You can bet dollars to donuts they're going to play dodge 'em cars. Meanwhile, in GT LM, hometown hero Kuno Wittmer (a Canadian), is leading in class in the red and white SRT Viper over his rival from Corvette, Jan Magnussen, the Danish star.
Wittmer says he has an advantage because he's logged many laps on the track at CTMP. This is a hard track to learn because all the corners are blind, and really fast. Wittmer gets sideways, dirt tracking the Viper, and almost losing it! Transition through turns nine and ten onto the straight, and Magnussen is right behind Wittmer now, as it's clearly the battle of the American muscle cars in GT LM. That slide for Wittmer, very easily could have ended in tears. The #3 Corvette wants it's fourth win of 2014 in the hands of Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia.
Christian Fittipaldi has been given a furled black flag, which is a warning for him to behave with his driving, or suffer a penalty for bad sportsmanship. The cars fly up the Mario Andretti straightaway. But, the "straightaway" is anything but straight, with a pronounced curve in it. This is an undulating, uphill section of the track where a driver must proceed with caution. Before the hill was shaved, drivers would be able to do wheelies over the hill. SRT Viper production has resumed after a hiatus, which means good things for the racing program.
Leading GT Daytona currently, it's the #94 Turner Motorsports BMW Z4 GTE. Markus Palttala at the controls. He and his team won at the Six Hours of the Glen, our most recent Tudor Championship race, that was featured in a major blog entry on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog. If you haven't read about it, go to the latter part of the June archives, and check it out. Turner Motorsports has won two races, but, for the Balance of Performance, they have 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of weight, added to the car. BMW, Viper, and Porsche lead GT Daytona.
The top 15 GT Daytona cars qualified within a second of each other! Talk about competition just in one class! In GTD, there are Pro-Am drivers. These guys don't make their living driving race cars. They have other day jobs, and race on the weekends at each of the Tudor Championship events. The Pro Am driver starts the race, and then, the truly seasoned professional driver on the team, is the closer. There is no lack of talent with any of the Pro Am drivers, though. They know what they're doing.
The cars plunge from turn two, downhill to turn three, and that's the spot on the track where Memo Rojas crashed in the morning warmup, and has subsequently made the Ganassi Riley Ford a non-starter in this event. Gustavo Yacaman of Colombia is working through GT Daytona traffic at the controls of the #42 Oak Racing Motrgan Nissan. Traffic management is a big deal, because there's a 30-40 mile per hour speed differential between between a Prototype and a GT Daytona production based car.
Some teams have spotters at the corner stations to make sure the driver's know slower traffic is up ahead. The good thing about this race at Mosport is the lack of Prototype Challenge entries, because there'd be another ten to a dozen cars out there, really clogging up the speedway. Gustavo Yacaman had a great qualifying effort and did so just ahead of Ryan Dalziel driving the #1 HPD prototype for Extreme Speed Motorsports, with Honda power. Yacaman is sharing with Olivier Pla here at Mosport.
Ben Keating in the #33 ViperExchange.com SRT Viper has passed the Turner Motorsports BMW Z4 GTE #94 for the class lead in GT Daytona. Finn Markus Palttala is at the controls in the BMW. Mario Farnbacher in the #23 Porsch 911 GT America moves around the BMW. The BMW has more drag with it's body design and it's not as aerodynamically efficient by any means. The Viper seems to be well suited for the layout of Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. The BMW has a handling advantage over the Viper and the Porsche.
But, Mario Farnbacher is applying the blowtorch to Ben Keating right now in a fight for the class lead in GT Daytona. The Viper has the edge on the straights over the Porsche, but Keating gets loose under braking into the corner. The Viper should be the car with the most oomph on the straightaways compared to the BMW and the Porsche. Meanwhile, in GT Le Mans, Kuno Wittmer continues to lead over Jan Magnussen. But, there's a GT Daytona class Audi R8 LMS splitting the two of them.
Kuno Wittmer's mom and dad, Patrick and Lynn, are watching their son race. This is his home track, and he's logged a boatload of laps here. Ricky Taylor is once again, off the road, not able to turn his Corvette Prototype. It's the wet grass in turn three that caught Taylor out. The radiator inlet on the front of the car is all clogged up with grass now. He's into pit lane immediately. Box, box, box, as they say in Formula One. Ricky Taylor had to correct a twitch, and that put him into the gray area off line, and off the road. There's also a dent on the left front of the car from that earlier fracas with Christian Fittipaldi.
With the pit stop, and the pit lane speed limit in effect for a good 27 seconds, Taylor has lost 50 seconds worth of ground, and will have to dig to make it back up. This is another race track that has a rich history in sports car racing. Sylvain Tremblay is putting the #70 Mazda SkyActiv Diesel powered prototype through it's paces. He builds the cars as well as racing them. Tremblay is one of five Canadian drivers in his home race along with Kuno Wittmer, Michael Valiante, Chris Green, and Mark Thomas.
Green and Thomas share a Porsche entered in the GT Daytona class. Welcome home, guys. Analyze segments on the track, put all the corners together, and get within a certain amount of time. That's how you make a good lap. There might have been some argy bargy between the #912 factory Porsche 911 RSR and the #45 Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS. Again, these two are in different classes. The factory Porsche is a GT Le Mans spec car, while the Audi is a GT Daytona machine. Was there contact? The #5 Action Express Corvette prototype pits, nearly fifteen minutes into the event.
Christian Fittipaldi has a flat left rear tire. There was bodywork hung up underneath the tire, and the wheel arch. This is a long stop for the #5 team. The wheel is dented, causing the tire to delaminate. Gustavo Yacaman leads in class and in the overall by 10.7 seconds over Michael Valiante. Kuno Wittmer continues to lead GT LM over Jan Magnussen. Right now it's Viper, Corvette, Corvette, Viper, BMW. It's Kuno Wittmer, Jan Magnussen, Tommy Milner, Dominik Farnbacher, and Dirk Muller. The Prototype drivers are frustrated with the factory Porsche GT LM drivers, who have their own battle, and think it's more important than letting the Prototypes through, and giving them the right of way.
Tires don't fail necessarily, because the tire carcass gets cut and the tire loses air. The speeds around Canadian Tire Motorsports Park are absolutely amazing. All the corners on this track, with the exception of one, run downhill. So, you don't want to go off the road whatsoever. Once you're off, it's game over. Moss corner, was named after Sir Stirling Moss, who, after racing at Mosport, suggested that particular corner be divided in two so fans could see the cars better, and see more action.
Scott Sharp is running well, and has a good record at Mosport. He won three times in the old SCCA Trans Am series, and three times in prototype sports car competition. ESM has experience racing her from the American Le Mans Series. With the merger, many Grand Am tams are racing at Mosport for the first time. The ALMS teams have a notebook to draw from for car setups to be fast on this course. This is the reverse of what we saw last time out at Watkins Glen where the Grand Am teams had experience, and the American Le Mans Series teams, did not.
This track is bumpy, and there's high downforce and high spring rates. So, there's no decent balance on this speedway. Corvette has an astonishing record at Mosport. They've won ten of the last fourteen races they've run at this track. Wow! Scott Pruett, Scott Sharp, and Jan Magnussen, are the most successful drivers entered in this race at Mosport, when it comes to wins at the track. Pruett has an SCCA Endurance win, and four Trans Am victories. Sharp won three American Le Mans Series events in class, and has two Trans Am wins. Jan Magnussen, has won five times in class, in the old American Le Mans Series, here at CTMP.
Boris Said had a huge practice crash before this race even began. The car suffered a massive impact with the turn one wall. But, it's unclear as to what broke on the car to send it smashing into the barrier with such force. Boris Said was trying to get his entry correct into turn one, dropping his left side tires into the dirt. This pulls the car across the road, on the downhill, and ker-runch! Straight into the tire wall. Said broke a rib in that crash and didn't start the race.
The #5 Action Express Corvette decided to support Sonny Whelen, and put Whelen sticker decals onto their car for this race. You can lose time to other competitors on this track easily, if you catch traffic in the wrong spot. It's likely game over for the #70 Speedsource Mazda SkyActiv Diesel prototype, as Sylvain Tremblay steps out of the driving seat. There could be a bad oil pump belt on the car. Whoops! We've got bigger problems with a Corvette off the road and into the tire bundles.
Ah. It's just a spin for the #4 machine. He points it in the right direction and keeps on truckin'. Tommy Milner at the controls. Oliver Gavin mentioned that the handling wasn't up to snuff with that car. Oops. More calamity corner action as the #555 Ferrari 458 Italia for Level 5 Racing is off the road. Bill Sweedler at the wheel, is the championship leader in GT Daytona right now. Could the Corvette and the Ferrari have had a coming together? In replay, we see a squeeze between the Corvette, the Ferrari, and the #48 Paul Miller Racing GT Daytona Audi R8 LMS.
The #4 car had the toe in, (the angle of the rear wheels), off, and the team felt it was negatively affecting their performance. Bill Sweedler is back on the road, but traveling very slowly. Sweedler has a flatspotted tire. Sweedler (being a Pro Am driver), has to do a minimum of an hour of driving in the car, to score points in this race. Corvette Racing has had an incredible streak of wins here at CTMP. Their first came in 2001. They have won ten times in class at this track in 2001, '02, '03, '04, '05 (five straight), '07, '08, '09 (another hat trick of wins), 2011, and last year in 2013.
It is a two horse race in GT LM between Viper and Corvette. Michael Valiante pitted the #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette Prototype, and stayed in the car. He makes moves in traffic, but on cold tires. That's risky. Gustavo Yacaman brings the #42 Oak Racing Morgan Nissan to pit lane. Four tires and fuel are added to the car. Yacaman will stay in the car, and let Olivier Pla take the car to the checkered flag. The #1 ESM machine also hits pit lane.
They have a different strategy, and will let Ryan Dalziel take over from Scott Sharp. Four tires go on the car, too. Track position is a big deal for ESM because last year, they were here in the ALMS, but on Michelin tires as opposed to the Continental tires for the Tudor Championship. Keep the tires under the yellow line on pit exit. Michael Valiante takes over the class lead in Prototype, and in the overall. Bill Sweedler will serve a penalty for the contact earlier with Tommy Milner in the factory Corvette in GT LM. It's a stop and hold penalty + 45 seconds.
There was also contact between the #63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari 458 Italia in GT Daytona and the sister ESM prototype. Because of damage, car #63 has gone to the garage to be worked on. The #63 Ferrari has damage and a flat tire after being hit from the rear by the sister ESM #2 prototype. There's bodywork and suspension damage to the #63 as Bill Sweedler serves his penalty. With the penalty, Sweedler will go a lap down and fall to the tail end of the GT Daytona category.
Look out, folks! We've got a big wreck. Now, let's see what transpired here. Our GT LM leader, the #93 Viper goes for a wild ride downhill through turn three, on the grass, taking out one of the Tudor billboards and scooping up dirt. The track is a mess down there with all the dirt strewn about. Kuno Wittmer brings the polesitting car in GT LM to pit lane. There's damage to the front of the car, and lots of debris, too. They do the normal service, putting Jonathan Bomarito into the car, and now, they'll address the damage.
John Edwards in the #56 BMW Z4 from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, was coming up to speed, and Kuno Wittmer didn't see him, going off the road in the process. The Tudor sign prevented debris from entering the air intakes on the Viper, as one of the Corvette's is in. Antonio Garcia will take over the car from Jan Magnussen. This is a routine stop for new tires and fuel, as well as the driver change. There is also a left rear suspension adjustment taking place. The #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari is in pit lane now, too, for scheduled service.
One of the Corvette crewmen almost got injured on the pit stop, changing angle on the back of the car. They loosened the car up, and made it so it will turn better in the corners. It's an adjustment you don't see often, because it's not easy to do under race conditions. It's a rake change. They know what the car will do, and thus, can make the change with no worries. Ben Keating continues to lead GT Daytona in the #33 SRT Viper, as Markus Palttala heads for the pit lane in the BMW. Dane Cameron will take over in the cockpit as that team looks for it's second class victory in a row.
Uh oh! Ben Keating runs wide in turn two! Dane Cameron is now in the #94. Also, look at the #58 Porsche 911 GT America in the hands of Madison Snow. He started at the back of the grid in class and now, has moved up. The team was sent to the back of the grid after doing too many laps in the morning warmup. After pit stops, the marshals have handed out penalties. The #45 Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS of Spencer Pumpelly, and the aforementioned #94 Turner Motorsports BMW Z4, both get penalties. They are stop and hold penalties for loose equipment in the pit lane.
Michael Christensen has taken over the #912 factory Porsche 911 RSR from the only American Porsche factory driver, Patrick Long. Bill Auberlen in the #55 BMW Z4 GTE is hounding Michael Christensen's Porsche at the moment. We've seen these two teams play dodge 'em cars this year already. Porsche won the endurance classics at Daytona and Sebring. But, since then, things have gone pear shaped for the boys from Stuttgart. In replay we watch Spencer Pumpelly's pit stop for the #45 GTD Audi, looking for the equipment that went awry.
Ah. A tire rolls away from the car into the open pit lane. The car must have been in gear, with the rear wheels turning, and then, the mechanic can't get the wheel off the stud. We have an update on the #01 Ganassi Racing Riley Ford EcoBoost which was absent from the start of this race. The car will come out and do 20 minutes for Memo Rojas to drive, and 20 minutes for Scott Pruett. It's got to be gut wrenching to get in the car and do only the minimum of driving. This is still important, being round seven for the Prototypes, with only five left this season.
If they can do more than 23 laps, they'll pass the parked #70 Mazda prototype, moving them to tenth spot in class, and so they can get some points. Dane Cameron continues to chase down Mario Farnbacher for the lead in GT Daytona. The #94 team has to serve a penalty that is under review by the stewards. The #45 team had their tire get loose in pit lane, which is why the penalty was assessed. The sister Mazda prototype #07 is still running, and has been running as high as sixth overall.
The Mazda has the highest specific output per liter of displacement of any diesel engine built in the world today, and yes, it eclipses even that of the Audi R18 eTron Quattro that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It should be noted that two of the Canadian drivers (Chris Green and Mark Thomas), are racing with the #18 Muehlner Motorsports America team in a GT Daytona class Porsche. The #94 BMW is still running. But, let's look at a video that explains their penalty.
It's difficult to see, but, the loose pit equipment for this car, was a wheel nut. Frenchman Kevin Estre has taken over the lead in GT Daytona in the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT America. Estre passed Mario Farnbacher for the lead in class. The GT LM cars are mixing it up with the GTD cars. The factory Porsche still leads in class with the BMW Z4 factory machine right on his gearbox. It's Richard Lietz in the Porsche vs. John Edwards in the BMW. Moss Corner is tough, because if you overdrive the car, you lose exit speed onto the straight. It's an impossible corner to get right.
Folks, we're halfway home already. Gustavo Yacaman continues to lead in the #42 Morgan Nissan. P2 cars have great cornering speed, but lose out to the Daytona Prototype spec machines on the straightaways. Oak Racing is a French company, and more of their cars will be in the Tudor Championship before the end of the season, and into 2015 as well. Cameron passes Farnbacher for second in GT Daytona. Cameron pushed Farnbacher, and Farnbacher had the car unsettled by a bump in one of the corners. Both ESM Honda prototypes have made pit stops.
Gustavo Yacaman has to be careful to not go too far over the blend line between the pits and the track. The #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette Prototype is into pit lane and Richard Westbrook will take over for Michael Valiante who sort of falls out of the car on the driver change. Gustavo Yacaman will also pit momentarily. There's a slight problem with the driver change on this stop. The #42 car pits, and we'll see how their pit stop shakes out. The driver change is easier with the open cockpit prototype. It's a routine stop and Olivier Pla is back out on track as Richard Westbrook is running Harry Flatters to catch up.
The #01 Riley Ford EcoBoost pits. Scott Pruett takes over from Memo Rojas to run his 20 minute stint. The #2 Patron HPD prototype of Johannes van Overbeek comes out onto the track after being stopped in the pits for quite a while. Oh boy! The #2 is going back to the paddock area. They could be done for the day without a doubt, folks. Pruett and Rojas could get to eighth in class in Prototype. But, there won't be enough time for them to make up their deficit, which is 45 laps.
Ryan Dalziel is trying his best to pass Jordan Taylor as Olivier Pla is seven seconds up the road. Richard Westbrook has lost 30 seconds. Just over an hour to go in this race. Turner Motorsports team owner Will Turner says a wheel not may or may not have been outside the box is. But the pit official had no idea where the pit box was. There have been some bad calls by IMSA lately, unfortunately. Dane Cameron is back to the top five in class. But, some cars running behind him have already pitted for a final fuel stop. The #58 Porsche of Jan Heylen pits. Heylen shares with Madison Snow.
Also, the #4 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R- of Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin pits in GT LM. Kevin Estre has made his last pit stop, too. As soon as you get into the fuel window, come in. If there's a yellow, the pits are closed. You name a form of motorsport, it's been here since the track opened in 1961. Formula One, Can Am, Trans Am, Formula 5000, stock cars, and Indycars, to name a few. Now, the #1 sister ESM prototype is also retiring from this race, just as their #2 car did as well. A broken exhaust is the culprit for the #1 car.
The #17 Falken Tires Porsche 911 RSR pits from third with Wolf Henzler at the wheel. Bryan Sellers has already driven his stint. The #1 car makes no power without the turbocharger, and that's the problem with the car. No turbo, no power. The exhaust system drives the turbocharger. Jordan Taylor is second, eleven seconds behind Olivier Pla. Pla could have hit debris on the outside of turn eight. There could be tire clag out there. Pla passes the GT Daytona class leader, Kevin Estre. Pla will not run the full season in TUSCC with Oak Racing. He will race at Road America, and at Petit Le Mans.
Both BMW Team RLL BMW Z4's were just in pit lane. Pla has been running laps in the 1:11-1:12 bracket. Dane Cameron made another pit stop for fuel according to a strategy call from Turner Motorsports. He is currently sixth in class in GT Daytona, trying to find a way around the #81 Porsche 911 GT America in the hands of Damien Faulkner. Another penalty has been handed out to the #58 Porsche for a loose part in pit lane, and that car runs third in class. The plot thickens here at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
Jordan Taylor brings the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette prototype in for service. We're now into the last 45 minutes of this race. Everyone needs to stop, because if a yellow comes out, it'll be a bear. Corvette Racing is looking for their fourth straight win this season. Ron Fellows is here this weekend, a former racing driver for Corvette and in Trans Am. He is now a partner in the ownership/management of Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. The lead car is pitting for what should be it's final stop.
This is a smooth, accurate, flowing pit stop for the team. Olivier Pla is on a 150 mile per hour Sunday cruise. Be careful on cold tires. The #5 Action Express/Whelen Corvette pits with aerodynamic damage. But, it's doing well as the team pits. No safety car periods in this race yet. The aero and speed are key at this track, because there are three spots where you're running at least 150 miles per hour. Some cars have problems with understeer, where the car will push to the outside of the corner as the driver is putting input into the steering, but the car isn't doing anything.
We watch Jeroen Bleekemolen in the #33 Dodge Viper. He's running 2/10ths quicker than the class leader with a 1:20 flat as his best lap so far. He's nine seconds behind, however. To this point, the leader has run 104 laps, 256 miles. Ian James has taken over the #23 Porsche from Mario Farnbacher, and Damien Faulkner is still giving chase. Richard Westbrook has caught Jordan Taylor and wants by. Shades of Belle Isle back in June, chaps. This doesn't have to end in tears. Westbrook is charging, having cut nine seconds out of Olivier Pla's lead.
Oh man! We have ourselves a real humdinger here, folks. Contact between Taylor and Westbrook. Westbrook makes contact with one of the GT Daytona production cars. Westbrook is coming in a hurry. Pour on the steam, sunshine, in the case of Jordan Taylor. In threading the needle with the #58 GT Daytona Porsche, the Porsche has it's mirror taken off. The #90 car may have a punctured tire. This is Richard Westbrook's first race at CTMP. He loves the track. But he needs to know the tire pressure so that it doesn't go down in the middle of a ding dong scrap with another competitor.
Antonio Garcia leads GT LM in the #3 Corvette C-7-R going for his fourth straight win with co-driver Jan Magnussen. Jonathan Bomarito in the #93 Viper runs second. John Edwards is slightly behind Marc Goossens in the sister Viper for third, while Nicky Tandy in fifth, is hounding Edwards, in the factory Porsche. Oliver Gavin in the #4 Corvette is sixth. Wolf Henzler and Andy Priaulx are coming fast, too. Priaulx is in the #55 BMW.
Richard Westbrook has cleared Jordan Taylor. Wolf Henzler wants by Oliver Gavin. Oswaldo Negri Jr. is fifth and has had a quiet race. But, he and team mate John Pew will have a top five for their #60 Riley Ford EcoBoost. Twenty minutes to go. Even though Ganassi and Shank are rivals on track, they are trying to share data about the Ford EcoBoost V6 motors, because they are the only two teams to be running them. Keep the data together, because it comes on the cars from so many places, that it's very easy to get confused.
In the morning, the track was absolutely under water. But, then a wind started blowing, and, dried the track out really quickly. Damien Faulkner passes Ian James for fourth in class in GT Daytona. Ian James wiggles trying to get around his Alex Job Racing team mate, Leh Keen in the sister Alex Job Porsche. The #5 Action Express Corvette Prototype still has a loose bodywork panel. Andy Priaulx and Wolf Henzler continue to race hammer and tongs. Wolf Henzler says that his team is running a different and better tire this weekend as compared to the one run at Watkins Glen.
He'll keep pressuring Andy Priaulx. The GT LM cars are faster than the GTD cars. Olivier Pla has thirteen seconds in hand over Richard Westbrook. Pla's lead is now eight seconds with Westbrook closing in, hard. Pla gets balked by a slower Porsche and here comes Westbrook. Wesbtrook is pushing really hard. He has the rhythm, and can see Pla now. He smells blood. Time is on the side of Olivier Pla now. The GT Daytona cars are sometimes faster than the GT Le Mans machines. They match the speed but they have less brake and less tire.
White flag lap this time by. We'll actually do one more lap, folks. Westbrook is almost eleven seconds behind Pla due to traffic. Park Place Motorsports leads GT Daytona with Kevin Estre at the controls. Estre will have to outrun the #33 Viper of Bleekemolen. Estre fights to the end with the GT LM cars. He wants to hold position for sure. Estre nearly runs into the back of the Ferrari of Townsend Bell! Oh! He gets bumped. Bleekemolen takes the lead after Estre tapped one of the factory GT LM Porsches and now he has a tire gone down.
Bleekemolen will beat Estre. Oak Racing wins!
Overall/Prototype: #42 Pla/Yacaman Morgan Nissan
GT Le Mans: #3 Garcia/Magnussen Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-
GT Daytona: #33 Bleekemolen/Keating SRT Viper GTS-R-
That's a wrap from CTMP. The next Tudor Championship race is the Brickyard Grand Prix from the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That race, takes place in merely, a week's time from now, folks. It's going to be a good one!
No comments:
Post a Comment