The run to the championship is on. Just four races remain in the championship. Road America has been around for six decades, and the tradition continues with the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase. Three of four championships in the Tudor series are closely contested. Action Express are the championship leaders at this stage. Christian Fittipaldi has been really aggressive. With three races to go, does Action Express change? Do they keep things up? Speaking of aggressive, lets watch the P2 class cars that are in this championship. 24 points split the top five and two points between the top three. Bruno Junquiera has the Prototype Challenge pole.
In GT Le Mans, Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen have the points lead. Corvette Racing's winning streak ended at Indianapolis, and they were beaten by SRT Viper. The gap is just 13 points. On pole in GT LM is the #56 BMW Team RLL BMW Z4 GTE with Jorg Muller and John Edwards at the controls. Porsche's received some Balance of Performance adjustments. In GT Daytona, James Davison put the #007 Aston on pole. But, there was that crash between the Aston and the Mazda prototype. Neither of these cars are going to make the start.
It's inexcusable to crash in the morning warmup. We're getting ready for a green flag. This is the longest track in the Tudor Championship. Four miles. Three straightaways. Any off course excursion is a big one. The track has 14 corners. In a prototype, go flat through the Hurry Downs section and onto the straightaways. Fuel will be a factor. So will time management, and speed. We're ready for a start. The pace car pulls off. Go! Christian Fittipaldi moves outside and gets the lead. Ricky Taylor goes with Fittipaldi. Scott Sharp has to hang on and here comes Scott Pruett and Gustavo Yacaman.
Fittipaldi locks the brakes. Gustavo Yacaman in the #42 Oak Racing Morgan Nissan, wrecked in the morning warmup. The P2 cars need three laps to warm up their tires. The Deltawing is here, with Katherine Legge at the controls. Coming up to the kink, it's BMW Z4 vs. SRT Viper in GT LM. The #55 sister BMW has Bill Auberlen in the car, and Patrick Long is in the #912 Porsche that has more horsepower and more aero. The Viper of Dominik Farnbacher passes for the class lead.
Use the draft. Watch out for the Prototype Challenge machines. It's Chris Miller in the #85 car. Michael Valiante has had to come from the back in the #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette Prototype, as Patrick Long spins one of the factory Porsche's in turn five, the slowest corner on the track. The #78 Starworks Riley Honda is also in the thick of this race. Ricky Taylor went off at turn seven. Watch out for dropping wheels. GT LM is hot and heavy. We see Kuno Wittmer vs. Giancarlo Fisichella vs. Antonio Garcia. The #4 Corvette is Richard Westbrook.
Westbrook has debris in the front grille. Now, Michael Valiante had a penalty for something with the air inlets on the front of the car. We have a big wreck! It's the #78 Riley HPD. Scott Mayer is at the controls, and also, the #09 Prototype Challenge car for RSR with Duncan Ende at the controls. Scott Myer was in front of the PC cars and off pace. Mayer lost control and Duncan Ende was plowed head on into the wall! The #56 BMW has damage to the left front corner. Duncan Ende is out of the car.
Scott Mayer is out of the car, and his team mate (Indycar star James Hinchcliffe), says that it's a disappointment. They qualified well. The safety crews are cleaning up this wreck at the moment. This is the first full course yellow. In replay, we see the two cars jostling for position, as Ende tucks in behind the #78. Scott Mayer lost control and had to oversteer, and makes huge contact for Duncan Ende. The two BMW Z4's had damage from this incident. It's game over for Duncan Ende and Bruno Junquiera.
Bruno Junquiera has won twice in Indycars at Road America. The BMW team may not be able to fix their damage. But, the fender might peel due to the high speeds on the straights, and cause aerodynamic upset. Road America is another venue steeped in sports car racing history. Continental Tire and IMSA sign a new contract, and there is new class structure as well as a new schedule for 2015. We're back to green. More carnage! The #45 Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS of Nelson Canache Jr. spins. Pushing too hard, too soon. Settle down, chaps.
Memo Rojas wants by Scott Sharp. This is a Ford vs. Honda race going downhill to turn eight. Fittipaldi leads Taylor. Tire temps and tire pressures are looking good. It is warmer today than it has been for the last two days. Gustavo Yacaman is running well in the #42 Oak Racing Morgan Nissan. In Prototype Challenge, there is a battle, and Michael Valiante is carving his way through in the #90 Chevrolet Corvette prototype. Valiante has to push, but make sure not to crash, so he hands over to team mate Richard Westbrook. One of the Corvette's will need to serve a penalty for ignoring the stop light at the end of pit lane.
Jon Bennett gets spun by Dominik Farnbacher. But, we have a full course yellow due to debris. What will the stewards do? There's a headlight cover and a fender, from the Flying Lizard Audi. Christian Fittipaldi continues to lead overall. Time for the restart. Memo Rojas passes Scott Sharp. Katherine Legge has taken the Deltawing up to fifth overall. Ricky Taylor is running very well, finding the sweet spot for the #10 Corvette Prototype. Both Taylor brothers wanted to know how aggressive you could be. Championships are on the line. If something goes wrong, things could end in tears. Now, there's damage to the #44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America.
The #63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari 458 Italia also has problems. The #45 Audi R8 LMS is still out on track. The Deltawing is running well with a new differential. Scott Sharp works back towards Memo Rojas. In GT Daytona, leading the class it's the #94 Turner Motorsports BMW Z4 GTE. The #4 Corvette of Tommy Milner is in the sin bin after running the red light in pit lane. Ben Keating is in the #33 Viper. Markus Palttala is driving the #94 BMW. The GT LM leaders begin working through GTD traffic.
Giancarlo Fisichella and the Corvette's pitted to top off the fuel tanks under the recent yellow. Ben Keating is second in GT Daytona, with Jeroen Bleekemolen as the second driver. You never have enough motor at Road America. Charles Espenlaub shares the #46 Fall Line Audi R8 LMS with Marino Franchitti. Audi is scratching their head about power. David Calvert-Jones spins the #18 Muehlner Motorsports America GTD Porsche in turn seven. He spun across after the car washing out, and spinning off the road. He shares the car with Australian V8 Supercars star, Alex Davison.
You need straight line speed at Road America. The fuel strategy is also a big deal. Action Express is doing well, except for being concerned about tire wear. The #90 machine, meanwhile is up to eighth in the overall. Kuno Wittmer is running well in the #93 SRT Viper. Marino Franchitti has not raced since the 12 Hours of Sebring. He's working with the Audi of course, in GT Daytona, for Fall Line Racing. He's happy to be back racing. Now, we see an issue for the #27 GT Daytona Porsche with two flat front tires. He slams into the #48 Audi R8 LMS of Bryce Miller.
This looks like Joe Foster. The suspension is busted on the Audi and on the Porsche. Ricky Taylor slides to the inside of Christian Fittipaldi. Fittipaldi was spun, and has gotten back underway with no damage. Fittipaldi may not have been looking in his mirrors. Christian Fittipaldi was caught by surprise. Will it be a racing deal? Or, will it be an intentional wreck? Someone will be unhappy with that call. The Weathertech Porsche #22 of Cooper MacNeil locks the brakes. Patrick Dempsey is at the wheel of the #27 car. Not Joe Foster.
Scott Sharp pits from third place. He's out of fuel. Now, the #81 Porsche of Ben Barker has slid into the gravel trap, causing a full course yellow. This is perfect for the #1 HPD car. Ben Barker got in too deep and couldn't turn. He couldn't turn the car. He had a GT LM Viper and Prototype Challenge machine by him. The #27 Porsche will have a penalty coming up. Ricky Taylor leads this race. Pit stop time. Prototypes are up first. Memo Rojas pits and stays behind the wheel. The #5 car is on pit lane. Brakes are a concern... specifically brake temperature.
Joao Barbosa is now in the car. Jordan Taylor takes over the #10 Corvette Prototype, while Jordan Taylor stays in the #10 machine. Scott Sharp stayed in the car on his pit stop. We are merely an hour into this race. There's a ways to go yet. Prototype Challenge cars will come in next. Christian Fittipaldi gets on the radio, telling Joao Barbosa that the brakes are an issue. When you hit 175 miles an hour, twice in a corner, down a hill, is hard on brakes. It's boiling the brake fluid on the front brakes as opposed to the rear brakes.
In 1983, there was a rain shortened event and a GTP class Ford Mustang, won. Klaus Ludwig and Tim Coconis, drove it. Sean Rayhall is into the #25 Prototype Challenge car on their pit stop. Also, the #62 Risi Ferrari beat their GT LM competition out of the pits. The #3 Corvette team's season has kind of gone pear shaped recently. Scott Sharp takes the lead as we are back to green. memo Rojas books it by the #1 car and lockls up. He might have a flatspotted tire. Sharp stays driver's left, trying to hold off Jordan Taylor. No dice. Taylor will try moving past Memo Rojas.
Olivier Pla blocks Richard Westbrook. No love lost between these two teams. The Nissan powered P2 cars have better straight line speed than the Honda powered cars. Richard Westbrook is back up to fourth overall. The #5 Action Express Corvette Prototype is now down to seventh in class. Joao Barbosa tries to pass Andy Meyrick in the Deltawing. Sean Rayhall and 8Star Motorsports continues to lead Prototype Challenge. Jack Hawksworth is driving again with RSR today. Meanwhile, in GT Le Mans, Risi Competizione still leads this race.
The Falken Tires #17 Porsche chases Dirk Muller's BMW. It's Ferrari, BMW, Porsche, Porsche in GT Le Mans. Scott Sharp and Richard Westbrook are pushing, as Memo Rojas is leading. Chip Ganassi Racing has not won a race since Long Beach, back in April. The #3 Corvette team has made three pit stops, and the car is running sixth in GT LM. Earlier on, they had a punctured tire. Pierre Kaffer is driving the #62 Ferrari 458 Italia. This is Giancarlo Fisichella's first race at Road America. He loves the track. Kaffer has also run very well.
The #63 GT Daytona entry, the Scuderia Corse Ferrari, makes a pit stop. In GT Daytona, Dane Cameron is now driving the class leading #94 Turner Motorsports BMW Z4 GTE. They are being chased by one of the Porsche's, which they're worried about, because it's quicker. Once more, like Watkins Glen we see BMW, Porsche, Viper. But, Mario Farnbacher slides off the road a little bit, and Townsend Bell, along with Bill Sweedler are fourth in class. The #555 Ferrari 458 Italia, leads the points championship whether it's been Level 5, or Aim Autosport, with Ian Wilson as team manager.
Memo Rojas leads at halfway. Joao Barbosa runs a 1:57.8. We've got other cars running in the 1:58 range. The factory hot rods battle in GT Le Mans heats up. Corvette vs. SRT Viper vs. Porsche AG. Michael Christensen vs. Jonathan Bomarito vs. Antonio Garcia The RLL BMW is also in this fight. Unfortunately, the TRG Aston Martin didn't start. Nor did the #70 diesel Mazda prototype. We've still got the #07 Mazda running. This was a big accident. Sylvain Tremblay had a huge wreck, and was OK, despite having a big knot on his knee.
Can Jordan Taylor make a move on Memo Rojas? We have another full course yellow as Colin Braun has a broken A arm and a broken steering arm after crashing. He was clipped, defending the inside, and gets turned into the wall. Right front suspension damage is evident on the #54 Prototype Challenge car. Continental Tire will keep it's involvement going in IMSA through 2018. The #54 car goes behind the wall. It's game over. They'll be back.
Just under an hour to go in this race now. Sean Rayhaal and Renger van der Zande play dodge 'em cars coming out of pit lane. Pit lane is now open for GT Le Mans and GT Daytona. The #94 BMW is it pit lane with Dane Cameron at the wheel to maintain the front of the class. Pierre Kaffer is going to stay at the wheel of the #62 Ferrari for Risi Competizione. BMW had both cars in the pits and one of them had major trouble in the pits, overshooting the box.
The #1 Patron HPD team will race in the FIA WEC race at Circuit of the Americas. They'll run the Tudor race with one car, and, the six hour race for the FIA World Endurance Championship. There's a big traffic jam now going back to green. Olivier Pla sawing the wheel and there's a Prototype Challeng car off the road. That's the #85 of Stephen Simpson. Now, Andy Meyrick is booking it in the Deltawing, but, Jordan Taylor takes the race lead. 45 minutes go at Road America. The #01 car will pit, and Scott Pruett will finish out the race. The #42 car has crashed.
Olivier Pla crashes the car, and will take a hit in the championship for sure. They're out of contention. His championship hopes are dashed. He blames Johannes van Overbeek for taking the car out of the race. Yacaman is not happy. He has matured as a driver. But, it's been a very expensive weekend for Oak Racing. They've had three crashes. The #5 Action Express Racing Corvette Prototype could be in with a shout now as the #10 machine still leads with Ricky Taylor at the controls.
The Prototypes need fuel. Action Express is running well with their strategy. The #01 car pits and Scott Pruett will take the car to the finish. Jordan Taylor stays in the #10 car with new tires and fuel. Watch for the red light at the end of pit out. Wait for the train of cars to go through. Watch out on cold tires. There have been many penalties for missing the red light. Joao Barbosa is now in the overall lead. The Deltawing has been running very well, and especially now that they have Tim Keene as team manager.
Now, we have a huge issue on track. Jordan Taylor is into the tire wall in The Carousel! He had no steering and it's game over for the #10 car. Remember, Christian Fittipaldi and Ricky Taylor had problems. Taylor nosed into the wall after something broke and his reaction is, "what the (blank), was that?!" The steering broke. This isn't good for the #10 team. That will keep the yellow flag out on track, here at the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase. The yellow flag for Jordan Taylor's incident, is extended.
Nothing is connected from that earlier incident. The steering rack could be the culprit. There's a welded gear on the steering shaft. Did it strip a gear in the rack? Highly unlikely. We don't know. The #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari leads GT Le Mans. Mike Shank Racing is good on fuel. Steering systems will break on the highest load areas on a race track. With an extended yellow, this is playing into the hands of Mike Shank Racing, and some other teams. Action Express leads the championship, and the race.
The #10 car is on the flatbed truck. It's game over. Renger van der Zande leads Prototype Challenge. Frankie Montecalvo and PR1 Matthiesen Motorsport is also racing well today. We're back to green. Ozz Negri wants to pass Ryan Dalziel. What's going to happen? The setup window is smaller on the Riley Ford than it is on the Corvette Prototypes. Dirk Muller tries putting pressure on the #62 Ferrari. Michael Christensen passes Richard Lietz. They've got more aero, power, and fuel, for the Porsche's. Dirk Muller runs wide. Pierre Kaffer leads.
Jonathan Bomarito is fifth in class. Jan Magnussen is eighth in class in the #3 Corvette. Jonathan Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer could get a big chunk of points after this race. We've got Ferrari vs. BMW vs. Porsche vs. Viper. The #31 Whelen Corvette prototype is running well. Joel Miller in the #07 Mazda SkyActiv Diesel prototype is also in the hunt. The #911 factory Porsche has a 20 second penalty, and the #38 Prototype Challenge car has a one minute penalty for contact. That's the #38 of David Ostella.
We've got just over 15 minutes to go in this race, blokes. Joao Barbosa was told under full course yellow to save fuel. Good battle between Porsche and SRT Viper. Bomarito passes Michael Christensen. These guys are hitting the exits of the corners. Watch out for the suspension. Oops! We've got an Audi in the gravel trap. This is the #48 Paul Miller Racing Audi R8 LMS. This will be a short yellow since we are so close to the end of the event. The car spins off the road and into the gravel trap. For Joao Barbosa, he is in the catbird seat
Green flag. Now, there's a car that has spun off the road. Ten minutes to go. It's Chevrolet vs. Ford vs. Honda. Burt Frisselle is teamed with Eric Curran in the #31 Whelen Chevrolet Corvette Prototype. They are fourth. Whelen Engineering won a GT class race in the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series years ago. Dirk Muller wants by the Risi Ferrari for the GT LM lead. The Ferrari has the edge in straightaway speed over the BMW. Renger van der Zande and Sean Rayhall continue to battle for the prototype Challenge class lead and the win in class.
Richard Westbrook closes up on, oh! Muller is off the road. Westbrook closes on Boris Said. Rayhall is not letting van der Zande get away. Rayhall has lots of rebound in the car, which makes the car look like it's running harshly. 8Star wants to win. The #94 Turner Motorsports BMW leads GT Daytona. Dane Cameron has a 2:10.8. Leh Keen has a 2:11.3. Keen hasn't won in GT Daytona yet. Time is running out. Four minutes left in the race, ladies and gentlemen. Now, Stephen Simpson in the #85 Prototype Challenge machine, is also doing well. Ooh. Dirk Muller is pushing hard and gets trapped behind a Prototype Challenge car. The Ferrari is sailing away, while Jonathan Bomarito in the Viper is closing.
Dane Cameron and Markus Palttala are looking for win number three this year. Now, we've got a bunch of GT Daytona cars that are also having a good run. Jan Heylen, Townsend Bell, and Leh Keen. Dirk Muller is trying to hang on. A minute or so left in the race. Bomarito is going to pass Muller. Muller takes it in deep and makes it stick. Bomarito can't come back. The leaders are going to get one more lap. There's four miles to go.
One more lap. Dirk Muller says, "you've GOT to be kidding me!" Can Sean Rayhall catch Renger van der Zande? Pierre Kaffer controls GT Le Mans. They might just win a race after having a real bad season so far. Bomarito is in championship contention. Muller is not. Dane Cameron is going to win GT Daytona. Jeroen Bleekemolen battles Jan Heylen. This could get ugly. Heylen runs Bleekemolen to the edge of the road and off! Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi win it!
In Prototype Challenge, it will be Renger van der Zande winning along with Mirco Schultis. Risi Competizione wins GT Le Mans with Pierre Kaffer and Giancarlo Fisichella. Bomarito is going to pass, but no. Muller holds on for second. Dane Cameron and Markus Palttala will win GT Daytona. Turner Motorsports and BMW win Road America! Jan Heylen beats Jeroen Bleekemolen to the line.
Overall/Prototype: #5 Barbosa/Fittipaldi Chevrolet Corvette Prototype
Prototype
Challenge: #8 van der Zande/Schultis Oreca FLM 09 Chevrolet
GT Le Mans: #62 Kaffer/Fisichella Ferrari 458 Italia
GT Daytona: #94 Palttala/Cameron BMW Z4 GTE
The next race for the Tudor Championship is the Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Virginia, coming up in two weeks.
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