Sunday, January 25, 2015

Rolex 24: Hour 20

Dorsey Schroeder is enjoying his return to a sports car cockpit after being a commentator with his Speedvision, Speed Channel, and Fox Sports colleagues.  Schroeder says you cannot coast anymore.  Dorsey Schroeder is back at it, for sure.  Jim Pace, Byron DeFoor, David Hinton, and Doug Smith, are the other drivers.  Sage Karam in the #01 Ganassi car runs a 1:40.2.  Michael Valiante brings the #90 VisitFlorida.com Corvette Prototype.  Mike Rockenfeller gets into the car.  They have had to add water to the car.  Like the #10 car, they've finally figured out their traction control.

We've got good battles through the field, following the factory Corvette's, as they run 1-2.  BMW is continuing to come back after Spengler's monster off course excursion.  John Edwards is back at the wheel of the second BMW.  Kuno Wittmer in the Viper is also in this fight.  Now, the #912 factory Porsche 911 RSR, is behind the wall.  Jorg Bergmeister is at the controls.  Problem is, a crankcase pressure sensor.  Mike Rockenfeller was having gearshift issues in the #90 Corvette Prototype.  Those issues seem to be sorted out, for the time being.

Three hours, 45 minutes, remain, in this Rolex 24.  The #90 car is having issues... again... with traction control.  It's affecting the transmission, too.  This will hurt their lap times.  They are fifth overall, four laps down.  Pit stop time for Wayne Taylor Racing.  The top two are in.  Now, there's a pit stop for the #02 car.  Both Ganassi cars run 1-2 and are on the same lap.  626 laps completed.  2,228.5 miles.

Sage Karam, on cold tires, had a tough outlap, and smoked the brakes and tires.  He did not want to cook the brakes, or, flatspot the tires.  It's a fine line between getting all you can, and having something you regret, happening.  You cannot afford a misstep, because you are back timing this race.  Who will you have in the car for the finish?  Scott Dixon is going to end the race.  He's going to have to run a three and a half hour stint!  Kyle Larson only did a single stint.  There have not been too many yellow flags so far.

The temperature is increasing, from 39 degrees this morning when we started the morning, to 52 degrees at the present time.  Jordan Taylor seems comfortable with the #10 Corvette Prototype at the moment.  Correction.  Max Angelelli is at the controls in the #10 at this stage.  A decade ago, Wayne Taylor and Max Angelelli won.  If they win today, they could win in two decades, with two generations of the same family.

Meanwhile, Kris Wilson has a problem with the #009 Aston Martin V12 Vantage.  Could the electrics be playing up?  We have a full course yellow because of the stricken Aston.  The SRT Viper's in GTD are running well, but need to watch their engine temperatures and their radiators.  Drivers can start making up laps now, with this yellow flag.  It is the 17th yellow of the race thus far.

Ganassi may switch, from a new nose, back to the existing nose they were using, for the sake of downforce.  They've changesd from a lower downforce, to a higher one.  The one it has now, has louvers, to get rid of understeer.  But it is costing straightaway speed.  We're going to go back to green soon, for the last three hours and fifteen minutes, as hour twenty, (due to the yellow, primarily), has seemed to just fly by.

We're ready for a restart, just past the top of the hour.

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