For centuries, poets and politicians alike use dawn as a sign of renewal and hope. So it is, at Daytona, too. Welcome back as we go to the end of this race. We have long way to go yet. The Ganassi team cars lead this race. The strong, stay strong. Ganassi is out front, because they are probably the most prepared team. Corvette Racing leads GTLM. Now, in the highlights, there was a real bad incident between the factory Porsche's.
Here's what happened. The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing car led. But, Action Express had problems,. and worked out the issue. Team boss Gary Nelson says there was a fuel pump issue with a connector. In hour ten, Kyle Larson ran a three and a half hour stint to take over the lead. The #10 led at halfway. The #1 HPD car stalled with David Heiemeier Hanson at the controls. The #60 Ligier crashed into the tires with John Pew at the wheel.
In GT Le Mans, the #62 Ferrari of Pierre Kasffer took the lead from Wolf Henzler. The #24 BMW was hit with John Edwards at the wheel. Suspension damage and exhaust damage sent them to the garage. Pierre Kaffer was also in the pits and the #62 Risi Ferrari 458 Italia was out with terminal engine issues. The two Corvette's still lead. Now, the #912 Porsche 911 RSR was collected by his team mate arl Bamber. The Aston Martin shut the door, and both the Porsche's crashed into each otheer.
Oliver Gavin led until suffering a tire puncture. Jan Magnussen took over and battled with the sister BMW of Augusto Farfus. In Prototype Challenge, Colin Braun in the #54 Core Autosport car leads. In GT Daytona, Ben Keating in the #33 SRT Viper has been leading. We have just over seven hours to go. Tony Kanaan leads overall with Colin Braun, Antonion Garcia, and Jeff Segal, leading their classes. 43 lead changes. 40 cars still race. Thirteen, are out, of the 53 starters.A
Joey Hand just pitted and so did Ricky Taylor. Tony Kanaan will pit and also, Colin Braun just took over the #54 car. But, they had tire damage. Right now, Bruno Spengler (2012 DTM champion), is at the wheel of the #25 BMW Z4 GTE. Graham Rahal is running well in that car. Look out for the BAR1 PC car. It was down the order, until Johnny Mowlem drove an epic stint. The top six overall are all Prototypes. The top three are on the same lap. Action Express is fourth, two laps down. The top four GT Le Mans cars are all on the same lap.
The top six GT Daytona machines are all on the same lap, too. The leaders have run 522 laps (1,858 miles) so far. Action Express pits. Joao Barbosa is getting behind the wheel. There's a flash fire on the car. But, everything is OK. Mike Rockenfeller runs fifth in class and overall in the #90 Spirit of Daytona car. The #02 Ganassi Riley Ford EcoBoost has pitted, but, they are doing a brake pad change.
He's down and away. Be prepared, is the path to success in racing. It's not only the Boy Scouts motto. The Michael Shank Racing Ligier Honda is still in this one. John Pew runs sixth overall at this stage. Joey Hand has now taken over the race lead after the sister car's aforementioned pit stop. Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen are having trouble, just as the sun is rising over the Atlantic Ocean. Colin Braun in the Prototype Challenge leading Core Autosport car, has punctured a left rear tire, for th second time.
He's made it to the pits. Be patient, though. These boys have five laps in hand ovr the second place car, in class. Calm atmosphere. The tire didn't delaminate and damage the bodywork, thank goodness. What a lovely sunrise. The #17 Falken Tire Porscehe 911 RSR is still running well. This is their first Rolex 24. The team made a btake change overnight. Patrick Long is at the controls at the moment.
Here's the Patron Cup standings. Ganassi, Core Autosport,. Corvette Racing, and, Jeff Segal in the #63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari 458 Italia. Pit stop time for both Ganassi cars. Joey Hand and Tony Kanaan stay in the cars. The #02 team is going to fix the brakes and check the temperatures on the brakes. Dial in more rear brake bias, and also, back down the pace, just a little bit. Watch where the safety car is. Make sure they get to the end of pit lane, before the safety car does. We're under yellow, to clear up that stricken Porsche.
If the class leader is behind you in your field of cars, you will be waved around. That's the new rule this year. The night was cold, but with no monsoon rains, like there were on Thursday and Friday night. Viper team boss Bill Riley says the TI Automotive team is still trying to figure out what the problem is. The electronics bring great things. But, it's a nightmare when things go wrong. The VisitFlorida Corvette is pitt. Richard Westbrook is in the car.
No longer can bungee cords be used on the shoulder belts. They can on the lap belts. Spectators, who run out of firewood. But, they use an old couch to burn it looks like. Now, we're back to green. The Prototypes move ahead of the GT LM machines. Ooh. Tony Kanaan runs wide. He has passed the #01 machine. Ricky Taylor leads. They've had electrical gremlins all weekend. But they are still in it. Now, we see Corvette's racing in GT LM. One Porsche is still out there. Again, the Porsche team has just one car.
But, they'll be in this fight. Tony Kanaan is pushing Ricky Taylor. Kanaan and Scott Dixon are good drivers. Dixon is known in Verizon Indycar competition, as a master of fuel conservation, and might be able to do some of that here in the endurance sports car ranks. Tom Papadopoulos is taking the #16 Prototype Challenge car around, and SpongeBob SquarePants is still in this contest. Whoa. A PC car locks up ahead of Richard Wessbtrook. He tries to get through turn six, and slides off the road!
His traction control is on the fritz. Is it off? Is it cutting in and out? That's even worse. Be careful, and don't give it too much welly. The Corvette's have had traction control issues throughout this race. Christopher Haase is in the pits, and he lost the front bonnet. But that is not where the engine is. Rolex 24 Grand Marshal Jochen Mass is in the booth with Fox Sports. Jochen ran this race five times, and has won Le Mans. Le Mans can be easier physically. But, you have similar weather in both races.
Racing is a human sport. Mass' opinion on the Porsche crash, is that it's never good for those things to happen. Established drivers should not be doing it, and neither should young drivers. The cars are so much more durable than they used to be. Drivers used to have to manage the systems on the car. At Daytona, the cars could run pretty quick. Watch out for the loads. There was a lot more fuel used with the old Group C/GTP prototypes. The transmissions were different, too, with no paddle shifters.
Ricky Taylor and Tony Kanaan still lead. Joao Barbosa is back on the lead lap. Jochen Mass says F1 is too technical now, and that's detrimental to the interest of the sport. It has to be made more sensible. If it doesn't work 100%, then, racing doesn't make sense. Jochen says, "we've been saying that for years." Cooper MacNeil is going to have to serve a penalty for jumpiung the start. We're seeing an era of people who were in F1, going sports car racing.
Mass says of the FIA World Endurance Championship, that, it too, is getting too technical. It's hard to race that way, even though the hybrid race cars are out there. No argument for Cooper MacNeil. But, is the Falken Tire Porsche headed for the house? They may have oil issues. We are fifteen minutes away from ending the 17th hour of this race, folks.
Earl Bamber i9s currently at the wheel of the #912 Porsche 911 RSR. He is still in it. The Falken Tire Porsche is back in pit nlane. Fourteen of the 33 drivers in last year's Indy 500, started this race. James Davison is back on track, after his unfortunate wreck with the errant Ferrari last night. Prototypes in pit lane. Both Ganassi cars are in. The #02 is in front of the #01. A driver change for the #01. The #10 Corvette had some issues. Ricky Taylor is in the car. But, they had a fuel hose and a tire air wrench still attached to the car! Fuel was out. But, they pneumatic air wrench was still on the wheel nut.
Joao Barbosa now leads. The GT class cars have now pitted. Tony Kanaan is locking up the tires, trying to get temperature through the brakes as we're back to green flag racing.
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