Sebastien Bourdais, now leads in the #5 Action Express Corvette Prototype. 52 laps, 192 miles, completed. Dorsey Schroeder says that the crewman for his team, was pinned between cars, and the wall. It was a big incident. Conor Daly says he's doing really well with Performance Tech Racing. He is glad to follow in his dad Derek's footsteps. He also wants to race at the Indianapolis 500. Derek Daly won in 1990, driving both cars, for Nissan Performance Technology. The most prolific winner, is Johnny O'Connell, with eight wins. One overall, seven in class.
Ryan Briscoe is at the wheel of the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-, behind the leading factory Porsche of Nick Tandy. Go, go, go! Green, green, green! Michael Valiante and Max Papis battle. Valiante in the #90, and Papis in the #31. Papis is inside. David Heinemeier-Hanson is at the wheel of the #1 HPD prototype. Tracy Krohn starts his second stint in the #57 Ligier Judd. Thankfully, the car is not as damaged as it could have been. One of the yellow Corvette's, passes a GT Daytona class Ferrari. The temperatures are now into the 90 degree range. The heat haze is starting, and will only get thicker, boiling off the pavement.
Tomy Drissi will get a drive through penalty for the earlier shemozzle in the pit lane. Mike Guasch is trying to hold off Bruno Junquiera for Prototype Challenge honors. Junquiera, is an Indycar veteran. Junquiera was on the verge of Formula One, but didn't get there. Junquiera is a good shoe, particularly in qualifying. Nick Tandy is doing well. He will race a third Porsche 919 prototype in the FIA World Endurance Championship at the 6 Hours of Spa, and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans... a race, yours truly, will cover, here, on Endurance... the sports car racing blog.
Lucas Luhr, is another driver who has done and won everything in sports car racing. He has five Sebring class wins. A battle between GT LM Corvette and GTD Porsche. That Porsche is the #44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America, with John Potter at the controls. Paul Dalla Lana, is back in the fight. But, they are way down the order, after their wheel kerfuffle earlier. You can grab laps back during yellows, with the lucky dog rule. #57 has a couple dive planes missing.
Formula 3000, now GP2, doesn't give you lots of track time. Well, many drivers, came from F3000 and GP2, and got into sports car racing. Some of these guys might be able to get back into full on Prototype rides. Whoops. A Ferrari goes offline. That's the #49 GTD Ferrari of Piergiuseppe Perrazzini. The GTD Ferrari teams, run a bigger Continental tire, and can't get the balance right. They could switch back, to the smaller tire.
Max Papis is at the controls of car #31. Papis wants to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, too. Papis' motto is "never give up". Both Mazda prototype's are still running well. Both #70 and #07. However, there was a small incident, on the pace lap, with the #70. Mazda just brought out the new MX-5, and the older cars, that won't compete in the MX-5 series, will be racing in club racing. That's awesome. Hats off to Mazda. They want to do well at their home track... Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
John Potter is being hounded by Ben Keating. He is right on Potter's gearbox. Ben Keating wants to race at Le Mans, and they hope to have a reserve entry, that can be entered. Potter gives way, to Keating. Smart driving. New leader in GT Daytona. We are almost halfway through the third hour. Briscoe, Bamber, Fisichella, Farfus, Edwards. This is the top five in GT LM. John Edwards will be racing in Europe with the VLN. Edwards had to do a driver's school at the Nurburgring, even though the's very experienced.
It's the 40th anniversary of BMW racing in the United States. Brian Redman, Allan Moffat, Hans Stuck, and Sam Posey. BMW Motorsport boss Jens Marquardt is here at Sebring this weekend. Ryan Briscoe is running for Corvette Racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Corvette Racing. Some other drivers were not selected, or, they had other racing commitments. Simon Pagenaud is in the #4 car, having taken over from Tommy Milner. Whoops. Katherine Legge in the Deltawing, is having some problems.
The car is listing to the left. There may be a tire down. The left rear suspension, is broken. Why? The severe bumps here at Sebring. Isabelle Haskell was the first female driver to race in the 12 Hours of Sebring, in 1955. Full course yellow. Sebastien Bourdais, continues to lead. Wave by is complete. Pits are open for Prototypes. Pits will now open for GT cars. The wave around idea is working, and no time is being lost to class leaders. A year ago, we had 25% of this race, run under yellow.
IMSA listened to the fans, and changed the rules. There are full course yellows, and "shorty's" which are shorter yellows, in time constraint situation. The Deltawing is being repaired. They will build a GT car. Then, a Deltawing road car, might come. GTD pits. Ben Keating is in the lane, and will stay in the car. Watch for GT LM cars. Ooh. A Corvette crew member, fell, and recovered. We're readying for a restart.
The drivers are trying to clean the clag, and marbles, off their tires. The tire buildup, is like gumballs. We're going back to green with Sebastien Bourdais, controlling the field. One of the Prototype Challenge cars, loses a piece of bodywork, off the sidepod. One more lap under yellow. The pit lane, is dangerous. One of the mechanics in the earlier incident, did a forward somersault. There are three lanes in pit lane. The working lane, the transition lane, and the driving lane. Andrew Marriott, the reporter for Fox Sports, was hit by a Formula One car driven by Denny Hulme, flew over it, and was fine.
A couple of cars have gone from the garage, back to the track. Green, green, green. Sebastien Borudais, leads Michael Valiante. Scott Pruett is at the wheel of the #01 Riley Ford EcoBoost. Scott Pruett, Joey Hand, and Scott Dixon, share the car.
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