Olivier Pla has gone off the road in turn ten as the rain begins to fall once more. In the midst of this, a drive through penalty for one of the BMW Team RLL BMW M6's. Tommy Milner is leading in GT Le Mans now. A 2.6 second gap separates Christian Fittipaldi from Dane Cameron as Ryan Hunter-Reay passes. Ozz Negri has taken over car #60, on slicks, in the rain! Get heat into the tires early. Just hope it does not go to monsoon conditions. The Deltawing has been taken over by Andy Meyrick. Dane Cameron is the first of the leaders to pit. There's steam coming from the brakes on the #31 Whelen Corvette Prototype.
It is getting a set of four slick tires. Very brave to be going out on slicks in the rain. Everyone will have to make two more pit stops at least. Christian Fittipaldi hits the lane for slick, sticker tires. A driver change for the #5. Filipe Albuquerque gets in. More steaming brakes for the Corvette Prototypes. Ryan Hunter-Reay leads this motor race, for Visit Florida Racing. No worries about a distance record, because of the stoppage of this race earlier due to the torrential rain. Johannes van Overbeek has retaken the lead for ESM.
The #25 car had an overboost on it's turbocharger. That warranted a penalty in the eyes of the stewards. Thus, the penalty. Pit stop time for Johannes van Overbeek, pitting from the lead. We watch a battle in GTD,l and Mario Farnbacher runs wide, allowing Jeff Segal to go by! But, he wobbles again, and Farnbacher could come back, but no. Segal drives down the inside. Mark Wilkins pits from the lead in Prototype Challenge. Filipe Albuquerque ends up going back into the lead with team mate Dane Cameron close at hand.
With an hour and 3/4 left, it's still all to play for. Pippo Derani is awesomely quick, and so is Oswaldo Negri Jr. One hour and 45 minutes left. The #97 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT was in with Jesse Krohn at the wheel. Starworks came in and took slicks for one car and wets for the other. We expect to see more GT cars imminently, in the lane. Yours truly isn't hedging bets on anything at the moment. Action Express cannot take any chances. If you are at VisitFlorida, are you happy with a podium, or, do you want to flat out go for it and turn up the wick to 11?
Jon Bennett got out of the #54 car, and Colin Braun is in it. Tommy Milner pits the #4 Corvette. Richie Stanaway fired up the car, and started to move while the team at Aston Martin was still fueling. The marshals will have something to say about that. Fuel only for #4. The #67 Ford GT pitted for tires. #3 is still in this race. #3 is ninth overall. Marc Goossens and Nicolas Minassian are both running slower times than expected. Both of them are dropping back behind the race leader. Tom Kimber-Smith leads Prototype Challenge, as Colin Braun is closing. The #70 Mazda of Joel Miller separates them.
If you stop in the next five minutes, you'll have to just make one more stop. No one is on this strategy though. Are you getting in, rolling the dice? Or, are you getting in, and going long to the end of the race? You'll have to do a splash and dash right before the end of this thing. Tommy Milner leads Earl Bamber by 16.5 seconds. Richard Westbrook has gotten the speed back in the Ford GT. A Prototype Challenge car spins in turn ten. It's Kent Koch in the #85 he shares with Chris Miller, Stephen Simpson, and Misha Goikhberg. The #4 Corvette almost ran into it!
Nicolas Lapierre has to put down qualifying laps now. 202 laps now completed. 747.4 miles. An update as Tommy Milner did take tires during his pit stop. A wheel has come off a car! Oh dear! This is without doubt, a full course caution. The wheel is at pit out. It is a Continental Tire, that maybe belonged to the #81 car with Nicolas Lapierre at the controls. It is actually a Porsche. Was it car #22? Pit stop time for the leaders. Olivier Pla takes over car #60. #5 and #31 also in, for a full fuel load. It is like a gunfight. Who blinks first?
Mazda is running very well with their new MZR-R gas motor. Fuel only for the #67 Ford GT and Richard Westbrook will take it to the end. Same for the #63 and #33 GTD cars. Jeroen Bleekemolen stays in the car. GTLM cars can't possibly do an hour and 14 minutes to the end of the race as far as fuel. Marc Goossens leads from the #2 and #5 cars. Colin Braun leads Prototype Challenge again, after not making a pit stop. Lucas Luhr will come in right at the end of the yellow flag. Green flag waves, again.
Everyone has to make one last stop. Marc Goossens spins in turn seven, and so does Lucas Luhr, in second place in GTLM! Oh my! The BMW spun off the road but did not collect anyone else. This now becomes our eleventh yellow flag. Dane Cameron has leapfrogged the #2 and #5 cars. We are near the end of the tenth hour. Pippo Derani has passed Dane Cameron. Does Marc Goossens have more damage? The car was overheating a tad. No damage. Just fuel and some routine maintenance. Pippo Derani is leading this race now. Dane Cameron is being pressured by Filipe Albuquerque. Team mates side by side, and here comes Olivier Pla!
We are back under green.
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