We are going full course yellow, as Josh Norman has crashed in the #38 Prototype Challenge machine, and also, the #88 Sean Johnston car, also a Prototype Challenge competitor as well. These blokes are in a dangerous spot. Hence, the yellow. #88 ran out of fuel. Oh dear. Will top teams pit? Action Express is playing it coy about pit stops right now, putting tires on the wall. The Risi Ferrari may pit. The leaders may pit. Mazda #55 pitted and Jonathan Bomarito handed the car to Spencer Pigot. Pit stop time for the leaders. Christian Fittipaldi will get into car #5. #81 and #38 are pitting. James French takes over the #38, with no damage. #31 also made a stop. Start back timing the race, and make sure you are on full tanks to the end of the race.
The #25 BMW pits from the lead in GTLM. Dirk Werner out, and Bill Auberlen, in. The #67 Ford GT has pitted and Richard Westbrook is not at the wheel. Andrew Davis takes over the #6 Audi R8 for Stevenson Motorsports. We have the time on the clock of a standard WeatherTech Championship race. 2 hours and 45 minutes, left. This is our ninth yellow flag of the race, and we are looking for a restart. Darkness has enveloped the Sebring International Raceway, like a warm, fluffy blanket. But, no one is sleeping here.
The lights have gone out on the safety car. Lots of GT Daytona cars are in line. We are going back to green, now. Four wide and a squeeze play to Ryan Hunter-Reay! Yikes! Fittipaldi is whistling into the darkness as Lucas Luhr has cars separating him from Fred Makowiecki in the Porsche. That's Bill Auberlen, not Luhr. The two BMW's are 1-2 in GTLM. Richard Westbrook and Frederic Makowiecki are close at hand. Sean Rayhall is a lap or so back, needed a service after the wave around. Christian Fittipaldi leads Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Lucas Luhr continues leading GTLM. Most of the leaders are running lap times in the 1:55 bracket. Rain falls again, and we have our tenth full course yellow. The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette Prototype has run off of turn eight. This will open things up. The Deltawing came out ahead of the #60 Ligier Honda. #5 still leads as we are 176 laps, 651 miles, into this race. We are settling in for the final two hours of this event.
How much fuel is in the tank? How hard are you pushing? Tommy Milner has taken the GTLM lead in the Corvette, away from Lucas Luhr in the BMW M6 GT. They are 20 seconds up on Giancarlo Fischella in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE. Bill Auberlen in the sister BMW M6 and Fred Makowiecki in the #912 Porsche 911 RSR, complete the top five in class. The battle in Prototype Challenge is hotting up! Mark Wilkins vs. Tom Kimber-Smith. It's down to driver skill here, with the same car, same chassis, same tires, and same Chevrolet V8 motor.
Tom Kimber-Smith is applying the blowtorch to Mark Wilkins. The battle for second in the overall is the most intense right now. Tommy Milner is pulling away from Giancarlo Fisichella in GTLM. Corvette swept the enduros last year. Bill Auberlen is third in the BMW M6 GT. Bill Auberlen is flying, and there's likely an issue with the #67 Ford GT. They have not had the consistent pace of some of the other teams.
Mario Farnbacher leads GT Daytona, in the Porsche, over Jeff Segal, in the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3. The Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT, and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage are next in line in GT Daytona. We are coming to the end of hour nine. Matteo Cressoni is also running well in the #51 Ferrari. It is now beginning to rain on the far end of the circuit. Nicolas Minassian is pitting for slick tires.
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