ESM, Performance Tech, BMW RLL, and Stevenson Motorsports all get bonus points as halfway leaders. #2 is in the lane from the lead. Scott Sharp, takes over from Pippo Derani, for his driving stint. Eric Curran takes over the #31 Whelen/Action Express Corvette Prototype. The #10 car for WTR is also in. Derani was looking for the wide line around Barbosa, goes left, and then, Barbosa fakes, gets in the dirt, and fakes to the outside, slamming on the brakes, to make the pass, as Joao Barbosa comes into pit lane for a scheduled stop. Christian Fittipaldi is going to take over the car. The Mazda and the Honda are still running very well. John Pew is in the #60 Ligier Honda right now.
One point separates Chevrolet from HPD in the manufacturer's championship. Eric Curran had a run on John Pew and couldn'[t get through the gap! Car #90 is in pit lane. Marc Goossens is in the car. These guys want to run well, win the championship, and get to Le Mans, next year. John Pew was nearly taken by Eric Curran in the esses. Spencer Pigot brings the '91 Le Mans win tribute livery Mazda inton the lane. How will this race back time to the six hour mark? Pigot stays in the car. The #55 Mazda passes the #25 BMW M6 GT of Bill Auberlen. Car #70 is in the pits. Mazda are ticking the boxes with car #55. Pigot was the Indy Lights champion in 2015, and debuted at the Indianapolis 500.
Pigot has won a championship in every step of the Mazda Road To Indy ladder. He is also running well in sports cars. Scott Sharp runs sixth in class and in the overall after the slow stop. The #9 Stevenson Motorsport Audi R8 continues to lead GT Daytona with Matt Bell at the controls. Bill Auberlen pits the #25 BMW M6 GT. Oh dear. The #73 Park Place Porsche 911 GT3 has a left rear tire cut down, with Patrick Lindsey at the wheel. Plus, Earl Bamber cut down a left front tire on the factory Porsche 911 RSR in GTLM, as Fred Makowiecki gets into the car. The #70 Mazda is in for another tire issue. The curbs on the back side, in the Inner Loop, are really sharp, cutting down tires.
Lucas Luhr will pit the BMW very soon. The #5 car is seven and a half seconds behind Spencer Pigot, while Jordan Taylor runs third. Fourth is the #90 machine. Eric Curran was closing on Marc Goossens a little while ago. We are under a full course yellow for a track cleanup right now. Anyone trapped between the leader and the safety car, gets pointed by. No tires for the #5 or #31 cars as work continues on the #2 entry for ESM. The GTLM and GTD cars make their way to the pit lane. Fuel, tires, and driver changes, for the Corvettes. Antonio Garcia takes over for Jan Magnussen. Oliver Gavin takes over for Tommy Milner. BMW is on a different fuel strategy as John Edwards and Dirk Werner, stayed out.
The lights are out on the safety car. Check that. They are back on, for the time being. Lights are out on the safety car, and now, we will get back to racing, officially. We are three hours, and 40 minutes, into the race. Marc Goossens accelerates as there's big lockup from the Mazda! Spencer Pigot is still at the wheel. Jordan Taylor and Eric Curran are still running hard, too. Side by side between Jordan Taylor and Eric Curran! These guys do not like each other as Kenton Koch locks the brakes on the #38 Prototype Challenge racer. Argy bargy all over the shop here, boys. Ricky Taylor and Spencer Pigot follow Christian Fittipaldi and Marc Goossens.
Spencer Pigot is good friends with the Taylor boys, but he is only running for Mazda in the endurance races. Taylor protects the line on Pigot. Two hours and fifteen minutes remain in this event. Jordan Taylor was completely committed to the outside through the laces of The Boot. Give competitors leeway if need be. The intensity is ramping up even though we have a good chunk of time left in this race. If this was the last half hour, everyone would go for it. But there's still time before that happens.
Matt Bell in the #9 Audi R8 leads GT Daytona at this point. Gunnar Jeanette is doing well in the #22 WeatherTech Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 in GT Daytona. Andy Lally is driving the #44 Magnus Racing Audi R8. Lots of racing left. Matt McMurry was supposed to do double duty and also drive the #20 Prototype Challenge car that had the heavy smash with JohnnyMowlem at the wheel, earlier. Jeroen Bleekemolen is running very well and is a go to racer. He runs 30-40 races a years. Alessandro Balzan is running extremely well, too. He is sixth in class. It's great to see so many manufacturer's represented in GT Daytona.
All these guys are running in the 1:45 bracket, tightly bunched together. Fastest lap is 1:45.1. The #540 Porsche 911 GT3 with Andy Pilgrim at the controls. Dave "Beaky" Sims was here with Lotus in 1968, for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix. In 1969, Mario Andretti got his first F1 pole nat The Glen. Lots of memories come back from the Formula 1 days. "Beaky" Sims, is a gem. Uh oh. Colin Braun is off the road in the #54 Prototype Challenge Oreca. The Flexi Box machine has spun into the tires in turn eight. Meanwhile, John Pew pits the #60 Ligier for a routine stop and a driver change. Marc Goossens still leads Watkins Glen, overall.
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