It is the witching hour. Halfway through the Rolex 24. The designs of the new prototypes, are and purposeful and make an impact. The lead battle in GTLM sees Fred Makowiecki leading, with Joey Hand, and Laurens Vanthoor, right in there. This Rolex 24 is Vanthoor's first race in the U.S. A spin, meanwhile for the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier. Jose Guttierez is in the car, spinning on his outlap. He's 11th in class. The Mexican driver, shares with Americans Mike Guasch and R.C. Enerson, and Tom Kimber-Smith, from England, a class winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Guttierez is on cold tires, and he's not even on the pace of some of the faster cars. Jose, has a bigger problem as he's off the road in the hairpin on the wet grass. This is exactly what happened to Brendon Hartley in the previous hour. He can't get enough speed for the car to be aerodynamically efficient. The PR1 entry, is a Ligier built car. Well, Onroak built, with the Ligier name.
With zero mechanical grip, Guttierez has zero aerodynamic help, and thus, no heat in the tires and they are icy cold. So, a loop de loop was all he could do, and not the aerobatic variety. The irony is the #22 passes the #52. Out of turn six, Guttierez stays on the low line on the banking. He probably got gobs of understeer and boatloads of wheel spin even though he has the car pointed in the right dirction now. Guttierez is struggling, and almost wipes out again! He very nearly got caught up with the #26 Prototype Challenge entry from BAR1 Motorsports, with Trent Hindman currently driving. Guttierez is tiptoeing through the first few corners on the road course. He's nowhere near the racing line.
Guttierez is wide through the International Horseshoe. So, he's definitely fumbling around because of the lack of grip. He's a good driver, but can't find a way to make the car track how he wants it to. We don't use tire warmers in IMSA, but if a car is taking two to three laps to warm up the tires, there's trouble, if it's in the rain like this. These are very unusual conditions. The #85 JDC Miller entry has also gone off the road and back on. It is seventh in class, seventh overall. 323 laps, 1,149.8 miles completed by that car so far.
One more quick note on our digging into Nissan engine nomenclature. Do not forget, the VK56DE which is a 5.6 liter V8 usually found in Nissan trucks. This is also the engine that powered the FIA GT1 cars, and it is exactly the motor for the Australian Supercars. This engine can be tuned for 800 horsepower. RML has done some crazy things with small Nissan cars like the Juke and the Micra. Talk about engine swaps, putting V8s in the small cars. Rene Rast is now at the wheel of car #90, and he is lapping faster than the other leaders including Christian Fittipaldi. Laurens Vanthoor has gone around the Ford #66 with Joey Hand at the controls.
Our GTLM leader, the #911 Porsche, dives for pit lane. This is a full service stop. Fuel, tires, and a driver change for #911. This Porsche runs fifth in GT Le Mans. Fred Makowiecki handed the car to Patrick Pilet. Short shift into second gear, join the track out of the pit lane. Trace the center of the road, and take it easy. Mechanical grip is more important in a GT car than in a prototype. The sister factory Porsche #912 is now in the pit lane, locking the brakes at the speed limit pylon. The rain is getting worse. Fuel, tires and a driver change for #912 as well. It inherited the GTLM class lead. Not sure who will be driving #912. Either Kevin Estre or Richard Lietz.
One of the Ford GT's goes to the garage. The #67 has been off the road and damaged the rear wing. Ryan Briscoe at the wheel. Cars #66 and #69 will pit, as will the #62 Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella, and the Porsche's may go to the class lead in GTLM. The #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari pits. #69 loses the lead, and the #13 Rebellion Racing Oreca Gibson has spun in the International Horseshoe! Oh no! Neel Jani saved it. It's eighth in class, 15th overall. They are running all four NAEC races. The Ford GT, hits the inside curb on the exit of the Bus Stop, and spins up the track on the banking in NASCAR turn three. He spins up the track, straight backwards into the wall.
It was a flat impact, so hopefully, not much damage. But that is why Ryan Briscoe is in the garage. The #69 pits and Harry Tincknell takes over from Tony Kanaan. The #18 DAC Lamborghini pits. Let's finish this Nissan story.
VK56: A 5.0 liter version (per Aussie touring car regs), of the 5.6 liter V8.
NR20A: High revving, two liter 4 cylinder for Super GT in Japan.
VR38: We mentioned it, the GTR V6 turbo motor that is in the ESM car.
We watch a replay of a spin at the International Horseshoe. This is a replay of the Rebellion spin we saw earlier. The #62 Ferrari makes a pit stop. The #3 Corvette also comes in. Also in is the #29 Audi. This car was leading GT Daytona with Christopher Mies at the controls. Mies raced an R8 GT3 car for 30 weeks in 2016 in different parts of the world. Max Angelelli is taking the #10 Cadillac through traffic. After his pit stop, Christopher Mies can't get the #29 Audi up to speed. Correction. There's been a driver change, and it's Connor De Philippi in the car now. Cars seem to be going off at almost every corner.
The rain is heavier than it has been for a good while. The rain has been falling since hour six at 8:30 P.M. So, it's been bucketing with rain for six hours now. The rain will keep up for another hour and a half, and then, when dawn comes, more rain is expected. At daybreak it will be dry, though. DragonSpeed boss and former driver Rob Barff would do well in these conditions. But he is probably checking in on the race from his Dubai office. Porsche #911 is leading GTLM with the team car in second (#912). The new Porsche's don't hav a full round steering wheel anymore. It is a Formula 1/LMP/Batmobile style yoke.
Rob Barff is now the chief driving instructor for the Nissan GT Academy. Max Angelelli still leads, and has completed 342 laps (1,217 and a half miles). Into the pits comes Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette C-7-R-. Garcia drove straight through the lane for some odd reason. He didn't stop. Brakes, Antonio! Brakes! Angelelli, Rast, Fittipaldi 1-2-3. Max Angelelli and Rene Rast are the only two cars on the lead lap. Scott Sharp is fourth. Dallara, Multimatic, Dallara, Ligier, Dallara, for the chassis makers of the different cars. Mazda follows in sixth. They use the Multimatic chassis, and then, an Oreca chassis. All four chassis' are represented in the top seven as there is a wiggle for the #85 car. Spencer Pigot in the Mazda is closing on Eric Curran in the Cadillac #31.
The #3 Corvette was penalized for sweeping through the Bus Stop one too many times. Isn't that the safer approach, to slow down? It used to be you had to come to a dead stop in the Bus Stop. Not anymore. Just don't gain an advantage, and slow down. The #19 BMW M6 GT art car, is seventh in GTLM, wanting to unlap itself. Eighth in class, 17th overall. Toni Vilander, "the flying Finn" is back at the wheel of the #62 Ferrari 488 GTE. The #19 BMW battles with the #3 Corvette. The BMW has Bruno Spengler at the wheel. The BMW and Corvette are a lap apart. A very nasty area of rain is coming towards Daytona International Speedway.
A while ago all four Ford's were in the top four in GTLM, but now, the two Porsche's are ahead. The #70 Mazda RT24P seems to be coming back out on track from a long stay in the garage, to gather laps. Porsche is very confident with their new mid-engine 911. They ran 50 hours of testing, over 20,000 miles at Sebring. Wow. A mid engine Porsche is not a new idea. There are no plans for a mid engine 911 road car. The engine could have been slid forward for the GT3 class cars. Kevin Estre passes Patrick Pilet for the GT Le Mans lead. The car will be easier to service and work on in it's new configuration.
We have both the #13 and #90 cars making pit stops. Every panel on the 911 race car can be removed with clips. The last generation car also had them. Rene Rast stays in #90. Max Angelelli is driving the #10 Cadillac. The #11 Lamborghini Huracan also pits. The new fuel setup on the Porsche has the fuel filler at an angle at the front of the car, instead of going straight down. We'll have to find out the answer to that question. A car has spun, and rejoined the race. Not sure who it is. We will see two cars racing in the United States for the Porsche GT Team. Two more cars of the same spec will be in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The car has mufflers on it for WEC spec.
There will be the four factory teams. Two cars will race at Le Mans. We've seen the official Le Mans and FIA WEC entry lists already. The #4 Corvette spins coming out of the Bus Stop. Tommy Milner at the controls. More swaths of rain seem to be coming. IMSA seems to be doing something right with the new cars. Lots of rain yet to come as the two GTLM Porsche's are definitely in the thick of it. Jeff Segal leads the GT Daytona field in the #86 Mike Shank Racing Acura NSX. But, hot on his heels are the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 in the hands of Alessandro Balzan, and the #29 Land Motorsports Audi R8 with Connor De Philippi driving.
Adam Christodoulou in the #33 Riley Motorsports - Team AMG Mercedes AMG GT3 is also right up there. The #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche pits with Michael Christensen at the wheel. #28 has led GTD during this race. Good morning, as we are going approach Sunday, but still with cold and rain around. The #31 Action Express Cadillac makes a pit stop for fuel only. Close call in pit lane for the #54 Flex Box CORE Autosport Porsche in GTD, and the #20 Gas Monkey Energy Drink/BAR1 Motorsports Prototype Challenge car.
The Flex Box car is in it's pit stall at a really odd angle. #54 is 11th in GT Daytona with Nic Jonsson driving. We are at the witching hour. The Rolex 24 is officially half over.
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