Scott Sharp gets going again, as the battle for the lead could be decided on pit lane. The #81 Dragonspeed Oreca is in the lane. Ah. Barbosa, is going to pit now. Fuel and tires, both, for Barbosa. No driver change. The #10 WTR Cadillac can go an extra lap on fuel compared to the #5 Action Express machine. Another Prototype in the lane. It is the #10. The #86 Acura NSX does a full service stop coming in from the GT Daytona lead. Tires and fuel for #10, and Max Angelelli stays at the wheel. These are sticker rain tires, meaning they are fresh and have the sticker still on the tread. Angelelli down and away. #2 is taking fuel only.
The track seems to be beginning to dry out. Who will jump first, to slick tires? The #57 GT Daytona Audi is in the lane as Max Angelelli has an off course moment. Angelelli is having trouble with keeping the Cadillac on the blacktop. No heat in the tires. Angelelli is still in the overall lead, but maybe Joao Barbosa passed. He did. Angelelli has lost a huge chunk of time. No one has intermediate tires. You have one compound of either a slick or a wet. Toni Vilander is still second in GTLM in the #62 Ferrari. He has 515 laps and 1,833 miles on the board. Fuel only for the #33 Mercedes leading GT Daytona. One of the visors was not down on a crew member, and ever thorough team boss Bill Riley notices that. Adam Christodoulou is down and away. The #15 Lexus RC F GT3 has spun. Jack Hawksworth at the controls.
#15 is fighting it's way back. He got a wheel offline into the West Horseshoe. Full course yellow is out now. Johnny Mowlem (like Max Angelelli), is calling it a career after this Rolex 24. Mowlem was offered the opportunity to race at the 12 Hours of Sebring, and he politely declined. The lead battle has closed up. Renger van der Zande can get back into contention, as he didn't pit under this yellow. Jack Hawksworth did get back on the track with the #15 Lexus. Ugh! We have a crash under full course yellow! It's the #27 Dream Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 that has smashed into the barriers.
Cedric Sbirrazzuoli has wrecked the car coming out of turn one, and it's steaming in the esses madly. He has pulled off at turn six before the road course joins with the high banks. Sbirrazuoli has not crashed. The radiator may be busted, though. This car caught fire on it's first pit stop on Saturday. Could central tire ovens for every few pits. IMSA Radio announcer John Hindhaugh suggests he could go into that business. Hindhaugh Tire Warming, Inc. This race is so different compared to other races. IMSA may be thinking about the idea right here and right now. Lamborghini #27 arrived backwards at turn six.
The #90 car pits, and Renger van der Zande stays in the car. Fuel only. #90 is now on full tanks. Renger van der Zande has already driven for two hours and ten minutes. Alessandro Balzan has been charging in GT Daytona. Reliability among the Prototype cars is just about at 100%. GTLM and GTD cars are pitting now. Harry Tincknell takes over the #69 Ford GT, as well as tires. Antonio Garcia is now in the #3 Corvette. The #62 Ferrari is very close to the Porsche 911's coming out of the pits. #911 has to give way to the cars in the acceleration lane. Will the driver incur a penalty? Toni Vilander was scored as the GTLM leader at the start/finish line as the line is halfway down pit lane. #62 cedes the position to Dirk Werner in the #911 Porsche.
Frankie Montecalvo in the #23 Alex Job Racing Audi R8 is off the road in the International Horseshoe. The top two GTD cars also pit. The #93 Acura NSX had an extended stop. The #96 BMW M6 GT was in the lane as well, as was the #63 Ferrari. The #63 crew was ready with tires and fuel, and Matteo Cressoni is set to get in the car, but Christina Nielsen was sent out to do another lap, and maybe she is aiming to get points for maximum drive time before Cressoni has another stint. Nielsen needs four hours, maximum. The plot thickens.
Adam Christodoulou is now in the lead of GTD over the #86 Acura with Tom Dyer at the wheel. Christina Nielsen does four hours and 57 minutes, and has to do five hours bang on. So, she needs three more minutes. She'll pit this lap. MSR went to slicks on the Acura. Max Angelelli gets a big jump at the restart and goes around the outside of Joao Barbosa. Angelelli leads Barbosa and van der Zande. Porsche, Corvette, and Ford, all battle for GTLM honors on the restart. Kevin Estre looks to pass Joey Hand. Antonio Garcia is getting help from team mate Marcel Fassler as car #4 is laps down for the Corvette team.
Toni Vilander moves from fifth to fourth. Vilander runs wide on the entry to the Bus Stop. How Vilander didn't crash into others around him, I don't know. Vilander was second in class. The #63 pitted and now, Matteo Cressoni is at the wheel. #63 got tires and a splash of fuel. Corvette and Ferrari battle for eighth overall which is third place in the GTLM class. Vilander tries Antonio Garcia again. Joey Hand leads but by just a tenth of a second over Estre. Vilander goes down low to attempt to pass Garcia. They are side by side having overtaken the third in GTD #57 Stevenson Audi. Vilander holds the inside line into turn one.
The Acura #93 is on slicks with Andy Lally driving. He's held the street luge downhill speed record at 100 miles an hour. Toni Vilander takes another spot away, this time from Dirk Werner. There's a timing glitch with Porsche #912. It isn't stopped on the road. It is still out there racing. Vilander is second. Porsche #912 is between Ford #69 and it's sister car, in front of the #3 Corvette. #911 has dropped between Harry Tincknell and Werner. It looks like the rain has stopped. The #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini either ran wide or spun. Not sure who is at the wheel.
Porsche #991 in GTD for The Racer's Group is in the pit lane, with a flat right rear tire. Acura #86 and Mercedes #75 are all over the Bus Stop. #75 cuts across the grass. Andy Lally is lapping very well and within times of the rain tire shod cars as the leading #10 Cadillac spins! Angelelli has to do some off road racing to get back to the high banks. Joao Barbosa is now right behind Angelelli. The #10 has crud all over the tires. He got his left rear tire onto the painted curb at the Bus Stop. That wet curb is like ice, and he just looped the car. The yellow paint does not provide much traction.
If tire warmers were needed, the cost vs. benefit is the big deal. The ACO uses tire warmers. They are not inexpensive, though. Neel Jani says that the tire warmers are needed for a safety measure. It's unusual because here at Daytona it is wet, and cold. The #66 Ford GT pits. Hand will stay in the car, and slick tires are the order of the day. Prototype Challenge cars will stay on wets, and then, everyone else is going for slicks. Audi #57 hits the lane as well. Harry Tincknell takes the GTLM lead in Ford #69 as Ferrari #62 makes a pit stop. Slick tires for the Ferrari, and a driver change. It's a roll of the dice. Check that. Vilander is still in the car. Slick tires and fuel.
Toni Vilander will have to fight an ill handling Ferrari for a little while. Vilander follows the #23 GT Daytona Alex Job Racing Audi R8 of Frankie Montecalvo. It's 47 degrees Fahrenheit air temperature now. The #63 Ferrari pits, out of sequence. The #10 Cadillac is also going to dive for pit lane. Sam Bird is now driving the #63 and is out on slicks. Both leading Cadillac's have hit the pit lane. Both will have slick tires. Christian Fittipaldi will drive #5 and Jordan Taylor will drive #10. Oil is being added to #10. The #69 Ford GT went across the grass to get to the lane. The #5 Cadillac spins in the International Horseshoe. Christian Fittipaldi could not get the car turned in the hairpin. He didn't have the patience to wait for heat in the tires. There's no track temperature at all.
Be really patient. Don't carry too much speed into the corner. Harry Tincknell in the #69 Ford GT goes across the infield grass to enter pit lane. This is deemed an illegal pit entry tactic, because he didn't come in between the two cones that designate the actual entrance to the pit lane itself. The #2 ESM Nissan DPi spins at the exit of the International Horseshoe, with Scott Sharp at the controls. Car #62 is charging, but we are not sure who it is who took over the car. Well, then, it was Toni Vilander who stayed in the car. In GTLM, Joey Hand still leads over Toni Vilander. Joey Hand has not stopped for slicks. Correction. James Calado is now in the #62 car. Harry Tincknell gets a drive through penalty.
The sun stripe that should say Ford on that top of the windscreen just says F on it. Every two pit stops it seems like these blokes are in rallycross where you take a joker lap and do a bit of off road racing. Tincknell rejoins. Renger van der Zande leads the motor race overall. The Rebellion Oreca Gibson is off the road at the International Horseshoe. Neel Jani at the controls.
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