Christian Fittipaldi can match the times Max Angelelli and Eric Curran are doing. But, the traffic is making it difficult. This is a nip and tuck battle between the top three Cadillac's. The Mazda #55 is down in 21st spot, sandwiched between the two Porsche 911 RSR's. 128 laps, and 455 miles, have been completed in the first four hours of racing. Close call for the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 in GTLM. He had a touch with the #991 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Giancarlo Fisichella vs. Santiago Creel. Sad news, as the #73 Porsche is done for the day. Game over. They are the fourth retirement from the race. 51 cars remain in this race. The #16 Change Racing Lamborghini may get back on track soon.
Max Angelelli leads Eric Curran by 1.1 seconds. Christian Fittipaldi is third, followed by the #81 DragonSpeed car, and in fifth, is the #90 Multimatic of Renger van der Zande. Johannes van Overbeek is sixth, followed by Chris Miller, Scott Sharp, and Tom Long. So, Nissan, Oreca Gibson, Nissan, Mazda, in the top ten. Eric Curran will pit very soon. He did not do so during the previous caution. Fuel only. No driver change, as Curran stays at the wheel. Fuel mileage seems to be about 40 minutes for the Prototypes. Seb Morris ran 23 laps in a fully green flag stint. 23 laps, almost 82 miles. These new Prototypes are constrained to running 75 liter fuel tanks. These cars are thirsty. It would be too surprising to see a GTLM car win, or get on the podium. They are as fragile as the Prototypes.
This is a new era of sports car racing. IMSA set the fuel limit based on the January test session data at the Roar Before the 24. It's capable of being done with data acquisition, and it looks like IMSA is using a binary system, of zeroes and ones. They have a super computer the size of an old Univac to figure this out. There are so many parameters having to be dealt with. Fuel mileage, boost, aerodynamics, inlet restrictors, weight, ride height, etc. etc. etc. All the tracks are different. The #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 was in pit lane for 40 minutes, came back out for a lap, and then came in again. Maurizio Mediani at the wheel.
Ford leads Ferrari and Chevrolet in GTLM. A rain band is skirting north of Daytona at the moment. Marcel Fassler is running well in the second Corvette. Matteo Cressoni's Ferrari leads Thomas Jaeger's Mercedes, and Jesse Krohn's BMW, followed by Nic Jonsson's Porsche, Rolf Ineichen's Lamborghini, and Lawson Aschenbach's Audi in GT Daytona. The #10 Cadillac pits, and so does the #5. Fuel only for Max Angelelli as there's a driver change. Filipe Albuquerque is getting behind the wheel. The #70 Mazda has been in pit lane, getting the bodywork checked. The Mazda has a two sided bonnet on the rear.
Mazda has teething problems with getting their new rear wing and crash structure to fit properly onto the car. Also, we watch as more drama develops for the #81 Dragonspeed Oreca 07 entry. Ah. DragonSpeed is back on the road. The #85 JDC Miller Motorsport car has spun. The bright yellow car is being pointed in the right direction again. Loic Duval is at the wheel of #81 and the car seemed to be coughing and sputtering. Chris Miller at the keyboard of the bright yellow bird at the present time. The #50 WeatherTech Mercedes AMG GT3 pits. The Mazda was having brake light issues earlier on. Sean Rayhall brought the #88 Starworks Prototype Challenge car to pit lane for routine service and a driver change. James Dayson gets behind the wheel.
Dayson stalled the car, and the car won't light up. Bump starting the car has not been successful. Finally, the #88 did start. The #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari will pit soon. Ryan Briscoe has passed Giancarlo Fisichella, or so it seems. The #88 Prototype Challenge machine is back on track. Ryan Briscoe is pressing Giancarlo Fisichella. Fisichella gets a great exit out of the Bus Stop, and into NASCAR turns three and four. Fisichella is 3/4 of the way up the banking while Briscoe is a bottom feeder, as it were. He's plastered down on the yellow line. They turn in onto the transition for the corner before stepping on the brakes.
Filipe Albuquerque runs third overall. Eric Curran is going to catch up to Max Angelelli soon. In sixth and seventh are the other two Ford GT's from the European squad. Billy Johnson drives car #68 and in #69 is Harry Tincknell. Ryan Briscoe gets moved into the clag on the outside of the road as the Chevrolet Corvette's are also in chase mode. The GTLM leaders pass by the #75 SunEnergy Racing Mercedes with Tristan Vautier currently at the controls. Risi Competizione is the best Ferrari. We had other cars from Ferrari here last year, but they chose not to take part in the 2017 contest.
The GTLM cars are coming to the end of their current fuel stint. Three wide in the tri oval with Prototype, GTLM, and GTD cars! Good stuff! The #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari is pitting now. Matteo Cressoni out. Sam Bird, switches into the car. Shane van Gisbergen is now at the controls of the #50 Mercedes AMG GT3. Ford GT #69 pits, and #68 will also be in. The fuel windows for each class are as follows:
Prototype: 23 laps
Prototype Challenge: 24 laps
GT Le Mans: 28 laps
GT Daytona: 29 laps
Pit stop time for GT Daytona and GT Le Mans. Risi Competizione makes a full service stop and Giancarlo Fisichella will do another stint. The #57 Audi and one of the Ford GT's also pit. Marcel Fassler will stay in the #4 Corvette. Billy Johnson stays in the #68 Ford. There will be a driver change in car #3. The class leading #66 Ford is in the lane, for tires and fuel. No driver change for the #3 Corvette either. Double stints during the night are quite common in this race. Max Angelelli still leads Eric Curran and Filipe Albuquerque. The Cadillac trio are the only cars still on the lead lap, followed by the Multimatic Riley of Rene Rast, followed by Loic Duval in the DragonSpeed special. The #22 ESM Nissan is next. The #67 car is pitting. Ryan Briscoe getting out. Scott Dixon, climbing in.
Nic Jonsson pits the leading GTD #54 Porsche. Maxime Martin is now in the #96 BMW M6. Sam Bird is in the Ferrari. A black flag will help a team, instead of hindering it. That's what is happening with the #55 Mazda. Marcel Fassler pursues Scott Dixon. Fassler won races with Audi. He's got a long history with Corvette as well. This is a big race. Patience is a virtue in this race. New cars are easier to drive than the older ones. More trouble for Starworks. Deary me. Car #88 without a nose, is limping on the apron.
Sparks fly from underneath as well. The driver has no chance of getting back to pit lane as he was still on the banking. So, he's pulled off on the infield to driver's left, and that's the right approach to take. Ah. He's still driving. James Dayson at the wheel of it. Find a place to park where the team can get to you to help. Dayson hit the wall on the banking and it looked like one of the Mazda's was also way up the track. Scratch that. He was trying to get around the #31 Cadillac on the high end of the banking. Don't go for a gap if it's closing on the high side. Full course yellow.
#31 drove through the pit lane. Maybe they did a splash and dash for fuel. Apologies. Curran made the dive for the gap. Dayson was a victim. Pit lane has not opened for stops yet, as we are under our fourth full course yellow. Eric Curran has stayed on the lead lap while losing ground in the queue. The #16 Change Racing Lamborghini has gone back to behind the wall. Everything is going right, and things can change in a heartbeat. That's why 24 hour races are so amazing. This whole race is about learning. You start, in IMSA, the biggest race of the year. Max Angelelli is headed for pit lane in the #10 WTR Cadillac. Tires and fuel. The #5 is also pitting. #5 is still having problems with the rear wing and deck. They are down and away, but the #10 beats him out of the pit lane.
The #22 ESM car is pitting. There is bodywork concern on that car. Johannes van Overbeek brought the car in. Eric Curran is now back in the lead. Pit stop time for GTLM and GTD. We have Ferrari's, a phalanx of AMG Mercedes GT3's, the #912 Porsche 911 RSR, and other GT cars in the lane. No Ford's yet. #62 stops and goes back out. Drama for Mercedes as the #33 was boxed in by the #50 car. Cadillac, who also races in the Pirelli World Challenge sprint series, could take their V series cars to Europe or around the world on the GT3 platform to race 24 hour races like Dubai, Nurburgring, and Spa. Will they do so? We'll see.
The safety car lights are off. We are going to start hour six, under the green flag.
No comments:
Post a Comment