We are green again, as the #85 JDC Miller car is waiting for the field to go by to rejoin. The #70 Mazda of Tom Long came to pit lane, too. Lights out on the safety car. We start hour six. The Prototypes have to fight through the battles in GT. Sliding, it is the #19 BMW M6 GT. Not sure who is at the wheel of it. Dirk Muller in the #66 Ford GT is being chased by the #3 Corvette of Antonio Garcia. Muller, Garcia, and Dixon are separated merely by 1.4 seconds. The ambient temperature and track temperature is dropping. Problems for the #75 Mercedes AMG GT3. They will have to fix the car. Giancarlo Fisichella is on the lead lap, making for nine GT Le Mans cars on the lead lap. 14 GT Daytona cars on the lead lap, roughly half the GTD field. Eric Curran leads Max Angelelli by four seconds. Dirk Muller has a small cushion to Antonio Garcia. Harry Tincknell and Billy Johnson close up, and we have Alexander Sims at the controls of the #19 RLL BMW M6 GT.
Last in the race, but back on the speedway is the Jeroen Mul driven #16 Change Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3. The remaining Lexus RC F GT3 runs 12th in GT Daytona, with Jack Hawksworth currently driving. He runs two seconds behind Michael Christensen in the #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. The #75 Mercedes team has had a failure with their fueling rig. Fuel is pouring all over, and the team is trying to mend the problem, as the #4 Corvette spins off the road. Rain is beginning to drizzle in places. Fassler gets turned by Harry Tincknell in the #69 Ford GT. Fassler gets dumped from fourth to ninth. Fastest lap for Filipe Albuquerque at 1:36.534. Garcia chases Mueller. The track is evolving all the time. Max Angelelli goes through with another fastest lap at 1:36.3. Clear track helps. A battle ensues in GT Daytona for second and third between Maxime Martin in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 and the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 in the hands of Sam Bird.
Currently, they are chasing, Acura. Acura leads GT Daytona with car #93. The second of the two NSX cars has Mark Wilkins at the controls. Just like we saw earlier, it's a scrap between Acura and BMW. The top 13 runners in GT Daytona are separated by nine seconds. Holy cow! Intermittent sprinkles in the air. This is the weather report, and not an ice cream topping, chaps. Filipe Albuquerque lowers fastest lap to 1:36.269. These folks are booking it now. The battle is on for the GTD lead! Wilkins vs. Martin. Wilkins makes the pass. Sam Bird in the Ferrari and Shane van Gisbergen in the Mercedes, are also closing up fast. Patrick Long in the #54 CORE Autosport Porsche is closing, and when he gets to these guys, the fun is really going to start!
The first of the Audi's is down the order. That is the #29 car with Jeffrey Schmidt driving right now. Maxime Martin is all over Mark Wilkins for the GTD class lead. 156 laps done (555.36 miles). Max Angelelli is closing on Eric Curran. Angelelli makes an inside move. Curran is holding on by the skin of his teeth. Angelelli takes the lead by 3/4 of a second. Angelelli puts another lap on the Rebellion Oreca 07 Gibson. Half the field are within a handful of seconds in GTD. Kyle Masson has taken over the #38 Performance Tech PC car. Chapman Ducote is in #20, and in #26, Trent Hindman. We have three Prototype Challenge cars left.
There is no carryover between the Nissan DPi and the Nissan LMP1 car they ran at Le Mans. It uses the 3.8 liter twin turbo V6 motor from the GT-R GT3. The ByKolles prototype in the FIA World Endurance Championship will use the same 60 degree, 3.0 liter V6 engine out of the GT-R Le Mans racer. Nissan is doing an engine supply deal with Prototype teams. Sam Bird grabs second in GTD. The BMW took a tighter line and Maxime Martin didn't have enough speed. We still see in GTD, seven different cars in the top seven spots. We have all, bar the Lexus in the top seven. Shane van Gisbergen wants outside of Maxime Martin. Again, discretion is the better part of valor.
Rene Rast in the Visit Florida Multimatic Riley drops past the GTD battle through turn six. But, the wick is being turned up as we speak. The battle for third in GTD between van Gisbergen and Martin is hot! Meanwhile, Corvette has problems. #4 with Marcel Fassler is stopped on the apron of the tri-oval. van Gisbergen puts the move on the BMW and makes it stick. Side by side stuff for the GTD lead! Sam Bird on the high bank, and Mark Wilkins down low in the Acura. Bird leads GT Daytona.
We have a full course yellow, now. Our fifth full course yellow for Marcel Fassler's stranded Corvette. Rain is coming and will get worse. Fassler is pushing every button, examining the fuse box. Coming off the banking, the electronics cut out. Fassler is trying to recycle the system to start the car. The starter is cranking but the motor won't turn over, as the rain is getting heavier now. It's sweeping across southwest to northeast. #4 is being towed back on the wrecker. Angelelli, Curran, and Albuquerque are the top three. Best of the rest are Duval and Rast. Cadillac has to be delighted with an amazing performance to this point.
Most of the GTLM cars have gone as quickly as they qualified. Pit lane is open. Max Angelelli wants to lead the field down. But, whatever you do, do not pass the safety car! Pit stop time. #31, #5, #10. No driver changes for Action Express. Check that. #31 will change drivers. Eric Curran, out. Side by side between two of the Cadillac's. #31 will not start. They'll have to bump start the car in the garage. The #31 car could have picked any pit they like, after winning the 2016 championship. It costs them time. Car #4 is back in the garage.
Oliver Gavin is now at the wheel. 21 cars in GTD have set a time within one second of fastest lap time in the division! Now, that's booking it. All GT cars come to pit lane for service. We've got poetry in motion in the lane. #3 'Vette, #62 Ferrari, and all four Ford GT's. Fuel and tires for the Ford's. Mike Rockenfeller takes over the #3 Corvette. Toni Vilander takes over the #62. The #19 RLL BMW is in. In GTD, Robin Liddell takes over the #57 Audi. The #93 Acura has a good stop, and a slower one for the team #86. Rockenfeller almost stalls the Corvette. Oliver Gavin in for a splash and dash. It is starting to sprinkle.
The track is pretty warm, but it could get slick. Michelin has a full wet tire available. The rain is worsening. Drivers will need wet tires, now. The #81 Dragonspeed Oreca Gibson was just in the lane and Loic Duval replaces Nicolas Lapierre at the wheel. Both ESM's are in, as are the Rebellion and JDC Miller Oreca's. Switch back on to wets, as the rain is pouring. #81 is crawling. It's dead in the water. No pun intended. You aren't missing a thing right now. #81 is actually back in service right now. Both Action Express cars pit. We are six hours and 45 minutes into the race.
#4 is in the pit lane. Routine service is going on. One of the Lamborghini's goes to the garage. We are now back to green flag action. #31 and #5 are on wet tires, but not the #10. The #4 Corvette is working on a lower control arm at the front. GTD and non Cadillac Prototype cars, took new tires. Dragonspeed is still having problems. The team is still checking on the source of the problem. The GTLM and GTD battles are starting to boil again. Olivier Pla made up for spots. Kevin Estre vaults to the lead in the #912 Porsche. The rain is easing up. It's still raining, but not as badly as before, about five minutes ago. Acura #93 is still staying with Shane van Gisbergen leading the class in his Mercedes AMG GT3.
This is a roll of the dice, as the rain is starting to fall stronger. Who will blink first? Jordan Taylor says he's OK on slicks for now. But he could be changing his mind. Mike Conway is now at the wheel of the #31 Cadillac. Kevin Estre and Porsche are back in the hunt with the weather, although Scott Dixon is closing in the Ford GT. A clutch issue has cropped up on the #70 gray Mazda RT24P. Have the wet tires been burned up yet? Here comes the rain. You need your ponchos and umbrellas, chaps. The cameramen and spotters are getting soaked. Another spin in the chicane for the Ebimotors Lamborghini Huracan, car #46. Correction, it was a Lambo, but it was the #48 Paul Miller Racing entry.
Sam Bird has gotten ahead of Shane van Gisbergen for the lead in GT Daytona, as "The Giz", slides on the road. van Gisbergen has to hold off Bird's challenge out of the hairpin at turn six, up onto the back straight. SVG back in the lead, as we see more trouble for JDC Miller. van Gisbergen went off onto the grass at the International Horseshoe, and that gave Bird the lead in GTD. With the sixth hour nearly in the bag, we have the #912 Porsche and the #67 Ford GT in the lane for wet tires. Same for the #68 and #69 Ford's. We await #66. The #10 Cadillac will pit soon. Another off at the International Horseshoe, for the #61 Lamborghini.
Michele Beretta is piloting the #61 Huracan GT3 right now. SVG makes another booboo, sliding wide onto the banking. The drivers are beginning to earn their money now. Kevin Estre pits the #912 Porsche, and Patrick Pilet in the sister car, takes the GTLM lead. #10 is in the lane, for wet tires. #10 will have fresh tires, while the #31 and #2 cars, have tires that are at least five laps old. It's a scramble to be on wet tires as we end hour six here at the Rolex 24. Filipe Albuquerque leads Action Express team mate, Mike Conway, by 8.9 seconds. Jordan Taylor is third on new Continental wet tires. The rain is easing again. More curve balls here at the Rolex 24.
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