The battle for the lead of this motor race between the two Cadillac's is hotting up instantly once again. The gap between them when the #5 car pitted was 4.5 seconds, and now, it's 5.4 seconds. Car #10 did one more lap (21 laps) on the stint, and #5 can only do 20 laps on a fuel stint. Once again, the distance on a fuel load is roughly somewhere between 75 and 78 miles. We don't have pit lane times available. Fittipaldi was in on lap 200. Taylor was in on lap 205. 205 laps means we've gone 767 miles. The interval between the leading Cadillac's is now 9.3 seconds. We are also following some of the GTD cars such as the Lexus and the Lamborghini. No tire warmers in the sports car championship. No electric tire blankets or tire warming ovens. All you can do is leave them out in the sun at the back of the pit lane.
In the colder weather we had at the Rolex 24 at Daytona back in January, some teams were taking five to six laps to have the tires up to full operating temperature. Operating pressure is also a factor. If the tires are not fully up to pressure, the cars scrape the ground with the undertrays. Let's check out current class leaders.
GT Daytona: #33 Ben Keating Mercedes AMG GT3
GT Le Mans: #68 Billy Johnson Ford GT
Prototype: #5 Christian Fittipaldi Cadillac DPi-V.R
Fittipaldi leads Ricky Taylor by eleven seconds. This has been quite the motor race so far. It is indeed still old fashioned endurance sports car racing. This race has become a 12 hour sprint race over the last number of years. Ricky Taylor looks to make inroads on Christian Fittipaldi. It never used to be this way. It used to be a really long, draining, tough event. The reliability of these cars is amazing, even compared to cars from only years ago. The #85 JDC Miller Motorsports car has been running well, and now, the #13 Rebellion Racing Oreca Gibson is back in the race. A fan emailed in to the IMSA Radio crew and mentioned that the Gibson motor has the alternator right on top. So, the problems they were experiencing had to be a lot deeper inside the engine than just the alternator.
We follow on track with the cameras, the #75 SunEnergy Racing Mercedes AMG GT3. These boys have had an interesting Sebring so far. Tristan Vautier who started the car, is now back at the wheel of it. They had a fuel leak at the end of the morning warmup, and had to start from pit lane. They had drive through penalties after Boris Said had avoidable contact. Speaking of avoidable contact, Jan Magnussen nudges the #23 Alex Job Racing Audi R8. This is through the Tower Turn, where there is a water tower, hence the name. Crunch. That's torn a rear dive plane off the car. Townsend Bell at the controls of the Audi.
On lap 211, Ricky Taylor lays down the fastest first sector time the #10 Cadillac has had in the whole of the race so far. 211 laps. 789.1 miles. Townsend Bell is running consistently and he's following the BMW for Turner Motorsports driven by Jens Klingman. Michael Christensen in the #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche is next. Ben Keating is still the class leader, but only by 6.2 seconds over Matteo Cressoni. Bryan Sellers has also made a pass on Christopher Mies in the Land Motorsports Audi. Sellers is in the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini. Some great scrapping in GTD. Matteo Cressoni and Bryan Sellers are both capable shoes.
However, so is Ben Keating, giving the rest of the blokes and lassies in GTD a run for their money. Mercedes was very quick in qualifying, and of course Tristan Vautier put the #75 Mercedes AMG GT3 on the class pole. The leading Prototype Challenge entry of Patricio O'Ward is in the lane for service. That car has run 206 laps (770 miles). Patricio O'Ward out. Kyle Masson in. They will change four tires (sticker tires), and fuel is added. A perfectly timed stop. In the pit report, we hear a pl-ling sound. Someone dropped a wrench. Has Matteo Cressoni entered pit lane again? Yes. The team has expected him. Alessandro Balzan will get into the car, and they have changed to sticker tires and added fuel. Teams are beginning to back time this race already.
The #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport prototype has picked up a trash can liner on the back of the car. Mike Guasch is at the wheel of the PR1 Mathiasen car at the moment. Taylor has pulled in the gap on the #5 car. We are close to 6PM Eastern Time here at Sebring. Any second now, something remarkable could happen. The pace is hot, and the temperature has also been hot. The track is getting gradually greasier. Bryan Sellers is half a minute behind Ben Keating in GT Daytona. Temperatures will obviously drop as the sun goes down. Sunset is at 7:36 P.M. Ben Keating is in the lane, and hands over to "Super Mario" Mario Farnbacher. Four tires for the Mercedes and plenty of fuel.
Christian Fittipaldi is being eaten up by Ricky Taylor. Traffic played a factor. Taylor is the shark, smelling blood in the water. The #90 Visit Florida entry is back on track and getting new tires. Rene Rast is now at the controls. They are hoping to use the rest of the race as a test session. The #70 Mazda pitted to download data, and are diagnosing a misfire in the car. Eric Curran is very quick, but the car #31 is off the pace of the leaders. Bryan Sellers and Christopher Mies are pushing hard in GTD, with Austin Cindric in the #15 3GT Racing Lexus is third in class. Billy Johnson leads by four seconds over Ryan Briscoe and Dirk Werner battling for second and third. This is the GTLM fight, as we move to the last third of the race.
219 laps (819 miles), now done and dusted. That's a real long drive on a Saturday. Christian Fittipaldi has been on track for the last 20 laps and yes, he pits, and so does Ricky Taylor. The two of them almost collide at the entrance to pit lane! Yikes! Conventional wisdom dictates that one car will need less petrol than the other. There was five laps between the two which is a quarter of a stint. Fuel only for #5. Fuel, tires, and a driver change for #10. What a quick stop for #10! Who is the new driver for the #10? Both teams changed tires. How will the two cars and their drivers negotiate the traffic? Alex Lynn is now in the #10.
It is shocking that we've had so few yellow flags today. Just three have happened. Just under four and a half hours left to run. 1.7 seconds between Alex Lynn and Christian Fittipaldi. This is great racing indeed, and surely not a snore. Four different categories race at the same time in these endurance races, obviously. Christian Fittipaldi has been super fast all week and is indeed so in the race. Alex Lynn is making his sports car debut. He has been an open wheel racing man for some years including as a Formula 1 test driver. Into the lane comes the #15 Lexus RC F GT3. #15 actually drove straight through the lane. That's odd. Wait. He stopped. Austin Cindric handed the car over to Jack Hawksworth.
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Into the lane now comes the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE. Giancarlo Fisichella has been at the wheel of it for a good while now. James Calado will take over. New Michelin tires, and fuel. The sun is going down towards pit in and produces a photogenic haze around the cars as they sit in the lane. Very cool. In GTLM, Ford GT #66 and Chevrolet Corvette #3 will go to the top two positions in class. Dirk Mueller at the wheel of the Ford, and Jan Magnussen in the sole remaining Corvette in the race. Billy Johnson is third in the second Ford, with Fred Makowiecki and Ryan Briscoe completing the top five in class. Makowiecki in Porsche #911 and Briscoe in Ford #67.
We have now run 224 laps (838 miles). Alex Lynn is used to having tire warmers in GP2 and in FIA WEC. No tire warmers in IMSA. For many years, drivers dealt with going out on cold tires. Alex Lynn is your leader right now. Christian Fittipaldi is 1.8 seconds behind, in second. Kyle Masson continues to lead Prototype Challenge. Starworks Motorsports is second. We've discussed GT Le Mans. Four wide on the road! Oh my! That's the Cadillac, the SunEnergy GTD Mercedes, the Visit Florida Multimatic Riley, and one of the factory GTLM Porsche's!
Alex Lynn was on the extreme right into turn seven, and didn't need to be that far offline. Christian Fittipaldi closes up. #90 as mentioned, is back on track after lengthy repairs. That's the same chassis used by the factory Mazda team. Rebellion's race is going from bad to worse. They've been trying to retrieve data, plugging the computer into the outside which is a penalty. It has to be hooked up inside. There's something wrong underneath the engine and gearbox, trying to make things work with telemetry. This was the pole sitting car in the race, and they had high hopes. Bart Hayden and the boys have had a fraught race today.
Rebellion's main focus this season is the FIA World Endurance Championship, as they move from LMP1 to LMP2. The team has learned a lot about the car having raced at Daytona and Sebring. Some people are running older chassis', but everyone in LMP2 in the FIA WEC will race the Gibson engine. They've won with their own design the Rebellion R-One, which is now a museum piece. Christian Fittipaldi is three seconds or so behind Alex Lynn. He stretches the lead to 3.3 seconds. Keep clicking off the laps. That's the name of the game in this race.
Mario Farnbacher, Alessandro Balzan, Christian Engelhart, Bryan Sellers, and Christopher Mies are the top five in GT Daytona at the moment. Eric Curran pits the #31 Cadillac, working his 226th lap. In GT Le Mans Jan Magnussen leads by 35 seconds over the #68 Ford GT of Billy Johnson, followed by Fred Makowiecki, Ryan Briscoe, Dirk Mueller, and Toni Vilander, who is still not feeling all that great. Jan Magnussen is now in pir lane for service. Tires and fuel only as he stays in the car. Take ten or eleven laps to find a full second, and then, if you lose ten seconds in the lane, that effort is totally destroyed.
Michael Christensen hands over the #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3, who won in class at the Rolex 24. Daniel Morad should be the next driver in the car. It is. Cedric Sbirrazuoli is in the #27 Lamborghini. We have just over four hours still to run here at Sebring. Patrick Lindsey has taken over the #73 Park Place Porsche 911 GT3. Chris Miller pits from third in the #85 JDC Miller Motorsports Oreca. Four new tires and a new driver for the yellow bird. Misha Goikhberg is now at the controls. Goikhberg is back in the race for his second stint. Goikhberg has lost a little ground to Eric Curran, but they are still third in class. Alex Lynn is running respectable and consistent lap times to be sure. Problems for the #14 Lexus RC F GT3, as it slows on track. Sage Karam at the wheel of it.
He pulls off track near the Gendebien curves. Team boss Paul Gentilozzi is on the radio saying, "turn the car on again." But, it stalls. This is a pretty car, but it's not in a good place. This will be a full course yellow flag for sure. We will end hour eight under yellow. There are slow zones, and virtual safety cars etc. Drivers just cannot slow down when there's a wreck or a stalled car. Drivers just don't slow down when the yellow flag comes out. The cars are speeding by when the marshals and safety vehicles are on the raceway. It's been about two hours since the last full course yellow. This is our fourth one of the race, with just about four hours still to run. The leaders are 3/4 of the way through a fuel stint.
The field bunches up behind the safety car. The #14 Lexus is being towed to pit lane.
Friday, March 31, 2017
Thursday, March 30, 2017
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 7
Antonio Garcia has dropped to seventh in GTLM. James Calado pressures Stefan Mucke for second in class. Dirk Werner and Richard Lietz are bringing Porsche back into the picture. Richard Antinucci in the Grasser entry is effectively a factory works Lamborghini driver. He's developed the Huracan GT3 and also ran in the one make Lamborghini Super Trofeo series. The Super Trofeo spec Lamborghini could be even quicker than the GT3 version, with 620 horsepower. It is quicker in a straight line than the GT3/GTD spec car. GT3 has a lot more downforce. Lamborghini competed at the 12 Hours of Mugello recently. Yours truly, posted video of that race a while ago. So, check it out if you wish. It is in a two part blog entry with the video broadcast.
Joao Barbosa and Ricky Taylor have both just now turned their best laps of the entire race to this point. Whoa! Mike Conway set his best back on lap 100 (374 miles). It is now lap 175. We are at a distance of 654 and a half miles. 1:50.4 for Barbosa. 1:50 dead, for Ricky Taylor. The #57 Stevenson Audi has a stop and four minute hold penalty for improper wave by. Porsche #912 in the lane. Could Porsche be going for a brake change? It's past halfway into this race. Maybe they need new brakes, both rotors and pads. They bedded a set of brakes into the car in night practice. No brake disc change. There's something else wrong. This has zero to do with brakes. There's a suspension issue on this car.
They are having hub issues. Recall a few hours ago, when Cooper MacNeil had his problems with a broken wheel, it was the hub dislodging itself from the upper A arm on the Mercedes. The Porsche issue is similar, at the top where the hub attaches to the frame. Turn 17 gives the suspension a true thrashing. There's a shocks issue with the #912. We still have Richard Antinucci and Connor De Philippi battling, as well as Jeroen Bleekemolen and Matteo Cressoni. The #14 Lexus is now back on track, pounding around and putting in laps. It is ahead of the #57 Stevenson Motorsports Audi that has a penalty in it's future. Dion von Moltke in the #48 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 will pull ahead.
When the wave by happens, Race Direction does not read a list of numbers. Those cars that need the wave by have to pull to the right. Porsche #912 pits. The shock is changed, and the car is back in the race. Richard Lietz at the wheel, and he drops a few laps off the lead lap in GTLM. Patricio O'Ward has set his fastest lap in Prototype Challenge. Richard Antinucci now leads GTD under huge pressure as Jeroen Bleekemolen is applying the blowtorch. But Antinucci has run a 2:02.136. Bleekemolen had a 2:02.135 earlier. The Turner Motorsports BMW M6 pitted and took the hood off, re-seated it, and didn't have to use the 200 mile per hour tape.
Pit stop time for the #5 Cadillac. Fuel, new tires, and a driver change as Christian Fittipaldi gets into the car. Eric Curran was quicker than Fittipaldi. This time, Fittipaldi will race car #10 with Ricky Taylor driving. One of the marshals is busy in the penalty box at the end of pit lane. The #14 Lexus RC F GT3 had a stop and go. The #57 Audi is stuck in the box for another four minutes. The team argued it with the marshals. But, the marshals won out. Porsche #912 runs off the road at turn ten. Did it run out of brakes? Normally you get three laps before having to pit for a penalty. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Cadillac #10 is stretching it's fuel load. They've done two more laps compared to the #5 Cadillac.
The top two Cadillac's are the only two Prototypes on the lead lap. The gap has closed up in Prototype Challenge as Richard Anitnucci pits from the GT Daytona class lead in the Grasser Lamborghini. Jeroen Bleekemolen takes over the class lead. Ford 1-2 in GTLM over Ferrari and Porsche. The #66 Ford with Joey Hand will pit and get a whole new left side door. Cadillac #10 is now the leader, and are pitting. Ricky Taylor is in the lane now. They will be out on full tanks now. Fuel and tires done and dusted at the same time. WTR hopes they can leapfrog the #5.
Stefan Mucke does not have the rear light on the #68 Ford GT. Dirk Werner chases James Calado through turns 10, 11, 12, and 13, the Tower Turn. Is Calado dragging the Porsche with him? Or is the Porsche pushing the Ferrari towards the Fords? One of the Mazda's has made another pit stop. It may have been the #70. It is. Tom Long is now at the controls. The cars are looking race worn, on cars we saw immaculately prepared six or so hours ago. Calado and Werner are catching the two Ford's of Dixon and Mucke. Werner is catching up to Calado. Werner has Calado to aim at, Calado has aim at Mucke, and Mucke, has aim at Dixon.
Katherine Legge brings the #93 Michael Shank Racing Acura into pit lane for regular service as opposed to trying to fix damage or a problem. Four GTLM cars run right together. This is not about saving the car. It's about going full tilt during your stint before you are back to pitting for fuel. No full course yellow flags. So, green flag pit stops are the order of things at this moment, with Dane Cameron hitting the lane followed by the #85 JDC Miller Motorsports entry. Fuel and tires only. Lamborghini passes Lexus for fourth in GT Daytona. Dion von Moltke puts a pass on Austin Cindric. The Ford's and other leading GTLM cars are split by the #18 DAC Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in GTD.
That car, is surely a pick. A moving chicane. Emmanuel Anassis, Brandon Gdovic, and Anthony Massari on the driver's strength. The PC leader is in the lane. Patricio O'Ward brings the #38 car in and should be handing over to either Kyle Masson or James French. No. O'Ward stays in the car. The #85 Oreca is also pitting. Misha Goikhberg will hand over the wheel to Chris Miller for this next stint. GTLM is still hot. Ford's are negotiating traffic, and momentarily down Ulmann straight, the Ferrari is the meat in a Porsche sandwich! James Calado holds off Dirk Werner. Scott Dixon dives for pit lane. There will be a driver change in Ford #67 as Dixon hands over to Ryan Briscoe.
We have just less than five and a half hours to go. Christian Fittipaldi still leads Ricky Taylor in the overall. The GTD battle is getting heavier as Jeroen Bleekemolen is cutting time out of Connor De Philippi's lead. When Ford #66 hits the lane, there will be a driver change. James Calado in the Ferrari is now second in GTLM. News from the lane is not good for ESM. Both of their Nissan DPi racers (#2 and #22), have been retired from the race. Game over. They join the #4 Corvette and the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Ligier is now back on track after being in the garage for a long time. Cars #13 and #90 are still behind the wall being worked on.
Quick pit stop for the #8 Starworks Prototype Challenge car. No driver change. They run second in class, sixth overall. Chapman Ducote pits the #26 Prototype Challenge entry that is coming back through the order. Ducote shares with Marc Drumwright, the very quick Gustavo Yacaman, and Colin Thompson. Ricky Taylor is not moving forward towards the Action Express car. These two teams both race for Cadillac. But they are not the best of friends. James Calado will take the lead of GTLM with Ford hitting the lane. But, at the same time Risi Competizione will also pit soon. The fourth place in class Ford GT #66 pits, and will have the door changed. Rule 22.3.4 says that the mirrors are required in tech, but you don't have to put it back on. Still, the driver must be aware of other cars.
The #68 Ford GT is in for fuel, tires, and a driver change. Billy Johnson gets into Ford #68 and goes back on track. #66 now leads. A race for position in the lane, and Porsche passes Ferrari for another spot in GTLM! Yikes! Ryan Briscoe flies through and takes a position away in GTLM. Billy Johnson is in #68. Dirk Werner stayed in #911 and Giancarlo Fisichella is now at the controls of #62. The last three hours of this race will be run in darkness as always. Pit stop time for GT Daytona entries. Audi #29 for Land Motorsports does a driver change and Jules Gounon is now at the wheel of it. Matteo Cressoni will stay in car #63 for Scuderia Corsa. Four lightly used, or scrubbed tires are going on the car.
1:53.1 for Christian Fittipaldi. 1:53.8 for Ricky Taylor. Fittipaldi is slightly faster. In GTD, Jeroen Bleekemolen pits the #33 Mercedes. Joey Hand brings the #66 Ford GT in for service, and Corvette has cycled to the lead of GTLM with the #3 car. Dirk Mueller takes over the #66. No work was done to the left side of the car. The door is ready if need be. Mueller has raced in America now for many years. He was a long-time BMW driver before moving to Ford. BMW will have a new GTLM car in 2018 which will be compliant with the GTLM class and for the GTE class in FIA WEC. BMW will provide safety vehicles for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
Corvette #3 pits. Christian Fittipaldi pits from the lead in the #5 Cadillac. Ricky Taylor has gone through. Tires and fuel. No driver change. Ryan Briscoe, Dirk Werner, and Giancarlo Fisichella still scrap for position in GT Le Mans. The GTLM and GTD battle has been switched on since the green flag. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier is back into the race with Tom Kimber-Smith at the controls. 101 laps for the #52. The leaders have just done 201 laps. 100 laps means you are 374 miles behind the leaders. Currently, 752 miles is the distance covered to this point in the race.
The #31 Cadillac is on pace, but is laps behind. Ricky Taylor is being slowed up by the #70 Mazda RT24P in the hands of Tom Long. There were lots of other cars in the way. As the leader you can't let that phase you. Make good decisions as a racing driver. Minimum drive time in PC and GTD is three hours for the drivers not categorized as gold or platinum level. It's a quarter of the race. Ricky Taylor continues to struggle with traffic. He is losing time to Christian Fittipaldi. The traffic density has not changed much since the start. Very few retirements. 46 starters, and we still have 40 cars running. Nick Heidfeld and Rebellion have come back into the race. Mike Guasch has also returned in the PR1 Mathiasen car. So, 41 of 46 are still running.
Something far more than an alternator was holding up the Rebellion squad, because you shouldn't be in the garage for as long as they were. Just as we reach five hours to go in the race, Ricky Taylor hits the pit lane for service. Taylor will receive new sticker Continental tires. A new drinks bottle is put in, with fresh Gatorade or electrolyte drink in it. Fuel still goes into the car. Taylor is down and away and back into the fight as we are coming to the end of the seventh hour here at Sebring. Christian Fittipaldi goes through and takes the race lead. Taylor will be chasing him down on the fresh tires.
Joao Barbosa and Ricky Taylor have both just now turned their best laps of the entire race to this point. Whoa! Mike Conway set his best back on lap 100 (374 miles). It is now lap 175. We are at a distance of 654 and a half miles. 1:50.4 for Barbosa. 1:50 dead, for Ricky Taylor. The #57 Stevenson Audi has a stop and four minute hold penalty for improper wave by. Porsche #912 in the lane. Could Porsche be going for a brake change? It's past halfway into this race. Maybe they need new brakes, both rotors and pads. They bedded a set of brakes into the car in night practice. No brake disc change. There's something else wrong. This has zero to do with brakes. There's a suspension issue on this car.
They are having hub issues. Recall a few hours ago, when Cooper MacNeil had his problems with a broken wheel, it was the hub dislodging itself from the upper A arm on the Mercedes. The Porsche issue is similar, at the top where the hub attaches to the frame. Turn 17 gives the suspension a true thrashing. There's a shocks issue with the #912. We still have Richard Antinucci and Connor De Philippi battling, as well as Jeroen Bleekemolen and Matteo Cressoni. The #14 Lexus is now back on track, pounding around and putting in laps. It is ahead of the #57 Stevenson Motorsports Audi that has a penalty in it's future. Dion von Moltke in the #48 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 will pull ahead.
When the wave by happens, Race Direction does not read a list of numbers. Those cars that need the wave by have to pull to the right. Porsche #912 pits. The shock is changed, and the car is back in the race. Richard Lietz at the wheel, and he drops a few laps off the lead lap in GTLM. Patricio O'Ward has set his fastest lap in Prototype Challenge. Richard Antinucci now leads GTD under huge pressure as Jeroen Bleekemolen is applying the blowtorch. But Antinucci has run a 2:02.136. Bleekemolen had a 2:02.135 earlier. The Turner Motorsports BMW M6 pitted and took the hood off, re-seated it, and didn't have to use the 200 mile per hour tape.
Pit stop time for the #5 Cadillac. Fuel, new tires, and a driver change as Christian Fittipaldi gets into the car. Eric Curran was quicker than Fittipaldi. This time, Fittipaldi will race car #10 with Ricky Taylor driving. One of the marshals is busy in the penalty box at the end of pit lane. The #14 Lexus RC F GT3 had a stop and go. The #57 Audi is stuck in the box for another four minutes. The team argued it with the marshals. But, the marshals won out. Porsche #912 runs off the road at turn ten. Did it run out of brakes? Normally you get three laps before having to pit for a penalty. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Cadillac #10 is stretching it's fuel load. They've done two more laps compared to the #5 Cadillac.
The top two Cadillac's are the only two Prototypes on the lead lap. The gap has closed up in Prototype Challenge as Richard Anitnucci pits from the GT Daytona class lead in the Grasser Lamborghini. Jeroen Bleekemolen takes over the class lead. Ford 1-2 in GTLM over Ferrari and Porsche. The #66 Ford with Joey Hand will pit and get a whole new left side door. Cadillac #10 is now the leader, and are pitting. Ricky Taylor is in the lane now. They will be out on full tanks now. Fuel and tires done and dusted at the same time. WTR hopes they can leapfrog the #5.
Stefan Mucke does not have the rear light on the #68 Ford GT. Dirk Werner chases James Calado through turns 10, 11, 12, and 13, the Tower Turn. Is Calado dragging the Porsche with him? Or is the Porsche pushing the Ferrari towards the Fords? One of the Mazda's has made another pit stop. It may have been the #70. It is. Tom Long is now at the controls. The cars are looking race worn, on cars we saw immaculately prepared six or so hours ago. Calado and Werner are catching the two Ford's of Dixon and Mucke. Werner is catching up to Calado. Werner has Calado to aim at, Calado has aim at Mucke, and Mucke, has aim at Dixon.
Katherine Legge brings the #93 Michael Shank Racing Acura into pit lane for regular service as opposed to trying to fix damage or a problem. Four GTLM cars run right together. This is not about saving the car. It's about going full tilt during your stint before you are back to pitting for fuel. No full course yellow flags. So, green flag pit stops are the order of things at this moment, with Dane Cameron hitting the lane followed by the #85 JDC Miller Motorsports entry. Fuel and tires only. Lamborghini passes Lexus for fourth in GT Daytona. Dion von Moltke puts a pass on Austin Cindric. The Ford's and other leading GTLM cars are split by the #18 DAC Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in GTD.
That car, is surely a pick. A moving chicane. Emmanuel Anassis, Brandon Gdovic, and Anthony Massari on the driver's strength. The PC leader is in the lane. Patricio O'Ward brings the #38 car in and should be handing over to either Kyle Masson or James French. No. O'Ward stays in the car. The #85 Oreca is also pitting. Misha Goikhberg will hand over the wheel to Chris Miller for this next stint. GTLM is still hot. Ford's are negotiating traffic, and momentarily down Ulmann straight, the Ferrari is the meat in a Porsche sandwich! James Calado holds off Dirk Werner. Scott Dixon dives for pit lane. There will be a driver change in Ford #67 as Dixon hands over to Ryan Briscoe.
We have just less than five and a half hours to go. Christian Fittipaldi still leads Ricky Taylor in the overall. The GTD battle is getting heavier as Jeroen Bleekemolen is cutting time out of Connor De Philippi's lead. When Ford #66 hits the lane, there will be a driver change. James Calado in the Ferrari is now second in GTLM. News from the lane is not good for ESM. Both of their Nissan DPi racers (#2 and #22), have been retired from the race. Game over. They join the #4 Corvette and the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Ligier is now back on track after being in the garage for a long time. Cars #13 and #90 are still behind the wall being worked on.
Quick pit stop for the #8 Starworks Prototype Challenge car. No driver change. They run second in class, sixth overall. Chapman Ducote pits the #26 Prototype Challenge entry that is coming back through the order. Ducote shares with Marc Drumwright, the very quick Gustavo Yacaman, and Colin Thompson. Ricky Taylor is not moving forward towards the Action Express car. These two teams both race for Cadillac. But they are not the best of friends. James Calado will take the lead of GTLM with Ford hitting the lane. But, at the same time Risi Competizione will also pit soon. The fourth place in class Ford GT #66 pits, and will have the door changed. Rule 22.3.4 says that the mirrors are required in tech, but you don't have to put it back on. Still, the driver must be aware of other cars.
The #68 Ford GT is in for fuel, tires, and a driver change. Billy Johnson gets into Ford #68 and goes back on track. #66 now leads. A race for position in the lane, and Porsche passes Ferrari for another spot in GTLM! Yikes! Ryan Briscoe flies through and takes a position away in GTLM. Billy Johnson is in #68. Dirk Werner stayed in #911 and Giancarlo Fisichella is now at the controls of #62. The last three hours of this race will be run in darkness as always. Pit stop time for GT Daytona entries. Audi #29 for Land Motorsports does a driver change and Jules Gounon is now at the wheel of it. Matteo Cressoni will stay in car #63 for Scuderia Corsa. Four lightly used, or scrubbed tires are going on the car.
1:53.1 for Christian Fittipaldi. 1:53.8 for Ricky Taylor. Fittipaldi is slightly faster. In GTD, Jeroen Bleekemolen pits the #33 Mercedes. Joey Hand brings the #66 Ford GT in for service, and Corvette has cycled to the lead of GTLM with the #3 car. Dirk Mueller takes over the #66. No work was done to the left side of the car. The door is ready if need be. Mueller has raced in America now for many years. He was a long-time BMW driver before moving to Ford. BMW will have a new GTLM car in 2018 which will be compliant with the GTLM class and for the GTE class in FIA WEC. BMW will provide safety vehicles for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
Corvette #3 pits. Christian Fittipaldi pits from the lead in the #5 Cadillac. Ricky Taylor has gone through. Tires and fuel. No driver change. Ryan Briscoe, Dirk Werner, and Giancarlo Fisichella still scrap for position in GT Le Mans. The GTLM and GTD battle has been switched on since the green flag. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier is back into the race with Tom Kimber-Smith at the controls. 101 laps for the #52. The leaders have just done 201 laps. 100 laps means you are 374 miles behind the leaders. Currently, 752 miles is the distance covered to this point in the race.
The #31 Cadillac is on pace, but is laps behind. Ricky Taylor is being slowed up by the #70 Mazda RT24P in the hands of Tom Long. There were lots of other cars in the way. As the leader you can't let that phase you. Make good decisions as a racing driver. Minimum drive time in PC and GTD is three hours for the drivers not categorized as gold or platinum level. It's a quarter of the race. Ricky Taylor continues to struggle with traffic. He is losing time to Christian Fittipaldi. The traffic density has not changed much since the start. Very few retirements. 46 starters, and we still have 40 cars running. Nick Heidfeld and Rebellion have come back into the race. Mike Guasch has also returned in the PR1 Mathiasen car. So, 41 of 46 are still running.
Something far more than an alternator was holding up the Rebellion squad, because you shouldn't be in the garage for as long as they were. Just as we reach five hours to go in the race, Ricky Taylor hits the pit lane for service. Taylor will receive new sticker Continental tires. A new drinks bottle is put in, with fresh Gatorade or electrolyte drink in it. Fuel still goes into the car. Taylor is down and away and back into the fight as we are coming to the end of the seventh hour here at Sebring. Christian Fittipaldi goes through and takes the race lead. Taylor will be chasing him down on the fresh tires.
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 6
Nick Heidfeld did bring in the Rebellion entry, and it is stationary in the lane. The #25 BMW M6 GT has rejoined the race. Dion von Moltke pits the Paul Miller Racing #48 Lamborghini. Ryan Dalziel ran a 1:57 flat last time around. There are alternator issues with the Rebellion machine. Most of the crew has headed to the paddock to fix the car. Another global spec LMP2 car, having issues. All cars are based on the same four chassis' in the Prototype class. But, the parts and pieces have had issues, although mechanically, the three Cadillac DPi-V.R machines have been running pretty well.
The two leaders in Prototype Challenge battle. But Sean Rayhall is about to go a lap down to James French. They battle through the Tower Turn. Katherine Legge in the #93 Acura NSX hits pit lane. She shares that car with Andy Lally and Mark Wilkins. Mario Farnbacher leads GT Daytona in the #33 Mercedes by over a minute from Christina Nielsen in the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488. Third in class is the #11 GRT Grasser Racing Lamborghini with Rolf Ineichen at the controls. Jules Gounon is fourth in the #29 Land Motorsports Audi, and in fifth in class is the #15 Lexus RC F GT3 in the hands of Robert Alon. The #55 Mazda RT-24P Prototype has made it's way back onto the track here at Sebring.
Mario Farnbacher pits the #33 Mercedes. All four tires are changed, and fuel is added. The poor blokes on the team are still working on the damaged #50 sister car. The #68 Ford GT has passed Mike Rockenfeller in the #3 Corvette. So, Olivier Pla is catching Scott Dixon and Joey Hand. Only five Prototypes are at the head of the field, and just two on the lead lap (the two Cadillac's). The gap is 20 seconds between the two of them. Traffic is playing a part, as always in endurance sports car racing. Jules Gounon battles Rolf Ineichen in GT Daytona, for third and fourth in class. Frankie Montecalvo has the #23 Alex Job Racing Audi R8 in 17th overall, and they have not had the best of races so far here at Sebring.
The competition is troublesome because if you lose ground, it is very hard to make it up again. The #29 Land Motorsports Audi R8 has been running up front all weekend. Christina Nielsen pits the #63 Ferrari 488 GT3 and relinquishes the GTD lead to Mario Farnbacher. Prototype lap time comparisons see the Cadillac's running in the 1:51 bracket while the Nissan DPi in the hands of Bruno Senna runs a 1:52.5, and the Rebellion Oreca with the Gibson lump, is in the 1:53s. Mike Conway in the third Cadillac is running in the 1:50 bracket, practically tearing it up, as he's the quickest of all in Prototype presently.
Ford has given us numerical symmetry on the GTLM timing screen, with #66, #67, and #68, all running together. That's Joey Hand, Scott Dixon, and Olivier Pla. Toni Vilander in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE is harrying the Ford trio. Vilander got around Mike Rockenfeller in the Corvette. The two Porsche's are still sixth and seventh in GT Le Mans. Joey Hand has edged away from Scott Dixon by three seconds or so. Toni Vilander is running faster than the Ford's. He ran a 1:59.9 on the previous lap while the Ford's did 2:00.1 and 2:01.1. The GT Le Mans battle is starting to heat up as the fuel loads get lighter with the tires still working well. We'll see more pit stops for the race leaders in three to four laps.
The #93 Acura has been in the lane for a good while now. What could be the problem? Acura is working on the left front corner and also the right rear. There's a broken left front shock on the car. The crewman leans on the car and it sags. They need to have a block of wood or something to hold the car up. The shock issue is surely the big issue at the moment. Consternation in the lane for Acura. They are 19th in class, 37th in the overall. Mike Shank Racing have been running short on spare parts. The spare parts at Acura have been in short supply as one of their Pirelli World Challenge entries for RealTime Racing had a major smash in the opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, the week before Sebring. You saw that race, here on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog.
One of the global platform LMP2 teams did not have a full spares package for their race car either, coming into this event. Colin Braun takes the #54 CORE Autosport GT Daytona Porsche 911 GT3 around Sebring. He is sharing with Jonathan Bennett, the team owner, and the experienced Swede Nic Jonsson. Mike Rockenfeller is running consistent lap times in the sole remaining factory Corvette. But, he is not running fast enough by any means. Olivier Pla and Toni Vilander have passed him by, and now, he is being hounded by Patrick Pilet. Jeroen Mul takes the #16 Change Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 into pit lane, from third in the GT Daytona class. Mul sharing the car with Corey Lewis and Brett Sandberg, of course.
Scott Pruett brings the #14 Lexus RC F GT3 to pit lane for a routine stop. There's problems. The universal hand across the throat gesture was given by a crewman to say, "not good". A new tire is put on the left front. But, could the car have broken an axle or a suspension piece? The engine is running, and the car remains on its air jacks. The car is running and down off the air jacks now. Pitting from the race lead is the #5 Cadillac. Joao Barbosa stays in the car, getting fuel and four tires. Scott Pruett leaves the pit lane, only to dive hard right into the garage. Meanwhile, into the lane comes the #67 Ford GT.
No driver change. Four new Michelin tires. Fuel, tires, and a replenishment of the drivers' drinks bottle. Ian James at Lexus confirms that the suspension has issues. But, Katherine Legge has now left the lane after getting the suspension fixed on the #93 Acura. I would suspect the rough, worn nature of Sebring is causing suspension problems for these GTD racers. In his previous stint, Jordan Taylor stayed on track two laps longer than the #5. Andrew Davis has gotten out of the #57 Stevenson Audi R8 and was exhausted due to the heat. The 12 hours is beginning to take it's toll. We have almost 79 degrees Fahrenheit as an air temperature here at Sebring.
The #10 Cadillac is back in pit lane for a routine stop. From one Taylor brother to another, as Ricky Taylor steps out, and Jordan Taylor will take over the car. #10 and #5 did equal 21 lap fuel stints. That's 78 and a half miles on a tank of fuel. Bruno Senna has the ESM #22 Nissan back in pit lane. Problems, as the car is steaming and smoking, with the engine cover removed. The crewmen are hitting the car with the fire bottles. The right rear has some flame on it. Pit stop time for the #31 Cadillac, too. Sticker Continental tires go on the car. The pit crew had to bump start the car. Dane Cameron takes the car over from Mike Conway.
Cameron is fourth overall. But it is four laps down. Bruno Senna is in the lane, and the smoke was cleared. Now, however, all the engine parts are covered in powder from the fire extinguisher, as Brendon Hartley takes over the driving chores. Ford and Ferrari come to pit lane for GTLM pit action. Porsche does likewise. ESM is pushing the #22 car away from the lane and back to the garage. We have the #68 UK Ford GT pitting, along with the aforementioned Risi Competizione Ferrari #62 and James Calado will get into the car. The #911 Porsche 911 RSR also pitted. Indeed, James Calado is in the Ferrari. Stefan Mucke, James Calado, and Dirk Werner are in a battle in GTLM.
Connor De Philippi is back at the wheel of the #29 Land Motorsports Audi R8 in GTD. Back on track is the #86 Acura NSX, tenth in class in GTD with Tom Dyer at the controls. Joao Barbosa now leads Ricky Taylor by 26 seconds. Dane Cameron runs a 1:52 flat on his first flying lap. Only Joao Barbosa is faster in the #5 Cadillac. #5, #10, #85, #31, are your top Prototype cars. Patricio O'Ward is still leading in Prototype Challenge. The #24 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GT has stuffed it into the tire barriers! Nicky Catsburg is at the wheel of it, and this incident is going to bring out a full course yellow flag.
So, the fraught race for these chaps, continues. This is also awful news for the #3 Corvette squad, because they were just preparing to make a green flag pit stop. Nicky Catsburg is trying to restart the car, and the transmission clunks as he's trying to get the car out of gear. This happened through the Gendebien bends. Corvette #3 has to come in for emergency service under yellow. Not good. We watch a replay of the #24 BMW's crash. It looks like Catsburg didn't have any brakes, or, he slide wide in the turn, went off the road and boom!, plowed into the tire wall. Catsburg's wreck has happened at the end of turn one. The Porsche Cayenne GTS snatch vehicles, and the sweeper, are out cleaning up the track.
Catsburg was in the middle of the corner, and veered offline as if something broke. Catsburg was on a perfect line, committed the cornr, and then every went pear shaped. Inside that helmet, Catsburg had to be thinking, "uh oh. This isn't going to be pretty", before slamming the barrier. The #90 Visit Florida Multimatic Riley is in the lane. Rockenfeller will return to pit lane for a full service, and a driver change. But then, whoever the next driver is, they will have to go to the sin bin for Rockenfeller's transgression. Prototypes come to pit lane, now. Both Mazda's are being serviced. What happened to Nicky Catsburg?
He's fine. The car is very damaged. The brake pedal went all the way to the floor and the car wouldn't turn even though Catsburg was turning the wheel. Visit Florida is in the pits now too. The #24 BMW was the one with the vibration that the team couldn't find. We are under just our third full course yellow of the day. Car #90 stalled leaving pit lane, and the car coughed. Both the #66 and #67 Ford GT's will pit soon. The Riley chassis cars are all having trouble. That includes car #90, and both Mazda's. The Rebellion Oreca Gibson #13 of Nick Heidfeld, is having alternator problems. The JDC Miller car is the only global spec LMP2 in the race that has not run into issues, and the Cadillac's which use Dallara built chassis', they have been running like Swiss watches for most of the race as well.
The leading #66 Ford pits with Joey Hand at the wheel. The #28 and #63 GTD cars are in. Alegra and Scuderia Corsa. Joey Hand stays in the car. Four tires and fuel. We've also seen GTD stops for Land Motorsports and the #29 Audi and the #33 Mercedes AMG GT3. Car #33 had a driver change as Mario Farnbacher handed the controls to Jeroen Bleekemolen. The sister RLL BMW M6 GT #25 made a pit stop. Bill Auberlen completed his stint, and handed over the wheel to Sebring first-timer, Alexander Sims. The #14 Lexus RC F GT3 is back on track, and the sister #15 pits. Antonio Garcia will have to come in to pit. Some days you're the windshield, and some days you're the bug. The #85 Oreca and the #31 Cadillac hit the lane, to top off with fuel.
Sean Rayhall pits the #8 Starworks Prototype Challenge car, and he has run ahead of the #38 of Patricio O'Ward. Rayhall has handed the car off to Canadian newcomer Garett Grist. The #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 takes the wave by. Not sure who is at the wheel. The right side of the hood is damaged. Jesse Krohn is at the controls. Krohn can't see out of the windshield very well, but had to come back around to get into the crocodile behind the safety car. The right hand side of the bonnet is bowed up on that BMW. Ozz Negri Jr. pits the #86 Acura NSX GT3 from 11th in class. The #11 GRT Grasser Lamborghini didn't pit. Richard Antinucci cycles to the class lead.
#33, #29, and others in GT Daytona, have pitted. Matteo Cressoni is at the wheel of the #63 Ferrari. The #48 Lamborghini is fifth in class with Dion von Moltke driving. Lawson Aschenbach is back on the lead lap in the #57 Stevenson Audi. The sole remaining #15 Lexus RC F GT3 is on the lead lap with Austin Cindric at the wheel of it. Corey Lewis got the wave around is back on the lead lap in the #16 Change Racing Lamborghini. Then comes Matt McMurry in the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 and at the back of the GTD field is the aforementioned Jesse Krohn.
Ten cars are on the lead lap in GTD, and Michael de Quesada in the Daytona winning #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche is the first car a lap down in class. The track crews are cleaning up debris from the surface here at Sebring. We are headed back to green flag racing despite a jet dryer still being out on the back straight. Joao Barbosa goes ahead of Ricky Taylor. Misha Goikhberg is a lap down and buried in GT traffic. The battle resumes for the lead between Joao Barbosa and Ricky Taylor. The #67 Ford GT still does not have a door mirror on the driver's side. In the days of the old American Le Mans Series, rules required a lost part such as a door mirror to be replaced immediately. But nowadays, it is done at the team's convenience.
The modus operandi is to change not just the mirror, but the entire door. Pardon me. That's the #66 car that needs the mirror, not #67. Sorry to panic the crew on that one. We need a mirror? Oh no! Nicky Catsburg is OK after the big wreck he had. Both Mazda's are still running as we mentioned. They are a long way down the order. Our race leader has now run 172 laps (643 miles). We are seeing quite the scrap develop in GT Daytona with good cars and good drivers going for it headed into the hairpin at turn seven. Incidentally, Jan Heylen is now at the wheel of Porsche #73 for Park Place Motorsports that was mentioned earlier on.
The two leaders in Prototype Challenge battle. But Sean Rayhall is about to go a lap down to James French. They battle through the Tower Turn. Katherine Legge in the #93 Acura NSX hits pit lane. She shares that car with Andy Lally and Mark Wilkins. Mario Farnbacher leads GT Daytona in the #33 Mercedes by over a minute from Christina Nielsen in the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488. Third in class is the #11 GRT Grasser Racing Lamborghini with Rolf Ineichen at the controls. Jules Gounon is fourth in the #29 Land Motorsports Audi, and in fifth in class is the #15 Lexus RC F GT3 in the hands of Robert Alon. The #55 Mazda RT-24P Prototype has made it's way back onto the track here at Sebring.
Mario Farnbacher pits the #33 Mercedes. All four tires are changed, and fuel is added. The poor blokes on the team are still working on the damaged #50 sister car. The #68 Ford GT has passed Mike Rockenfeller in the #3 Corvette. So, Olivier Pla is catching Scott Dixon and Joey Hand. Only five Prototypes are at the head of the field, and just two on the lead lap (the two Cadillac's). The gap is 20 seconds between the two of them. Traffic is playing a part, as always in endurance sports car racing. Jules Gounon battles Rolf Ineichen in GT Daytona, for third and fourth in class. Frankie Montecalvo has the #23 Alex Job Racing Audi R8 in 17th overall, and they have not had the best of races so far here at Sebring.
The competition is troublesome because if you lose ground, it is very hard to make it up again. The #29 Land Motorsports Audi R8 has been running up front all weekend. Christina Nielsen pits the #63 Ferrari 488 GT3 and relinquishes the GTD lead to Mario Farnbacher. Prototype lap time comparisons see the Cadillac's running in the 1:51 bracket while the Nissan DPi in the hands of Bruno Senna runs a 1:52.5, and the Rebellion Oreca with the Gibson lump, is in the 1:53s. Mike Conway in the third Cadillac is running in the 1:50 bracket, practically tearing it up, as he's the quickest of all in Prototype presently.
Ford has given us numerical symmetry on the GTLM timing screen, with #66, #67, and #68, all running together. That's Joey Hand, Scott Dixon, and Olivier Pla. Toni Vilander in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE is harrying the Ford trio. Vilander got around Mike Rockenfeller in the Corvette. The two Porsche's are still sixth and seventh in GT Le Mans. Joey Hand has edged away from Scott Dixon by three seconds or so. Toni Vilander is running faster than the Ford's. He ran a 1:59.9 on the previous lap while the Ford's did 2:00.1 and 2:01.1. The GT Le Mans battle is starting to heat up as the fuel loads get lighter with the tires still working well. We'll see more pit stops for the race leaders in three to four laps.
The #93 Acura has been in the lane for a good while now. What could be the problem? Acura is working on the left front corner and also the right rear. There's a broken left front shock on the car. The crewman leans on the car and it sags. They need to have a block of wood or something to hold the car up. The shock issue is surely the big issue at the moment. Consternation in the lane for Acura. They are 19th in class, 37th in the overall. Mike Shank Racing have been running short on spare parts. The spare parts at Acura have been in short supply as one of their Pirelli World Challenge entries for RealTime Racing had a major smash in the opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, the week before Sebring. You saw that race, here on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog.
One of the global platform LMP2 teams did not have a full spares package for their race car either, coming into this event. Colin Braun takes the #54 CORE Autosport GT Daytona Porsche 911 GT3 around Sebring. He is sharing with Jonathan Bennett, the team owner, and the experienced Swede Nic Jonsson. Mike Rockenfeller is running consistent lap times in the sole remaining factory Corvette. But, he is not running fast enough by any means. Olivier Pla and Toni Vilander have passed him by, and now, he is being hounded by Patrick Pilet. Jeroen Mul takes the #16 Change Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 into pit lane, from third in the GT Daytona class. Mul sharing the car with Corey Lewis and Brett Sandberg, of course.
Scott Pruett brings the #14 Lexus RC F GT3 to pit lane for a routine stop. There's problems. The universal hand across the throat gesture was given by a crewman to say, "not good". A new tire is put on the left front. But, could the car have broken an axle or a suspension piece? The engine is running, and the car remains on its air jacks. The car is running and down off the air jacks now. Pitting from the race lead is the #5 Cadillac. Joao Barbosa stays in the car, getting fuel and four tires. Scott Pruett leaves the pit lane, only to dive hard right into the garage. Meanwhile, into the lane comes the #67 Ford GT.
No driver change. Four new Michelin tires. Fuel, tires, and a replenishment of the drivers' drinks bottle. Ian James at Lexus confirms that the suspension has issues. But, Katherine Legge has now left the lane after getting the suspension fixed on the #93 Acura. I would suspect the rough, worn nature of Sebring is causing suspension problems for these GTD racers. In his previous stint, Jordan Taylor stayed on track two laps longer than the #5. Andrew Davis has gotten out of the #57 Stevenson Audi R8 and was exhausted due to the heat. The 12 hours is beginning to take it's toll. We have almost 79 degrees Fahrenheit as an air temperature here at Sebring.
The #10 Cadillac is back in pit lane for a routine stop. From one Taylor brother to another, as Ricky Taylor steps out, and Jordan Taylor will take over the car. #10 and #5 did equal 21 lap fuel stints. That's 78 and a half miles on a tank of fuel. Bruno Senna has the ESM #22 Nissan back in pit lane. Problems, as the car is steaming and smoking, with the engine cover removed. The crewmen are hitting the car with the fire bottles. The right rear has some flame on it. Pit stop time for the #31 Cadillac, too. Sticker Continental tires go on the car. The pit crew had to bump start the car. Dane Cameron takes the car over from Mike Conway.
Cameron is fourth overall. But it is four laps down. Bruno Senna is in the lane, and the smoke was cleared. Now, however, all the engine parts are covered in powder from the fire extinguisher, as Brendon Hartley takes over the driving chores. Ford and Ferrari come to pit lane for GTLM pit action. Porsche does likewise. ESM is pushing the #22 car away from the lane and back to the garage. We have the #68 UK Ford GT pitting, along with the aforementioned Risi Competizione Ferrari #62 and James Calado will get into the car. The #911 Porsche 911 RSR also pitted. Indeed, James Calado is in the Ferrari. Stefan Mucke, James Calado, and Dirk Werner are in a battle in GTLM.
Connor De Philippi is back at the wheel of the #29 Land Motorsports Audi R8 in GTD. Back on track is the #86 Acura NSX, tenth in class in GTD with Tom Dyer at the controls. Joao Barbosa now leads Ricky Taylor by 26 seconds. Dane Cameron runs a 1:52 flat on his first flying lap. Only Joao Barbosa is faster in the #5 Cadillac. #5, #10, #85, #31, are your top Prototype cars. Patricio O'Ward is still leading in Prototype Challenge. The #24 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GT has stuffed it into the tire barriers! Nicky Catsburg is at the wheel of it, and this incident is going to bring out a full course yellow flag.
So, the fraught race for these chaps, continues. This is also awful news for the #3 Corvette squad, because they were just preparing to make a green flag pit stop. Nicky Catsburg is trying to restart the car, and the transmission clunks as he's trying to get the car out of gear. This happened through the Gendebien bends. Corvette #3 has to come in for emergency service under yellow. Not good. We watch a replay of the #24 BMW's crash. It looks like Catsburg didn't have any brakes, or, he slide wide in the turn, went off the road and boom!, plowed into the tire wall. Catsburg's wreck has happened at the end of turn one. The Porsche Cayenne GTS snatch vehicles, and the sweeper, are out cleaning up the track.
Catsburg was in the middle of the corner, and veered offline as if something broke. Catsburg was on a perfect line, committed the cornr, and then every went pear shaped. Inside that helmet, Catsburg had to be thinking, "uh oh. This isn't going to be pretty", before slamming the barrier. The #90 Visit Florida Multimatic Riley is in the lane. Rockenfeller will return to pit lane for a full service, and a driver change. But then, whoever the next driver is, they will have to go to the sin bin for Rockenfeller's transgression. Prototypes come to pit lane, now. Both Mazda's are being serviced. What happened to Nicky Catsburg?
He's fine. The car is very damaged. The brake pedal went all the way to the floor and the car wouldn't turn even though Catsburg was turning the wheel. Visit Florida is in the pits now too. The #24 BMW was the one with the vibration that the team couldn't find. We are under just our third full course yellow of the day. Car #90 stalled leaving pit lane, and the car coughed. Both the #66 and #67 Ford GT's will pit soon. The Riley chassis cars are all having trouble. That includes car #90, and both Mazda's. The Rebellion Oreca Gibson #13 of Nick Heidfeld, is having alternator problems. The JDC Miller car is the only global spec LMP2 in the race that has not run into issues, and the Cadillac's which use Dallara built chassis', they have been running like Swiss watches for most of the race as well.
The leading #66 Ford pits with Joey Hand at the wheel. The #28 and #63 GTD cars are in. Alegra and Scuderia Corsa. Joey Hand stays in the car. Four tires and fuel. We've also seen GTD stops for Land Motorsports and the #29 Audi and the #33 Mercedes AMG GT3. Car #33 had a driver change as Mario Farnbacher handed the controls to Jeroen Bleekemolen. The sister RLL BMW M6 GT #25 made a pit stop. Bill Auberlen completed his stint, and handed over the wheel to Sebring first-timer, Alexander Sims. The #14 Lexus RC F GT3 is back on track, and the sister #15 pits. Antonio Garcia will have to come in to pit. Some days you're the windshield, and some days you're the bug. The #85 Oreca and the #31 Cadillac hit the lane, to top off with fuel.
Sean Rayhall pits the #8 Starworks Prototype Challenge car, and he has run ahead of the #38 of Patricio O'Ward. Rayhall has handed the car off to Canadian newcomer Garett Grist. The #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 takes the wave by. Not sure who is at the wheel. The right side of the hood is damaged. Jesse Krohn is at the controls. Krohn can't see out of the windshield very well, but had to come back around to get into the crocodile behind the safety car. The right hand side of the bonnet is bowed up on that BMW. Ozz Negri Jr. pits the #86 Acura NSX GT3 from 11th in class. The #11 GRT Grasser Lamborghini didn't pit. Richard Antinucci cycles to the class lead.
#33, #29, and others in GT Daytona, have pitted. Matteo Cressoni is at the wheel of the #63 Ferrari. The #48 Lamborghini is fifth in class with Dion von Moltke driving. Lawson Aschenbach is back on the lead lap in the #57 Stevenson Audi. The sole remaining #15 Lexus RC F GT3 is on the lead lap with Austin Cindric at the wheel of it. Corey Lewis got the wave around is back on the lead lap in the #16 Change Racing Lamborghini. Then comes Matt McMurry in the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 and at the back of the GTD field is the aforementioned Jesse Krohn.
Ten cars are on the lead lap in GTD, and Michael de Quesada in the Daytona winning #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche is the first car a lap down in class. The track crews are cleaning up debris from the surface here at Sebring. We are headed back to green flag racing despite a jet dryer still being out on the back straight. Joao Barbosa goes ahead of Ricky Taylor. Misha Goikhberg is a lap down and buried in GT traffic. The battle resumes for the lead between Joao Barbosa and Ricky Taylor. The #67 Ford GT still does not have a door mirror on the driver's side. In the days of the old American Le Mans Series, rules required a lost part such as a door mirror to be replaced immediately. But nowadays, it is done at the team's convenience.
The modus operandi is to change not just the mirror, but the entire door. Pardon me. That's the #66 car that needs the mirror, not #67. Sorry to panic the crew on that one. We need a mirror? Oh no! Nicky Catsburg is OK after the big wreck he had. Both Mazda's are still running as we mentioned. They are a long way down the order. Our race leader has now run 172 laps (643 miles). We are seeing quite the scrap develop in GT Daytona with good cars and good drivers going for it headed into the hairpin at turn seven. Incidentally, Jan Heylen is now at the wheel of Porsche #73 for Park Place Motorsports that was mentioned earlier on.
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 5
Hurley Haywood makes the point that the Porsche 911 RSR (the new one), is not mid engined per se, but it has had the motor moved forward from where it was. They've worked very well. The Ford GT started with a blank piece of paper, for a race car that can be driven on the road, while the 911 is a platform car. One of the Prototype Challenge entries has made it to pit lane. So is the #85 entry. Hurley Haywood has applied his name to an IMSA racing scholarship. Porsche is looking at young drivers to keep in the sport of racing for a while. Porsche Cup racer Jake Edison is someone who was selected for this scholarship. Jake was the bloke who was chosen for the award. Porsche have a sure passion about motor racing.
Now, diving into the lane, is the #5 Action Express Mustang Sampling Cadillac. In the Porsche Cup series, the cars are equal, showing the driver's ability. Albuquerque jumps out and gives the car now, to Joao Barbosa for the next stint. Jordan Taylor also pits the #10 WTR Cadillac. Jordan Taylor stays in the car, but will have four new tires. The #22 ESM Nissan stopped for fuel and tires, and so did the #13 Rebellion entry, getting fuel and tires, handing the car to Nick Heidfeld. At JDC Miller for the #85 Oreca, there was routine service, and a driver change as Misha Goikhberg takes over from Stephen Simpson. There will be a film about Hurley Haywood's life, and a biography written about his career.
The film will be released next year, and so will the book. The film will deal with his career from the '70s, '80s, and '90s, and his driving partnership with the late, great, Peter Gregg. Porsche is always innovative in their design, and they surprise people with their car designs. Haywood first ran a 1969 Porsche 911 S which is a stock, production car. But the shape is now the same, and also, it is far more advanced. Porsche is instantly identifiable as a brand and a design. Keep an eye out for the book and the movie, next year, about Hurley Haywood. Now, we have an update on GT Daytona pit action. Both Mercedes AMG GT3's have visited pit lane (#33 and #50).
The stops were routine, and both cars had driver changes. The mechanics were looking at the front grille. They were cleaning huge chunks of rubber out of the grille. There's lots of tire buildup that gets into these cars in the front grille area. Mazda has had a fraught race as we've talked about. Tristan Nunez does have car #55 pounding around on the track, but, the car is still in it's development phase. When you change bodywork, the engine and auxiliary parts that go with it, don't always fit into the car the way you think they should or could.
Is there left side bodywork damage on the #5 Cadillac? We are still unsure if the rear brake lights on the #68 Ford GT are still working. Alessandro Balzan pits the GT Daytona class leading #63 Ferrari 488. They've been running under the radar, but they know how to win. Christina Nielsen is getting back behind the wheel. A Prototype Challenge car that was in the pit lane, exits. This middle section of the race, shows where the gaps are, and everyone is working out their tactics. No cruising. There's still a lot of hard pushing. We have a distance update. We are 123 laps (460 miles) into this race. We've completed over 1/3rd distance.
The points for the NAEC are given out at four hours, eight hours, and the end. Five, four, three, two. That's the points scoring structure. Make sure your car is leading, to get the points. Joao Barbosa settles into a pace. The gap is 20 seconds between first and second. Something has fallen off one of the Ford GT's. It's a cover of some kind. It looks like the cover for the fuel filler when the fuel man puts the probe into the tank to fill the car. The taillight and the turn indicator on the #68 Ford GT are both out of order. Ford leads GT Le Mans, and the gap is 13 and a half seconds, between Richard Westbrook and Sebastien Bourdais.
Ford is four seconds ahead of the sole remaining Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R- in the race, car #3. Olivier Pla is fourth in class, being chased by the #62 Ferrari 488 GTE in the hands of ex Formula 1 pilot, Giancarlo Fisichella. Fisichella is ready for his stint, as he drank a huge bowl full of coffee to get energized. Ford and Ferrari are pulling away from Patrick Pilet's Porsche. The Porsche North America/CORE Autosport Porsche factory cars have not factored into the GT Le Mans battle, all race thus far. Porsche has not had the pace of Corvette, Ford, or Ferrari. Weather is critical. Heat and cooler temperatures, alter the aerodynamic pressure and also the balance of the car's handling. The tire compounds will change. Harder compounds in the heat of the day. Softer compound in the cooler night conditions.
Into the pit lane comes Ford #67. Full service, and a driver change. Richard Westbrook, out. Scott Dixon, into the GT. No real damage to the Ford. New Michelin tires are on the car. Scott Dixon is on his way now, back into the fight. Some GTD cars have scattered off the road. There's been a coming together between the #50 Mercedes AMG GT3 and the #86 Acura NSX. The whole left front wheel on the Mercedes is askew. The Acura had spun and stalled in Sunset Bend, turn 17. The piece that fell off the Ford GT was the glass, the mirror, from the wing mirror on the door. There's sure suspension damage on the Benz. That wheel is not at the proper angle, toed in like no tomorrow. There's been contact to damage it, or the wheel has come off the hub.
Cooper MacNeil is at the controls of the Benz #50 as he limps it back to the lane. He's going to wreck if he's not careful. They had a similar issue with broken left front suspension at the Rolex 24. Cooper, sunshine, you've got to get off the track, now. You're going to wreck the car. The wheel snaps the car to the left violently. This is very dangerous and necessitates a full course yellow flag. The left hand suspension and the steering arm, which is oriented to the left side, are broken, and this causes the car, to jerk violently in that direction as MacNeil is doing his best, but maybe should pull to the side of the road and check in with the marshals.
The #86 Acura loops it in turn 17 and that's what triggers this mess. He's going along a good clip, and then... screech! He gets a free ride on the whirligig. No thud. He starts the motor, slams the car into gear, and drives away. These are two totally unrelated mishaps. Cooper MacNeil is still trundling home. The #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini is now in pit lane. So is the Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3. MacNeil is still beating that Mercedes to pieces, trying to get home. Whew! Mercifully, Mr. MacNeil has found his way to pit lane, and the team is going to dive on that car. All hands on deck at Mercedes. Close racing between the #27 Dream Racing Motorsports Lamborghini and the #13 Rebellion Oreca, with the Lambo going off track.
Cooper MacNeil hands the Mercedes to Gunnar Jeannette. The tire was torn up, but still had air in it. The upper A arm broke away from the hub assembly. The team is going to change the entire hub assembly to a new one. Sebastien Bourdais leads Mike Rockenfeller in GT Le Mans right now. Cooper MacNeil says the Mercedes was wandering all over the road. The #33 Mercedes pits. MacNeil limped around in first gear, with zero steering, as the wheel would catch and pull the car to the left. That is the same thing that caused the injuries to driver Memo Gidley at Daytona in 2014.
Fisichella and Pla are a bit too close for comfort exiting pit lane. There will be a major temperature fluctuation between the afternoon and evening, and this makes the balance of the car a little fuzzy. The #73 Park Place Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 pits. The #3 Corvette is pitting, and we have more GTLM updates. The #911 Porsche has pitted and so has the #62 Ferrari. The #68 Ford had a close call in the lane, and it has a taillight problem. No driver change for Corvette #3. Tires and fuel only. Cadillac still leads, and are 1-2. Joao Barbosa and Jordan Taylor are the top two. Scott Dixon moves to second in GTLM. Mario Farnbacher and Christina Nielsen run 1-2 in GT Daytona. James French and Sean Rayhall are 1-2 in Prototype Challenge, seventh and eighth in the overall.
Joao Barbosa pits from the lead in the #5 Cadillac and directly ahead of the leader is the #13 Rebellion Racing Oreca Gibson of Nick Heidfeld. Just fuel and tires for the #5 Cadillac. No driver change. The #10 Cadillac will do an extra lap. Mike Rockenfeller continues driving the #3 Corvette. Joey Hand has taken over the #66 Ford GT from Sebastien Bourdais. Stephen Simpson pits the JDC Miller Motorsports Oreca Gibson. We have a battle ensuing in GT Daytona between the #33 Mercedes AMG GT3 in the hands of Mario Farnbacher, and the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 with Dion von Moltke at the wheel of it.
#48 is seventh in class trying to hold on to the lead lap. The #20 Prototype Challenge entry for Daniel Burkett, has damage. Burkett is currently driving, alongside Buddy Rice and Don Yount. Burkett is from Canada and is known as the "Manitoba Missile". That car is mired down in 42nd spot in the overall. The #2 Nissan Ligier is still in the garage being repaired. We've lost the #4 Corvette, and also the #52 Ligier of Tom Kimber-Smith, and of course, the #50 Mercedes AMG GT3 is still being worked on after it's wreck from the suspension breakage. Jordan Taylor pits the #10 Cadillac. They made 31 pit stops at the Rolex 24 compared to 32 pit stops for Action Express, and that's how they won the Rolex 24.
Tires and fuel only for Taylor. Stephen Simpson lost time on his pit stop in the #85 car. Did the #13 Rebellion make time up on #5? They were trying to get back one of two laps they are down to the leaders. Katherine Legge is sixth in GTD in the #93 Acura NSX. The #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac is in the lane. They had big problems at Daytona and have had trouble here at Sebring too. Fuel and tires only as Mike Conway stays at the wheel. The #38 Performance Tech Racing Prototype Challenge entry pits. That is the team that won in class at the Rolex 24. Fuel only for that car. James French is at the wheel at the moment.
Sean Rayhall is at the wheel of the #8 Starworks Prototype Challenge entry. 2017 is the final year of Prototype Challenge cars in the big show. The #2 Ligier Nissan is back on track with Pippo Derani at the wheel. They will continue their development during this race. Nick Heidfeld is one lap behind the #85 JDC entry. The #66 and #67 Ford's are battling for the GTLM lead. The #24 BMW M6 GT has had it's trials today. John Edwards is at the controls. The car had a vibration earlier. We have an hour to go before the next chunk of points is handed out for the North American Endurance Cup, for the longer races including the Rolex 24, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 6 Hours of the Glen, and the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
The NAEC is different from the overall series championship for IMSA. Finishing the races is very important. The #8 Starworks car of Sean Rayhall pits for four new Continental tires, and fuel. No driver change. These chaps are still hanging in there, but they've had their dramas. Adding oil or other fluids to the car, is part of these stops, with pressurized bottles that feed the fluid into the motor. The gap between first and second has come down. Jordan Taylor has turned the best lap of the #10 Cadillac's race thus far. The gap is down to 20 seconds between the leaders as we work lap 145. That's 542 miles if you are keeping score at home for race distance.
When the sun sets the temperature drops, that will change how these cars feel to the drivers. We approach 20 minutes to 4PM Eastern Time here at Sebring. Rebellion pits earlier than we thought they would. The #911 and #912 Porsche's are still on the lead lap, but just haven't been there. They ran very well at Daytona in the wet. Maybe this track isn't slick enough for the Porsche as the #13 car is back in the lane, perhaps with problems. Nick Heidfeld brought the car into it's pit box.
Now, diving into the lane, is the #5 Action Express Mustang Sampling Cadillac. In the Porsche Cup series, the cars are equal, showing the driver's ability. Albuquerque jumps out and gives the car now, to Joao Barbosa for the next stint. Jordan Taylor also pits the #10 WTR Cadillac. Jordan Taylor stays in the car, but will have four new tires. The #22 ESM Nissan stopped for fuel and tires, and so did the #13 Rebellion entry, getting fuel and tires, handing the car to Nick Heidfeld. At JDC Miller for the #85 Oreca, there was routine service, and a driver change as Misha Goikhberg takes over from Stephen Simpson. There will be a film about Hurley Haywood's life, and a biography written about his career.
The film will be released next year, and so will the book. The film will deal with his career from the '70s, '80s, and '90s, and his driving partnership with the late, great, Peter Gregg. Porsche is always innovative in their design, and they surprise people with their car designs. Haywood first ran a 1969 Porsche 911 S which is a stock, production car. But the shape is now the same, and also, it is far more advanced. Porsche is instantly identifiable as a brand and a design. Keep an eye out for the book and the movie, next year, about Hurley Haywood. Now, we have an update on GT Daytona pit action. Both Mercedes AMG GT3's have visited pit lane (#33 and #50).
The stops were routine, and both cars had driver changes. The mechanics were looking at the front grille. They were cleaning huge chunks of rubber out of the grille. There's lots of tire buildup that gets into these cars in the front grille area. Mazda has had a fraught race as we've talked about. Tristan Nunez does have car #55 pounding around on the track, but, the car is still in it's development phase. When you change bodywork, the engine and auxiliary parts that go with it, don't always fit into the car the way you think they should or could.
Is there left side bodywork damage on the #5 Cadillac? We are still unsure if the rear brake lights on the #68 Ford GT are still working. Alessandro Balzan pits the GT Daytona class leading #63 Ferrari 488. They've been running under the radar, but they know how to win. Christina Nielsen is getting back behind the wheel. A Prototype Challenge car that was in the pit lane, exits. This middle section of the race, shows where the gaps are, and everyone is working out their tactics. No cruising. There's still a lot of hard pushing. We have a distance update. We are 123 laps (460 miles) into this race. We've completed over 1/3rd distance.
The points for the NAEC are given out at four hours, eight hours, and the end. Five, four, three, two. That's the points scoring structure. Make sure your car is leading, to get the points. Joao Barbosa settles into a pace. The gap is 20 seconds between first and second. Something has fallen off one of the Ford GT's. It's a cover of some kind. It looks like the cover for the fuel filler when the fuel man puts the probe into the tank to fill the car. The taillight and the turn indicator on the #68 Ford GT are both out of order. Ford leads GT Le Mans, and the gap is 13 and a half seconds, between Richard Westbrook and Sebastien Bourdais.
Ford is four seconds ahead of the sole remaining Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R- in the race, car #3. Olivier Pla is fourth in class, being chased by the #62 Ferrari 488 GTE in the hands of ex Formula 1 pilot, Giancarlo Fisichella. Fisichella is ready for his stint, as he drank a huge bowl full of coffee to get energized. Ford and Ferrari are pulling away from Patrick Pilet's Porsche. The Porsche North America/CORE Autosport Porsche factory cars have not factored into the GT Le Mans battle, all race thus far. Porsche has not had the pace of Corvette, Ford, or Ferrari. Weather is critical. Heat and cooler temperatures, alter the aerodynamic pressure and also the balance of the car's handling. The tire compounds will change. Harder compounds in the heat of the day. Softer compound in the cooler night conditions.
Into the pit lane comes Ford #67. Full service, and a driver change. Richard Westbrook, out. Scott Dixon, into the GT. No real damage to the Ford. New Michelin tires are on the car. Scott Dixon is on his way now, back into the fight. Some GTD cars have scattered off the road. There's been a coming together between the #50 Mercedes AMG GT3 and the #86 Acura NSX. The whole left front wheel on the Mercedes is askew. The Acura had spun and stalled in Sunset Bend, turn 17. The piece that fell off the Ford GT was the glass, the mirror, from the wing mirror on the door. There's sure suspension damage on the Benz. That wheel is not at the proper angle, toed in like no tomorrow. There's been contact to damage it, or the wheel has come off the hub.
Cooper MacNeil is at the controls of the Benz #50 as he limps it back to the lane. He's going to wreck if he's not careful. They had a similar issue with broken left front suspension at the Rolex 24. Cooper, sunshine, you've got to get off the track, now. You're going to wreck the car. The wheel snaps the car to the left violently. This is very dangerous and necessitates a full course yellow flag. The left hand suspension and the steering arm, which is oriented to the left side, are broken, and this causes the car, to jerk violently in that direction as MacNeil is doing his best, but maybe should pull to the side of the road and check in with the marshals.
The #86 Acura loops it in turn 17 and that's what triggers this mess. He's going along a good clip, and then... screech! He gets a free ride on the whirligig. No thud. He starts the motor, slams the car into gear, and drives away. These are two totally unrelated mishaps. Cooper MacNeil is still trundling home. The #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini is now in pit lane. So is the Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3. MacNeil is still beating that Mercedes to pieces, trying to get home. Whew! Mercifully, Mr. MacNeil has found his way to pit lane, and the team is going to dive on that car. All hands on deck at Mercedes. Close racing between the #27 Dream Racing Motorsports Lamborghini and the #13 Rebellion Oreca, with the Lambo going off track.
Cooper MacNeil hands the Mercedes to Gunnar Jeannette. The tire was torn up, but still had air in it. The upper A arm broke away from the hub assembly. The team is going to change the entire hub assembly to a new one. Sebastien Bourdais leads Mike Rockenfeller in GT Le Mans right now. Cooper MacNeil says the Mercedes was wandering all over the road. The #33 Mercedes pits. MacNeil limped around in first gear, with zero steering, as the wheel would catch and pull the car to the left. That is the same thing that caused the injuries to driver Memo Gidley at Daytona in 2014.
Fisichella and Pla are a bit too close for comfort exiting pit lane. There will be a major temperature fluctuation between the afternoon and evening, and this makes the balance of the car a little fuzzy. The #73 Park Place Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 pits. The #3 Corvette is pitting, and we have more GTLM updates. The #911 Porsche has pitted and so has the #62 Ferrari. The #68 Ford had a close call in the lane, and it has a taillight problem. No driver change for Corvette #3. Tires and fuel only. Cadillac still leads, and are 1-2. Joao Barbosa and Jordan Taylor are the top two. Scott Dixon moves to second in GTLM. Mario Farnbacher and Christina Nielsen run 1-2 in GT Daytona. James French and Sean Rayhall are 1-2 in Prototype Challenge, seventh and eighth in the overall.
Joao Barbosa pits from the lead in the #5 Cadillac and directly ahead of the leader is the #13 Rebellion Racing Oreca Gibson of Nick Heidfeld. Just fuel and tires for the #5 Cadillac. No driver change. The #10 Cadillac will do an extra lap. Mike Rockenfeller continues driving the #3 Corvette. Joey Hand has taken over the #66 Ford GT from Sebastien Bourdais. Stephen Simpson pits the JDC Miller Motorsports Oreca Gibson. We have a battle ensuing in GT Daytona between the #33 Mercedes AMG GT3 in the hands of Mario Farnbacher, and the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 with Dion von Moltke at the wheel of it.
#48 is seventh in class trying to hold on to the lead lap. The #20 Prototype Challenge entry for Daniel Burkett, has damage. Burkett is currently driving, alongside Buddy Rice and Don Yount. Burkett is from Canada and is known as the "Manitoba Missile". That car is mired down in 42nd spot in the overall. The #2 Nissan Ligier is still in the garage being repaired. We've lost the #4 Corvette, and also the #52 Ligier of Tom Kimber-Smith, and of course, the #50 Mercedes AMG GT3 is still being worked on after it's wreck from the suspension breakage. Jordan Taylor pits the #10 Cadillac. They made 31 pit stops at the Rolex 24 compared to 32 pit stops for Action Express, and that's how they won the Rolex 24.
Tires and fuel only for Taylor. Stephen Simpson lost time on his pit stop in the #85 car. Did the #13 Rebellion make time up on #5? They were trying to get back one of two laps they are down to the leaders. Katherine Legge is sixth in GTD in the #93 Acura NSX. The #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac is in the lane. They had big problems at Daytona and have had trouble here at Sebring too. Fuel and tires only as Mike Conway stays at the wheel. The #38 Performance Tech Racing Prototype Challenge entry pits. That is the team that won in class at the Rolex 24. Fuel only for that car. James French is at the wheel at the moment.
Sean Rayhall is at the wheel of the #8 Starworks Prototype Challenge entry. 2017 is the final year of Prototype Challenge cars in the big show. The #2 Ligier Nissan is back on track with Pippo Derani at the wheel. They will continue their development during this race. Nick Heidfeld is one lap behind the #85 JDC entry. The #66 and #67 Ford's are battling for the GTLM lead. The #24 BMW M6 GT has had it's trials today. John Edwards is at the controls. The car had a vibration earlier. We have an hour to go before the next chunk of points is handed out for the North American Endurance Cup, for the longer races including the Rolex 24, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 6 Hours of the Glen, and the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
The NAEC is different from the overall series championship for IMSA. Finishing the races is very important. The #8 Starworks car of Sean Rayhall pits for four new Continental tires, and fuel. No driver change. These chaps are still hanging in there, but they've had their dramas. Adding oil or other fluids to the car, is part of these stops, with pressurized bottles that feed the fluid into the motor. The gap between first and second has come down. Jordan Taylor has turned the best lap of the #10 Cadillac's race thus far. The gap is down to 20 seconds between the leaders as we work lap 145. That's 542 miles if you are keeping score at home for race distance.
When the sun sets the temperature drops, that will change how these cars feel to the drivers. We approach 20 minutes to 4PM Eastern Time here at Sebring. Rebellion pits earlier than we thought they would. The #911 and #912 Porsche's are still on the lead lap, but just haven't been there. They ran very well at Daytona in the wet. Maybe this track isn't slick enough for the Porsche as the #13 car is back in the lane, perhaps with problems. Nick Heidfeld brought the car into it's pit box.
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 4
Again, the tire compounds the teams chose before Daytona, have to be the compound of tire they use all year long. Thankfully it isn't the same set of tires for the whole year. IMSA Radio's John Hindhaugh recalls a conversation he had with racer turned historian and car collector, Alain de Cadenet, who used a single set of tires for a sports car race, and then, a Grand Prix race. Wow. That can't be done these days. It was the same set, not just the same construction and compound. The data the tire companies get informs the construction of their high performance street tires. Five active IMSA drivers tested and developed the newest Continental street tire.
Alex Lynn is 1.6 seconds behind the #85 JDC Miller Motorsports Oreca of Chris Miller. Lynn is catching Miller. Traffic ahead, including the seventh place Lamborghini of Bryan Sellers in GTD and lots more GT Daytona machines. Through the Gendebien bends they go and onto the Ulmann straight which brings them down to Sunset Bend (turn 17) another time. These are the old concrete runways that have been here since this place was a bomber training command base. The battles are still hot and heavy. Drive at 100%. The days of babying the car, are long over. Chris Miller is running well, keeping Alex Lynn at bay. Lynn has an impressive CV in his racing career. Bill Auberlen is having grip issues with his Michelin tires. But, he pitted for new ones and a load of petrol.
Miller in the yellow prototype is still working on getting past a couple GTD cars. The Land Motorsports Audi R8 and one of the MSR Acura NSX GT3s. Alex Lynn is doing well out there and this race could prove that he's a true sports car racer, even though he's come out of the open wheel ranks. Andy Lally in the Acura is holding up Chris Miller. Alex Lynn is alongside Chris Miller at the approach to Sunset Bend! Will he make the pass? Nope. Miller slams the door in his face. Chris Miller holds off Alex Lynn who has to wrestle that big Cadillac over the bumps. That scrap was done and dusted bar the shouting. But, Miller still had to tell Alex Lynn demonstratively, "hey buddy! Let me by!" That's clean racing at it's best. Respect. Not dirty driving tactics. Chris Miller is earning his money today.
Filipe Albuquerque continues to lead. We watch in replay as Miller had some really issues trying to pass the Acura NSX of Andy Lally. With changes by IMSA in the air inlet restrictors on the motor, the Gibson smaller displacement higher revving V8, has more power than the big 6.2 liter lump in the back of the Cadillac. In case you're wondering, the lump is the engine. Mercedes AMG GT3 #33 is in the lane. #33 is the current GT Daytona class leader, and both cars for Riley Motorsports AMG have stopped simultaneously. Fuel and tires, and no driver change for #33. Same routine for the #50. Jeroen Bleekemolen remains at the keyboard of #33.
Shane van Gisbergen likewise is staying in the #50. Back in the day, in sports car racing, you could do a whole 12 hour or 24 hour race on one set of tires. That's because they had treads, just like road tires. They were not slick racing tires. Le Mans was and still is, a public road. Formula 1 did the same thing. Formula Ford's, one of the introductory motorsport leagues, always ran Dunlop tires with treads on them. Not much speed differential between a GTD Mercedes and a GTLM Ford or Ferrari. But, the greater downforce on a GTLM car allows them to brake into the corner later. Filipe Albuquerque leads by 16 seconds, as we've run 90 laps, (337 miles).
Johannes van Overbeek runs a lap down to the Prototype leaders in the Nissan DPi. Sebastien Buemi in the Rebellion Oreca is closing in on Monsieur van Overbeek. Kyle Masson is extending his lead in Prototype Challenge at the wheel of the #38 Performance Tech entry. Masson is running similar lap times to the #8 Starworks entry in the hands of Max Hanratty. We've got cars being worked on in the lane or the garage. The #55 Mazda Prototype is behind the wall. The #90 Multimatic Riley of Marc Goossens has a throttle problem. It's game over for the #4 factory Corvette C-7-R- with overheating. The #2 ESM Nissan is behind the wall as Pippo Derani had over boost issues.
It'll spend hours in the shop. The #46 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 is in the lane for routine service. Fabio Babini is at the controls, sharing with with veteran Emmanuel Collard of France, and Italian countrymen Emanuele Busnelli and Michele Beretta. Kyle Masson brings the #38 Prototype Challenge leading entry into the lane, for fuel only. No tires and no driver change. The only maintenance is preventative, blowing debris out of the radiators with the air hose that would otherwise be attached to the rattle guns for the tires. Problems for the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Ligier. Behind the wall it goes, as it's race continues to get more pear shaped.
Cadillac Global Project manager Rick Breckers is in the booth, and Cadillac is back in sports car racing. Cadillac is focused on racing in the U.S. as they aren't eligible to race at Le Mans. They hope to. The Cadillac owners have gotten behind the program though. IMSA is taking an LMP2 car, basically, and giving styling cues from the automakers and also, the production based motor that is modified for racing. Cadillac and Dallara in Italy, designed the car. Great action in GT Daytona among several cars from several makes. Engineers at Cadillac are also racers. Racing improves the brand.
JDC Miller and their yellow bird, the #85, are in the lane now. Fuel and tires, and no driver change. Chris Miller stalled the car and had to fire it again. Cadillac #5 pits. Jordan Taylor will take over from Alex Lynn as they pit. No driver change for #5. The #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 pitted and Alessandro Balzan is now behind the wheel. A spin for the #23 Alex Job Racing Audi R8. Bill Sweedler was assisted by Boris Said into a spin in turn three. Sweedler shares the AJR entry with regular co-drivers Townsend Bell and Frank Montecalvo. GTLM cars are pitting as is Sebastien Buemi in the #13 Rebellion. In his stint, Filipe Albuquerque pulled out 29 or so seconds on Alex Lynn. Jordan Taylor now at the wheel of #10.
Jordan Taylor is now second, 32 seconds behind the race leader, as the #75 Mercedes enters pit lane. There is another three-way battle in GT Daytona between BMW, Lamborghini, and Lexus. Turner Motorsports vs. Paul Miller Racing vs. 3GT Racing. This scrum is going on down the Ulmann straight. The #15 Lexus dives for pit lane. This is the Robert Alon, Jack Hawksworth, and Austin Cindric driven entry, while #14 has the trio of Scott Pruett, Sage Karam, and Ian James. Hawksworth is at the controls now. Tires and fuel only. Everyone has done double stints on their tires. The Audi #23 pitted. AJR has been chasing the car for the whole race, changing dampers, the rear wing, and spring rates.
The Lexus smokes the tires away from pit lane. A piece of bodywork has fallen off the Lexus. One wonders what the stewards will say about the smoky tire burnout leaving pit lane, too. No real damage to the Lexus it appears. We are currently working lap 100, equaling 374 miles into the event. Of course, this race is not by distance, but by time. Three and a half hours into the race. Albuquerque, Taylor, Miller, the top three. Sebastien Buemi has gone ahead of Johannes van Overbeek. Kyle Masson leads by a minute and a half in Prototype Challenge over Max Hanratty. Corvette leads Ferrari and Ford in GT Le Mans. Jan Magnussen over James Calado and Sebastien Bourdais.
Billy Johnson in the #68 Ford GT is fourth in class. As we sort this out, the #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac goes completely off the road in turn five! Egad! Fortunately, the driver gathered it up. Pardon. Turn six is where that fracas happened. Mike Conway at the wheel of it, doesn't usually make boo boo's that big. Conway has just stepped into the car for the first time in this race. Maybe it was his out lap. Mark Kvamme is fourth in the overall in the #20 BAR1 Prototype Challenge machine. Mike Conway has been clipped at the rear by the #3 Corvette C-7-R-. Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Ford are the top four in GT Le Mans. Sebastien Buemi and Rebellion have been fighting back. Bruno Senna is now at the wheel of the #22 ESM Nissan with the Ligier chassis.
Ooh. BMW M6 GT3 #96 is sideways! That's the GT Daytona entry for Turner Motorsports in the hands of the three J's. Justin Marks from the U.S., Jens Klingman of Germany, and Finland's Jesse Krohn. Krohn is at the controls, and loses a spot to Bryan Sellers. There's a phalanx of fifteen cars all thundering down the back straight at the same time. There are places here at Sebring where it's impossible to pass. Pit stop time for GT Daytona cars. Audi, BMW, and Lexus are in the lane. Numbers 48, 96, and 14, respectively. Bryan Sellers turns the #48 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 over to Madison Snow, and there are driver changes and tires on the other cars. Mercedes #75 is in the lane and Boris Said stays behind the wheel. Factory Porsche #912 has Kevin Estre now behind the wheel, replacing Laurens Vanthoor.
Tires, fuel, and taking a tear off off the windscreen. The #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 sees Spencer Pumpelly get in the car. Pumpelly was not in the car at Daytona, when they won their class, but he's been calling strategy for them the whole race so far and sees his first stint in the car, sharing with Michael de Quesada, Michael Christensen, and Daniel Morad. Bryan Sellers has been really quick in the Lamborghini all weekend. Jan Heylen leads GTD in the #73 Park Place Porsche 911 GT3. But he comes to the lane, and now, Jeroen Bleekemolen takes the lead in the #33 Mercedes. Alessandro Balzan is in the #63 Ferrari, and Shane van Gisbergen pits the #50 Mercedes AMG GT3. Heylen is sharing the Park Place Motorsports Porsche with Patrick Lindsey, Jorg Bergmeister, and Matthew McMurry.
Pit stop time now too, for the #3 factory Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-. Jan Magnussen gets out. Mike Rockenfeller may be getting in. He did. Fuel and tires added. Filipe Albuquerque has over a half a minute lead on everyone else in the #5 Mustang Sampling Action Express Cadillac, followed by the similar #10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry with Jordan Taylor driving. Third is still Chris Miller in the JDC Miller Oreca 07 Gibson global spec Prototype. Sebastien Buemi is still fourth in the Rebellion Oreca #13, a lap off the lead. Bruno Senna is 16 seconds in-arrears, two laps off the lead in the #22 Nissan DPi. Kyle Masson still leads Prototype Challenge. Sebastien Bourdais pits the leading #66 Ford GT as Richard Westbrook in the #67 team car. Olivier Pla is now at the wheel of Ford GT #68. Giancarlo Fisichella has taken over the #62 Ferrari 488 GTE. Bill Auberlen is sixth in the #25 BMW M6 GT.
Rockenfeller and Bourdais scrap for position in GTLM into turn seven. Mike Conway in the #31 Cadillac wants by these two and goes the long way. Bourdais defends his place on cold tires. Be careful. A car's handling can be diabolical on cold tires. Ferrari is trapped in a Mercedes AMG sandwich in GT Daytona presently. Shane van Gisbergen in the second Mercedes is ahead of Andy Lally in the #93 Acura NSX by 15 seconds. They are followed by the Grasser Racing Lamborghini with Richard Antinucci at the helm, and behind that car, is Jules Gounon in the #29 Land Motorsports Audi R8.
New Porsche recruit, who comes from Ferrari, Gianmaria Bruni, can't drive the car yet, because of contractual obligations. He may not even start racing for the German brand until 2018, although it was thought he'd start in a GTE spec car by the time the 24 Hours of Le Mans comes around in June. Porsche wants to have Laurens Vanthoor and Gianmaria Bruni on the same team. Good news for Mazda fans. The #55 RT24P has reappeared on the speedway here at Sebring. It is back on track after being repaired. Both the #70 and #55 are back in the race, but using the 12 hours now, just as a test session. A battle in GTD between Acura and Audi flies through Sunset Bend, turn 17. The GT Daytona cars are very stout in a straight line.
GTLM cars have more aero advantages, and can brake later into the corner. John Edwards at the wheel of the #24 BMW M6 GT is trying to fight back after being fraught with issues on the car earlier. He shares with Martin Tomczyk of Germany and Nicky Catsburg of Holland. Tomczyk is a DTM touring car veteran for Audi and BMW and Catsburg has made a name for himself in GT sports car racing in Europe over the last number of years. The car is ninth in GT Le Mans, but way down in 39th in the overall. Mark Kvamme has had the #20 BAR1 Motorsports Prototype Challenge car in the pit lane for a long while now.
Tom Kimber-Smith has had problems with the #52 Ligier he shares with Jose Guttierez and Michael Guasch. That car had gearbox troubles a little earlier. Marc Goossens is back on track pounding around in the #90 Multimatic Riley. The #67 Ford GT has gone longer on fuel than anyone else and they are back in the class lead. Richard Westbrook leads team mate Sebastien Bourdais in the sister car #66. Giancarlo Fisichella has gotten back into the #62 Ferrari 488 GTE which lost time in pit lane on a stop. Mike Conway has brought the #31 Cadillac DPi back to seventh in the overall. Mike Conway is just three laps behind the overall race leader.
Mazda worked a ton on both their cars. On the #70 they changed the nose, which is incredible. No suspension damage. Right rear brakes had to be redone entirely. Well, the entire brake system was changed. The #55 Mazda changed the coolant system and also, worked on the suspension. Five Prototype cars have had problems during this race, while five others have not had too many issues. Giancarlo Fisichella has become quite a bit more competitive than he was earlier in the weekend here at Sebring. Sebastien Bourdais races through the hairpin with some daylight between himself and the #3 Corvette of Mike Rockenfeller. Sebastien Bourdais has the distinction of being the first driver in a long time to be leading the points in both IndyCar and IMSA competition.
The legend, Hurley Haywood, has joined the Radio Le Mans broadcast team for a little while. It should be noted that Haywood is a favorite driver of yours truly. When Haywood first raced here, in the early 1970s, the Sebring course was a long one at 5.4 miles. The track has been shortened for safety reasons since then, in the last 45 years or so. The track is fun to drive, and driving at night, it gets really dark. There is not too much separation between modern prototype and GT cars. The concrete still beats up cars and drivers. 70% of the track hammers the car and the driver.
Alex Lynn is 1.6 seconds behind the #85 JDC Miller Motorsports Oreca of Chris Miller. Lynn is catching Miller. Traffic ahead, including the seventh place Lamborghini of Bryan Sellers in GTD and lots more GT Daytona machines. Through the Gendebien bends they go and onto the Ulmann straight which brings them down to Sunset Bend (turn 17) another time. These are the old concrete runways that have been here since this place was a bomber training command base. The battles are still hot and heavy. Drive at 100%. The days of babying the car, are long over. Chris Miller is running well, keeping Alex Lynn at bay. Lynn has an impressive CV in his racing career. Bill Auberlen is having grip issues with his Michelin tires. But, he pitted for new ones and a load of petrol.
Miller in the yellow prototype is still working on getting past a couple GTD cars. The Land Motorsports Audi R8 and one of the MSR Acura NSX GT3s. Alex Lynn is doing well out there and this race could prove that he's a true sports car racer, even though he's come out of the open wheel ranks. Andy Lally in the Acura is holding up Chris Miller. Alex Lynn is alongside Chris Miller at the approach to Sunset Bend! Will he make the pass? Nope. Miller slams the door in his face. Chris Miller holds off Alex Lynn who has to wrestle that big Cadillac over the bumps. That scrap was done and dusted bar the shouting. But, Miller still had to tell Alex Lynn demonstratively, "hey buddy! Let me by!" That's clean racing at it's best. Respect. Not dirty driving tactics. Chris Miller is earning his money today.
Filipe Albuquerque continues to lead. We watch in replay as Miller had some really issues trying to pass the Acura NSX of Andy Lally. With changes by IMSA in the air inlet restrictors on the motor, the Gibson smaller displacement higher revving V8, has more power than the big 6.2 liter lump in the back of the Cadillac. In case you're wondering, the lump is the engine. Mercedes AMG GT3 #33 is in the lane. #33 is the current GT Daytona class leader, and both cars for Riley Motorsports AMG have stopped simultaneously. Fuel and tires, and no driver change for #33. Same routine for the #50. Jeroen Bleekemolen remains at the keyboard of #33.
Shane van Gisbergen likewise is staying in the #50. Back in the day, in sports car racing, you could do a whole 12 hour or 24 hour race on one set of tires. That's because they had treads, just like road tires. They were not slick racing tires. Le Mans was and still is, a public road. Formula 1 did the same thing. Formula Ford's, one of the introductory motorsport leagues, always ran Dunlop tires with treads on them. Not much speed differential between a GTD Mercedes and a GTLM Ford or Ferrari. But, the greater downforce on a GTLM car allows them to brake into the corner later. Filipe Albuquerque leads by 16 seconds, as we've run 90 laps, (337 miles).
Johannes van Overbeek runs a lap down to the Prototype leaders in the Nissan DPi. Sebastien Buemi in the Rebellion Oreca is closing in on Monsieur van Overbeek. Kyle Masson is extending his lead in Prototype Challenge at the wheel of the #38 Performance Tech entry. Masson is running similar lap times to the #8 Starworks entry in the hands of Max Hanratty. We've got cars being worked on in the lane or the garage. The #55 Mazda Prototype is behind the wall. The #90 Multimatic Riley of Marc Goossens has a throttle problem. It's game over for the #4 factory Corvette C-7-R- with overheating. The #2 ESM Nissan is behind the wall as Pippo Derani had over boost issues.
It'll spend hours in the shop. The #46 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 is in the lane for routine service. Fabio Babini is at the controls, sharing with with veteran Emmanuel Collard of France, and Italian countrymen Emanuele Busnelli and Michele Beretta. Kyle Masson brings the #38 Prototype Challenge leading entry into the lane, for fuel only. No tires and no driver change. The only maintenance is preventative, blowing debris out of the radiators with the air hose that would otherwise be attached to the rattle guns for the tires. Problems for the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Ligier. Behind the wall it goes, as it's race continues to get more pear shaped.
Cadillac Global Project manager Rick Breckers is in the booth, and Cadillac is back in sports car racing. Cadillac is focused on racing in the U.S. as they aren't eligible to race at Le Mans. They hope to. The Cadillac owners have gotten behind the program though. IMSA is taking an LMP2 car, basically, and giving styling cues from the automakers and also, the production based motor that is modified for racing. Cadillac and Dallara in Italy, designed the car. Great action in GT Daytona among several cars from several makes. Engineers at Cadillac are also racers. Racing improves the brand.
JDC Miller and their yellow bird, the #85, are in the lane now. Fuel and tires, and no driver change. Chris Miller stalled the car and had to fire it again. Cadillac #5 pits. Jordan Taylor will take over from Alex Lynn as they pit. No driver change for #5. The #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 pitted and Alessandro Balzan is now behind the wheel. A spin for the #23 Alex Job Racing Audi R8. Bill Sweedler was assisted by Boris Said into a spin in turn three. Sweedler shares the AJR entry with regular co-drivers Townsend Bell and Frank Montecalvo. GTLM cars are pitting as is Sebastien Buemi in the #13 Rebellion. In his stint, Filipe Albuquerque pulled out 29 or so seconds on Alex Lynn. Jordan Taylor now at the wheel of #10.
Jordan Taylor is now second, 32 seconds behind the race leader, as the #75 Mercedes enters pit lane. There is another three-way battle in GT Daytona between BMW, Lamborghini, and Lexus. Turner Motorsports vs. Paul Miller Racing vs. 3GT Racing. This scrum is going on down the Ulmann straight. The #15 Lexus dives for pit lane. This is the Robert Alon, Jack Hawksworth, and Austin Cindric driven entry, while #14 has the trio of Scott Pruett, Sage Karam, and Ian James. Hawksworth is at the controls now. Tires and fuel only. Everyone has done double stints on their tires. The Audi #23 pitted. AJR has been chasing the car for the whole race, changing dampers, the rear wing, and spring rates.
The Lexus smokes the tires away from pit lane. A piece of bodywork has fallen off the Lexus. One wonders what the stewards will say about the smoky tire burnout leaving pit lane, too. No real damage to the Lexus it appears. We are currently working lap 100, equaling 374 miles into the event. Of course, this race is not by distance, but by time. Three and a half hours into the race. Albuquerque, Taylor, Miller, the top three. Sebastien Buemi has gone ahead of Johannes van Overbeek. Kyle Masson leads by a minute and a half in Prototype Challenge over Max Hanratty. Corvette leads Ferrari and Ford in GT Le Mans. Jan Magnussen over James Calado and Sebastien Bourdais.
Billy Johnson in the #68 Ford GT is fourth in class. As we sort this out, the #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac goes completely off the road in turn five! Egad! Fortunately, the driver gathered it up. Pardon. Turn six is where that fracas happened. Mike Conway at the wheel of it, doesn't usually make boo boo's that big. Conway has just stepped into the car for the first time in this race. Maybe it was his out lap. Mark Kvamme is fourth in the overall in the #20 BAR1 Prototype Challenge machine. Mike Conway has been clipped at the rear by the #3 Corvette C-7-R-. Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Ford are the top four in GT Le Mans. Sebastien Buemi and Rebellion have been fighting back. Bruno Senna is now at the wheel of the #22 ESM Nissan with the Ligier chassis.
Ooh. BMW M6 GT3 #96 is sideways! That's the GT Daytona entry for Turner Motorsports in the hands of the three J's. Justin Marks from the U.S., Jens Klingman of Germany, and Finland's Jesse Krohn. Krohn is at the controls, and loses a spot to Bryan Sellers. There's a phalanx of fifteen cars all thundering down the back straight at the same time. There are places here at Sebring where it's impossible to pass. Pit stop time for GT Daytona cars. Audi, BMW, and Lexus are in the lane. Numbers 48, 96, and 14, respectively. Bryan Sellers turns the #48 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 over to Madison Snow, and there are driver changes and tires on the other cars. Mercedes #75 is in the lane and Boris Said stays behind the wheel. Factory Porsche #912 has Kevin Estre now behind the wheel, replacing Laurens Vanthoor.
Tires, fuel, and taking a tear off off the windscreen. The #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 sees Spencer Pumpelly get in the car. Pumpelly was not in the car at Daytona, when they won their class, but he's been calling strategy for them the whole race so far and sees his first stint in the car, sharing with Michael de Quesada, Michael Christensen, and Daniel Morad. Bryan Sellers has been really quick in the Lamborghini all weekend. Jan Heylen leads GTD in the #73 Park Place Porsche 911 GT3. But he comes to the lane, and now, Jeroen Bleekemolen takes the lead in the #33 Mercedes. Alessandro Balzan is in the #63 Ferrari, and Shane van Gisbergen pits the #50 Mercedes AMG GT3. Heylen is sharing the Park Place Motorsports Porsche with Patrick Lindsey, Jorg Bergmeister, and Matthew McMurry.
Pit stop time now too, for the #3 factory Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-. Jan Magnussen gets out. Mike Rockenfeller may be getting in. He did. Fuel and tires added. Filipe Albuquerque has over a half a minute lead on everyone else in the #5 Mustang Sampling Action Express Cadillac, followed by the similar #10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry with Jordan Taylor driving. Third is still Chris Miller in the JDC Miller Oreca 07 Gibson global spec Prototype. Sebastien Buemi is still fourth in the Rebellion Oreca #13, a lap off the lead. Bruno Senna is 16 seconds in-arrears, two laps off the lead in the #22 Nissan DPi. Kyle Masson still leads Prototype Challenge. Sebastien Bourdais pits the leading #66 Ford GT as Richard Westbrook in the #67 team car. Olivier Pla is now at the wheel of Ford GT #68. Giancarlo Fisichella has taken over the #62 Ferrari 488 GTE. Bill Auberlen is sixth in the #25 BMW M6 GT.
Rockenfeller and Bourdais scrap for position in GTLM into turn seven. Mike Conway in the #31 Cadillac wants by these two and goes the long way. Bourdais defends his place on cold tires. Be careful. A car's handling can be diabolical on cold tires. Ferrari is trapped in a Mercedes AMG sandwich in GT Daytona presently. Shane van Gisbergen in the second Mercedes is ahead of Andy Lally in the #93 Acura NSX by 15 seconds. They are followed by the Grasser Racing Lamborghini with Richard Antinucci at the helm, and behind that car, is Jules Gounon in the #29 Land Motorsports Audi R8.
New Porsche recruit, who comes from Ferrari, Gianmaria Bruni, can't drive the car yet, because of contractual obligations. He may not even start racing for the German brand until 2018, although it was thought he'd start in a GTE spec car by the time the 24 Hours of Le Mans comes around in June. Porsche wants to have Laurens Vanthoor and Gianmaria Bruni on the same team. Good news for Mazda fans. The #55 RT24P has reappeared on the speedway here at Sebring. It is back on track after being repaired. Both the #70 and #55 are back in the race, but using the 12 hours now, just as a test session. A battle in GTD between Acura and Audi flies through Sunset Bend, turn 17. The GT Daytona cars are very stout in a straight line.
GTLM cars have more aero advantages, and can brake later into the corner. John Edwards at the wheel of the #24 BMW M6 GT is trying to fight back after being fraught with issues on the car earlier. He shares with Martin Tomczyk of Germany and Nicky Catsburg of Holland. Tomczyk is a DTM touring car veteran for Audi and BMW and Catsburg has made a name for himself in GT sports car racing in Europe over the last number of years. The car is ninth in GT Le Mans, but way down in 39th in the overall. Mark Kvamme has had the #20 BAR1 Motorsports Prototype Challenge car in the pit lane for a long while now.
Tom Kimber-Smith has had problems with the #52 Ligier he shares with Jose Guttierez and Michael Guasch. That car had gearbox troubles a little earlier. Marc Goossens is back on track pounding around in the #90 Multimatic Riley. The #67 Ford GT has gone longer on fuel than anyone else and they are back in the class lead. Richard Westbrook leads team mate Sebastien Bourdais in the sister car #66. Giancarlo Fisichella has gotten back into the #62 Ferrari 488 GTE which lost time in pit lane on a stop. Mike Conway has brought the #31 Cadillac DPi back to seventh in the overall. Mike Conway is just three laps behind the overall race leader.
Mazda worked a ton on both their cars. On the #70 they changed the nose, which is incredible. No suspension damage. Right rear brakes had to be redone entirely. Well, the entire brake system was changed. The #55 Mazda changed the coolant system and also, worked on the suspension. Five Prototype cars have had problems during this race, while five others have not had too many issues. Giancarlo Fisichella has become quite a bit more competitive than he was earlier in the weekend here at Sebring. Sebastien Bourdais races through the hairpin with some daylight between himself and the #3 Corvette of Mike Rockenfeller. Sebastien Bourdais has the distinction of being the first driver in a long time to be leading the points in both IndyCar and IMSA competition.
The legend, Hurley Haywood, has joined the Radio Le Mans broadcast team for a little while. It should be noted that Haywood is a favorite driver of yours truly. When Haywood first raced here, in the early 1970s, the Sebring course was a long one at 5.4 miles. The track has been shortened for safety reasons since then, in the last 45 years or so. The track is fun to drive, and driving at night, it gets really dark. There is not too much separation between modern prototype and GT cars. The concrete still beats up cars and drivers. 70% of the track hammers the car and the driver.
Monday, March 27, 2017
stay tuned for more from Sebring
Yours truly, is working his way steadily, through the 12 Hours of Sebring to blog about it. We've covered the opening three hours. Stay tuned for more coverage to come, in the next few days.
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 3
The two Porsche GT cars split their fuel stop strategy as the Ford GT's go longer on fuel. What happened to car #90 on that round of stops? Alex Lynn is 19 seconds behind the leaders. Visit Florida Racing lost lots of time in pit lane. What's the story with the Porsche's? There are different tire strategies for each car. The #911 pitted on it's schedule and the #912 was off sequence. Corvette made a pit stop for car #3. Antonio Garcia got out of the car and as fit as he is, the Spaniard was still whipped after his stint. Fuel and tires for #3. They had a fire during night practice but everything was repaired. Mario Farnbacher in the #33 Mercedes AMG GT3 leads GT Daytona at the moment.
Farnbacher sharing with Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen. Ryan Briscoe has been in the #67 Ford since the start of the race. Curran and Albuquerque are still 1-2, as more problems surface for the #24 BMW M6 GT with Martin Tomczyk at the wheel. Tomczyk is on his out lap, but he is missing a left front tire! Tomczyk shares that BMW with John Edwards and Nicky Catsburg. The splitter is dragging on the concrete. The rim is still intact, barely. The #13 Rebellion had a crewman shut the car off, which is not part of the IMSA regulations, but it is in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Filipe Albuquerque has gone past Eric Curran for the lead again.
The #5 Cadillac leads for the first time in this race. Alex Lynn is pulling away from Misha Goikhberg and Marc Goossens who run fourth and fifth, and Tom Kimber-Smith has passed Spencer Pigot. Pigot is the last car on the lead lap in seventh overall. Martin Tomczyk's puncture was caused by an off course excursion he had. Alex Lynn deals with the bumps in turn 17 just like every other driver with the back of the Cadillac DPi-V.R bouncing over the pavement. Alex Lynn has raced at Le Mans and in single seater open wheel cars, but it's his first baptism of fire here at Sebring. The second placed GT Daytona Mercedes AMG GT3 #50 is in pit lane. Gunnar Jeanette gets out, and Shane van Gisbergen gets in. They are sharing the car with Cooper MacNeil.
SVG is now at the controls of car #50. He is the defending champion of Virgin Australian Supercars. He is an all around racing driver with sports cars and touring cars. Ford GT's #68 and #67 battle. Billy Johnson takes the spot from team mate Richard Westbrook. The #68 is being run by George Howard Chapel and is the UK team Ford GT. But, it is still a car for the U.S. CGR effort. The car that ran the #69 at the Rolex 24, is being prepped for the FIA World Endurance Championship that is coming up soon.
Jeff Segal is piloting the #86 Acura NSX on a lap around Sebring, and he shares that car with team mates Oswaldo Negri Jr. and Tom Dyer. Nine and 3/4 hours remain in the race. Rebellion is fast, but they are two laps behind. Sebastien Buemi is still driving. Cadillac runs 1-2-3. Alex Lynn has set his personal best time, sharing with Ricky and Jordan Taylor of course. The #85 JDC Miller Motorsports car is fourth, followed by the #90 Visit Florida Multimatic Riley. We have a spin for the #75 Mercedes AMG GT3 for SunEnergy Racing. Boris Said has taken over the controls from Tristan Vautier. The #25 BMW M6 GT forced Said off the road. That's ironic, because Boris Said was a BMW driver for many years, with Tom Milner's Prototype Technology Group. Of course, Milner's son, Tommy, is now racing for Corvette Racing as well.
Bill Auberlen nerfed into the side of Boris Said. Boris Said and Hans Stuck drove for Tom Milner in the BMW M3's for many years. Michael de Quesada brings the #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 in GT Daytona to pit lane. It's a scheduled stop with a driver change. Daniel Morad returns to the cockpit. Morad and de Quesada are sharing with Michael Christensen and Spencer Pumpelly who will drive later on. Filipe Albuquerque has a 3.8 second cushion over Eric Curran. The #2 ESM Nissan is still in the garage and may get back out running as a test session. The #22 sister car is still running. Mechanical issues have put the #2 out. So, game over for the defending 12 Hours of Sebring champions. Actually, the 2016 champs of both the Rolex 24 and the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Filipe Albuquerque leads only by 1.7 seconds. Patricio O'Ward pits in the Prototype Challenge PC car, and Kyle Masson takes over the car. These are Masson's first laps ever in the 12 Hours, even though he's also raced here earlier in the week, too. GTLM is now led by the #66 Ford GT and Sebastien Bourdais has taken over from Dirk Mueller. The Mercedes AMG GT3's were flying under the radar in practice, but came to life in qualifying. That's a strong car, and it had an increase in size of the air inlet restrictor by IMSA for the Balance of Performance. It is two millimeters larger. The #31 Cadillac has spun in Sunset Bend!
Curran is right in the middle of the road. Watch out! The leader has spun! No fire in the 6.2 liter V8. The pits are closed and we could have our second full course yellow flag of the race. In fact, we do. Curran cannot start the car. Curran clipped Johannes van Overbeek in the #22 Nissan DPi and van Overbeek did a 360 and kept on truckin'. Well, car-ing, I guess. van Overbeek had to be slowing to come to the lane. We have the marshals out on track, but cars are still traveling far too fast to even notice! That's poor driving on the part of cars #3 and #66 in GTLM. van Overbeek, actually should have slowed down sooner. Race Control and the marshals are reviewing the incident.
Curran does not have a starter, and this is trouble for pit stops, because you have to start the car under it's own power. Curran has taken the flat tow. He's being towed into the back of the paddock area and not to pit lane. The #70 Mazda Prototype that we saw take a huge clout into the tire barriers earlier, is back on track. Cars immediately behind the safety car are pointed by and allowed to make up a lap and be on the tail end of the lead lap in their particular classes. Prototypes will pit, and then GT cars. The #4 Corvette C-7-R- is out, having overheated. Game over for last year's Sebring GTLM champions. Fast, consistent driver Ashley Freiberg is here at Sebring, but not driving, and instead, looking for a ride. Racing is a business.
Freiberg is optimistic to be racing again. The #31 Cadillac is in the lane, having come back out from behind the wall, doing a full fuel load. They will have to serve a penalty for entering pit lane when it was closed, and he has to catch up to the safety car crocodile. No further action on the most recent incident. Pit stop time for Prototypes. The #10 WTR Cadillac gets four sticker Continental tires. Fuel only for #90. Fuel and tires for others. Driver changes for some of the global Prototypes. Trouble for WTR as they pulled the front nose off to make an adjustment. #10 was making a setup change.
Mazda #70 is being checked over in pit lane. Prototypes have pitted, and GT cars will do so on the next lap. We remain under yellow and neither #13 or #22 have pitted under this yellow flag. #52, the PR1/Mathiasen Ligier, is still in the lane. They have issues on that car. GT cars in the lane. Corvette #3 did fuel only. Laurens Vanthoor is now at the wheel of the #912 factory Porsche 911 RSR. Michael de Quesada takes over the #28 Porsche from Daniel Morad. We remember the 1963 running of the 12 Hours of Sebring, because that race was won by the late, great, John Surtees who passed away recently. Surtees won championships on motorcycles and in cars. He's a Formula 1 champ and a nine-time winner of the Isle of Man TT motorcycle road races. Surtees had a CBE, OBE, and MBE, but was never granted a knighthood. He is much missed, and may he Rest In Peace.
Tom Kimber-Smith and Marc Goossens both are in the lane. The engine cover is off on the right hand side of the #90, with throttle issues. Both Gibson engineers are frantically trying to find out what is going on. They'll try to send Goossens back out on track. He knows the engine is sour. Filipe Albuquerque leads but only by 3/10ths of a second over Chris Miller. Filipe Albuquerque puts two wheels off trying to pass one of the BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GT's! Yikes! That was at turn 11. Alex Lynn is third. But, Marc Goossens is going behind the wall, and the #52 PR1 car is going behind the wall. Problems for a couple of the Gibson powered Prototypes. The #20 BAR1 Motorsports Prototype Challenge entry has had a tire go down. So, all four tires will be changed in due course.
A driver change also happens for that car. Visit Florida has people power headed to the garage. A battle for fourth and fifth in GTLM between two of the Ford GT's. Sebastien Bourdais passes Billy Johnson. Tom Kimber-Smith had transmission issues in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen entry. That car had similar issues at Daytona. Jeroen Bleekemolen leads GT Daytona in the #33 Riley Motorsports - Team AMG Mercedes AMG GT3. There's a cracking battle going on for position in GT Daytona behind the class leader at present. A battle between the Land and Stevenson Motorsport Audi's ensues. Matt Bell defends his position from Christopher Mies. Mies is under pressure from the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 in the hands of Matteo Cressoni of Italy. Mies has to be really upset trying to get around Matt Bell, probably muttering some choice words inside that helmet.
The #31 Cadillac is in the lane for a stop and hold penalty. Oh dear. Mies still can't get by Bell. Bleekemolen in the Mercedes clears away. Mies is fuming. Richard Antinucci in the Lamborghini for Grasser Racing, is closing on Matteo Cressoni as Eric Curran exits the lane. He is doing a hero stint. Behind the Grasser GRT Lamborghini is Jesse Krohn in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3. Bryan Sellers in the Lamborghini and Bryan Sellers in the Park Place Porsche 911 GT3 are close behind, and so is the #93 Acura NSX. The Acura of Andy Lally is second in class. A spin in Sunset Bend! That's the #18 DAC Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3. That car is shared by Canadian Emmanuel Anassis and Americans Brandon Gdovic and Anthony Massari. Not sure who is at the wheel of it now.
Anassis is at the controls and he was tapped into a spin by the #75 Mercedes. Fortunately, he's back on his way. Turn 17, Sunset Bend, has been diabolical all day. Calamity corner. Filipe Albuquerque leads overall by five seconds over Chris Miller in second. Johannes van Overbeek in the #22 ESM Nissan DPi is having a good run, but is a lap down. He was two laps down but got one back. Sebastien Buemi is also a lap down in the #13 Rebellion car. The #90 car has throttle control issues, and the #52 after repairing the gearbox is back on track, four laps down. Tom Kimber-Smith at the wheel of it. Issues for the #55 Mazda of Spencer Pigot. The car was refueled, and one side of the engine cover was being removed. No tire change.
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The #68 Ford GT has a brake light out on the left side. Mazda #55 goes behind the wall! Mazda has another fraught race here at Sebring. As we are close to the end of the third hour, we have run 84 laps, 314 miles. Mazda #55 has gone behind the wall. Jan Magnussen battles around the outside of one of the RLL BMW M6 GT's. Jan Magnussen dives inside into the braking zone for turn ten! What a piece of driving! James Calado saw all of that from the windshield of his #62 Ferrari 488 GTE. Boris Said has gone through the pit lane for a drive through penalty for contact with Emmanuel Anassis. The marshals made a quick decision on that one. Richard Westbrook in the #67 Ford GT is still the leader in class in GT Le Mans, even though the car did not start from pole position.
Sebastien Bourdais and Billy Johnson, in the other two Ford's are wanting to join this little party in GT Le Mans. Calado passes Bill Auberlen into turn seven. GTLM is an open tire class, but each team is using Michelin tires. You must select your tire compounds and constructions from Michelin at the start of the year, and that's what you stick with for all the races. No revisions are allowed during the season according to the rules.
Farnbacher sharing with Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen. Ryan Briscoe has been in the #67 Ford since the start of the race. Curran and Albuquerque are still 1-2, as more problems surface for the #24 BMW M6 GT with Martin Tomczyk at the wheel. Tomczyk is on his out lap, but he is missing a left front tire! Tomczyk shares that BMW with John Edwards and Nicky Catsburg. The splitter is dragging on the concrete. The rim is still intact, barely. The #13 Rebellion had a crewman shut the car off, which is not part of the IMSA regulations, but it is in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Filipe Albuquerque has gone past Eric Curran for the lead again.
The #5 Cadillac leads for the first time in this race. Alex Lynn is pulling away from Misha Goikhberg and Marc Goossens who run fourth and fifth, and Tom Kimber-Smith has passed Spencer Pigot. Pigot is the last car on the lead lap in seventh overall. Martin Tomczyk's puncture was caused by an off course excursion he had. Alex Lynn deals with the bumps in turn 17 just like every other driver with the back of the Cadillac DPi-V.R bouncing over the pavement. Alex Lynn has raced at Le Mans and in single seater open wheel cars, but it's his first baptism of fire here at Sebring. The second placed GT Daytona Mercedes AMG GT3 #50 is in pit lane. Gunnar Jeanette gets out, and Shane van Gisbergen gets in. They are sharing the car with Cooper MacNeil.
SVG is now at the controls of car #50. He is the defending champion of Virgin Australian Supercars. He is an all around racing driver with sports cars and touring cars. Ford GT's #68 and #67 battle. Billy Johnson takes the spot from team mate Richard Westbrook. The #68 is being run by George Howard Chapel and is the UK team Ford GT. But, it is still a car for the U.S. CGR effort. The car that ran the #69 at the Rolex 24, is being prepped for the FIA World Endurance Championship that is coming up soon.
Jeff Segal is piloting the #86 Acura NSX on a lap around Sebring, and he shares that car with team mates Oswaldo Negri Jr. and Tom Dyer. Nine and 3/4 hours remain in the race. Rebellion is fast, but they are two laps behind. Sebastien Buemi is still driving. Cadillac runs 1-2-3. Alex Lynn has set his personal best time, sharing with Ricky and Jordan Taylor of course. The #85 JDC Miller Motorsports car is fourth, followed by the #90 Visit Florida Multimatic Riley. We have a spin for the #75 Mercedes AMG GT3 for SunEnergy Racing. Boris Said has taken over the controls from Tristan Vautier. The #25 BMW M6 GT forced Said off the road. That's ironic, because Boris Said was a BMW driver for many years, with Tom Milner's Prototype Technology Group. Of course, Milner's son, Tommy, is now racing for Corvette Racing as well.
Bill Auberlen nerfed into the side of Boris Said. Boris Said and Hans Stuck drove for Tom Milner in the BMW M3's for many years. Michael de Quesada brings the #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 in GT Daytona to pit lane. It's a scheduled stop with a driver change. Daniel Morad returns to the cockpit. Morad and de Quesada are sharing with Michael Christensen and Spencer Pumpelly who will drive later on. Filipe Albuquerque has a 3.8 second cushion over Eric Curran. The #2 ESM Nissan is still in the garage and may get back out running as a test session. The #22 sister car is still running. Mechanical issues have put the #2 out. So, game over for the defending 12 Hours of Sebring champions. Actually, the 2016 champs of both the Rolex 24 and the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Filipe Albuquerque leads only by 1.7 seconds. Patricio O'Ward pits in the Prototype Challenge PC car, and Kyle Masson takes over the car. These are Masson's first laps ever in the 12 Hours, even though he's also raced here earlier in the week, too. GTLM is now led by the #66 Ford GT and Sebastien Bourdais has taken over from Dirk Mueller. The Mercedes AMG GT3's were flying under the radar in practice, but came to life in qualifying. That's a strong car, and it had an increase in size of the air inlet restrictor by IMSA for the Balance of Performance. It is two millimeters larger. The #31 Cadillac has spun in Sunset Bend!
Curran is right in the middle of the road. Watch out! The leader has spun! No fire in the 6.2 liter V8. The pits are closed and we could have our second full course yellow flag of the race. In fact, we do. Curran cannot start the car. Curran clipped Johannes van Overbeek in the #22 Nissan DPi and van Overbeek did a 360 and kept on truckin'. Well, car-ing, I guess. van Overbeek had to be slowing to come to the lane. We have the marshals out on track, but cars are still traveling far too fast to even notice! That's poor driving on the part of cars #3 and #66 in GTLM. van Overbeek, actually should have slowed down sooner. Race Control and the marshals are reviewing the incident.
Curran does not have a starter, and this is trouble for pit stops, because you have to start the car under it's own power. Curran has taken the flat tow. He's being towed into the back of the paddock area and not to pit lane. The #70 Mazda Prototype that we saw take a huge clout into the tire barriers earlier, is back on track. Cars immediately behind the safety car are pointed by and allowed to make up a lap and be on the tail end of the lead lap in their particular classes. Prototypes will pit, and then GT cars. The #4 Corvette C-7-R- is out, having overheated. Game over for last year's Sebring GTLM champions. Fast, consistent driver Ashley Freiberg is here at Sebring, but not driving, and instead, looking for a ride. Racing is a business.
Freiberg is optimistic to be racing again. The #31 Cadillac is in the lane, having come back out from behind the wall, doing a full fuel load. They will have to serve a penalty for entering pit lane when it was closed, and he has to catch up to the safety car crocodile. No further action on the most recent incident. Pit stop time for Prototypes. The #10 WTR Cadillac gets four sticker Continental tires. Fuel only for #90. Fuel and tires for others. Driver changes for some of the global Prototypes. Trouble for WTR as they pulled the front nose off to make an adjustment. #10 was making a setup change.
Mazda #70 is being checked over in pit lane. Prototypes have pitted, and GT cars will do so on the next lap. We remain under yellow and neither #13 or #22 have pitted under this yellow flag. #52, the PR1/Mathiasen Ligier, is still in the lane. They have issues on that car. GT cars in the lane. Corvette #3 did fuel only. Laurens Vanthoor is now at the wheel of the #912 factory Porsche 911 RSR. Michael de Quesada takes over the #28 Porsche from Daniel Morad. We remember the 1963 running of the 12 Hours of Sebring, because that race was won by the late, great, John Surtees who passed away recently. Surtees won championships on motorcycles and in cars. He's a Formula 1 champ and a nine-time winner of the Isle of Man TT motorcycle road races. Surtees had a CBE, OBE, and MBE, but was never granted a knighthood. He is much missed, and may he Rest In Peace.
Tom Kimber-Smith and Marc Goossens both are in the lane. The engine cover is off on the right hand side of the #90, with throttle issues. Both Gibson engineers are frantically trying to find out what is going on. They'll try to send Goossens back out on track. He knows the engine is sour. Filipe Albuquerque leads but only by 3/10ths of a second over Chris Miller. Filipe Albuquerque puts two wheels off trying to pass one of the BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GT's! Yikes! That was at turn 11. Alex Lynn is third. But, Marc Goossens is going behind the wall, and the #52 PR1 car is going behind the wall. Problems for a couple of the Gibson powered Prototypes. The #20 BAR1 Motorsports Prototype Challenge entry has had a tire go down. So, all four tires will be changed in due course.
A driver change also happens for that car. Visit Florida has people power headed to the garage. A battle for fourth and fifth in GTLM between two of the Ford GT's. Sebastien Bourdais passes Billy Johnson. Tom Kimber-Smith had transmission issues in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen entry. That car had similar issues at Daytona. Jeroen Bleekemolen leads GT Daytona in the #33 Riley Motorsports - Team AMG Mercedes AMG GT3. There's a cracking battle going on for position in GT Daytona behind the class leader at present. A battle between the Land and Stevenson Motorsport Audi's ensues. Matt Bell defends his position from Christopher Mies. Mies is under pressure from the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 in the hands of Matteo Cressoni of Italy. Mies has to be really upset trying to get around Matt Bell, probably muttering some choice words inside that helmet.
The #31 Cadillac is in the lane for a stop and hold penalty. Oh dear. Mies still can't get by Bell. Bleekemolen in the Mercedes clears away. Mies is fuming. Richard Antinucci in the Lamborghini for Grasser Racing, is closing on Matteo Cressoni as Eric Curran exits the lane. He is doing a hero stint. Behind the Grasser GRT Lamborghini is Jesse Krohn in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3. Bryan Sellers in the Lamborghini and Bryan Sellers in the Park Place Porsche 911 GT3 are close behind, and so is the #93 Acura NSX. The Acura of Andy Lally is second in class. A spin in Sunset Bend! That's the #18 DAC Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3. That car is shared by Canadian Emmanuel Anassis and Americans Brandon Gdovic and Anthony Massari. Not sure who is at the wheel of it now.
Anassis is at the controls and he was tapped into a spin by the #75 Mercedes. Fortunately, he's back on his way. Turn 17, Sunset Bend, has been diabolical all day. Calamity corner. Filipe Albuquerque leads overall by five seconds over Chris Miller in second. Johannes van Overbeek in the #22 ESM Nissan DPi is having a good run, but is a lap down. He was two laps down but got one back. Sebastien Buemi is also a lap down in the #13 Rebellion car. The #90 car has throttle control issues, and the #52 after repairing the gearbox is back on track, four laps down. Tom Kimber-Smith at the wheel of it. Issues for the #55 Mazda of Spencer Pigot. The car was refueled, and one side of the engine cover was being removed. No tire change.
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The #68 Ford GT has a brake light out on the left side. Mazda #55 goes behind the wall! Mazda has another fraught race here at Sebring. As we are close to the end of the third hour, we have run 84 laps, 314 miles. Mazda #55 has gone behind the wall. Jan Magnussen battles around the outside of one of the RLL BMW M6 GT's. Jan Magnussen dives inside into the braking zone for turn ten! What a piece of driving! James Calado saw all of that from the windshield of his #62 Ferrari 488 GTE. Boris Said has gone through the pit lane for a drive through penalty for contact with Emmanuel Anassis. The marshals made a quick decision on that one. Richard Westbrook in the #67 Ford GT is still the leader in class in GT Le Mans, even though the car did not start from pole position.
Sebastien Bourdais and Billy Johnson, in the other two Ford's are wanting to join this little party in GT Le Mans. Calado passes Bill Auberlen into turn seven. GTLM is an open tire class, but each team is using Michelin tires. You must select your tire compounds and constructions from Michelin at the start of the year, and that's what you stick with for all the races. No revisions are allowed during the season according to the rules.
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 2
This race is really heating up. Prototype Challenge is one of the classes that is starting to simmer. Pat O'Ward was behind Gustavo Yacaman, but he's closing the gap. The #67 Ford GT has finally made it to the lane for scheduled service. Ford vs. Corvette in GTLM at the moment. The other Ford #66 did 27 laps (101 miles), before stopping. The #67, actually went a tad longer at 29 laps (108.4 miles). If the action persists like this, everyone will be quite tired by the end. Dane Cameron nearly has a 13 second cushion through the Gendebien turns. We have a wreck! Oh dear. The #70 car with the gray paint, has planted it into the tire barriers. Joel Miller has had a huge wreck through turn 17 (Sunset Bend). Full course yellow.
The safety crews will check with Joel Miller and make sure he is OK. Miller said he lost the brakes. He thinks he can back the car up and get it to pit lane. Let's go on board and see what happened. Miller missed the corner, and was at full speed, before... crunch! He went straight into the tire barriers. He realized the car wasn't going to turn, and that he was headed for a ride! Banded tires with conveyor belt rubber material in front of them do a wonderful job of dissipating energy in a head on impact such as the one Joel Miller took into that wall. The field bunches up behind the safety car. The pits are open and a couple Prototypes, including the leader, head for the lane. Dane Cameron will get new sticker tires. Check that, though. Driver change. Eric Curran is now in the car. The #10 WTR Cadillac will pit, and make a driver change. Alex Lynn makes his Sebring debut, and will run his first stint.
The #5 Cadillac and the #52 Ligier pit. #13, #52, and #85 also pit, the world spec LMP2 racers. Mazda is determined to get their car back into this race and the mechanics scramble for their toolboxes. They have also grabbed suspension pieces, new tires, and a new nose cone, on the crash cart. Tom Long will be the next driver into that car assuming it can be fixed. The tire barriers are being repaired by the marshals. At turn 17, the braking is very late, despite the fact the cars are traveling at 170 miles an hour. That's a really tough corner to go through. Miller thankfully missed the concrete wall. That could have been a much worse incident. GTLM and GTD cars make their pit stops.
Mercedes AMG GT3 #33 is making their second stop. The #4 Corvette is in, and so are a bunch more GTD cars. The #48 Lamborghini and others are in. There is a new driver in the #85 JDC Miller Motorsports entry. Stephen Simpson is out of the car. The #912 Porsche was in for service as the team checked the brake disc and wiggled the rear tire. Richard Lietz is at the controls. The #4 Corvette was also in the lane for his second stop. There's an incremental increase in engine temperature on the #4 Corvette. Tap on the housing to loosen up the sensor, and add more water. The team has already done a scheduled stop. Another long stop for the #93 Acura, changing engine mapping.
Luca Persiani is in the #27 Lamborghini right now. Misha Goikhberg has taken over the #85 JDC Miller Motorsports entry from Stephen Simpson. We are now back under green. Luca Persiani has the GTLM leaders behind him. Mueller clears Persiani. Dirk Werner is third in the #911 Porsche, followed by Toni Vilander. Stefan Mucke in the #68 Ford, followed by Alexander Sims. Ryan Briscoe is next. The #67 team is fighting their way back to seventh in class, 20th in the overall. Eric Curran and Christian Fittipaldi in the Cadillac's are 1-2. Alex Lynn in the #10 Cadillac is being hounded by Renger van der Zande. The field is bunched up at the moment, and the field cannot be reset to put Prototypes in front.
The #57 Stevenson Motorsports Audi is taking a penalty. That will be a drive through. Luca Persiani brings the Lamborghini into pit lane. Luca Persiani and Lawson Aschenbach have both had to visit the sin bin to take a penalty. Aschenbach passed the red light at the end of the pit lane. Eric Curran has a 4/10ths of a second lead over Christian Fittipaldi. A stop and four minute hold for the #27 Lamborghini for improper final wave by. Connor De Philippi and Corey Lewis go back to the lead in GT Daytona. Rolf Ineichen in the #11 Grasser Lamborghini is next. That team is very good at international endurance racing. Mirko Bortolotti, Richard Antinucci, and Christian Engelhart are Ineichen's co-drivers.
Ed Brown in one of the ESM Ligier Nissan's is ninth in Prototype and tenth in the overall. The sister #2 ESM entry is behind the wall, being repaired. They've had electrical issues all week. Back in the day, before real time telemetry, Mark Blundell in the ultra fast Nissan Prototype at Le Mans, had a blistering lap in qualifying for the 1990 race, but, that was because the turbocharger was running wide open, and the crew still managed to fix it and slow him down. Not allowed these days. Dirk Mueller and Antonio Garcia run 1-2 in GTLM, negotiating the big bump in turn 17. Ten and a half hours still remain. Eric Curran leads Christian Fittipaldi by 6/10ths of a second. Fittipaldi must feel he's faster than Curran is right now. Renger van der Zande is third with Neel Jani running fourth.
Alex Lynn is fifth in the #10 WTR Cadillac, making his IWSC debut. Joel Miller has been checked and released from the infield care center. He is fine, thankfully, after that savage hit into the tires. A good battle is heating up in GT Daytona between the Mercedes of Tristan Vautier, and the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari with Christina Nielsen in it now. Porsche is gaining on Corvette and Ford. Dirk Werner at the wheel of the #911 Porsche 911 RSR is third in GTLM. So many sights and sounds here at Sebring. That's the beauty of sports car racing. All the cars are different and yet of balanced performance levels. Neel Jani does a classic overtaking move on Renger van der Zande. Has Rebellion sorted out their lug nut issue?
The #4 Corvette C-7-R- is still in pit lane, and has actually gone to the garage. The team has had issues. Water temperature is the culprit. No repeat win for Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin here at Sebring, sharing with Marcel Fassler. Antonio Garcia in the sister #3 Corvette is still in the fight with the Ford GT. Rebellion had a bad air impact wrench on their first stop. When Joel Miller crashed the Mazda, he couldn't reverse the car (per the rules) under it's own steam. It had to be rescued by the wrecker. The GT Daytona leadership is a good battle at the moment headed for turn seven at the hairpin. Connor De Philippi vs. Cory Lewis. Pat O'Ward brings the #38 PC car into the pit lane. Don Yount will take over the lead.
Starworks Racing is also entered with one car in this race. The #8 machine in PC has two new drivers, joining Sean Rayhall. Fellow Americans Garrett Grist, and Maxwell Hanratty are those pilots. Mueller and Garcia remain 1-2 in GT Le Mans at the present time. Rolf Ineichen in GTD is catching up with the two class leaders. Neel Jani is now closing up on both Action Express Cadillac's. Curran and Fittipaldi side by side for the lead! Yikes! The #22 Nissan pits and Ed Brown climbs out, with Johannes van Overbeek getting into the car. This is the first driver change since Stephen Simpson got out of car #85. Neel Jani has been driving a great race so far. Christian Fittipaldi and Eric Curran are doing their best to keep the Rebellion Oreca at bay.
Fittipaldi clears one of the Prototype Challenge cars, while Neel Jani will have to resist the temptation, and bide his time. Ford, Chevrolet, Ferrari, and Porsche, is the order by make, in GTLM. Neel Jani is really running well right now. Eric Curran is cutting consistent laps in the 1:51 bracket. Drive within yourself. This is a physically and mentally demanding track. But, there is also a good chance for a long green flag run. Only 46 cars took the green flag for this race, a smallish field. So, that means about a dozen cars per mile in terms of traffic amounts. Neel Jani is trying an outside pass on Christian Fittipaldi. But, one of the factory Ford GT's is in the way! Fittipaldi clears the Ford and so does Jani.
Jani has the run, but will have to drop in behind the Cadillac. The battle for first, second, and third, is back on again. Renger van der Zande is coming, too. GTLM pit stops begin with Dirk Werner in Porsche #911 coming in. The lane is going to be busy. The #2 ESM car is headed for the garage to check the Nissan engine. Risi Competizione will pit Ferrari #62. The #90 car will also pit, and so will the #55 Mazda. Spencer Pigot will take over the car from Jonathan Bomarito. Neel Jani also pits the #13 Rebellion Oreca. Sebastien Buemi will get into the car. Buemi stalls the car. No fire in the hole here. The car has been stalled and will have to be bump started. Buemi can't recycle the car.
The lead battle between Fittipaldi and Curran continues, and they are about to put Rebellion a lap down. Now, both Cadillac's hit the lane. Cadillac drives by the Rebellion squad in the lane. Just as at Daytona, the Action Express Cadillac's will pit together. Curran stays at the wheel of #31. Driver change on car #5. Will it be Christian Fittipaldi or Filipe Albuquerque? Correction. Fittipaldi out, and either Barbosa or Albuquerque, into the car. They leave pit lane exactly how they came in. #31 followed by #5. Rebellion is looking at the engine. The #85 car stops for fuel. The #90 Visit Florida Racing Riley Multimatic is pitting, and Renger van der Zande steps out, making way for veteran Marc Goossens.
Goossens is on his way back into the race. Meanwhile, the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac is getting better fuel mileage and Alex Lynn cycled to the front. Lynn pits, but almost tangles with the GT Daytona Lexus RC F GT3! That's Robert Alon in the #15. Not sure if it is Alon now at the wheel, or if it's either Jack Hawksworth or Austin Cindric. No driver change for the #10. Alex Lynn had quite a scare. Fuel going in, and tires being changed. The #55 Mazda is in. Jonathan Bomarito is now out of the car. Tires are being changed. Spencer Pigot has taken over the car. The #912 Porsche 911 RSR is back into the race with Richard Lietz still at the wheel.
Bill Auberlen is now driving the #25 BMW M6 GT. Toni Vilander is in the pit lane for Risi Competizione and their Ferrari 488 GTE #62. James Calado is now in the car. Toni Vilander still looks a little peaked after being ill. Curran and Albuquerque are separated by only 7/10ths of a second. Alex Lynn is now third. Misha Goikhberg and Marc Goossens complete the top five in Prototype and the overall.
The safety crews will check with Joel Miller and make sure he is OK. Miller said he lost the brakes. He thinks he can back the car up and get it to pit lane. Let's go on board and see what happened. Miller missed the corner, and was at full speed, before... crunch! He went straight into the tire barriers. He realized the car wasn't going to turn, and that he was headed for a ride! Banded tires with conveyor belt rubber material in front of them do a wonderful job of dissipating energy in a head on impact such as the one Joel Miller took into that wall. The field bunches up behind the safety car. The pits are open and a couple Prototypes, including the leader, head for the lane. Dane Cameron will get new sticker tires. Check that, though. Driver change. Eric Curran is now in the car. The #10 WTR Cadillac will pit, and make a driver change. Alex Lynn makes his Sebring debut, and will run his first stint.
The #5 Cadillac and the #52 Ligier pit. #13, #52, and #85 also pit, the world spec LMP2 racers. Mazda is determined to get their car back into this race and the mechanics scramble for their toolboxes. They have also grabbed suspension pieces, new tires, and a new nose cone, on the crash cart. Tom Long will be the next driver into that car assuming it can be fixed. The tire barriers are being repaired by the marshals. At turn 17, the braking is very late, despite the fact the cars are traveling at 170 miles an hour. That's a really tough corner to go through. Miller thankfully missed the concrete wall. That could have been a much worse incident. GTLM and GTD cars make their pit stops.
Mercedes AMG GT3 #33 is making their second stop. The #4 Corvette is in, and so are a bunch more GTD cars. The #48 Lamborghini and others are in. There is a new driver in the #85 JDC Miller Motorsports entry. Stephen Simpson is out of the car. The #912 Porsche was in for service as the team checked the brake disc and wiggled the rear tire. Richard Lietz is at the controls. The #4 Corvette was also in the lane for his second stop. There's an incremental increase in engine temperature on the #4 Corvette. Tap on the housing to loosen up the sensor, and add more water. The team has already done a scheduled stop. Another long stop for the #93 Acura, changing engine mapping.
Luca Persiani is in the #27 Lamborghini right now. Misha Goikhberg has taken over the #85 JDC Miller Motorsports entry from Stephen Simpson. We are now back under green. Luca Persiani has the GTLM leaders behind him. Mueller clears Persiani. Dirk Werner is third in the #911 Porsche, followed by Toni Vilander. Stefan Mucke in the #68 Ford, followed by Alexander Sims. Ryan Briscoe is next. The #67 team is fighting their way back to seventh in class, 20th in the overall. Eric Curran and Christian Fittipaldi in the Cadillac's are 1-2. Alex Lynn in the #10 Cadillac is being hounded by Renger van der Zande. The field is bunched up at the moment, and the field cannot be reset to put Prototypes in front.
The #57 Stevenson Motorsports Audi is taking a penalty. That will be a drive through. Luca Persiani brings the Lamborghini into pit lane. Luca Persiani and Lawson Aschenbach have both had to visit the sin bin to take a penalty. Aschenbach passed the red light at the end of the pit lane. Eric Curran has a 4/10ths of a second lead over Christian Fittipaldi. A stop and four minute hold for the #27 Lamborghini for improper final wave by. Connor De Philippi and Corey Lewis go back to the lead in GT Daytona. Rolf Ineichen in the #11 Grasser Lamborghini is next. That team is very good at international endurance racing. Mirko Bortolotti, Richard Antinucci, and Christian Engelhart are Ineichen's co-drivers.
Ed Brown in one of the ESM Ligier Nissan's is ninth in Prototype and tenth in the overall. The sister #2 ESM entry is behind the wall, being repaired. They've had electrical issues all week. Back in the day, before real time telemetry, Mark Blundell in the ultra fast Nissan Prototype at Le Mans, had a blistering lap in qualifying for the 1990 race, but, that was because the turbocharger was running wide open, and the crew still managed to fix it and slow him down. Not allowed these days. Dirk Mueller and Antonio Garcia run 1-2 in GTLM, negotiating the big bump in turn 17. Ten and a half hours still remain. Eric Curran leads Christian Fittipaldi by 6/10ths of a second. Fittipaldi must feel he's faster than Curran is right now. Renger van der Zande is third with Neel Jani running fourth.
Alex Lynn is fifth in the #10 WTR Cadillac, making his IWSC debut. Joel Miller has been checked and released from the infield care center. He is fine, thankfully, after that savage hit into the tires. A good battle is heating up in GT Daytona between the Mercedes of Tristan Vautier, and the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari with Christina Nielsen in it now. Porsche is gaining on Corvette and Ford. Dirk Werner at the wheel of the #911 Porsche 911 RSR is third in GTLM. So many sights and sounds here at Sebring. That's the beauty of sports car racing. All the cars are different and yet of balanced performance levels. Neel Jani does a classic overtaking move on Renger van der Zande. Has Rebellion sorted out their lug nut issue?
The #4 Corvette C-7-R- is still in pit lane, and has actually gone to the garage. The team has had issues. Water temperature is the culprit. No repeat win for Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin here at Sebring, sharing with Marcel Fassler. Antonio Garcia in the sister #3 Corvette is still in the fight with the Ford GT. Rebellion had a bad air impact wrench on their first stop. When Joel Miller crashed the Mazda, he couldn't reverse the car (per the rules) under it's own steam. It had to be rescued by the wrecker. The GT Daytona leadership is a good battle at the moment headed for turn seven at the hairpin. Connor De Philippi vs. Cory Lewis. Pat O'Ward brings the #38 PC car into the pit lane. Don Yount will take over the lead.
Starworks Racing is also entered with one car in this race. The #8 machine in PC has two new drivers, joining Sean Rayhall. Fellow Americans Garrett Grist, and Maxwell Hanratty are those pilots. Mueller and Garcia remain 1-2 in GT Le Mans at the present time. Rolf Ineichen in GTD is catching up with the two class leaders. Neel Jani is now closing up on both Action Express Cadillac's. Curran and Fittipaldi side by side for the lead! Yikes! The #22 Nissan pits and Ed Brown climbs out, with Johannes van Overbeek getting into the car. This is the first driver change since Stephen Simpson got out of car #85. Neel Jani has been driving a great race so far. Christian Fittipaldi and Eric Curran are doing their best to keep the Rebellion Oreca at bay.
Fittipaldi clears one of the Prototype Challenge cars, while Neel Jani will have to resist the temptation, and bide his time. Ford, Chevrolet, Ferrari, and Porsche, is the order by make, in GTLM. Neel Jani is really running well right now. Eric Curran is cutting consistent laps in the 1:51 bracket. Drive within yourself. This is a physically and mentally demanding track. But, there is also a good chance for a long green flag run. Only 46 cars took the green flag for this race, a smallish field. So, that means about a dozen cars per mile in terms of traffic amounts. Neel Jani is trying an outside pass on Christian Fittipaldi. But, one of the factory Ford GT's is in the way! Fittipaldi clears the Ford and so does Jani.
Jani has the run, but will have to drop in behind the Cadillac. The battle for first, second, and third, is back on again. Renger van der Zande is coming, too. GTLM pit stops begin with Dirk Werner in Porsche #911 coming in. The lane is going to be busy. The #2 ESM car is headed for the garage to check the Nissan engine. Risi Competizione will pit Ferrari #62. The #90 car will also pit, and so will the #55 Mazda. Spencer Pigot will take over the car from Jonathan Bomarito. Neel Jani also pits the #13 Rebellion Oreca. Sebastien Buemi will get into the car. Buemi stalls the car. No fire in the hole here. The car has been stalled and will have to be bump started. Buemi can't recycle the car.
The lead battle between Fittipaldi and Curran continues, and they are about to put Rebellion a lap down. Now, both Cadillac's hit the lane. Cadillac drives by the Rebellion squad in the lane. Just as at Daytona, the Action Express Cadillac's will pit together. Curran stays at the wheel of #31. Driver change on car #5. Will it be Christian Fittipaldi or Filipe Albuquerque? Correction. Fittipaldi out, and either Barbosa or Albuquerque, into the car. They leave pit lane exactly how they came in. #31 followed by #5. Rebellion is looking at the engine. The #85 car stops for fuel. The #90 Visit Florida Racing Riley Multimatic is pitting, and Renger van der Zande steps out, making way for veteran Marc Goossens.
Goossens is on his way back into the race. Meanwhile, the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac is getting better fuel mileage and Alex Lynn cycled to the front. Lynn pits, but almost tangles with the GT Daytona Lexus RC F GT3! That's Robert Alon in the #15. Not sure if it is Alon now at the wheel, or if it's either Jack Hawksworth or Austin Cindric. No driver change for the #10. Alex Lynn had quite a scare. Fuel going in, and tires being changed. The #55 Mazda is in. Jonathan Bomarito is now out of the car. Tires are being changed. Spencer Pigot has taken over the car. The #912 Porsche 911 RSR is back into the race with Richard Lietz still at the wheel.
Bill Auberlen is now driving the #25 BMW M6 GT. Toni Vilander is in the pit lane for Risi Competizione and their Ferrari 488 GTE #62. James Calado is now in the car. Toni Vilander still looks a little peaked after being ill. Curran and Albuquerque are separated by only 7/10ths of a second. Alex Lynn is now third. Misha Goikhberg and Marc Goossens complete the top five in Prototype and the overall.
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 1
In central Florida, 65 years ago, was a town that time had passed by. A place of orange groves, Spanish moss, and the elderly digging games of shuffleboard. On the outskirts of this sleepy town, an airfield from WW. II. that once housed B17 bombers lie forlorn and useless, baking in the hot sun. Empty hangars and planes that would never fly again. This sleepy little Florida town, only years later, would host a car race, and that car race would become world renown. So it is, 65 years later. This is the 12 Hours of Sebring. The scent of orange blossoms would now be mixed with racing fuel. The town, Sebring Florida, and America's first international sports car race is as popular today as ever.
The track was and is made up of access roads and worn runways that rattle the race cars to pieces. So many of the legends have raced here. The track gets rougher. The sunburn is painful. But, fans continue to migrate to this race every single year. Neel Jani and Rebellion have pole for the 65th iteration of this great race. So, the command, the four most famous words in motorsports is given. Drivers, start your engines! Rebellion Racing is on pole here at Sebring, for their second of the four endurance races in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship this year. Neel Jani is the man who put the car on pole.
The weather is perfect and the battles in each class are wide open, even though we only have four cars racing in Prototype Challenge this time out. Everyone except for one car has gotten away cleanly. Problems for the #67 Ford GT. The door is ajar. The 3.5 liter twin turbo V6 engine is running, but the gearshift is not working. This is the entry shared by Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, and Scott Dixon. This is reminiscent of Dan Gurney back in the 1960s when he couldn't start the car. One of the Ford's had this same gearbox issue at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year.
Oh dear! Ford #67 is being pushed back into the garage. Ford #66 meanwhile trails smoke at slow speed. Is this an issue for the sister Ford as well? Gearbox issues for car #67. Shades of 1967 all over again. Tristan Vautier who is starting the GT Daytona pole sitting #75 SunEnergy Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 is also having issues. Vautier sharing that car with Kenny Habul and Boris Said. Golly. Two class pole cars in trouble. Now, the #67 Ford of Ryan Briscoe has re-fired. Control, Alt, Delete. The IMSA marshals are holding Briscoe in the lane.
The #75 Mercedes will be assessed a drive through penalty. Ford will receive a similar penalty. Echoes of Dan Gurney having issues with his Ford GT40 starting dead last and coming through to win. The #4 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R- is also at the back of GTLM as it failed ride height measurements in post qualifying technical inspection. Tommy Milner has lots of work to do getting through the pack of GT Daytona cars. The Ford is still having issues, and Ryan Briscoe has shut the motor off as he sits behind the #75 Mercedes AMG GT3 at the exit of pit lane. In the morning warmup, the #75 Mercedes was found to have a fuel leak.
We are set for a start. Neel Jani brings the field down through Sunset bend. 46 strong. DPi and LMP2 cars are ready to do battle, for the first time, here at Sebring! We've got a green flag and are underway here at Sebring! Both cars that were in the pit lane have been released. Neel Jani wants to have the advantage over the fire breathing monsters that are the 6.2 liter V8 Cadillac's. Jani sharing the #13 Rebellion Oreca with regular co-drivers Nick Heidfeld and Sebastien Buemi. IMSA has made numerous Balance of Performance adjustments since the 24 Hours of Daytona about two months ago.
There is a penalty in the future of the #20 Prototype Challenge entry for BAR1 Motorsports. This is the car with Buddy Rice at the controls, sharing with Don Yount, Daniel Burkett, and Mark Kvamme. Lap one done and dusted as Neel Jani leads by half a second in the Oreca Gibson. Christian Fittipaldi is second with Dane Cameron third. Next up is the Ligier #52 of Jose Guttierez. Ford leads GTLM, but it's the #66 of Dirk Mueller. Correction on the drive through penalty. It was the #27 GT Daytona Dream Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 earning a trip to the sin bin. That car is being shared by the same driving squad from the Rolex 24. Lawrence DeGeorge is the starting driver, sharing with Cedric Sbirrazzuoli of Monaco, and Italian drivers Paolo Ruberti and Luca Persiani.
The penalty for them is for changing drivers before the start of the race. In GT Daytona, leading the class is the #29 Land Motorsports Audi R8. Connor De Philippi is the starting driver, sharing with Christopher Mies and Jules Gounon. The #27 Lamborghini served it's penalty for having the wrong driver in the car. Back at the sharp end we have Neel Jani still leading Christian Fittipaldi and Dane Cameron, followed by the #52 Ligier in the hands of Jose Guttierez. Problems already for one of the Mazda's. Car #55 has a shredded left rear tire headed through turn 17, Sunset Bend. Jonathan Bomarito started the car and is sharing with regular co-drivers Spencer Pigot and Tristan Nunez.
The car slides wide onto the back straight and that tire was well and truly flat. The fuel tank is topped off, and now, they will change all four tires. #55 is off sequence, but he won't go down a lap. Jonathan Bomarito is back on the track. 22 sets of slick tires are available to Prototype teams here at Sebring. BMW in GT Le Mans experimented with installing wet weather tires during the practice sessions. The top three battle in GTLM is the #66 Ford GT of Dirk Mueller, pursued hotly by the #912 Porsche 911 RSR of Kevin Estre, and Antonio Garcia in the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-.
Connor De Philippi is ahead in GT Daytona with Corey Lewis second in the #16 Change Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3, followed by Scott Pruett in the #14 Lexus RC F GT3. Lewis shares the Lamborghini with Jeroen Mul and Brett Sandberg, while Scott Pruett's co-drivers are Sage Karam and Ian James of course. The Audi and the Lamborghini share the same powerplant type. A 5.2 liter normally aspirated V10. The #4 Corvette is coming through the field, and Tommy Milner is at the wheel. The #70 Mazda is back on track after changing tires. Problems for the #57 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8, with liquid trailing behind the car. More troubles for the team of Lawson Aschenbach, Matt Bell, and Andrew Davis.
Pippo Derani, last year's winner here at Sebring for ESM, is running slowly. The Ligier built Nissan DPi is not running up to par at the moment. Scott Sharp and Ryan Dalziel are his co-drivers. The sister car #22 of course, has the same four driver lineup we saw at Daytona, before they crashed out, with Ed Brown, Johannes van Overbeek, Bruno Senna, and Brendon Hartley. Neel Jani leads by 1.1 seconds over the Action Express Cadillac's and the #52 car. Dane Cameron sets the fastest lap of the race thus far at 1:50.302. A new track record for IWSC here at Sebring. It's two seconds under Ryan Dalziel's 2014 lap record. Both of the Lexus RC F cars are running up in the order in GTD.
Dane Cameron resets fast lap at 1:50.218. Christian Fittipaldi goes purple in sector one, fastest of all. The leaders work past lapped traffic in the form of the aforementioned Mazda and the Dream Racing Motorsport Lamborghini. ESM is readying for a pit stop. They will be checking something in the lane. Overboost from the turbo in qualifying. IMSA marshals will tell them they need to check their turbo boost. Neel Jani's dealings with the #55 Mazda means the #5 Cadillac has closed up hand over fist. Christian Fittipaldi is right up on Jani's tail at the moment. #2 is in the lane, and as mentioned they've been dealing with turbo boost issues the whole weekend. #2 was ten miles an hour quicker than everyone else.
Neel Jani clears the Mazda into the Gendebien bends, named for four-time Sebring winner Olivier Gendebien of France. Fittipaldi tries to come through on the Mazda into turn 17 at Sunset Bend! Well, the Mazda driver was having none of it, and they nearly tangled! Yikes! This is a battle for second between two of the Cadillac's as Rebellion stretches their lead. ESM must be having the same issue that was happening in qualifying. The Mazda is a quick car in a straight line. But the bumps are hampering it for suspension compliance. Connor De Philippi continues to lead GTD as we are close to 20 minutes into this race. In GT Le Mans, Dirk Mueller leads for Ford. The #26 car leads Prototype Challenge. Gustavo Yacaman in the #26 car leads James French in car #38. It's BAR1 vs. Performance Tech.
Yacaman's co-drivers in car #26 are Marc Drumwright, Chapman Ducote, and Colin Thompson, while James French shares with fellow America Kyle Masson and Patricio O'Ward from Mexico. Antonio Garcia goes by Kevin Estre in GT Le Mans. Garcia tries to catch Dirk Mueller. Neel Jani is in the overall lead by four seconds. Renger van der Zande is currently at the wheel of the #90 VisitFlorida Racing Riley Multimatic he shares with Marc Goossens and Rene Rast. All manufacturers are represented in the top eight places in Prototype. The Cadillac, Nissan, and Mazda cars are the factory hot rods, while the bespoke engine and chassis global LMP2 cars with different bodywork all run together. Those are the Gibson V8 powered machines.
Tommy Milner is making hay while the sun shines. He's passed a bunch of GTD cars and is now chasing down Alexander Sims who is currently at the wheel of the #25 BMW RLL BMW M6 GT he shares with Bill Auberlen and Kuno Wittmer. Milner is fastest in GTLM at 1:58.1. Neel Jani has completed 11 laps (41.14 miles). A long, long way to go yet. Joel Miller is currently driving the #70 Mazda Prototype chasing Renger van der Zande who is twelve seconds up the road. A slew of GT Daytona cars are in the way. Joel Miller shares the second factory Mazda with Tom Long and Marino Franchitti.
The Mazda is working past one of the factory GTD Acura's, with Mark Wilkins at the wheel of it. Car #93. Neel Jani leads Christian Fittipaldi by over five seconds. A battle ensues in the middle of the course between Jose Guttierez and Ricky Taylor. Ligier vs. Cadillac. The #10 car had driveshaft issues on Friday before the race, as another battle ensues in GTLM between Kevin Estre, and Stefan Mucke in the #68 Ford GT. #10 also wanted to make a suspension adjustment while fixing the driveshaft, and this messed up the car in the qualifying trials. Taylor admitted that he overdrove the car. But, he's confident as the race continues.
NASCAR veteran Kyle Petty joins IMSA Radio commentators John Hindhaugh and Jeremy Shaw in their booth. Kyle Petty's brother-in-law Charlie Luck, has started running Porsche Cup cars. There's a real joy for sports car racing. Stefan Mucke overcooks the corner going into the hairpin. Mucke taps the Porsche and is forced to spin the Ford around. Giancarlo Fisichella has also passed in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE. Toni Vilander, James Calado, and Giancarlo Fisichella is the trio of drivers in that car. Kyle Petty has not been in a race car in some years, and might want to come out of retirement. He has run sports cars before.
Pippo Derani has rejoined the race in the #2 ESM Ligier Nissan. The crew added fuel, and adjusted something in the driver's side of the cockpit. Tristan Vautier is continuing to press his way through the field. Pit stop time is coming up. The Cadillac's said they could run 35 minutes on fuel. The Cadillac's pit and so does the Rebellion. Rebellion needs to retrieve a lug nut and their air jacks are not working, as the car won't come up. The #5 Cadillac is also having wheel issues on it's stop. No driver change for either of the Cadillac's. Fuel and tires only. Down and away. The #13 Rebellion Oreca is also back on track, and they didn't change tires.
The #13 still has the same tires. #70 Mazda in the lane for tires and fuel as well. Jose Guttierez is in the lead in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier. Michael Guasch and Tom Kimber-Smith are his co-drivers. Ricky Taylor is the best of the three Cadillac's on fuel mileage. The #22 Nissan Prototype is now third in the overall with Brendon Hartley at the controls. Check that. The Ligier Nismo is now in the lane. Some argy bargy between the #10 and #52, and a major moment for Jose Guttierez! He saves it! The #52, #85, and #90 cars pit. Fuel for #85, and a check of tire pressures. They will double stint on tires. Fuel and tires for the #90 car. Renger van der Zande stays in the car.
Rebellion will have to take a penalty from the stewards for not having a fire bottle in the lane which is a mandatory safety protocol. We wonder what is the matter with the #24 BMW M6 GT with Nicky Catsburg at the controls. He came through the pit lane but didn't stop. Could he be serving a drive through penalty? He turned right at the end of the pits, headed for the garage. BMW continues to have a fraught race, as Ricky Taylor trundles into the pit lane. He is at the first pit box at the end of the lane for winning the Rolex 24. Fuel and tires for the #10 Cadillac with no driver change. Same scenario for the #22 ESM entry.
There's still a long way to go, as Dane Cameron leads this motor race in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac. Ricky Taylor did two extra laps on fuel in the #10 Cadillac. Brendon Hartley pits the #22 and there is a driver change as Ed Brown is now at the controls. Neel Jani and Christian Fittipaldi battle, and now, the #86 Acura NSX has hit the lane. We wait for the #93. The #24 BMW M6 GT has a bad vibration right now. The #26 class leading Prototype Challenge car pits and so does the second place #38. Gustavo Yacaman will get out and hand over to a silver rated driver. But, Yacaman actually stays behind the wheel. Pat O'Ward is now at the controls of car #38. #13 is in the lane for a drive through penalty. Rebellion team boss Bart Hayden can't be happy about this. Both Action Express Cadillac's run 1-2, six seconds apart.
Four diffrent marqus are represented in the top four in GTLM. Connor De Philippi continues to lead GT Daytona over two Lamborghini's with Mirko Bortolotti gaining places. Scott Pruett has dropped some spots and Ben Keating in the Mercedes is coming up in the order. The GTLM cars hit the lane with the #912 doing routine service and a driver change. Richard Lietz takes over for Kevin Estre in the Porsche 911 RSR. More contact for Stefan Mucke in the Ford as he battles the Ferrari in the hands of Giancarlo Fisichella. Some argy bargy in GTLM as they work past lapped GT Daytona traffic.
Connor De Philippi in the #29 Audi still needs to stop. Dirk Mueller leads by three to four seconds over the Corvette's in GT Le Mans. Both Porsche's pitted earlier than others in GT Le Mans. The Ford's, two of them, have the same pit box area, but the UK entry has a different pit stall. A whole phalaynx of GTD cars will head for pit lane soon as the #14 Lexus is the first of those to stop. The #23 Alex Job Audi has pitted. Other GTD cars are also in the lane. The #46 Ebimotors entry also pits. It's surely GTD pit stop time. The AJR Audi team is checking electronics and suspension issues. The mechanic asks "how do I turn it?" to refer to an clip that comes off to repair the suspension.
A long way yet to go here at Sebring. The #23 car was having a sway bar adjustment. The #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini, and lots of other GT cars are in the lane. Scuderia Corsa wants redemption. Christina Nielsen is staying at the controls, and having new tires and fuel added to the car. Nielsen again sharing with Italians Alessandro Balzan and Matteo Cressoni. Alexander Sims pits one of the GTLM BMW's. He stays in the car. Cameron, Fittipaldi, and Taylor are 1-2-3 for Cadillac at the moment. The #62 Ferrari 488 pits and Giancarlo Fisichella hands over to Toni Vilander. The #24 BMW M6 GT is back in the lane. Toni Vilander has been sick and Giancarlo Fisichella has not been performing as well as he could be. The third driver is Britain's James Calado, a factory/works driver for Ferrari's sports car program.
A seven hour maximum drive time is allowed, but minimums vary based on the classes. We'll talk about that soon. The #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 pits. Daniel Morad hands over to Michael de Quesada. This is the GTD winner from Daytona. The #93 Acura NSX is pitting, and the team at Michael Shank Racing has asked IMSA marshals permission to do data acquisition during the stop. MSR is not replete with parts as they had to lend pieces to RealTime Racing and Ryan Eversley in the Pirelli World Challenge race at St. Petersburg, a race you saw covered here on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog, a while ago.
Dirk Mueller pits the #66 Ford GT for four new tires from the lead of GTLM. Fuel going into the car, too. Four new tires and fuel for the #93 Acura. No data acquisition necessary. The fueling is done and they are doing data acquisition. Something is wrong with the performance of the NSX. Nicky Catsburg is back on track in the #24 BMW. MSR had an electronics issue on the Acura. But they are in good shape now. The battle for second in GTLM is Muller vs. Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette. Ryan Briscoe in the sister #67 Ford has worked his way back to the class lead. The #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche pits. Patrick Lindsey, Jorg Bergmeister, Matt McMurry, and Jan Heylen, on the driver's strength.
The track was and is made up of access roads and worn runways that rattle the race cars to pieces. So many of the legends have raced here. The track gets rougher. The sunburn is painful. But, fans continue to migrate to this race every single year. Neel Jani and Rebellion have pole for the 65th iteration of this great race. So, the command, the four most famous words in motorsports is given. Drivers, start your engines! Rebellion Racing is on pole here at Sebring, for their second of the four endurance races in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship this year. Neel Jani is the man who put the car on pole.
The weather is perfect and the battles in each class are wide open, even though we only have four cars racing in Prototype Challenge this time out. Everyone except for one car has gotten away cleanly. Problems for the #67 Ford GT. The door is ajar. The 3.5 liter twin turbo V6 engine is running, but the gearshift is not working. This is the entry shared by Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, and Scott Dixon. This is reminiscent of Dan Gurney back in the 1960s when he couldn't start the car. One of the Ford's had this same gearbox issue at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year.
Oh dear! Ford #67 is being pushed back into the garage. Ford #66 meanwhile trails smoke at slow speed. Is this an issue for the sister Ford as well? Gearbox issues for car #67. Shades of 1967 all over again. Tristan Vautier who is starting the GT Daytona pole sitting #75 SunEnergy Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 is also having issues. Vautier sharing that car with Kenny Habul and Boris Said. Golly. Two class pole cars in trouble. Now, the #67 Ford of Ryan Briscoe has re-fired. Control, Alt, Delete. The IMSA marshals are holding Briscoe in the lane.
The #75 Mercedes will be assessed a drive through penalty. Ford will receive a similar penalty. Echoes of Dan Gurney having issues with his Ford GT40 starting dead last and coming through to win. The #4 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R- is also at the back of GTLM as it failed ride height measurements in post qualifying technical inspection. Tommy Milner has lots of work to do getting through the pack of GT Daytona cars. The Ford is still having issues, and Ryan Briscoe has shut the motor off as he sits behind the #75 Mercedes AMG GT3 at the exit of pit lane. In the morning warmup, the #75 Mercedes was found to have a fuel leak.
We are set for a start. Neel Jani brings the field down through Sunset bend. 46 strong. DPi and LMP2 cars are ready to do battle, for the first time, here at Sebring! We've got a green flag and are underway here at Sebring! Both cars that were in the pit lane have been released. Neel Jani wants to have the advantage over the fire breathing monsters that are the 6.2 liter V8 Cadillac's. Jani sharing the #13 Rebellion Oreca with regular co-drivers Nick Heidfeld and Sebastien Buemi. IMSA has made numerous Balance of Performance adjustments since the 24 Hours of Daytona about two months ago.
There is a penalty in the future of the #20 Prototype Challenge entry for BAR1 Motorsports. This is the car with Buddy Rice at the controls, sharing with Don Yount, Daniel Burkett, and Mark Kvamme. Lap one done and dusted as Neel Jani leads by half a second in the Oreca Gibson. Christian Fittipaldi is second with Dane Cameron third. Next up is the Ligier #52 of Jose Guttierez. Ford leads GTLM, but it's the #66 of Dirk Mueller. Correction on the drive through penalty. It was the #27 GT Daytona Dream Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 earning a trip to the sin bin. That car is being shared by the same driving squad from the Rolex 24. Lawrence DeGeorge is the starting driver, sharing with Cedric Sbirrazzuoli of Monaco, and Italian drivers Paolo Ruberti and Luca Persiani.
The penalty for them is for changing drivers before the start of the race. In GT Daytona, leading the class is the #29 Land Motorsports Audi R8. Connor De Philippi is the starting driver, sharing with Christopher Mies and Jules Gounon. The #27 Lamborghini served it's penalty for having the wrong driver in the car. Back at the sharp end we have Neel Jani still leading Christian Fittipaldi and Dane Cameron, followed by the #52 Ligier in the hands of Jose Guttierez. Problems already for one of the Mazda's. Car #55 has a shredded left rear tire headed through turn 17, Sunset Bend. Jonathan Bomarito started the car and is sharing with regular co-drivers Spencer Pigot and Tristan Nunez.
The car slides wide onto the back straight and that tire was well and truly flat. The fuel tank is topped off, and now, they will change all four tires. #55 is off sequence, but he won't go down a lap. Jonathan Bomarito is back on the track. 22 sets of slick tires are available to Prototype teams here at Sebring. BMW in GT Le Mans experimented with installing wet weather tires during the practice sessions. The top three battle in GTLM is the #66 Ford GT of Dirk Mueller, pursued hotly by the #912 Porsche 911 RSR of Kevin Estre, and Antonio Garcia in the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-.
Connor De Philippi is ahead in GT Daytona with Corey Lewis second in the #16 Change Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3, followed by Scott Pruett in the #14 Lexus RC F GT3. Lewis shares the Lamborghini with Jeroen Mul and Brett Sandberg, while Scott Pruett's co-drivers are Sage Karam and Ian James of course. The Audi and the Lamborghini share the same powerplant type. A 5.2 liter normally aspirated V10. The #4 Corvette is coming through the field, and Tommy Milner is at the wheel. The #70 Mazda is back on track after changing tires. Problems for the #57 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8, with liquid trailing behind the car. More troubles for the team of Lawson Aschenbach, Matt Bell, and Andrew Davis.
Pippo Derani, last year's winner here at Sebring for ESM, is running slowly. The Ligier built Nissan DPi is not running up to par at the moment. Scott Sharp and Ryan Dalziel are his co-drivers. The sister car #22 of course, has the same four driver lineup we saw at Daytona, before they crashed out, with Ed Brown, Johannes van Overbeek, Bruno Senna, and Brendon Hartley. Neel Jani leads by 1.1 seconds over the Action Express Cadillac's and the #52 car. Dane Cameron sets the fastest lap of the race thus far at 1:50.302. A new track record for IWSC here at Sebring. It's two seconds under Ryan Dalziel's 2014 lap record. Both of the Lexus RC F cars are running up in the order in GTD.
Dane Cameron resets fast lap at 1:50.218. Christian Fittipaldi goes purple in sector one, fastest of all. The leaders work past lapped traffic in the form of the aforementioned Mazda and the Dream Racing Motorsport Lamborghini. ESM is readying for a pit stop. They will be checking something in the lane. Overboost from the turbo in qualifying. IMSA marshals will tell them they need to check their turbo boost. Neel Jani's dealings with the #55 Mazda means the #5 Cadillac has closed up hand over fist. Christian Fittipaldi is right up on Jani's tail at the moment. #2 is in the lane, and as mentioned they've been dealing with turbo boost issues the whole weekend. #2 was ten miles an hour quicker than everyone else.
Neel Jani clears the Mazda into the Gendebien bends, named for four-time Sebring winner Olivier Gendebien of France. Fittipaldi tries to come through on the Mazda into turn 17 at Sunset Bend! Well, the Mazda driver was having none of it, and they nearly tangled! Yikes! This is a battle for second between two of the Cadillac's as Rebellion stretches their lead. ESM must be having the same issue that was happening in qualifying. The Mazda is a quick car in a straight line. But the bumps are hampering it for suspension compliance. Connor De Philippi continues to lead GTD as we are close to 20 minutes into this race. In GT Le Mans, Dirk Mueller leads for Ford. The #26 car leads Prototype Challenge. Gustavo Yacaman in the #26 car leads James French in car #38. It's BAR1 vs. Performance Tech.
Yacaman's co-drivers in car #26 are Marc Drumwright, Chapman Ducote, and Colin Thompson, while James French shares with fellow America Kyle Masson and Patricio O'Ward from Mexico. Antonio Garcia goes by Kevin Estre in GT Le Mans. Garcia tries to catch Dirk Mueller. Neel Jani is in the overall lead by four seconds. Renger van der Zande is currently at the wheel of the #90 VisitFlorida Racing Riley Multimatic he shares with Marc Goossens and Rene Rast. All manufacturers are represented in the top eight places in Prototype. The Cadillac, Nissan, and Mazda cars are the factory hot rods, while the bespoke engine and chassis global LMP2 cars with different bodywork all run together. Those are the Gibson V8 powered machines.
Tommy Milner is making hay while the sun shines. He's passed a bunch of GTD cars and is now chasing down Alexander Sims who is currently at the wheel of the #25 BMW RLL BMW M6 GT he shares with Bill Auberlen and Kuno Wittmer. Milner is fastest in GTLM at 1:58.1. Neel Jani has completed 11 laps (41.14 miles). A long, long way to go yet. Joel Miller is currently driving the #70 Mazda Prototype chasing Renger van der Zande who is twelve seconds up the road. A slew of GT Daytona cars are in the way. Joel Miller shares the second factory Mazda with Tom Long and Marino Franchitti.
The Mazda is working past one of the factory GTD Acura's, with Mark Wilkins at the wheel of it. Car #93. Neel Jani leads Christian Fittipaldi by over five seconds. A battle ensues in the middle of the course between Jose Guttierez and Ricky Taylor. Ligier vs. Cadillac. The #10 car had driveshaft issues on Friday before the race, as another battle ensues in GTLM between Kevin Estre, and Stefan Mucke in the #68 Ford GT. #10 also wanted to make a suspension adjustment while fixing the driveshaft, and this messed up the car in the qualifying trials. Taylor admitted that he overdrove the car. But, he's confident as the race continues.
NASCAR veteran Kyle Petty joins IMSA Radio commentators John Hindhaugh and Jeremy Shaw in their booth. Kyle Petty's brother-in-law Charlie Luck, has started running Porsche Cup cars. There's a real joy for sports car racing. Stefan Mucke overcooks the corner going into the hairpin. Mucke taps the Porsche and is forced to spin the Ford around. Giancarlo Fisichella has also passed in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE. Toni Vilander, James Calado, and Giancarlo Fisichella is the trio of drivers in that car. Kyle Petty has not been in a race car in some years, and might want to come out of retirement. He has run sports cars before.
Pippo Derani has rejoined the race in the #2 ESM Ligier Nissan. The crew added fuel, and adjusted something in the driver's side of the cockpit. Tristan Vautier is continuing to press his way through the field. Pit stop time is coming up. The Cadillac's said they could run 35 minutes on fuel. The Cadillac's pit and so does the Rebellion. Rebellion needs to retrieve a lug nut and their air jacks are not working, as the car won't come up. The #5 Cadillac is also having wheel issues on it's stop. No driver change for either of the Cadillac's. Fuel and tires only. Down and away. The #13 Rebellion Oreca is also back on track, and they didn't change tires.
The #13 still has the same tires. #70 Mazda in the lane for tires and fuel as well. Jose Guttierez is in the lead in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier. Michael Guasch and Tom Kimber-Smith are his co-drivers. Ricky Taylor is the best of the three Cadillac's on fuel mileage. The #22 Nissan Prototype is now third in the overall with Brendon Hartley at the controls. Check that. The Ligier Nismo is now in the lane. Some argy bargy between the #10 and #52, and a major moment for Jose Guttierez! He saves it! The #52, #85, and #90 cars pit. Fuel for #85, and a check of tire pressures. They will double stint on tires. Fuel and tires for the #90 car. Renger van der Zande stays in the car.
Rebellion will have to take a penalty from the stewards for not having a fire bottle in the lane which is a mandatory safety protocol. We wonder what is the matter with the #24 BMW M6 GT with Nicky Catsburg at the controls. He came through the pit lane but didn't stop. Could he be serving a drive through penalty? He turned right at the end of the pits, headed for the garage. BMW continues to have a fraught race, as Ricky Taylor trundles into the pit lane. He is at the first pit box at the end of the lane for winning the Rolex 24. Fuel and tires for the #10 Cadillac with no driver change. Same scenario for the #22 ESM entry.
There's still a long way to go, as Dane Cameron leads this motor race in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac. Ricky Taylor did two extra laps on fuel in the #10 Cadillac. Brendon Hartley pits the #22 and there is a driver change as Ed Brown is now at the controls. Neel Jani and Christian Fittipaldi battle, and now, the #86 Acura NSX has hit the lane. We wait for the #93. The #24 BMW M6 GT has a bad vibration right now. The #26 class leading Prototype Challenge car pits and so does the second place #38. Gustavo Yacaman will get out and hand over to a silver rated driver. But, Yacaman actually stays behind the wheel. Pat O'Ward is now at the controls of car #38. #13 is in the lane for a drive through penalty. Rebellion team boss Bart Hayden can't be happy about this. Both Action Express Cadillac's run 1-2, six seconds apart.
Four diffrent marqus are represented in the top four in GTLM. Connor De Philippi continues to lead GT Daytona over two Lamborghini's with Mirko Bortolotti gaining places. Scott Pruett has dropped some spots and Ben Keating in the Mercedes is coming up in the order. The GTLM cars hit the lane with the #912 doing routine service and a driver change. Richard Lietz takes over for Kevin Estre in the Porsche 911 RSR. More contact for Stefan Mucke in the Ford as he battles the Ferrari in the hands of Giancarlo Fisichella. Some argy bargy in GTLM as they work past lapped GT Daytona traffic.
Connor De Philippi in the #29 Audi still needs to stop. Dirk Mueller leads by three to four seconds over the Corvette's in GT Le Mans. Both Porsche's pitted earlier than others in GT Le Mans. The Ford's, two of them, have the same pit box area, but the UK entry has a different pit stall. A whole phalaynx of GTD cars will head for pit lane soon as the #14 Lexus is the first of those to stop. The #23 Alex Job Audi has pitted. Other GTD cars are also in the lane. The #46 Ebimotors entry also pits. It's surely GTD pit stop time. The AJR Audi team is checking electronics and suspension issues. The mechanic asks "how do I turn it?" to refer to an clip that comes off to repair the suspension.
A long way yet to go here at Sebring. The #23 car was having a sway bar adjustment. The #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini, and lots of other GT cars are in the lane. Scuderia Corsa wants redemption. Christina Nielsen is staying at the controls, and having new tires and fuel added to the car. Nielsen again sharing with Italians Alessandro Balzan and Matteo Cressoni. Alexander Sims pits one of the GTLM BMW's. He stays in the car. Cameron, Fittipaldi, and Taylor are 1-2-3 for Cadillac at the moment. The #62 Ferrari 488 pits and Giancarlo Fisichella hands over to Toni Vilander. The #24 BMW M6 GT is back in the lane. Toni Vilander has been sick and Giancarlo Fisichella has not been performing as well as he could be. The third driver is Britain's James Calado, a factory/works driver for Ferrari's sports car program.
A seven hour maximum drive time is allowed, but minimums vary based on the classes. We'll talk about that soon. The #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 pits. Daniel Morad hands over to Michael de Quesada. This is the GTD winner from Daytona. The #93 Acura NSX is pitting, and the team at Michael Shank Racing has asked IMSA marshals permission to do data acquisition during the stop. MSR is not replete with parts as they had to lend pieces to RealTime Racing and Ryan Eversley in the Pirelli World Challenge race at St. Petersburg, a race you saw covered here on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog, a while ago.
Dirk Mueller pits the #66 Ford GT for four new tires from the lead of GTLM. Fuel going into the car, too. Four new tires and fuel for the #93 Acura. No data acquisition necessary. The fueling is done and they are doing data acquisition. Something is wrong with the performance of the NSX. Nicky Catsburg is back on track in the #24 BMW. MSR had an electronics issue on the Acura. But they are in good shape now. The battle for second in GTLM is Muller vs. Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette. Ryan Briscoe in the sister #67 Ford has worked his way back to the class lead. The #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche pits. Patrick Lindsey, Jorg Bergmeister, Matt McMurry, and Jan Heylen, on the driver's strength.
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