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.
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