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.
No comments:
Post a Comment