Antonio Garcia is right within the phalanx of Ford's. It is a battle of the supercars to be sure. James Calado in the Ferrari and Fred Makowiecki in the Porsche are still in there, and the Porsche has made a pass on the Ferrari, for fifth in class in GTLM. The top five in class is just five seconds apart. Jordan Taylor eats another 6/10ths of a second out of Filipe Albuquerque's lead. Good thing yours truly blogs these races hour by hour. It's tough to write about a race like this in just 800 words. Jeroen Bleekemolen extends his lead in GTD by another 3/4 of a second. Mercedes vs. Lamborghini vs. Audi vs. another Lamborghini vs. yet another Lambo, and of course Ferrari and Mercedes are next, and this is in reverse order.
Six cars battle for GTD honors. Fred Makowiecki still chases Olivier Pla. Jordan Taylor deals with a slow car. Dane Cameron in the third Cadillac runs ahead of Jordan Taylor. He is trying to stay one lap off the lead. Tristan Vautier gains a spot. Cameron slides the Cadillac. He knows he has to push hard and do it now. Albuquerque is closing on Taylor even more. Fred Makowiecki is closing on Pla, too. Taylor is fighting through GT Daytona traffic, and Albuquerque will have the same problem coming up here. Lapped traffic is a part of endurance racing. Now, the #13 Rebellion Oreca Gibson is back on track. Spencer Pigot also has the #55 Mazda RT24P back into the top 30 on the first page of timing and scoring.
Pigot still runs fifth in the Prototype class. Antonio Garcia has passed Scott Dixon for second in GTLM, splitting two of the Ford GT's. Jeroen Bleekemolen is still running real fast. He's a quick driver who wants to extend his lead. Tristan Vautier passes Corey Lewis and now, he will work on Connor De Philippi in the #29 Audi. The #23 Alex Job Racing Audi R8 is still pounding around with Frankie Montecalvo at the wheel of it, despite being crashed earlier, or actually having a flat tire, when Bill Sweedler was in the middle of his stint. As the temperatures cool down, are the Ford's beginning to have some pace issues? The Corvette's have not had trouble in cooler temperatures. Corvette is in it for the end game. They have a lot of miles around Sebring.
The Rebellion team is now back on track. They will start the season for FIA WEC two weeks from today at Silverstone in England. Tristan Vautier is now in the lane, working his 275th lap. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Ligier is being watched by the corner workers, as it may be dropping oil on the road. The #85 car pits too. Chris Miller gets out of the car and Stephen Simpson is now at the wheel. The #3 Corvette is going to pit soon. Problems for the yellow bird. He's got mechanical problems. One of the Lexus RC F GT3's is slow. It's the #15 of Austin Cindric. Now, it seems he's back up to speed. That was odd.
Antonio Garcia is catching up with Scott Dixon and Fred Makowiecki is catching up to Olivier Pla. The #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 of Spencer Pumpelly is still pounding around. Both Action Express Cadillac's are now in the lane from second and third. This is a lap early for #5 as Jordan Taylor can push push push while their rivals are in the lane, a la Formula 1. Jeroen Bleekemolen gets fuel and a tear off taken off the windscreen. Acura #86 also is in the lane. Scott Dixon hits the pit lane. Tires, fuel, and a driver change or so it appears. This car started from pit lane when it wouldn't fire at the start of the race. Richard Westbrook is now in the #67 car. Joey Hand brings the #66 Ford into the lane. A routine stop for tires and fuel.
We have run 301 laps (1,126 miles). Fred Makowiecki and James Calado cycle back to the GTLM lead. Jordan Taylor is in the lane, after another 20 lap stint. Ricky Taylor gets into the car and will take it to the checkers. The Risi Ferrari pits for fuel, and they have stalled the car. No driver change. But there has been fuel and a driver change, but Risi is in trouble. Cadillac #5 bounds over the curbs and kicks up lots of dust! Wow! All four tires off the road at the exit of turn one. If you stay out longer on hot tires, you can gain an advantage. #5 probably won't catch the #10 car.
Alessandro Balzan is the new leader in GT Daytona. He last stopped on lap 261. Are the boys at the front saving a stop and going to the end on just one more? We'll see. The #75 Mercedes with their early stop, could leapfrog the #33. But, maybe that won't happen. The gap is 27 seconds. #33 and #11 are the only other GTD entries who have been pitted. Corvette #3 is stretching it's advantage over all three Ford's, while Fred Makowiecki leads GTLM in the Porsche. Fred Makowiecki is now in the lane, and his job is done for this race. Patrick Pilet will get into the car. New Michelin tires, and fuel. Pilet is back on track. A slick stop for the factory GT Porsche squad.
Corey Lewis pits in the #16 Lamborghini. LMP3 made it's debut here at Sebring and it was an amazing thing. Prototype Lights and now LMP3 are running together. There is no replacement for Prototype Challenge with the LMP3 cars. LMP3 will have to grow first. But, they are indeed. Next year, there will be a three class format. Prototype, GTLM, and GTD. Dane Cameron pits the #31 Cadillac from third place. Working lap 307, (1,148 miles). The #48 Lamborghini, pits from second in GTD for it's penultimate stop. Other GTD cars now hit the lane as well. A moment ago, the #31 Cadillac went straight on and tried to use the old configuration of the Sebring hairpin, but that didn't work too well.
Worldwide interest is being paid to the new DPi formula. More manufacturers seem to be interested. Four chassis makers are partnered with the automobile manufacturers. It was never intended to have exclusivity. Other makes can come in. Every manufacturer has their own reasons for being in the racing game. In the meantime, we watch a pit stop for the #63 Scuderia Corsa GTD Ferrari.
Joao Barbosa is in the lane for the penultimate stop for #5. They ran 15 laps (56 miles). Sustainability is something we have not had in prototype racing in the U.S. until now. We're coming down to money time here. The #911 Porsche pitted out of the lead eight laps ago, resumed behind the Corvette, and Patrick Pilet has closed up by 5.5 seconds in nine laps. He's pulling away from Joey Hand in the Ford GT. The cooler temperatures are not helping the Ford's at the moment, as we see the CORE Autosport #54 GTD Porsche stopped on track.
When it gets cooler, watch out for the Porsche's. Cars have different strengths and weaknesses. #10 is now in the lane and has to pull off a stop. Four tires, fuel, and get rid of a windscreen tear off. Good call by WTR. The #3 Corvette was ready for a stop, and they got bitten because pit lane was closed. Audible groan. Antonio Garcia got snookered. He is on his 303rd lap. That's a distance of 1,133 miles. Positions in the GTLM and GTD classes will be shuffled. All the GTLM leaders need fuel and need pit stops. The #66 Ford, the Ferrari, the Porsche, they will all need to hit the lane soon. Christian Engelhart in the #11 Lamborghini is going to close up on the #33 Mercedes in GTD, in the hands of Jeroen Bleekemolen.
Alessandro Balzan and Christopher Mies complete the top five in GTD, with Bryan Sellers and Jeroen Mul, as well as Tom Dyer, following in the order. We are at our sixth full course yellow after the #54 Porsche stopped and lost drive. A flat tow is required to clear that car off the road, running out of power at the fast exit of turn one. Colin Braun was at the controls at the time, when it stopped. Both Cadillac's are the only cars on the lead lap. The #31 car has dropped away from the other two. They are four laps off the lead, and so is the JDC Miller #85 car of Stephen Simpson. Any GT cars that stop now, can make it to the end on fuel.
The dash for cash, is coming up. Six cars on the lead lap in GTLM and nine in GTD as Jan Heylen almost has himself back on the lead lap in the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 he shares with Matt McMurry, Jorg Bergmeister, and Patrick Lindsey. The #85 car is pitting. PC cars are pitting but can't really do an hour on fuel. James French may have to come back to the lane for a splash and dash. PR1 Mathiasen also pits their #52 Ligier. Let's take a look at the cars that are out of the race and why.
#4 GTLM Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R- Gavin/Milner/Fassler overheating
#2 Prototype Nissan DPi Sharp/Dalziel/Derani engine
#22 Prototype Nissan DPi Brown/van Overbeek/Senna engine
#50 GTD Mercedes AMG GT3 MacNiel/Jeanette/van Gisbergen suspension damage
#24 GTLM BMW M6 GT Edwards/Tomczyk/Catsburg crash
#13 Prototype Oreca 07 Gibson Buemi/Heidfeld/Jani various alternator maladies
#70 Prototype Mazda RT24P Long/Miller/Franchitti cracked suspension/driver safety
*#52 Prototype Ligier Guasch/Guttierez/Kimber-Smith transmission issues
*#90 Prototype Multimatic Riley Goossens/van der Zande/Rast numerous maladies
#96 GTD BMW M6 GT3 Marks/Klingman/Krohn numerous maladies
*denotes the car is still running.
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