After five races and five wins, the Taylor's are looking for six wins in a row. 40 cars start the second half of the season, here at the legendary Watkins Glen International Raceway. It may be just six hours, but is an enduro indeed. Watkins Glen, New York is on the south end of Seneca Lake. For the first time in 2017, a Cadillac is not on the front row. Nissan and Pippo Derani, are on pole, with Olivier Pla on the outside. It's been a long month for GT cars, returning from Le Mans. We have three races in the next three weeks, including today. Andy Lally has the first global pole for Acura, too.
There will be a lot of patriotic liveries, and today, Old Glory will replace a traditional green flag, to start this race. Acura is on pole in GT Daytona for Katherine Legge and Andy Lally, who will start the race. The field forms up behind the safty car. We're set for a start. The #70 Mazda will have take a penalty for changing tires. Go! The stars and strikpes wave and the cannons fire! Jordan Taylor is trying to pass Pippo Derani. Taylor is in trouble. He just hiut the wall and he's got a tire puncture! Oh dear! There's a suspension problem on the Cadillac, and they will go to the garage. Unreal! Big move from Mazda as Tristan Nuneez tries to pass one of the Nissan's.
Those curbs are very usable, so it's odd that there's suspension damage on the Cadillac after the stars and stripes waved to start this event. Renger van der Zande hit the Cadillac. Wow. So, early issues. When things go wrong in the esses, calamity ensues. The steering alignment is toed in, and the staeering arm will have to be replaced. Get the car back on the road. No multiple safety cars like Le Mans, as we see Corvette and Porsche battling in GT Le Mans. Tommy Milner, Laurens Vanthoor, and Antonio Garcia. GTLM is very competitive.
Alexander Sims in the #25 BMW M6 is going for it. Could Olivier Pla have touched Ricky Taylor? Alexander Sims is leading GTLM now. Joey Hand in the Ford GT didn't get a good start. Richard Westbrook wants a fourth win at Watkins Glen. Martin Tomczyk has the sister BMW M6 GT at the sharp end. Sage Karam wrecked in quaslifying, but is working his way up in GT Daytona. He's trying to pass Ben Keating in the #33 Mercedes AMG GT3 with a star spangled livery. Corvette #3 overshoot the Bus Stop chicane, out of the inner loop. Antonio Garcia spun off the road. They have time to get a lap back. It's a 3.4 mile lap here at the Glen as Garcia goes around the #16 Change Racing Lamborghini.
Brett Sandberg, Jeroen Mul, and Corey Lewis are the trio of drivers on that team. Pippo Derani is still being pursued hotly by Olivier Pla. Ricky Taylor has right front damage, after his crash at the start. Hitting the wall damaged the right rear. Car #10 is now back on track, but laps behind. The #70 Mazda RT24P may be having smoke coming out of it, after their first podium at Detroit. Joel Miller is at the controls of the Mazda as we watch the #85 JDC Miller Motorsports Oreca and the ESM Nissan is all over the yellow bird! Wow! With a repave, you get a lot of grip, and Johannes van Overbeek is really taking advantage of that.
Stephen Simpson is at the controls of the #85, or maybe it is Misha Goikhberg. The car is running very well. Smoke from the Mazda is bottoming out on the chassis, not from the motor. Traffic will be a bugaboo all day long. When WGIR was repaved last year, it made a huge difference. Stephen Simpson is being chased by Renger van der Zande at the moment. Wow! Gently boys! Goikhhberg is hung up and van der Zande pounces. Visit Florida won overall here in both 2014 and 2015. Renger van der Zande is hooked up right now. It's possible that if it rains, car #90 could be a contender.
We watch Andy Lally in the patriotically liveried Acura. Lawson Aschenbach is following in the #57 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8. Andy Lally is racing at his home track, having grown up on Long Island. Johnny Stevenson, team owner for Stevenson Motorsports, won in class here in 2003. Alex Job Racing is back in action in the #23 Audi R8. Townsend Bell, Bill Sweedler, and Frank Montecalvo share the car. Acura, Audi, and Lexus are at the sharp end of GTD now. Clean racing, and fast pit stops are critical. Especially quick pit stops in the lane.
Tim Keane who has worked with many top teams, he is now with MSR and Acura. Pippo Derani ran well at Le Mans. Ed Brown will retire from prototype racing even though he had to have back surgery and could not race this weekend. The Onroak built Ligier's are running very well. Onroak President Jacques Nicolet is happy about the current success of his cars. Olivier Pla is sharing car #52 with Jose Guttierez. Again, this is the halfway mark in the 2017 season. Olivier Pla is your overall leader at this stage.
As we have seen, the perfect season for WTR is in jeopardy right now. They are down the order. They might come back. Olivier Pla is off like a rocket ship at the moment. Three bullets are better than two for a six hour race like this one. It could rain later today. Be reactionary as well if something should happen. Currently, the ambient temp is 78 degrees Fahrenheit, but weather could move in. BMW leads GT Le Mans as Alex Sims and Martin Tomczyk are going for it, while Richard Westbrook and Joey Hand, are pushing. The BMW's have fireworks livery on their cars. Joey Hand wants to battle Richard Westbrook but has to take it easy.
Watkins Glen is 3.4 miles with 11 turns. 167 miles an hour in top gear, ride the curbs through the Bus Stop. Wind the car up down through The Boot. Hug the curbs, unwind the engine's power, climb up through the toe of the boot, and go up a few gears. Crest the hill, and downhill into the heel, and back onto the short course. High speed twists and turns pull through the end of the lap onto the front straight, and that's a 1:42 lap around WGIR. Use the curbs, sparingly. If it's painted, put a tire on it. But, if you are over the paint, you'll get pinged by the stewards.
Laurens Vanthoor is pushing the Corvette. Gianmaria Bruni is now officially a Porsche factory driver in this race. Bruni is sharing the #912 Porsche with Laurens Vanthoor. This is Bruni's first race at Watkins Glen. The two of these blokes have a great relationship, and Bruni wants to have a chance at the championship for 2018. The engineers and race spotters are trying hard to keep the drivers off the curbs. ESM is now in the lane for the first pit stops. Pippo Derani will stay at the wheel as he shares with Scott Sharp and Ryan Dalziel. Cadillac #5 pits as Christian Fittipaldi says the car is loose. Fittipaldi is sharing with Joao Barbosa and Filipe Albuquerque. Sharpen the sword by making your pit strategy work.
Leader, is in. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry. A new driver, as Jose Guttierez is going to replace Olivier Pla. Windscreen cleaned, tires changed, and fuel added. Same for Eric Curran in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R. Filipe Albuquerque is also listed as a driver in the #31 in addition to the #5. We see the #23 Audi and the #16 cars with tire troubles. We're about 40 minutes into this race. Full service stop for Lamborghini. John Edwards takes over for Martin Tomczyk in the #24 BMW. BMW didn't race at Le Mans, so they were able to test a lot to improve the car.
Sage Karam and Jack Hawksworth both had good laps in qualifying as Cooper MacNeil runs 13th with a new chassis for the #50 Mercedes AMG GT3 that has been dialed in all year. MacNeil raced at Le Mans too, of course. The #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 is in the lane. Madison Snow is one of the major drivers in GTD. Madison out, Bryan Sellers in for the next stint. A new engineer is helping out PMR. Fuel and tires for Andy Lally's #93 Acura NSX with Lady Liberty on the car for Independence Day. Renger van der Zande defends from Tristan Nunez. Nunez is finding his feet in prototypes. #15 Lexus and #86 Acura, in the lane. Jeff Segal is at the wheel of #86 now.
The #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 pits. Christina Nielsen is in the car. They won GT Daytona last year. She's back underway. Thre's a major battle between the two Action Express Cadillac's. Eric Curran knows this track. Both GTLM Porsche's are in the lane. Patrick Pilet and Dirk Werner share the #911 car. Cadillac #10 also makes a pit stop. Pit stops continue as the GT cars are in. Corvette #3 is in the lane from third in class. The Corvette's and Ford's are going further than Porsche on the fuel. The #38 Performance Tech Racing PC car is also undefeated so far this season. There is some damage to the car. Ford #66 also pits. The Ford's steam on their pit stops for some reason. Joey Hand had a great qualifying run yesterday.
Westbrook is doing an in lap right now and should be headed for the lane. Car #90 has a patriotic livery for the military. Staff Sgt. Liam Dwyer is a racing driver, and has an organization called Homes for Our Troops. We are grateful for those who have served our country, in freedom. Happy Independence Day everyone.
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