It is an all GT showdown in the Berkshire Hills of northwest Connecticut as IMSA comes to Lime Rock Park for the Northeast Grand Prix. GT Le Mans and GT Daytona classes are in action for this race. The crowd is huge, and this mile and a half track will test all the skill of the drivers. This track has been around for six decades. We have two hours and 40 minutes of racing ahead. It's going to be very intense. Lots of pressure and a lot is at stake. There's a good field of drivers ready for this race as we have cool temperatures at the race start. GT Le Mans cars will have a tire choice from Michelin.
There's going to be a symmetrical set of tires. But this track is all right hand turns with exception of one left hand turn. The left side tires will take a pasting around here. Patrick Long and Madison Snow will be on the front row in GT Daytona. Overall in GT Le Mans, Porsche and Gianmaria Bruni have the pole position, and Bruni shares car #912 with Laurens Vanthoor. Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow have pole in GT Daytona in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 with their competition behind from such makes as Acura, Lexus, and Mercedes. On Saturday it was very hot. The track temperature is still pretty hot. Porsche was very strong in qualifying in GT Le Mans. Gianmaria Bruni has Richard Westbrook in the Ford on the other side of the grid.
Dirk Werner in the sister Porsche 911 RSR and the BMW M6 GT #25 of Bill Auberlen are also up there. Is Richard Westbrook's gentleness on the throttle of that Ford GT attributed to wearing pink fuzzy slippers? That's the joke, anyway. The #23 Alex Job Racing Audi R8 is at the very back of the grid, after changing tires. Bill Sweedler at the wheel of it for the start, sharing with Townsend Bell. Speaking of starts, the cars are coming down the downhill now, and we are set to get underway, for two hour and 40 minutes of GT racing action! Go! Gianmaria Bruni was playing games with Richard Westbrook coming down the hill, and now, both Porsche's of Bruni, and Dirk Werner are running 1-2 as the field heads for turn one for the first time.
Bruni makes a wonderful start, as the rest of this field of GT Le Mans and GT Daytona cars files it's way through Big Bend. This is Bruni's third race for Porsche since transferring from Ferrari. Jon Bennett in the CORE Autosport GT Daytona Porsche got turned around by somebody. So, a little bit of argy bargy in the early going here at Lime Rock. John Edwards in the sister BMW M6 GT has sneaked his way to third place, and the Ford GT #67 of Richard Westbrook has both yellow Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R's of Tommy Milner and Jan Magnussen all over him.
Richard Westbrook is indeed handling the Ford (for the sake of fuel management), with those pink fuzzy slippers on the accelerator. Madison Snow is holding off the challenge of Patrick Long as th Lamborghini is leading the #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 at the present time. Up next is the #96 BMW M6 GT3 for Turner Motorsports in the hands of Jens Klingman. Then comes Patrick Lindsey in the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche, followed by both of the bright blue Lexus RC F GT3's for Jack Hawksworth and Sage Karam respectively. Seventh is Andrew Davis in the Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 followed by Corey Lewis in another of the Lamborghini Huracan GT3's.
Katherine Legge in the Acura and Christina Nielsen in the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 round out the top ten in GT Daytona. Dirk Werner is being pressurized by the BMW of John Edwards. The marshals are looking at the start. Did Gianmaria Bruni jump the start? Richard Westbrook and Tommy Milner made contact going up the uphill section of track on lap one. Will the race stewards have something to say about that one? The BMW, the Ford, and the Porsche, have all had a piece of the pie in terms of setting fast lap these last few laps. Gianmaria Bruni is quickest right now with a fast lap in the 55 second range. Gianmaria Bruni has now opened a 3.2 second margin between himself and his Porsche team mate, Dirk Werner.
Porsche has yet to win here in the U.S. but they did win at the Nurburgring 6 Hours for the FIA World Endurance Championship, a race you read about here on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog, when it happened. The engines of the cars have to be pointed in the same direction as they are in production. So, if it's a longitudinal motor, it stays that way, likewise if it's a transverse mounted motor. That being said, you can move it around within the engine area of the car, under the bonnet. Porsche has put the engine in front of the transmission rather than behind. Porsche wanted more rear aerodynamic grip on the back of the car, and that's why they moved the motor.
Smoke is emanating from the #16 Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Problems early for Corey Lewis and Jeroen Mul here at Lime Rock. The smoke is coming from the right hand bank of cylinders on that V10 engine. The Lamborghini's problems may actually be a right rear tire rubbing on some bodywork. Watch out for a tire puncture. It is no longer smoking, but there's a groove worn into the Continental tire. Gianmaria Bruni is booking it. He's pulled out a four second advantage over Dirk Werner. Lime Rock Park is a low grip track and is thus hard on tires. Whoa! More trouble for the #16 Lamborghini! He's off the road, folks. He's skated across the grass and kissed the tire barrier.
Those of you with long memories for recent sports car racing history, over a decade ago, the beautiful Maserati MC12 supercar that ran in the old American Le Mans Series, had a similar spin at this section of track here at Lime Rock and went off the road before any kind of tire barriers were there. Well, the poor old Maserati and it's driver, ended up outside the track, in the stream. There may have been a slight touch between Corey Lewis and the Acura NSX GT3 #93 of Katherine Legge. It was thought the Lamborghini would be headed for the pit lane, but no. It continues on the speedway. Corey Lewis' crew may have to change tires on the car. All four may come off in the shape of cubes after that little fracas.
The pit crew had a single tire ready due to thinking of a puncture being the culprit for their woes. Bruni continues to lead as Werner is fending off the challenge of BMW M6 GT #24. Richard Westbrook, Tommy Milner, and Jan Magnussen complete the top five as Westbrook is still soft shoe shuffling the Ford. Dirk Werner resets fastest lap of the race at 51.2 seconds. The lap record for this race is 51 second flat. 51.091. We have not reached that target just yet. The order in GT Daytona remains Lamborghini, Porsche, BMW. Katherine Legge in the #93 Acura NSX has come to pit lane, but for a drive through penalty. So, the stewards have pinged her for something. Speeding in the lane, perhaps?
Check that. She is being penalized for the earlier argy bargy with the #16 car. Katherine Legge returns to the track and goes a lap down in the process. The Porsche still has great traction out of corners even with the new mid engine design. The diffuser on the back continues to give Porsche their aerodynamic prowess they've always had. Richard Westbrook is bearing down on the BMW M6 GT of John Edwards. Dirk Werner is lapping two to three tenths of a second faster than is his leading team mate Gianmaria Bruni. No Ferrari in GT Le Mans this weekend at Lime Rock Park. The Risi Competizione team is taking a sabbatical from racing, but that has nothing to do with it's serious problems at the 24 Hours of Le Mans from back in June after it was involved in a big crash.
Risi will not be at the next race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, either. Here's a note. The Road America event, is taking place, today. But, yours truly, will blog it soon. So, stay tuned for that, once all is said and done here at Lime Rock Park. Werner continues to close in on Bruni. So the scrum in Porsche land up at the sharp end, is beginning to heat up. The #16 Lamborghini continues to have tire trouble as the gaps between some of the leaders continue to vacillate. Christina Nielsen is up to eighth, as she leads the championship points in GT Daytona. We have a 108 degrees Fahrenheit track temperature, and it's in the mid 80s Fahrenheit for ambient temperature.
Bruni has settled into a consistent race pace, having turned a 51.9 second lap last time by. His best is still a 51.2. Dirk Werner just clocked a 51.269. Jens Klingman in the Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 is being caught by Patrick Lindsey in the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3. Lindsey is also being challenged by the highest placed Lexus, the #15 car in the hands of Jack Hawksworth. Problems for the #75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes AMG GT3. Dion von Moltke started the car and he is sharing with Tristan Vautier. von Moltke gets spun around by Katherine Legge.
This little shunt took place in turn two. Oh dear. The left rear corner of Von Moltke's Mercedes is crumpled. We are just 20 laps, 30 and a half miles into this GT contest. Cooper MacNeil in the #50 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 was just ahead of both Legge and Vautier. Vautier resumes ahead of Madison Snow in the GTD class leading Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini. Drive through penalty issued to car #93, Katherine Legge. Legge serves her penalty for contact that was avoidable but not deliberate. The #75 Mercedes will be fine to continue out on track. The damage is very minimal.
The Porsche's still lead this race, making their way around the Turner Motorsports GTD BMW. Patrick Lindsey is right on Klingman's back door though, in the battle for third in class in GTD. Ttaffic management here at Lime Rock Park is critical. BMW, Porsche, and now Lexus joins the party as this trio flies down the Sam Posey straightaway, and into Big Bend, turn one here at LRP. Dirk Mueller in the #66 Ford GT has split both Corvette's and is now applying the blowtorch to Tommy Milner in Corvette #4. But folks, this battle has turned into a conflagration. A wreck, for the Corvette and the Ford! There's been a coming together between these two at the uphill.
There's damage to the Ford and Tommy Milner in the Corvette is not moving. There's damage to the entire right side of the Ford GT. The pass was made, but Milner loses control under braking, locking up all four wheels, and spinning right into the Ford, causing Mueller to spin at the same time! Milner could have had the right side tires off on the grass. Mueller was defending his position on the other side of the road. The #66 is in the lane while the #4 is crabbing around Lime Rock with a broken rear toe link. There's heavy damage to the rear and to the sidepod of the Ford. The Ford will need several new bodywork pieces.
The #66 has new Michelin tires all around, while the #4 Corvette crew refuels the car and will attend to the damage. Milner goes straight to the garage for repairs and the Corvette tent is right there so the crew can jump on the car quickly and affect repairs. Championship points are crucial for the drivers and the manufacturers. The Ford GT is going back on track with no major damage. But the car is now three laps down. The #96 BMW M6 GT3 came in for tires and fuel and is now back on track carving it's way through the GT Daytona field. Turner Motorsports thought the race would go to full course yellow, and took fuel and tires. But they've dropped a lap off the lead in GT Daytona, thinking there was a yellow which there wasn't.
Edwards and Westbrook are under a second apart in a battle between Ford and BMW. Jan Magnussen in fifth is the only Corvette in the top six spots. Madison Snow remains your GT Daytona leader with Madison Snow. Patrick Long continues to give chase. Patrick Lindsey and Jack Hawksworth are third and fourth followed by Sage Karam, Andrew Davis, and Christina Nielsen. Tommy Milner is coming back onto pit lane. The pit crew has fixed the car, but Milner is now six laps behind. Corey Lewis is back in pit lane for routine service on his Lamborghini. We saw that car with damage a little earlier.
The GT Daytona battle is pretty close right now. Madison Snow continues to lead. This is a home race for PMR as they are based in New Jersey, 100 miles away from Lime Rock. Patrick Lindsey is running really well, running laps such as a 53.6 and 54.7. Meanwhile, Jon Bennett is lapped and Patrick Long moves into the GT Daytona class lead. He has pulled out a second over Madison Snow. Jack Hawksworth gets around Patrick Lindsey as well. Sage Karam is getting on terms with the three car train leading GT Daytona right now.
A slight touch between Hawksworth and Bennett through the downhill at turn seven. Porsche Motorsport North America team boss Jens Walther is being reassigned to a new spot at Porsche and will head back to Germany after being the chief of PMNA for a good while. Problems meanwhile, for Jon Bennett in the #54 CORE Autosport GT Daytona Porsche 911 GT3. Bennett is crawling through West Bend at the moment. Bennett may be pulling onto the grass to stay out of the apex of the corner. Tommy Milner brings the #4 Corvette to pit lane as Bennett continues his struggle to hobble the Porsche to the same place. Jan Magnussen in the sister Corvette still runs fifth.
Bennett has power to the car, as the headlights are still working. Four tires and fuel for the #54. The headlights are flashing on and off. #54 could have electrical problems. Tommy Milner is back in pit lane. Dirk Mueller still has control of Ford GT #66 and his last lap was a 52.205. Engine problems for the #54 Porsche from CORE Autosport. Porsche leads both classes right now. Madison Snow and Jack Hawksworth are still in the fight. Both Lexus' have taken position from Patrick Lindsey. Christina Nielsen is very close to getting into the top six in GT Daytona. Car #54 probably has an ECU problem. A computer and data cable have been plugged into the #54 car. They have pulled the engine cover off.
It was trying to turn over, but the engine isn't turning. Is Candy Crush on the digital dashboard? No. I don't think so. Patrick Lindsey in the #73 Park Place Porsche, has a suspension problem. In the meantime, Jan Magnussen in Corvette #3 has his hands full trying to fight through GT Daytona traffic. Katherine Legge has passed Cooper MacNeil. Advantage Acura over the Mercedes. But there's surely a cut tire on the #73 Porsche. The right front of the car is rubbing the tire on the fender and causing loads of smoke. Contact has happened at West Bend. Lindsey clipped the left rear of Lexus #14 with Sage Karam at the controls. Lindsey has done his 45 minute stint. He will have to hand over to Jorg Bergmeister.
It is game over for Jon Bennett. But since he owns the Porsche GT North America squad, he will have a good view of them leading this all GT contest here at Lime Rock. Hawksworth brings the Lexus to pit lane. Hawksworth will stay in the car and Robert Alon will do his stint a bit later on. Pit stop time for the #73 car. #73 does have some bodywork pushed in, and that's what was creating the tire smoke we saw earlier. Bergmeister is now back on track. They've dropped behind the Lexus. Dirk Mueller is back to seventh in class in GT Le Mans with it being game over for the #4 Corvette. Porsche continues to lead with Gianmaria Bruni running in P1 and Dirk Werner in P2. Porsche has surely pulled the pin, and they lead this motor race by 14 seconds.
Westbrook, pink fluffy slippers and all, to save fuel, is holding on decently at the moment. Dion von Moltke brings the #75 Mercedes AMG GT3 to the lane. It was a good first stint for him. Sage Karam is also pitting Lexus #14. Driver change for #14 and Scott Pruett takes over. Tristan Vautier is now in the #75 Mercedes Benz. The top eight cars all have to pit yet. Scott Pruett is back in the lane, and Gianmaria Bruni in Porsche #912 has lost the lead and been off the road, someplace. Bruni has done a little agricultural racing and has grass plugging the front air inlet on that Porsche. That Porsche looks like the grass box at the front of an old rotary lawnmower.
The #57 Stevenson Motorsport Audi R8 is pitting, but it's spinning it's wheels while on the air jacks. That's a penalty from the IMSA stewards. No question. Bruni is in the lane, and Dirk Werner has gone to the lead. The Lexus continues to have it's problems. On this pit stop, Gianmaria Bruni will hand the #912 Porsche to co-driver Laurens Vanthoor. Fuel and new Michelin tires for the Porsche. There's damage to the front of the Porsche as the grass is hosed out from the grille area. BMW is also in the lane with car #25. Four tires, fuel, and a driver change for the BMW. Alexander Sims will take over from Bill Auberlen.
Corvette anticipates a stop for car #3, while no one has been called in as far as Ford, or the sister #24 BMW M6 GT. The #28 GT Daytona leading Porsche pits, with Patrick Long handing the wheel now to Daniel Morad. Corvette #3 pits for routine service. Fuel, tires, and a driver change, as Antonio Garcia will take over from Jan Magnussen. Porsche #911 hits the lane, too. Patrick Pilet takes over from Dirk Werner. John Edwards leads Richard Westbrook. But, he has a pit stop in his future. Gianmaria Bruni has had contact on the #912 Porsche. The front bodywork is cracked. Porsche #912 is 16.5 seconds behind. We have an hour and 45 minutes left in this race. Some cars could do this race on one pit stop.
Penalty for the #57 Audi, for spinning the tires while on the air jacks. Lawson Aschenbach has served the penalty. Madison Snow is in the GT Daytona lead but needs to pit. Christina Nielsen is second. Aschenbach maybe selected a gear by accident, or put his foot on the throttle instead of the brake while the car was still on the air jacks. Neither the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini nor the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari have pitted as yet. Third and fourth in class, Bill Sweedler and Ben Keating, neither of them have pitted yet. Jens Klingman in the BMW M6 GT3 for Turner Motorsports is the first of the GT Daytona cars that has made a pit stop.
Katherine Legge in the Acura has not done a proper pit stop as yet, and has only had drive through penalties. Alexander Sims runs a 51.4, his personal best lap time. BMW #25 runs sixth in GT Le Mans. It is clear that John Edwards and Richard Westbrook, both these chaps are going to stretch their fuel to make it on one pit stop. Katherine Legge makes a mistake at the uphill, going straight ahead instead of using the chicane. Legge will need new tires. She has not gotten fuel or new tires. Laurens Vanthoor has unlapped himself. But, it is mistaken that the BMW and the Ford can make it on one stop. They will need two.
Madison Snow could be in soon. Driver changes coming up. Bryan Sellers will be in the #48. Martin Tomczyk in the #24 BMW, and also, Alessandro Balzan will soon take over from Christina Nielsen in the #63 entry. No sign yet of Ryan Briscoe who will take over from Richard Westbrook in Ford GT #67. John Edwards brings the BMW into the lane. Next year, BMW will race their new M8 next year. Martin Tomczyk is now into the RLL BMW. The BMW has the biggest fuel tank in the GT Le Mans class. Ben Keating hands the #33 Mercedes AMG GT3 to Jeroen Bleekemolen. Bleekemolen has not won a race at Lime Rock yet. Madison Snow is in the lane. 70 laps, 107 miles complete.
Some argy bargy at the uphill as the #75 Mercedes spins and the #96 BMW goes off the road. There was contact for Tristan Vautier. That's twice that car has been used as a pinball. Who was the flipper? Vautier was with doubt, the flippee. The #50 WeatherTech Mercedes AMG GT3 is in the lane. Katherine Legge now makes her first scheduled pit stop of this race. #63 and #48 had clean pit stop. Andy Lally takes over the Acura. Gunnar Jeanette is the new driver in the #50 Mercedes. Jeanette has wins here in 2001 and 2010. He is hungry for another Lime Rock triumph. Tristan Vautier went around the outside of BMW #96 and there wasn't enough room for two into one spot. The #96 BMW nerfed the #33 Mercedes. Then, he tried turning left to avoid further contact, but Klingman actually whacked the #75 with no concern as to who the bloke was on his left hand side.
Klingman will get pinged for that and have to head to the sin bin, perhaps. Vautier is now in the lane after that bump from the BMW. Klingman, meanwhile has his hands full with Jack Hawksworth in the #15 Lexus RC F GT3, and the #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche in the hands of Daniel Morad. Both Corvette's are running in tandem up No Name straight. Andy Lally wants a lap back, but Daniel Morad is not keen on giving up his track position. Lally goes off the road briefly with one of the Porsche's in that scrap, as the team Porsche is also in the thick of things. Game over for the #75 Mercedes and this could result in that aforementioned penalty for the BMW #96.
Richard Westbrook leads this motor race, having completed 76 laps now. 116 miles. Corvette #3 is trying to get a lap back. We're ten laps or so from halfway. Andy Lally is trying to get a lap back. Lally nerfs Jack Hawksworth in the Lexus. In the process, Lally puts Daniel Morad in the Porsche off in the grass! That was an uncalled for move. Hawksworth passes Klingman for the GT Daytona lead into the downhill at turn seven. Hawksworth will pull out a lead in GT Daytona. The stewards have yet to look at Klingman's antics from earlier, as Antonio Garcia is now back on the lead lap. Patrick Pilet is halfway through his second fuel stint while Richard Westbrook has not completed his first fuel stint yet.
Jens Klingman gets a drive through penalty, just as was suspected. Andy Lally should get a penalty as well. Turner Motorsports has Taco instead of Turner Motorsports on the car, because team boss Will Turner and team manager Jay Byron are big taco fans. Lime Rock Park is their home track, so for their home race they are having fun. Taco is written on the side of the car, and there are taco emojis on the front. Turner Motorsports, despite taco power, has almost lost a lap. No extra salsa in the tank is going to help them recover today I'm afraid. Jack Hawksworth is whistling off into the distance. Richard Westbrook in seven laps, will be at half distance without stopping for fuel.
Some of these cars are continuing with damage including the #93 Acura, and the #16 Lamborghini. Mechanics are ready at CGR. Pit stops are imminent. Ryan Briscoe is as cool as a cucumber at the moment. James Davison is flying in the #007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage for The Racer's Group. Davison is closing on Bryan Sellers in the #48 Lamborghini. Richard Westbrook's lead is shrinking. The gap between the Porsche's has remained stable. #911 has been closing in on the #67 Ford GT, but, #912 has not. Alexander Sims passes Richard Westbrook and gets a lap back. Tommy Milner has the #4 Corvette back on track, 30 laps down.
Richard Westbrook still has the lead, but only just. Westbrook is in pit lane now. Tires are being changed, with some issues for the air gun. Ryan Briscoe is now at the wheel of #67. This was likely the last pit stop for #67. Briscoe can go to the end of the race. Westbrook ran 87 laps on a tank of petrol. They will get track position. We are at halfway. One hour and 20 minutes into a two hour and 40 minute race. Patrick Pilet leads with Laurens Vanthoor in second, 13 seconds behind. Vanthoor cuts a 51.5 lap. Porsche has to put the welly down to get after the Ford GT. The new race lap record for GTLM is 51.025 for Laurens Vanthoor.
Jack Hawksworth leads Daniel Morad by 4.9 seconds in GTD. Jorg Bergmeister is third in class, but will GTD leader Morad get pinged by the marshals for rough driving? We'v got showers on the way according to weather radar. This could make the race interesting. Jens Klingman is losing some pace since his earlier drama. Ryan Briscoe is the first car a lap down in GTLM, but he'll get that back if there are green flag pit stops coming up. Briscoe will stay out on the road. Jeroen Bleekemolen brings the #33 Mercedes into the lane. He is leading the GT Daytona points standings right now. Bleekemolen is not sure about something, and his left front tire is filthy and has a hole in it.
There are problems for the #33. #33 is going behind the wall. It could be game over for the #33. Jens Klingman hits pit lane in the #96 BMW. The #33 has a broken suspension, which could be fixable. The #96 car is in the lane with right front damage. The Taco BMW is in the lane. But, there's more problems for the car! Is he swinging left to go onto the track or going to the garage. Oh dear! It's the garage for car #96! Second, thrid, and fourth in the GT Daytona points are all having issues. Unbelievable! Andy Lally and Katherine Legge are also having an awful day. Does anyone want to win GTD? Lally has unlapped himself from Jack Hawksworth.
Lally is two laps down and now only one. He has one lap back. There's an hour and ten minutes to go. If it stays green, the Porsche's may be in jeopardy of not being able to get to the end of this race, without a splash and dash. Patrick Pilet is due for a stop. The gap was 20 seconds, reduced to 12 and then it ballooned back to 20 seconds. The gaps sound big, but the top five are all back on the lead lap. Ryan Briscoe is a minute and two seconds behind. The #67 car is good to the end. Porsche #911 has to make another pit stop. The sister #66 Ford had contact earlier in this race and has dropped three laps down.
Milner has dropped to eighth in class, 23rd in the overall. Major GT Daytona contenders remain in pit lane. Jens Klingman, (we've called his name and number a lot today), is one of those drivers. Ditto for Jeroen Bleekemolen, the second place GTD points man. Game over for #33 of course. The car has been retired. Rain could move in before the end of this race. The #73 Park Place Porsche (say that fast, five times), is into the pit lane. Tires and fuel for #73. Play the strategy, be bold. Four tires and fuel for Jorg Bergmeister. This is the last stop for #73, rolling the dice.
We saw James Davison in the #007 Aston Martin, and also in the lane, the #66 Ford GT with Joey Hand at the wheel of it. Could the race leading Porsche be slowing down? The lap times for that car have gone slower, from 51 to 52, and finally to the 53 second range. The gap has been reduced below ten seconds between the two Porsche's, both #911 and #912. Traffic clumps together, and you lose time. Lexus #15 could hit the pit lane very soon. They are still in the GT Daytona class lead. Patrick Pilet is in for what should be his final stop of this race. Two Michelin tires at minimum, plus a load of fuel.
The sister car now hits the lane, and it is unclear as to their fuel load from here, to the end of the race, which is oh, an hour or so away. Pilet is back on track and now, sow is Laurens Vanthoor. #15 will be in soon. Jack Hawksworth hands over the #15 Lexus RC F GT3, to Robert Alon. Tire changes are being completed. Fuel into the car, and the car is off the air jacks and ready to roll once again. Alon stalls the car. Now, he is on his way. Lexus has been fumbling their pit stops as of late. Alon has to really pour on the steam. But, he is on probation from IMSA for an incident earlier this year on the streets of Long Beach, California. So, Alon has to mind his P's and Q's here as he sets off for his stint to close out the race.
Alegra Motorsports in the lane. Daniel Morad is in. Morad hands the car to Patrick Long for the finish of this race. Four Continental tires and a full tank of gas. BMW makes their pit stop, and Corvette takes the overall lead of this motor race with just about an hour remaining. The #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini pits from first in class in GT Daytona. No driver change. Bryan Sellers stays at the wheel, and there will be four tires and a full tank of fuel. Patrick Long and Jorg Bergmeister, who have been team mates before, are now chasing each other. Hmmm. This is just wrong. Something seems funny about that.
Wrong? Not hardly. Brilliant! This ought to be quite the dust up between the two old Porsche mates. Corvette #4 is now into its pit box for one final stop. As the pit stops cycle through, the lead in GT Daytona is changing hands constantly. First it was the TRG Aston Martin, and with the imminent stop by that team, the Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 goes to the race lead in class. Townsend Bell is now the GTD leader. The Stevenson team won Grand Sport in the Continental Tire Challenge race earlier. So, there's pressure, because if they won the Continental event, they could win the WeatherTech race, too.
Alex Job Racing puts scrubbed tires on Bell's car, on the left hand side. They will actually do scrubbed tires on the right side as well. Jorg Bergmeister is now into the race lead in GT Daytona. Scrubbed tires can work here at Lime Rock Park. If they are set up on brand new tires, as they wear, the balance of the car goes away in a big way. Bergmeister, Sellers, and Long are battling for the top spots in GT Daytona as Antonio Garcia leads GTLM and overall, but will need a pit stop. He last pitted 59 laps into this race. Can the #911 and #912 Porsche's go to the end of the race? They want a win here in the U.S. They've won in the FIA World Endurance Championship already.
The #93 Acura is back up to seventh in GT Daytona, but the Legge/Lally driven car has definite battle scars on it. That will catch the attention of the race marshals. We saw 88 laps out of Richard Westbrook in the Ford GT earlier. An 88 lap stint in a sprint race! Amazing! Richard Westbrook admits the Porsche's are too strong for everyone else. Lexus #14 is in the lane. Laurens Vanthoor passes Alexander Sims for third. There is a weather front coming in from the northwest. There's a small break in the rain, which means we might get a splash for five to ten minutes before this race is over.
Acura #86 has a spin. Jeff Segal at the wheel of it, spins at turn three. Spreading dirt and clag all over the road. Part of the front intake cover for the brake ducts is missing, too. Townsend Bell in the #23 Audi simply nudged Segal out of the way. Jorg Bergmeister is being pursued hotly for the GT Daytona lead by Bryan Sellers in the Lamborghini. There's a three second gap between Antonio Garcia and Patrick Pilet for the race lead, with Laurens Vanthoor in the sister Porsche running third. Jeroen Bleekemolen is now back into this race, 30 some odd laps down in GTD, but they need points. Ryan Briscoe has moved past Alexander Sims. Townsend Bell will get a penalty. Apologies, Ferrari of course won GTE Pro in FIA WEC at the Nurburgring, a race you read about here on the blog when it happened.
Patrick Pilet has gone around Antonio Garcia for the lead of this motor race. #3 is in the lane for fuel and tires, and so is the #25 BMW. No driver change for either car. Ben Keating will take over the #33 Mercedes. Robert Alon has lost three spots, and has been passed by Alessandro Balzan, and Andy Lally. Lawson Aschenbach also made a pass. Alexander Sims pits. We've run 128 laps, 196 miles. The two Porsche's are 15 seconds apart. Bryan Sellers has lost time to Jorg Bergmeister. Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan have done a great job in this race. Acura's factory money is going into Penske Racing and the Honda DPi effort for next year. Will MSR be back running Acura's in GT Daytona in 2018?
The TRG Aston Martin with Brandon Davis and James Davison, are running well. James Davison did a Pirelli World Challenge race in the car earlier this year. But, we've missed that screaming Aston Martin V12 all year. There's a new street going Vantage coming next year and a new race car to go with it. Antonio Garcia has lowered the lap record in this race to 50.7 seconds. Garcia is actually trying to unlap himself from the leader. He is the meat in the sandwich, shall we say, between the two Porsche's. Meanwhile, Ryan Briscoe is beginning to close up on Laurens Vanthoor. In GT Daytona, the top three are within a second of each other. The usual suspects we've seen all race. Jorg Bergmeister, Bryan Sellers, and Patrick Long.
There's a second between first and third in class as they roar down the Sam Posey straightaway once again. Bryan Sellers, before switching to Lamborghini, he spent seven years driving a Porsche for the Falken Tire team. Jorg Bergmeister, Timo Bernhard, and Sascha Maassen were three of the Porsche drivers that came over from Germany to the U.S. in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Bergmeister leads GT Daytona, and they are leading and second in GT Le Mans with just over a half an hour to go. Rain might not be a factor as we get closer to the end. Sage Karam pits the #14 Lexus from 13th in GTD.
The Porsche 911 mid engine car has not won a race yet. They've had poles, but haven't won yet. Ferrari won the Nurburgring 6 Hours. The gap closes in GTD as the leaders head through Big Bend. The last time Porsche debuted a new car, Patrick Pilet won, at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2014. Alessandro Balzan runs 1.3 seconds ahead of Andy Lally. Lally is sixth in class now. Aston Martin is chipping away at the top three in GT Daytona. Lawson Aschenbach is fighting back from his drive through penalty, running behind Andy Lally. Aschenbach and Lally are scrapping with each other and have been for a good while now.
Lally is driving defensively to hold off Aschenbach, giving Alessandro Balzan a bit of a cushion. Half an hour to go. One second still separates the top three in GT Daytona. Nothing is being left on the table. Everyone is going for it as we get down to the nitty gritty here in Connecticut. Patrick Pilet is still ahead of Laurens Vanthoor at the moment. The GTD lead battle continues. Bergmeister vs. Sellers vs. Long. Two cars are out. Jon Bennett, and Tristan Vautier/Dion von Moltke. Finally, after a long time, Lawson Aschenbach has gone past Andy Lally. We could have a third retirement. The #33 Mercedes hasn't called it a day yet, but they are taking a fuel rig apart which could mean game over.
The #33 is actually still on track. This is a bit confusing. Maybe the crew is just packing up the pit box before the rain possibly comes. The Bergmeister/Sellers/Long battle continues. BMW #24 is crossing their fingers that they can make it to the end. Patrick Pilet is 14 seconds ahead of his team mate and is right in the thick of the GTD lead scrap. The track temperature has cooled quite a bit. Rain is in the area. We might just beat the rain. The cell of rain has gone past us to the north. Jeroen Bleekemolen is in the pit lane with the computer plugged in. Jeroen Bleekemolen has shut the engine off. But now, it's go time. We have 15 minutes left.
The GTD cars on new tires were more difficult for Richard Westbrook to get by. Antonio Garcia has brought the gap down. The BMW is trying to make inroads on the #67 Ford but to no avail. Andy Lally is catching Alessandro Balzan. James Davison is slipping back from the GT Daytona lead battle. Less than ten minutes now remain. Porsche and Ford are still up on the pit wall. Will there be a splash and dash for the leaders? It should be raining now, somehow. We've missed a good chunk of the rain that has gone north to Springfield and Hartford, Connecticut.
Antonio Garcia is now chasing Martin Tomczyk. This is the battle for fourth place. Experience counts for everything in sports car racing. Antonio Garcia at 37 years of age, and Jan Magnussen at 44 years old, are two of the elder statesmen of sports car racing right now. Oh dear! Seven and a half minutes left in the race and it's game over for Aston Martin! The #007 Aston Martin for The Racer's Group has stopped just inside West Bend. The engine is possibly dead. That great sounding V12 has been silenced at least for now.
The Racer's Group did run some races with a Porsche, but that car has been sold and is no longer with TRG. More late race drama! Ryan Briscoe is bringing the third place overall Ford GT to pit lane! They need a splash and dash. Briscoe loses fourth and fifth to the BMW and the Corvette. Ford has a perfectly timed stop, but is fifth. Antonio Garcia is now third. They came into the weekend with a three point advantage (Garcia and Magnussen) over Bill Auberlen and Alexander Sims. Antonio Garcia is charging hard. He set the fastest lap of this race back on lap 134. Who will win GT Daytona?
The #67 Ford is ahead of the race leader, still barely on the lead lap. Andy Lally catches and passes Alessandro Balzan. Bergmeister, Sellers, and Long are still in a battle. Antonio Garcia is now pressurizing Martin Tomczyk. This is for a podium place. Who will join the Porsche duo on the podium here at Lime Rock Park? Will it be BMW or Corvette? Patrick Pilet will see the white flag. One lap to go. Pilet claimed the first pole for the new Porsche 911 RSR for this race. Porsche wins their first international race with the 911 RSR, here at Lime Rock Park! Patrick Pilet and Dirk Werner win it! Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Lindsey give Park Place and Porsche the GT Daytona win!
Overall/GT Le Mans: #911 Pilet/Werner Porsche 911 RSR
GT Daytona: #73 Bergmeister/Lindsey Porsche 911 GT3
The next IMSA race, is at the picturesque and glorious Road America, a great four mile ribbon of asphalt in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The race actually happened, today. Stay tuned for a report, as all four classes were in competition. We'll have that one for you, soon, here on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog. So long, for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment