Joao Barbosa takes over the #5 Cadillac as Harry Tincknell is having issues with the #55 Mazda RT24P. Tincknell is 18th in the overall and has a throttle calibration issue at this point, but Mazda Motorsports Director, John Doonan is confident, especially now with the partnership with Joest Racing. There are multiple throttle calibrations on a rotary switch. It's mechanical, or electronic. The sooner you rectify a problem, the better. A major scrum between Pippo Derani, one of the Cadillac's, and the #99 Red Dragon, the second JDC-Miller car. Ryan Hunter-Reay is now at the wheel of the #10 Cadillac DPi-V.R and he will be the endurance driver for WTR this year.
The ante has been upped. Every one of the drivers on your team has to be competitive. Plug in and play. Connor De Philippi for BMW is running very well. He'll be in IMSA all year. There are great American drivers. Gunther Steiner from Haas F1 may not be fully right in his opinion. In this race, you have sports car champions, IndyCar champions, and Formula 1 champions. Rain could be a factor before this race is done and dusted. Joao Barbosa continues to lead. Both Action Express Cadillac's have shown speed this weekend. Everyone is now finding their rhythm. Weather looks good for now and through the night. Tomorrow, it may change.
Dan Gurney, had everything required by a race driver. He had everything you'd want in a driver including bravery, bravado, intelligence, skill, and courage. He started in 1957 in sports cars in California. He ran for Ferrari and Porsche. In 1967, he won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps in the Eagle, a week after he co-drove with A.J. Foyt, won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He also raced NASCAR, and Can Am. He was very close to being a winner at Indianapolis. The late, great Jim Clark said Dan Gurney was his most feared rival.
The Gurney flap is the most effective aerodynamic device ever created. He also won with his own team. He was feared on the track, but also loved and respected. He is one of a kind. To this point in the race, 79 laps, 281 miles. Pippo Derani and ESM have pitted. They've won the Rolex 24 before. CORE Autosport is looking to the inside of P1 Motorsport in the Mercedes AMG GT3. Joao Barbosa still leads this motor race. Jon Bennett and CORE Autosport have decided to return to Prototype competition.
Pit stop time for the #31 Cadillac. Stuart Middleton of England is now at the controls, after winning the Whelen Challenge and coming out of British GT. Wright Motorsports is back on track, but they are 83 laps behind after their earlier troubles. The front of the car was shoved in. Joao Barbosa makes a pit stop. Another car has trouble. The #20 BAR1 Motorsports ewntry has spun, and one of the United Autosports cars has also had some recent woes. Nope. That's the #38 Performance Tech car with James French at the controls. We are now under the first full course yellow of this race.
Pit lane might be busy. Prototypes have already stopped. Pit stop time for Penske Acura #7. Ricky Taylor will stay in the car. In the #3 Corvette, there is a driver change. They have an issues at the rear of the automobile, someplace. Antonio Garcia is the next driver into the car. Ryan Hunter-Reay is in the lane with the #10 Cadillac. Dirk Mueller in the #66 Ford GT leads in GT Le Mans. Another door issue for the #62 Ferrari 488 GTE. The door is broken, just as it was on the #7 Acura a while ago. This is going to be a humdinger of a race and might continue to be that in the next few hours.
Both Lexus cars are on the apron, maybe letting the field by. We are back to green and more squeeze play stuff with the Mazda and the Cadillac! Wow! Tristan Nunez pulled himself out of a sticky situation. The tire pressures need to come back up again. Tristan Vautier is still having a fair old dust up with the #10 Cadillac of Ryan Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay has a head of steam, but realizred discretion is the better part of valor. Over/under. More argy bargy? Not sure. Hunter-Reay wants to clear lapped traffic.
Simon Pagenaud has to choose which car to follow in a conga line on the back straight. Devlin DeFrancesco moves the Banana Boat out of the way of some of the faster Prototypes. The #6 Acura may be having a fw small niggling issues. But, #7 seems to be moving into a good spot. Simon Pagenaud makes an outside move, or tries to, on Hunter-Reay. No dice. Joao Barbosa has a 1.3 second lead on Pippo Derani. Lexus had to reset some software on the car and that is why one of the RC F GT3's slowed. Both of the Lexus cars are running together. Twilight is beginning to show at Daytona International Speedway.
The Lexus has a bigger greenhouse. Lexus does not produce customer cars. They don't have the same infrastructure that makes like Porsche, Mercedes, Ferrari, and Lamborghini do. Lexus also runs in International GT Open competition, as Dirk Mueller leads GT Le Mans over Antonio Garcia and Tommy Milner.
No comments:
Post a Comment