The #31 Whelen Cadillac has had some trouble. Christian Fittipaldi is now at the wheel of the #5. #31 had an air hammer failure for the tires. Something may have gone wrong with the regulator and the nitrogen bottle that provides the pressure for the air hammer. Christopher Mies continues to chase Luca Stolz in the GT Daytona class. There are no weak links in the driver lineups, as all of the factory backed teams, find the best drivers according to their ratings. Giving a shout out to Kevin Buckler and The Racer's Group. This race has been their bedrock for some 22 years, and they won it overall in 2003. Hope to see TRG back at the track soon.
Dirk Mueller leads GT Le Mans in the #66 Ford GT, sharing with Joey Hand and Sebastien Bourdais. Alessandro Pier Guidi in the Risi Competizione Ferrari is coming, and now, Frederic Makowiecki and Scott Dixon are also pressing on well. Fred Makowiecki tries to make a pass, but can't quite do it. Dixon is applying the blowtorch to Makowiecki. Ford has the setups dialed in on the GT as it is the third season for the car. Execute, execute, execute. Stay out of trouble. That's the approach to take. Corvette Racing is competitive running four and five in the GTLM class with Mike Rockenfeller and Marcel Fassler at the keyboard's of each car.
The #24 BMW is being hounded by the #911 Porsche. Augusto Farfus, will race the FIA World Endurance Championship, and the full DTM series. He is racing at Daytona, and will also be with BMW at the Bathurst 12 Hours at Mount Panorama in New South Wales, Australia, in a few weeks. Scott Dixon is trying hard to get past Augusto Farfus. There may be a pit stop for the Porsche, and it;s true. Porsche heads for the lane. Graham Rahal and Simon Pagenaud have Team Penske in fourth and fifth in the overall. The cars look great.
Penske has a great driver lineup in both cars. The Acura is powered by the J35 series V6 Honda motor that is well proven and designed for a prototype, and it was the engine that ESM won the Rolex 24 with in 2016. The #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 is in the pit lane. Cooper MacNeil and Alessandro Balzan will share for the whole season, and Gunnar Jeanette has been driving these last few hours. Ryan Dalziel brings the #2 Nissan to pit lane. Team manager Aaron Rehagen has the program all set, but last year, they were the latest DPi team to get their program launched.
Luca Stolz and Christopher Mies continue to battle for the GT Daytona lead. Rik Breukers in the car now and he is third in class. So many great drivers are coming over from Europe to race in IMSA here in the states as Jordan Taylor pits from third overall in the #10 Cadillac. The Prototype championship will be a major deal, with 16 or so cars in the field. The WTR lineup with Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande, has flown under the radar. The guy is mega quick and he;s giing for it, having put it on pole. Ford also makes a scheduled pit stop.
Christopher Mies steps out of the #29 Audi. He ran the car out of fuel coming into the pit lane. Mies handed the car over to another driver, but, not sure who is in the car. The #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini has taken the class lead, Andrea Caldarelli driving. Kelvin van der Linde is in the Audi. Dirk Mueller has hit the pit lane for a scheduled stop. Can Joey Hand, Dirk Mueller, and Sebastien Bourdais, get the 200th race win for Chip Ganassi? We'll find out in 19 hours or so. Ford is comfortable with their chosen tire compound from Michelin, the exclusive tire supplier for the factory teams in GT Le Mans.
Penske Acura #7 in the lane for a scheduled stop. Ooh. Graham Rahal momentarily stalls the car but is now back on his merry way. Acura #6 pits from the lead. Simon Pagenaud will hand over to one of his team mates. Dane Cameron is now at the wheel of the #6, tiptoeing on cold tires. Baby the throttle so there is no risk of spinning the car. Markus Winkelhock is at the wheel of the #44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 in GT Daytona. Lawson Aschenbach in the #93 Acura NSX GT3, is working on passing Patrick Lindsey in the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3. Aschenbach is paired up with Justin Marks for the 2018 season.
Bryan Sellers passes Franck Perera, in a battle of the Lamborghini's. Paul Miller Racing and GRT Grasser Racing respectively. Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow are a solid tandem in terms of driver lineups. Roger Penske has used the #6 for many years, here at the 24 Hours of Daytona, as well as in Trans Am and Can Am with the #6. Penske has a long, storied history. Trouble for Jordan Taylor with a cut down right rear tire for the defending race champions. Fortunately, he is now in the pit lane to get service.
The scrum in GT Daytona continues. Lawson Aschenbach is being muscled by Bryan Sellers as he has plenty of apex speed through the middle of the corner. They had less speed during the Roar Before the 24 test session. Andrea Caldarelli, from Italy, is a Lamborghini factory driver and he is a quick bloke in his own right. The Audi and the Lamborghini are very similar mechanically, running the same 5.2 liter V10 engine. Christian Fittipaldi for Action Express, leads this motor race right now.
A pass is made on the #71 P1 Motorsport Mercedes AMG GT3 of J.C. Perez. Franck Perera in the #11 GRT Grasser Lamborghini in close pursuit. Jeff Segal is in the WeatherTech Ferrari, and he has transmission trouble. Rain ahs come to Daytona.
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