Hour five starts. We will be with you for oh, 3/4 of it. We are under yellow, and getting ready to go back to green. Once again, in about 15 minutes time, if you have the IMSA App or the Fox Sports Go App, please switch over to your mobile device, to follow the race, from 2PM Central Time/3PM Eastern Time, to 5PM Central Time/6PM Eastern Time, when we rejoin coverage on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog, to take you all the way to the finish of the race. Helio Castroneves in the #7 Acura has taken over the lead, and we have completed 120 laps, 449 miles. We restart this race, and Mike Conwayu was caught napping as Helio Castroneves leads. The #32 United Autosports Ligier is stalled. Alex Brundle at the controls, trying to restart the engine and get back in the fight.
Brundle spun. He was splitting away from other cars. He is filling in today for Bruno Senna, who is recovering from a surgery he had. We go back to yellow because of Brundle's stalled automobile. In replay, we see Brundle run wide, and he was passing loads ofg cars, having been told "go" by one of his crewmen. Oliver Gavin leads GTLM for Corvette. Jeroen Bleekemolen leads GT Daytona in the #33 Mercedes AMG GT3. Helio Castroneves leads the field away on the restart and he can go right at the turn in to turn 17, Sunset Bend. Pippo Derani will be in attack mode, but there's a long way to go. Don't push it too hard and make a mistake. Don't wait too long and give up too much track position.
Oh boy! One of the Ford's tipped another car off the road. Dirk Mueller in the #66, and he may have lost the headlight cover. Scott Dixon in the #67 sister car. John Edwards pressing on in the #24 BMW M8 GT. Mueller checked up for a GT Daytona car, and it was a concertina effect. Pippo Derani and Mike Conway are both keeping the pressure on Helio Castroneves. Corvette in the lane again, with a problem for the #3. Deja vu, unfortunately, as these blokes ran into issues just a couple of hours ago. There is a debris flag at the start/finish line. There's damage to the left hand side of the #66 Ford GT. This isn't good.
There was argy bargy between a couple of the GT Daytona cars as well. We are undoubtedly under yellow and poor old Mike Conway had to serve a drive through penalty for passing under the yellow flag. There was already rear end damage to the Dirk Mueller driven Ford as the left front tire delaminates. The rear wing of the car is askew as well. You hardly see a Michelin tire fail in that fashion without some sort of assistance. The sweet taste of champagne, may be replaced by the bitter pill of defeat. We still wonder where poor old Dirk Mueller had his issues. That was severe damage to the Ford.
At first it seemed to be a small hit, but it was a hit in two different places on the rear tail. Prototype and GTLM cars in the lane. The nudge from John Edwards didn't look significant, but it was more damage than previously assumed. Filipe Albuquerque in the #5 Cadillac is the new race leader. GT Daytona cars pit for service. The temperature is going up, and there isn't a cloud in the sky. Mercifully, the #66 comes out of pit lane, but right into the garage. Oh dear. More trouble for one of our GTLM contenders. You don't want to lose points so you can take a hit in the overall standings. Teams who had a problem at Daytona don't want to have issues here at Sebring.
React on the fly quickly. and gain points. Action Express is not giving anything away, to chase points for both championships. Collect points every time on the track, and keep being consistent. Heat is an enemy of brakes. As good as the ABS systems on the GT3 cars are, the components can be worn down. Do an early brake change, so you don't end up having to scramble towards the end that will dull your weapon. Your weapon (the car), must be kept sharp at all times to conquer these endurance sports car races. The brakes with ABS run at 1,200 degrees. That cooks the brakes.
Now, the #58 Porsche has spun. We are back to green. Christina Nielsen is still stationary. Jonathan Bomarito has taken over behind the wheel of the #55 Mazda. #58 is now in the pit lane. Nielsen tried to avoid the Park Place Porsche, and spun in the process, but she escaped major damage. However, she has lost a lap. They can't afford another bad race. John Potter at the wheel of the #44 Magnus Racing Audi. Lawson Aschenbach is third in class, after Justin Marks had a monster sized crash that we've already documented.
David Heinemeier Hanson has won Le Mans before and has six wins and 20 podiums in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Alvaro Parente is the driver who is leading in GTD in the #86 Acura. He is racing his first 12 Hours of Sebring, today. Justin Marks had a major incident on Thursday, as was documented, and they have come back. Wow. Some close action between the #69 HART Acura NSX GT3 with Tom Dyer at the wheel. Check that, Chad Gilsinger, who is being harried by Phillip Frommenwiler. HART Racing is a volunteer crew from the Honda/Acura plant in Marysville, Ohio.
Derani, Castroneves, and Albuquerque, are the top three right now. Alvaro Parente is sore, from a crash in another series... and of course, that was in the Pirelli World Challenge race at St. Petersburg that was documented on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog, last week. Conway gets squeezed. Alvaro Parente has bruises and sore ribs. He's toughing it out. Thomas Jaeger has taken over the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3 from Kenny Habul. Mike Conway gets balked by a GTD car. James Calado is being harried by Earl Bamber. Check that. Calado was harrying Bamber and trying to make a pass.
Bamber is using all the road, but there are tire marbles and loads of clag everywhere, off line. Risi Competizione team boss Giuseppe Risi is back home in Houston, Texas, after a car accident. He is recovering. Get well soon, Giuseppe. Pippo Derani continues to lead Helio Castroneves in the overall and the Nissan's aero package is very much improved. We'll see you for more racing, coming up in a few hours. Follow on the IMSA app or Fox Sports Go. We'll see you soon.
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