We are into hour seven. Yours truly, took a short nap and watched coverage on the IMSA app. We're past halfway through the 66th renewal of this once around the clock odyssey. So many great names have raced here at Sebring. That's still true, in today's race as we are past the halfway mark. We are about to restart after a full course yellow, with the #55 Mazda RT24P of Harry Tincknell, leading this motor race. His manager and mentor, Allan McNish has won here. Renger van der Zande is pushing by Eric Curran and there's so sure argy bargy there. Tristan Vautier is going for it, and Renger van der Zande could have damage. The dive planes on the front are as sharp as knives and so, you risk cutting down a tire. Dodge 'em cars indeed. Nowhere for Eric Curran to go, and the rear bodywork got hung up on the #31, the Whelen racer.
van der Zande's Cadillac neds the bodywork. The aerodynamics are a problem. Pit the car under caution and change the whole rear clip. That's the hbest way to go. Emergency service under this short full course yellow. Desperation isn't worth it if you end up in the pit lane. Pit lane is closed, even though these chaps are entitled to make emergency service. The marshals may or may not buy the emergency service claim. There's some damage even to the safety car, the Chevrolet Corvette safety car.
You have to take the green before you are allowed to come in. Mazda leads Sebring. Go! It's restart time. The aero loads on the side plates are going to be damaged on the Cadillac. The #48 Lamborghini is pushing right now, too. 31 seconds worth of pit lane delta time. The #10 team only has 80 seconds in hand before they would lose a lap. Some serious battles between team mates. Mario Farnbacher in the #93 MSR Acura and Katherine Legge in the sister #86. The #69 HART Acura is also right up at the sharp end. Kurt Baker is the team boss. Ryan Eversley, Chad Gilsinger, and Tom Dyer sharing the driving chores.
The #10 team pitted and it took 65 seconds to replace the damaged bodywork. We have drama on the track as the #5 Cadillac of Joao Barbosa has spun and so has James French in the #38 Performance Tech Oreca 07 Gibson. Some damage for sure on both automobiles. You want to push, but if you push too hard, it will bite you. They are going to change the front nose section of the car. Part of the toe link is broken on the lefr front. Left front contact to right front. Barbosa flew in the air! Crunch! That's a big issue with turn 17. It's long radius and high speed, but the car can bound into the air at the same time.
The whole upright on the #5 Cadillac is damaged. So, the Rolex 24 winners have some work to do. #55 is in the lane. Harry Tincknell is a shade off sequence. Tristan Nunez in the #77 sister car has run the fastest lap for Mazda with a 1:49 flat. Johannes van Overbeek, on his merry way in the hairpin. Tequila Patron ESM has only one bullet left. Olivier Pla got hit and the transmission got shocked and had all the gears stripped out. Game over. The shock is sent through the half shaft, driveshaft, and transmission. The #54 CORE Autosport car has been running very well with Colin Braun and Romain Dumas among the drivers.
The runways are very bumpy, and the infield section is less rough. Performance Tech Motorsports has run through the IMSA development series and have moved up to prototype this year. Meanwhile, Alessandro Pier Guidi is applying the blowtorch to Laurens Vanthoor in a battle for GT Le Mans. Once the sun goes down, you can change tire compounds to find more speed. Pier Guidi drops a wheel off in the dirt! Renger van der Zande is pushing as well. He's slicing through this traffic like a hot knife through butter. Jesse Krohn has a fast race car with the #24 BMW M8 GT, but he is eight laps behind right now.
Phil Hanson is giving the #32 United Autosports entry a good run, diving past the Corvette. They didn't qualify the car, changed the engine, and started at the tail end of the field. United Autosports has good experience in Europe. Paul Di Resta has raced in Formula 1, and he is also back racing in DTM for 2018. Alex Brundle was drafted in to replace Bruno Senna as we've already explained. Phil Hanson, at 18 years old, is becoming a very good sports car racer. He is being chased by Tristan Vautier. Don't chop defensively across your rival's nose or you will be pinged by the stewards.
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