The two Mike Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3's are both running very well as we have the #31 Cadillac in the pit lane for a scheduled stop. Curran has taken over the overall lead,k from Harry Tincknell. 230 laps, 860 miles completed. BMW has had the pace here at Sebring, and need the luck. They have had a better race here, than they did almost two months back at the Rolex 24. Temperatures will begin to cool down. We have Porsche, Ferrari, and Ford, battling for GT Le Mans honors. Now,. Alessandro Pier Guidi is in the lane and so is Fred Makowiecki in the Porsche. More debris on the road. Oh boy. It's damage to the #912 Porsche! The bumper has come completely off the car. There will be a full course yellow so Gianmaria Bruni can come in and get this serious damage repaired. He was in the lane, only ten minutes ago. Richard Westbrook also hits pit lane.
Full course yellow. #912 won't get to the flag for a freebie even though he was the chap who left the damaged pieces and parts littered all over the road. There's still more debris out there. There's dust and disintegrating bodywork all over the road. The whole rear diffuser has been torn off that Porsche. The rear diffuser, bumper, and undertray, are all one section. The team will replace the whole section of the rear of the car. Wow. These are things that can bite you in an endurance event. Not good.
More parts and pieces are prepared to fix the Porsche. The entire back section is going to be replaced. There is also tire rub on the back. But there will be a replacement of all these parts in one fell swoop. Let's hope the pickup points at the front are not damaged. All the clips on the bodywork snapped into place properly. Good, clean repairs by the Porsche mechanics. The diffuser ended up on the outside of the track. If it ended up by the spectator area, Porsche never would have gotten it back in order to study it, to see what went wrong.
We're getting close to sprint race time. But, the shadows are beginning to grow long here at Sebring. Sebring is an event, pure and simple. Some people come for the race, or the event. We're back to green and Mike Conway hits the hammer, and is back after it. These blokes, Conway and Lapierre, know each other from the FIA World Endurance Championship and are former team mates. Jonathan Bomarito is at the wheel of the #55 Mazda. Mazda has had class wins here at Sebring in the old GTO and GTU classes. But, they want an overall Sebring win. They also remain the only Japanese automaker to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, back in 1991 with the awesome 787B of course.
Romain Dumas is coming. He is a shark, smelling blood in the water. Oh boy! Bomarito drops a wheel at the exit of turn one. He was having a tough old time trying to get into the turn! Rene Rast is also pushing, in the sister Mazda. Plus, Misha Goikhberg in the Red Dragon, the #99 car, is still there. We've made it past the eight hour mark for the NAEC points. Now we can back time to the end of this motor race, ladies and gentlemen. We're 2/3rds of the way through the 12 Hours of Sebring. After this race, we have the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen at Watkins Glen International Raceway in New York, in July, and the Petit Le Mans, 1,000 miles, at Road Atlanta in the red clay hills outside of Atlanta, Georgia, in October.
Eric Curran has run 240 laps, 898 miles. The top six cars in the running order are all on the same lap, in fact. The sun is beginning to set here at Sebring, and this is why turn 17 is known as Sunset Bend. Nicolas Lapierre is still chasing Mike Conway. Oh deary me, there's lapped traffic. Nico Lapierre is coming, trying to get by Mike Conway. Lapierre is a very aggressive driver. Closing rates! Yikes! DPi vs. GT3 car. Lapierre has a run, going to the high side. No dice. Conwayu tries to block, and here comes Lapierre for the lead! Conway tries it. Oh man! Great racing between two pros. Race Director Beau Barfield stated respect should be shown to the competitors. These two blokes are team mates in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota.
Here comes Tristan Vautier as well in the #90 Cadillac. He'll know what the GT Daytona cars do, because he drove one here last year. Traffic ahead, and it's getting very congested through the orange glow of the sunset. Jeroen Bleekemolen and Trent Hindman in GTD are fighting each other for their own positions. Good stuff! More good racing, coming your way, folks. Stick with us so you don't miss a minute of the action. We are getting close to the end of an action packed eighth hour.
ESM Nissan #22 is in the lane for a regular pit stop. There is a minimum full fuel load refueling time since Daytona that was implemented. 30 second for Prototype, 34 seconds for GTLM, and 40 seconds, for GTD. The #90 Cadillac has pitted. Matt McMurry will do a triple stint, and Tristan Vautier will be the man to finish this motor race. n Mike Conway tries to pass the #85 JDC Miller car... the Banana Boat. But, he decided that discretion was the better part of valor, trying to make up time. Nelson Panciatici is at the wheel of The Banana Boat. Begin back timing this race to eliminate the need for an extra fuel stop.
Hats off to the GT Daytona drivers. Mike Conway is in the lane. Hit your marks. No holdups. Conway gunning the 5.5 liter V8, waiting on the fuel, and he's back on track. The sun is just beginning to slip below the horizon and night will fall soon.
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