Car #29 could have been out of fuel, and trouble for Gunnar Jeanette in the #63 Ferrari as he is pinged for speeding in the lane. Land Motorsports is having more fuel issues, something that has plagued them this year already as there was pit work for one of the Prototypes. Romain Dumas has to keep up with Dane Cameron, and in the meantime, more scrapping in GT Le Mans! Wow! The top cars in GTD are really going for it. Ryan Briscoe has to be careful, and Misha Goikhberg is also in it. Now, Briscoe gets repelled, and three wide in GTLM! Porsche follows the Prototype thrrough, and RRyan Briscoe has his hands full! Wow! Side by side, Bamber and Briscoe! Gently, boys! Dane Cameron is in the lane.
Juan Pablo Montoya has taken over Acura #6. Dane Cameron, is knackered. This race is amazing, and we are not even halfway home yet! Dane Cameron says he had some stout Continental tires through his stint. Ryan Eversley is off the road in the #69 HART Racing Acura. The Honda America Racing Team entry is in a bit of distress. Eversley is sharing with Tom Dyer and Chad Gilsinger. Sticker tires and a double stint for Jordan Taylor as the #10 Cadillac pitted cleanly. The #7 sister car for Acura and Penske, Helio Castroneves got into the car. Castroneves is ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya as Phil Hanson leads the motor race right now. Hanson will head for the lane, shortly. Castroneves has two seconds in hand over Montoya. #7 leads #6, chasing Phil Hanson. Montoya may have a problem, we'll see. Does the engine have a flat sounding note?
Three wide into turn one! Wow! Some argy bargy? Matt McMurry is three laps down, and he's still giving it plenty of welly, and some very defensive driving. Romain Dumas actually put another lap on McMurry, but McMurry, the bloke should have seen the faster Prototype coming. Phil Hanson is knocking down consistent laps, however, Hanson is slower than he was, running a 1:40 lap. Will Owen brings the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca into the lane. Fuel and tires only. The #24 BMW M8 GTE is back into the motor race. What happened to the car? We'll find out. It seemed to be an electrical issue when it first happened. There is still a local yellow flag when the #69 racer came to grief.
Dumas raced an all electric Volkswagen sports car, winning the Pikes Peak Hillclimb in under eight minutes on that remarkable track which is 12.42 miles with 156 corners, up 5,000 feet on a mountain! Unreal! It defies description. Dumas is an amazing driver. Meanwhile, speaking of amazing, the #32 is lapping really quickly. Phil Hanson has had some very good lap times. But, Romain Dumas, he can jump into any car and do well. His team mate, Timo Bernhard made that amazing lap on the Nurburgring Nordschleife with the unrestricted monster that is the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo. You have to watch Bernhard and Dumas, flog their respective racers around those tracks. You will not believe it.
Tires and fuel for United Autosports. Romain Dumas will continue to drive. He takes on a little bit of water out of a really big bottle. Dumas stalls the car, and then, fires the engine, and back underway. Phil Hanson has stayed aboard the #32. He is another dynamo driver, doing a heck of a job! No major Balance of Performance changes were made in this race for Prototype cars. Again, this track suits the global spec LMP2 cars. The DPi cars had two to three liters subtracted from their fuel tanks. Two liters. Meanwhile, issues with a deflated left rear tire for the #44 Magnus Racing Audi. That tire is down, holding no air, like a balloon that has been popped.
We are two hours and 26 minutes into this motor race. There is no damage for Andrew Davis in the Magnus Audi. The rear end is fine. The left rear tire has been replaced. Davis is sharing with John Potter and Andy Lally as always. Now, Dumas has had a very close call with Bruno Senna now at the wheel of the #23! He got hit, cutting across the #93 Acura NSX GT3 in the hands of Justin Marks who has been leading GTD. Marks hits the lane. BMW #24 is now back into the paddock area. The Liberty Bell on that Acura, has been cracked. He is staying in the car. He is doing a triple stint. Marks is a mountain climber.
Four new fuels and a lot of tires? Tee hee. Four tires, and one fuel tank. Nelson Panciatici is now at the wheel of the #85. He came into contact with someone. So, for "the banana boat", their races has gone a tad pear shaped. Now, there was another little contretemps somewhere with the #93 Acura and possibly a Corvette. Now, Acura #7 is in the lane for an unscheduled pit stop with Helio Castroneves at the wheel of it. There is work being done on the back of the car. The engine cover is off. So, trouble for the V6 motor in the back of that automobile. Ooh. Ford and Porsche have more argy bargy in the iiner loop. Ryan Briscoe gets barged. A little bit of Ross and roll there. Porsche #911 has pulled the pin and gone ahead. Pilet's Porsche, pulls pin. Wait, say what?
Problems for the wing mounting on the Acura for Team Penske, but the car is back on track. Bryan Sellers, Katherine Legge, and David Heinemeier Hanson are the top three in GTD. Now, Legge is pressing Sellers, and Sellers has to know discretion is the better part of valor through turn six! Yikes! We're more than two and a half hours on the board here, and not quite to halfway yet. Joel Miller is running well in the #38 Performance Tech Prototype. No action from the marshals for the #67 and #912 crackup. Now, a drive through penalty for Acura #7. Helio Castroneves at the wheel of it.
Mazda has come back out with the #77 car. Rene Rast currently driving. David Heinemier Hanson gets pressed by Katherine Legge and Acura passes Lexus. Now, Castroneves has pitted. He has not done the drive through penalty. You can't work on the car and serve a penalty. There's some damage on the right rear corner of the Penske Acura. This is not good. There was a touch, between Jordan Taylor in the #10 Cadillac vs. Katherine Legge in the Acura, and ke-thunk. Bryan Sellers wants by the Lexus of David Heinemeier Hanson. Legge leads the motor race in class. This was not siupposed to be a full season entry for the #86 Acura. They will be at the next race in Canada next weekend.
They have sponsorship from XM Satellite Radio. Juan Pablo Montoya is pulling away from Romain Dumas at the moment. Jordan Taylor is coming, and fast. The balance has changed in GTLM. As it is getting warmer, the Porsche's are coming to the fore, while the Ford's and Corvette's are falling away. 88 degrees Fahrenheit, ambient temp, and 116 degrees Fahrenheit, track temp. Helio Castroneves is sinking like a stone as Eric Curran is in the lane with the #31 Cadillac. There will be a driver change. Romain Dumas is back onto the lead lap. Mike Conway is now at the controls of Cadillac #31. The #24 BMW M8 GTE is back on track. Sellers continues to see the Lexus but cannot get by.
Heinemeier Hanson is bacdk inton the lead. Bryan Sellers has made the pass. Now, the #7 Acura will take the drive through penalty. Lamborghini #48 is in ned oif a good stop. Will Owen goes side by side with oneo fhe Cadillac's into turn one! Wow/ A change for position in turn one. Bryan Sellers still leads in class i GTD. Whoa! Romain Dumas sweves across Matt McMurry. Three hours and ten minuts to go. So, we'll be at halfway in ten minutes. Misha Goikhberg moves back into the overall lead. Earl Bamber pits for new tires and racing fuel. No sign of a driver change on the Porsche. Tires, done and dusted, and fuel.
We have not had but one yellow in this race. The yellow flags have not really been a factor for strategy in the race yet. Execute your plan, and the CORE Autosport Prototype team has done well with this concept. Misha Goikhberg pits from the lead, and the tires have been changed. Still waiting on fuel. Clean the radiator ducts. No time lost. Chris Miller is now at the wheel of it. It looks like there might be a chance that the United Autosports Ligier is going to have better fuel mileage than the factory Acura's. No BoP changes for Prototypes for this race. Bryan Sellers pitted Lamborghini #48 for full service, and Madison Snow takes over.
Jan Magnussen takes over the #3 Corvette. Will Owen pits the #52 PR1/Mathiasen car. Half distance. Three hours done and dusted. Three to go.
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