If drivers find clear track, they are running consistently in the 1:26 lap time range. The leaders will pit in the next seven or eight minutes it seems. Tristan Vautier may be able to pass Maximilian Goetz, but no. He got pinched by the GT4 Mercedes. Fuel and one tire, 61 seconds, and fuel and four tires in 50 seconds. But, you could trim time off doing both. However, it may be that you do two separate 45 second stops. The #29 Land Motorsports Audi R8 is in the lane, with Christopher Haase. Come in, do fuel. Go out, come back around, and do tires. The pit stop is very quick. Kelvin van der Linde is actually back at the controls of the car. The #19 WRT Audi of Robin Frijns is now in, for scheduled service.
Into the pit lane is the leader, the #43 Mercedes. Maximilian Goetz may do a double stint. Indeed, he will. 41.0 on the stop. Near perfection on the stop, with no need for a joker. In GT4, the #12 Ginetta G55 of Drew Staveley leads. Again, he is sharing with Ian Lacey and Frank Gannett. The Mustang and the Panoz Avezzano, they have had a litany of issues, for both of the cars, today. Frank Gannett is only in his second season of racing of any kind. This is a huge step as he ran the Pirelli World Challenge Sprint and SprintX championships, doing it solo. The team has mentored him on the endurance racing idea. They will be running a new car, next year, and Frank's wife Jenny may race next year, but that is uncertain as of yet.
The wind has been gusting, blowing sand onto the road, as the air in the morning was as still as a church mouse. Bryan Sellers has done extremely well in the K-PAX Bentley. He will be finishing up his maximum drive time as he hits the pit lane, ending his stint. Actually, there will be no driver change. Fuel only it seems. Bryan Sellers won the championship in IMSA GT Daytona with Paul Miller Racing in their Lamborghini Huracan GT3. The Mercedes has been running exactly as prescribed, like a train. But, the Bentley #8 continues to push. Fred Makowiecki is currently at the wheel of the #911 Wright Motorsports Porsche, running sixth overall. He has the #17 WRT Audi of Alex Riberas right behind him.
Makowiecki makes clean passes on the #66 TRG Porsche and the sole remaining #99 Hyundai TCR car. It is great to see Wright Motorsports having the chaps running for Manthey Racing for the balance of the season, and John Wright, the team owner, has integrated the three of them into his operation really well. We watch Ian Lacy again in the Ginetta. Matt Fassnacht is running very well in the GT4 spec Mercedes AMG. Maxime Soulet has a slight advantage over the Mercedes. Fassnacht drops a wheel and allowing the team car to go by as Kenny Habul has another off course excursion! Oh dear.
He ran wide, and then, fortunately got back on the road. You aren't in the zone, and you are trying to not go off the road, but then, you get sneaked up on by another car. Colton Herta is in the #98 Hyundai I30N TCR right now, driving with his dad Bryan, and also, George Kurtz. A TCR car has a great power to weight ratio, and they do make a lot of horsepower with a 2.0 liter 4 cylinder, and they run within a second of the GT4 machines. Tom Dyer in the #67 Porsche in GT4 is stopped, and Frank Gannett has spun briefly in the Andretti hairpin.
Frank Gannett is slightly behind Derek DeBoer. Lewis Williamson meanwhile, has reeled in Maxime Soulet for the overall lead. Tristan Vautier is third. The battle between Bentley and Strakka Mercedes continues. Shinya Michimi in the #46 PPM Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 lets the faster cars by, and Williamson is trapped behind the Ginetta, allowing Tristan Vautier to go for the gap. Was Vautier responsible enough to earn a penalty, as the #67 has a whale of a tank slapper and does the shimmy shimmy shake up the hill, with Tom Dyer at the wheel of it.
That was a highlight reel worthy piece of driving! He's taken half a milimeter of rubber off those rear Pirelli tires! Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Williamson is reeling in Soulet. Did Vautier damage a dive plane giving a nerf to Williamson? Has his aero been busted? Oh man! Soulet had to check up, or he would have plowed into that GT4 Mercedes! Williamson was in that scrap as well! Phew! That was so, so close to contact! Will the stewards look at track limits for that one? That was an evasive move that actually worked. Soulet was the meat in the sandwich, and man, just inches, a ream of paper, between those two chaps. The Bentley checked up for obvious reasons. That was wild!
Williamson has been told to give the place up. Give back the spot, and these two are going to keep going with a ding dong battle, to get away from Tristan Vautier in third. The #175 Mercedes does have all it's dive planes on it. The car is quick, but stout too. We are closing in on this race getting really exciting with just a shade over three hours to go. Maxime Soulet also drops a wheel slightly, trying to get away from the Williamson/Vautier boxing match. Vautier has thankfully tempered his driving today, so far. But the red mist will come down in the last couple hours. If the Bentley is out front, that is not a problem. But if the Mercedes #43 is ahead of Mercedes #175, look out. Derek DeBoer has the #66 TRG Porsche Cayman ahead in GT4.
Kevin Buckler is a good driver with a lot of success, a winner at Daytona in the Rolex 24. His team I think, also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in GT. Dries Vanthoor is going for it, and so is Lewis Williamson, who is quicker than the Bentley. Are the Bentley's tires starting to fall off? More GT4 traffic as Williamson squrezes by, and Vautier is balked. Meanwhile, Bentley is in the pit lane. There is a driver change. Andy Soucek is back into the car. There is no weak link in the driver's strength. Lewis Williamson is getting comfortable with leading this motor race.
It seems that the #43 has the edge on setup between the two rival Mercedes cars. You can strategize for the whole race, but when it comes to crunch time, just go for it. Porsche #911 in the pits. The #91 Reardon Racing Audi R8 GT4 of Jeff Burton has spun. He shares with Jessica Burton and James Burke. Williamson passes by a Lamborghini and one of the Aston Martin's. When the tires get knackered, they drop off dramatically. Williamson is really going for it, but establishing a gap over Tristan Vautier. Pick your moment to drop the risk level.
No comments:
Post a Comment