Daniel Serra is chasing Bryan Sellers. Now, Colin Braun has passed Felipe Nasr, but he needs two more spots to clinch the title. He is not close enough yet, to Felipe Nasr as we are in the last hour of the motor race. The #54 CORE Autosport Oreca, the car has never been developed on a shaker rig. Colin's father, Jeff Braun is the team manager. We have everyone on the team at Fox Sports back on for the finish including Brian Till, Calvin Fish, Gregg Creamer, Tommy Kendall, Jamie Howe, Matt Yocum, and Andrew Marriott. Alvaro Parente is still chasing Bryan Sellers. Sellers is in the pit lane. Terrific stop. Now, Milner is pressing Briscoe and the Corvette is stronger!
Ryan Briscoe needs fresh tires. #86 has the lead, Alvaro Parente, in the Acura. He does not want to give up anything. Parente is in pit lane. He will have a clear exit. Push, push, push, like no tomorrow. Parente is hungry. He has the track position. Sellers has hot tires. Parente and Bryan Sellers ran as team mates for K-PAX in Pirelli World Challenge last year. One of the Lexus cars is stopped on track. Ford #67 has to pit now. They can't afford a yellow. Jack Hawksworth is stopped on the road with the #15 Lexus. The marshals will not put a yellow flag out arbitrarily. Hawksworth makes a mistake, spinning into the grass. Now, #67 had to come to the pit lane. He just had to.
Ryan Briscoe stays in the car. Did they change tire compounds? The #4 Corvette gets out in front of the BMW and the Ford. It is far from over, and wow! Ford makes a move on BMW! It's go time for the championship! Did Corvette Racing just perform a masterstroke? Good stop for Pippo Derani in the #22 ESM Nissan. Argy bargy for the Nissan #22. Oliver Jarvis pits. We have had six yellows, 35 lead changes, and just two cars out of the race. Pit stop time for the leading #10 Cadillac. These boys could win for the first time in a long time.
Colin Braun and Felipe Nasr might not be able to make it on fuel. Mazda #77 locks up and goes off the road. The Mazda has been passed by the CORE Autosport car. #77 is between #54 and #31. Overheating could be a problem for the computers and calculators. Pit stop time as well, for Corvette. Everything routine for the #3 car. The championship may still swing towards Corvette. Ryan Briscoe is third in class. Tommy Milner just ran Corvette's fastest lap. Things are unraveling for the #31. They are having fuel issues and Colin Braun is moving up.
Alvaro Parente is still battling with Bryan Sellers and there are a couple of permutations, still. We have a new distance record at Petit Le Mans. We have completed 414 laps, the old record, 412 laps that was set two years ago in 2016. Who has the fuel to make it to the end? CORE Autosport is looking to save fuel for the next 20 minutes. Fuel save early in the stint. You can't tell a driver to save fuel with 20 minutes left. Ryan Briscoe has been passed by the BMW's. If we get a yellow, the scrum in GT Le Mans is going to go bonkers!
Filipe Albuquerque has gone around the ESM car and Ryan Briscoe has fallen like falling down a mine shaft. He's sunk like a stone. Hasr has dropped to ninth. The #54 team might still win the title. Cadillac #31 has a power loss and can't do the fuel save. Daniel Serra leads GTD. Bryan Sellers is third behind Alvaro Parente. 22 minutes left in the race, and the season. The clock dwindles to less than 20 minutes. Alvaro Parente closes in again on Daniel Serra. If Milner and Tandy wrestle, then Briscoe has to find his way around Sims. Curiouser and curiouser. The championship, the race win, are on the line. We have no idea who is going to win.
Right now, the #54 car is in good shape, but if Mazda's pass, the #31 Cadillac might get back in this thing. Ten and a half minutes to go in IMSA 2018. We are mostly in the dark. Ryan Briscoe is in big trouble for GTLM. #54 will pit this lap. #54 is in the lane. He needs seven seconds of fuel and gets it. We might be slightly crispy but we're not actually toast. Electrical issues do not fix themselves. The #5 and #22 are just up the road. Oh boy. #22 runs wide and is passed by #10! Renger van der Zande dives under the #22 Nissan. Could Pipo Derani be out of fuel? Maybe. But, the #54 has more laps on his fuel other than Derani. Could the #7 Acura move ahead? Less than four and a half minutes to go, so that means four laps.
Cadillac #5 is set for a splash and dash. #10 has not won since Detroit last year, their fifth win in a row in 2017. They have been winless ever since. Nissan #22 in the lane. We keep an eye on #22. #54 is down the front straight but can't pass Derani. Two minutes on the board. Does Braun have anything left in the locker? Does Renger van der Zande have fuel? Can Ricky Taylor make it? Filipe Albuquerque is leading. Less than a minute and a half to go. Ryan Briscoe in fifth. Antonio Garcia in position to take the GTLM championship.
van der Sande will not pit. White flag. One lap to go for Renger van der Zande. This is a nail biter! Who will make it? #54 has to save fuel. How can #5 and #7 make it? Simon Trummer is out of fuel and so is #5! Renger van der Zande is there. Both cars out of fuel! The #10 wins it! Renger van der Zande wins! Nick Tandy and Porsche win GTLM! Daniel Serra wins GTD at PLM! Now, who wins the championship? Colin Braun is seventh. Nasr is eighth. Ricky Taylor made it home. Sellers and Snow are GTD champions!
Overall/Prototype: #10 Van der Zande/Taylor/Hunter-Reay Cadillac DPi-V.R
GT Le Mans: #911 Pilet/Tandy/Makowiecki Porsche 911 RSR
GT Daytona: #63 MacNeil/Serra/Jeanette Ferrari 488 GT3
That finish was mega! The Corvette crew repairing their car in four minutes, scoring points, winning the championship was amazing. They didn't win the race, but they made it home. We crown the champions, too.
Prototype: #31 Eric Curran & Felipe Nasr (with Gabby Chaves) Cadillac DPi-V.R
A lot of credit to Mike Conway, too, their other co-driver.
GT Le Mans: #3 Jan Magnussen & Antonio Garcia Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-
GT Daytona: #48 Bryan Sellers & Madison Snow (with Cory Lewis) Lamborghini Huracan GT3
Its the cars and the people who have led the commentators into their careers. It's the people who call the races who are just as important as the drivers and the teams. This is the end of an era as NBC Sports will be a new home for IMSA. This isn't a goodbye to our friends at Fox Sports, but it is more like, we'll see you down the road. We'll see you next year, for more IMSA racing action and a bonus coverage post, later on. See you with more IMSA racing in 2019. So long, for now. This isn't an end, a farewell. It's 'til we meet again.
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