Matthieu Jaminet, Jesse Krohn, and Tommy Milner battle for fourth in class in GT Le Mans. Jaminet is behind the top runners. Jaminet was trying to defend. This is his first race in a GTLM Porsche. He is fast, but needs more experience at the top level of sports car races. Felipe Nasr leads overall with the Ford GT's leading GTLM, and the Riley Motorsports Mercedes leading GT Daytona. We are at the halfway mark of this race. The same cars that are leading the race now, collecting the points for the NAEC at the four hour mark, these are the blokes who have been leading the championship all year in the endurance races. Another diabolical pass between the Acura and the Ford, as Gabby Chaves gets set to take over the #31 Cadillac. Gabby Chaves has done very well.
Tristan Vautier put Chaves in jeopardy. It was a pass, but Vautier needs to have better judgment. Felipe Nasr heads for pit lane, and Gabby Chaves is now at the wheel of #31. Gabby Chaves is an IndyCar driver, so he is used to the big horsepower of Prototype sports cars, but, the tires are so different on the sports cars compared to an IndyCar. Mercedes #33 and Lexus #15 have been in the pit lane for scheduled stops. The Cadillac is having issues with the dashboard, as it is showing the wrong data on the screen. Analog gauges are so different, in the older generation sports cars. Graham Rahal leads the motor race, but eleven seconds in-arrears is Pipo Derani.
Jesse Krohn continues to give Tommy Milner fits in GTLM. The cars turn similar lap times, but they do so in different sections of the track. It isn't the weight. It is how the power comes in from the engine, and also, how the tire makes contact with the road. John Edwards is fifth in GTLM as Ryan Briscoe leads the division. Corvette Racing are in the pound seats at the moment, for the class title. Speaking of Corvette, they are in the pit lane for routine service for #3. No driver change. Fuel and tires, and a swap of the drink bottle, and the Corvette burbles back onto the track. Check the fuel flow rate with the car, off of the air jacks. Some argy bargy as Pipo Derani gets trapped on the outside with Oliver Jarvis and Marino Franchitti, in both Mazda's sandwiched in that melee as well!
The fuel is being audited and sealed. It is restricted in it's flow into the tank. Romain Dumas in pit lane. Dumas is doing everything he needs to. Four fresh tires, fuel, and a fresh drink bottle for Dumas. Ford #67 now in the lane as well. They pit from the class lead. Scott Dixon is in the car for a stint now. Petrol in the tank, and the car is back on track. Scott Dixon just won his fifth IndyCar title. Now, the BMW team was in the pit lane as well. Bill Auberlen has taken over the car from Alexander Sims. You exit from pit lane, straight into the esses with cold tires. That's tricky.
#85, "the banana boat", has just pitted. They have a lot of clag on the front of the automobile. John Edwards has renewed the scrap with Tommy Milner. Filipe Albuquerque pitted the #5 Cadillac. Team manager Ian Watt told him to stay in the car, and gave him a fresh drink bottle, even though Christian Fittipaldi was first scheduled to take over for a stint. Oliver Jarvis has taken over the lead. There are issues for the #93 MSR Acura NSX GT3. Oil is spewing out the rear of the car, with Lawson Aschenbach at the wheel of it. Aschenbach sharing with Justin Marks and Mario Farnbacher.
Alvaro Parente and company have to get in front of the #48 PMR Lamborghini. Sellers, Snow and company, (Corey Lewis is the third driver), are running very consistently. With the #93, there is an oil leak, that still needs to be diagnosed. Oil is all over everything. Does the #54 have their drive time in for Jon Bennett? Maybe. He does his job, and keeps the car safe for Colin Braun and Romain Dumas. Some trouble for the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports car, Kyle Masson at the wheel of it, with a collapsed upper suspension mounting. Masson shares with James French and Nicholas Boulle. He needs to stay out of the way of traffic, and be able to get to the right side of the road so he can enter the lane, and he does.
Jon Bennett has earned enough drive time to be classified for PLM. But he needs two hours more for the Trueman Akin sportsman award. In doing so, his team could be invited to Le Mans as we have a rear tire on the right side, down, on the "Banana Boat", Simon Trummer at the controls. We are under yellow, and pit stop time for Prototype and GT cars. The Tequila Patron ESM crew has signed the back of the race car. There is sadness in the ESM pit. The team is not done yet. They will hopefully be back if they can get sponsorship for next year.
The full course yellow is extended as something has come off the #14 Lexus RC F GT3, the car of Dominik Baumann from Austria, American Kyle Marcelli,and Swiss driver Philipp Frommenweiler.
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