The weather, has happened, and we are still under red, trying to get the track into a race ready condition of some kind. This is the final hour of the motor race of course. We cannot resume this motor race on Monday, if the race is called, or if the clock expires. We can barely see the coastline and the condominiums that exist there. So, the weather seems to be clearing. Maybe we can race for a few more minutes to finish this. We must give kudos to Race Control. If it goes pear shaped in Race Control, the winners will love it and the folks who lose will want to throw fruit at Race Control. Beau Barfield was a racing driver before being a Race Director. Safety first is the big deal, but it doesn't mean instantly hitting the panic button.
Can we just given a blanket Spirit of the Race Award? Flatbeds and tow trucks did a really good job recovering the cars earlier in the race. Give kudos to the race marshals and also the drivers of the tow trucks. Out of the box thinking always helps in endurance racing. We will reconvene in two weeks for the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, which will be a really good one. Folks, it's taken a really long time to write about this motor race. But, stay tuned in the coming weeks, because there will be wall to wall post-race coverage, and also, loads of news recapping Daytona and in the lead up to the Sebring race as well.
GRT Grasser are still at the top of the tree in GTD. Maybe, they will win it two years in a row. Rik Breukers won the Dubai 24 Hours in January. Can he and his co-drivers win again? In eight minutes, we shall get word from IMSA about what will happen. Again, this is the second red flag of the motor race within an hour and ten minutes of each other. Cadillac, Cadillac, Acura, BMW, Ferrari, Ford, and Mercedes, Audi, Lexus, are the top three brands in each class right now and of course all the LMP2 cars are identical. Oreca chassis with Gibson V8 engines. Everyone in a podium place will be extremely close, as they have been faced with close calls for the whole race and especially in these rainy daylight hours.
People will talk about the race stoppages and the weather, but that's the wrong approach. The long spells of green flag racing were amazing. Way too many yellows, but a memorable motor race for the right reasons. Some drivers have been rumored to race both the 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the FIA World Endurance Championship and the 12 Hours of Sebring, but that doesn't seem too likely. Stay tuned in the next two weeks to find out all of the information. Sebring is such a physically demanding race track, it's asking a whole lot of a driver. Plus, one program will be a priority over the other. Logistically, it also presents problems. It is raining even harder on the pit lane, as we have just 36 minutes to go now. The jet dryers are still drying the speedway.
The blistering pace of this race in the dry conditions will be the memorable part. The side by side battling with the DPi cars has been incredible. Outside overtakes have been stunning. This event is just getting better every single year. Where do we go next? We've got the rest of the season to look forward to, but think of where we'll be for another Rolex 24 in 2020. The condos have faded back into the grayness at the south and east ends of Daytona International Speedway, as the low cloud appears once again towards the far side of the raceway. We continue to wait for the official word from the marshals and IMSA.
Official vehicles are out on the circuit. Both of the medical vehicles are on the track. The jet dryer is down there, blowing the water away by the entrances of turn five and six and also on the tri oval, removing all the puddled water. There is also a jet dry at pit in. The weather is not playing ball here this afternoon and it's crunch time. Even if there was a restart, we'd only have a 24 minute sprint instead of a 24 hour race. Thanks to the spectators for staying and watching through this unbelievable weather. We salute the fans, we salute the corner workers, we salute the staff at Daytona International Speedway, and many more. A big thank you to IMSA and the officials as well.
Time is running out to make a decision about finishing this motor race. We have a full season of racing coming your way here on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog, if yours truly is able to carve out time to blog about it. At the Lamborghini team, the pit crew is out on the wall, awaiting something to happen. WTR has their poker faces on. We await a decision and an update in this last 23 minutes. A strange combination of expectation and how much longer to wait. Everybody is keeping warm, dry, and calm as we may or may not go back to green flag racing. No one is on the flag stand as Kamui Kobayashi and Fernando Alonso are having a good time.
Both of them have really taken to this race, and were plug in and play with the WTR Cadillac team. The clock continues to tick away the minutes. It's raining harder now. The low cloud and mist are rolling in toward the edge of the airport. It's no use to try and get this motor race restarted, because we have just 20 minutes to go now. Ah. Someone is up on the flag stand, look. So, maybe we will get some running. But, we don't know yet. The weather might just have the final say on this one ladies and gentlemen.
Just ovr ten minutes to go as we await the confirmation this race is over. No time to fire the cars up. It's over. Wayne Taylor Racing wins! With eleven minutes to go, it's over! Wayne Taylor Racing and Cadillac, win! Fernando Alonso, Jordan Taylor, Renger van der Zande, and Kamui Kobayashi are the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona, champions! BMW wins GT Le Mans! BMW Team RLL and the M8 are victorious. Augusto Farfus, Connor De Philippi, Philipp Eng, and Colton Herta, can celebrate! A big shout out to Tom Blomqvist who wishes he could have been here to race.
So fitting, too, for BMW to win Daytona to celebrate the life and the memory of the late, great Charly Lamm, who was so much a part through his Schnitzer team of BMW's racing history. GRT Grasser Racing wins the GT Daytona class. Rolf Ineichen, Mirko Bortolotti, Christian Engelhart, and Rik Breukers win GT Daytona for Lamborghini!
Overall/DPi: #10 Taylor/van der Zande/Alonso/Kobayashi Cadillac DPi-V.R
LMP2: #18 Gonzalez/Maldonado/Saavedra/Cullen Oreca LMP2
GT Le Mans: #25 Farfus/De Philippi/Eng/Herta BMW M8 GT
GT Daytona: #11 Ineichen/Bortolotti/Engelhart/Breukers Lamborghini Huracan GT3
It's hard to understand the vision and the focus of these teams who get here to be able to win such an incredible motor race like the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Max Angelelli, team manager, has won this race as a driver, and now, he has won it as a team boss alongside Wayne Taylor, who also has two wins as a driver. Podium for Acura as well and for Team Penske. Official race time from IMSA is 23 hours and 50 minutes of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The watches are handed out, and the celebrations can begin! To the winners, you deserve it.
We will see you, in a very short period of time, in just over two weeks, for the super weekend at Sebring Raceway, as the airfield circuit will play host to the 67th renewal of the 12 Hours of Sebring on Saturday, March 16th. But, also, don't forget, that the Friday before, to begin the super weekend, there will be the Michelin Pilot Challenge race which we shall cover at the end of March and also, the 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the FIA World Endurance Championship. So, you will get your endurance racing fix again, very, very soon.
For now, we bid you so long and farewell, from Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Rolex 24: Hour 23
It's time to catch a collective breath now that we have a yellow flag. This racing has been extraordinary. Sebastian Saavedra has made it back to the lane for a new nose and yet, another clatter, as the rain is tipping down. This is as bad as it was when the red flag came out. We're going to surely stay under yellow. John Dagys from Sportscar365 has said, "no one wants to win LMP2". Well, the same could be true of GTD. Grasser Racing leads GTD. Christian Engelhart leads Daniel Morad, Jeff Segal, Frederic Vervisch, Trent Hindman, five cars on the lead lap in GTD. We have to find Nick Cassidy in the #14 Lexus, trapped behind the safty car. The Bus Stop is soaked. It is more scary in a race car to hydroplane off the road. Augusto Farfus was ahead of James Calado and we have a red flag. The red flag is out. Ford #67 comes into the lane for fuel from the lead in GTLM. Farfus leads Calado and Westbrook. In LMP2, it's survival of the fittest. Sebastian Saavedra leads over Cameron Cassels, and Henrik Hedman has fallen like a stone.
At the top of the shop, Fernando Alonso leads Felipe Nasr and Alexander Rossi. We've been here before, and we red flag the motor race again at 12:39 P.M. Eastern Time. Write that time down. If the race was called, it would be official. We've awarded all points for the Michelin Endurance Cup as the last set of points were awarded at the 18 hour mark. The track is getting wetter and wetter. The rain is torrential. #81 didn't have a loose wheel, but they had an upright problem. Drive time was needed for Henrik Hedman. Elton Julian has lost one of his cars, maybe. It was a sheared upright on the car. Fernando Alonso is discussing things with the safty car driver. If you are leading the motor race, of course you want it stopped.
Nasr had this motor race in the bag. He's going to be gutted if it is stopped now. No one in GTD wants to win. The #11 class leading Lamborghini is under reviw for a pass under yellow by the stewards which would promote Daniel Morad back to the lead. Richard Westbrook got snookered just before this race got stopped. Rivers of water running down the banking as we check the order under this second red flag at the Rolex. Fernando Alonso leads in the #10 Cadillac followed by Cadillac #31 and Acura #7, Nissan follows with #54, and Devlin DeFrancesco in the #85 Cadillac, the surviving JDC-Miller Cadillac. Sebastian Saavedra leads Cameron Cassels by six laps in LMP2 with Henrik Hedman third, and it may be game over for Hedman and company. The top car in GT Le Mans is Augusto Farfus in the #25 BMW M8 GTE. James Calado is second in the #62 Ferrari, followed by the bloke who could bee the unluckiest man at Daytona, Richard Westbrook in the #67 Ford GT.
He was leading moments before the red flag to get emergency service. In GTD, Christian Engelhart is under review by the stewards. Daniel Morad was leading, in second at the moment, ahad of Jeff Segal, Frederic Vervisch, Trent Hindman, and Nick Cassidy. When was Richard Westbrook leading? Before the first yellow, not during the red flag. The visibility has been horrible, not knowing where the puddles are, causing aquaplaning. Rubens Barrichello explains this. Right now, it is impossible to race with the standing water, says Barrichello. We cannot race and put everyone in danger. The pattern has been established. Green flag to yellow flag to green flag and back to yellow. It's hard to see. The visibility and fog are terrible.
Matt Campbell says he hasn't driven in conditions like this in his whole life. He and his co-drivers are still on the lead lap. It was emergency service for the #67, on an alternative strategy. #67 may have come to a closed pit under yellow. We've been under red so far for 16 minutes. The safety vehicles are waiting until the rain eases up. There's no choice with the visibility issues, but to put out the red flag. The lap times were coming down and what an amazing battle between Felipe Nasr and Fernando Alonso. Holy smokes. It'll be difficult to get the race back underway. There's a lot of green patches on the weather radar.
Christian Fittipaldi says the race didn't go the way he wanted in his final professional race after 30 years and starting in Formula 3. But, he's amazed at the driving at the front of this motor race. Fittipaldi wishes the rain would let up and have the race go green. Christian Fittipaldi won't drive again, but give the man a round of applause. Fittipaldi has won the Rolex 24 three times, including last year. Fittipaldi will keep being a consultant with Action Express Racing. Porsche #99, both Mazda's #77 and #55, #51 Ferrari, Mercedes #71... so many cars hav retired, and after a fraught race, the #47 Lamborghini is still pounding around. The #540 Black Swan Porsche, #52 Oreca (which was written off), Christopher Haase in the Starworks Audi got caught out.
No one can be invisible in these conditions. In this rain, if you weren't prepared to experiment, you weren't going to go any faster, like being a rally driver during the 1960s or a single seater driver in the 1970s on the old cross ply tires. Sprint car drivers, rally drivers, and ice racing drivers, would be in their element here today at Daytona. You have to be prepared to have the car wiggle around on you. Find out where the edge of adhesion is. Big wiggles out of turn six, we've seen that. It's been extremely wild, and these chaps are used to having the cars dance around on them.
Turn one could be freer of water if the slightly slower cars like GTD, sweep water away. The excitement as we close in on the end of this race, is palpable. Alonso, Nasr, Rossi... all of these boys were flying before the red flag, trying to find half a tenth here, half a second there. Unreal. Alonso ran wide a few times, but he saved the Cadillac. These guys are dealing with the visibility at ground level, and it's incredible. You have no clue how deep the water is. All that is seen is shininess of the water.
Third in GT Le Mans, is the #67 Ford GT with Ryan Briscoe driving. It was supposed to be a routine fuel stop for them before the yellow flag flew. Then, the red flags came out right away. This might just be the end of the motor race. We have to wait and find out. Briscoe believes he and his co-drivers are leading, but we'll see. The rain isn't easing off at all. Cars were crashing all over the shop and the drivers complained about how undrivable the conditions are. Timing and scoring would go back to the lap before the red flag. The red flag was shown at the end of the 571st lap for GTLM runners.
It's interesting to have a BMW M8 leading GTLM. But, they are leading now. They didn't qualify well, but they've focused on race pace more or less. Porsche's and Ford's have had their problems, and maybe with a larger shape, the BMW could pull through all this rain. In GT Daytona, there was a marshals' message about the #11 Lamborghini being investigated for passing under yellow. 23 GT Daytona cars entered this motor race, roughly half the field. The Christian Engelhart driven Lamborghini has kept their noses clean for the most part besides penalties from the stewards. The pass under yellow was under review a half hour ago, but there will be no further action taken for GRT Grasser.
Sebastian Saavedra still leads LMP2. He's been through the wars so far. He says "it's been the roughest 3-4 hours of my life. My spotter is my eyes. It's dangerous out there. You should see how drenched it is inside the cars. We have no telemetry. It's been completely destroyed. I want the Rolex really bad. Make sure the watch is waterproof." Officially, IMSA Race Control are working on the track, and an update will be available at 2PM Eastern Time. Here's an hourly update. Top of the shop, #10 Cadillac, #31 Cadillac, #7 Acura, #54 Nissan -4 laps. LMP2, #18 DragonSpeed Oreca, #38 Performance Tech Oreca -4 laps, #81 DragonSpeed Oreca -22 laps.
GT Le Mans has the #25 BMW leading the #62 Ferrari, and #67 Ford, all on the lead lap. Both Porsche's are a lap and two laps down for #912 and #911. For GT Daytona, the #11 Lamborghini leads the #29 Audi followed by the #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus, the #88 WRT Speedstar Audi, and the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3. Race Control is still working on how the race could come out with an hour and 15 minutes to go. James Calado says that if the standing water becomes too much, it is too dangerous and you are hanging on for dear life at 90 degrees on the banking.
Rule 47:1 scoring stops during the stoppage of a race according to Standard Supplemental Regulations in the IMSA rule book. Augusto Farfus has done very well. Tom Blomqvist would have also done really well, had he been here. He ran in the European and World Touring Car Championship with Alfa Romeo. We will wait for a further announcement in 35 minutes or so and the #52 Oreca will likely lose it's car cover if someone does not grab it. The same is true for the #88 Audi, the Canadian maple leaf Audi. Rule 27.4.5 is the rule referring to a race stoppage. Lap times in progress are void, referring to the last "complete" time for each car.
So, let us have a distance check. So far, 594 laps done and dusted, (2,115 miles). Check that. 593 laps (2,111 miles, even). Timing is corrected either during a red flag or after a race is over. Ian James says he's never seen rain this bad in all his years of racing, and says if it keeps raining, the race won't resume. James says it's been an honor to race with Audi Canada and WRT. Here are some of the fastest laps by class.
Via Italia Racing, #13 Ferrari 488 GT3 (GTD) 1:44.5
DragonSpeed, #81 Oreca LMP2 (LMP2) No fast time given
BMW Team RLL #25 BMW M8 GT (GTLM) 1:42.9
Whelen Engineering Racing #31 Cadillac DPi-V.R (DPi) 1:34.5
Townsend Bell says that the risk of going back out is really high. Drivers are helpless and caught out. But, he gives credit to co-driver Jeff Segal for all his hard work. Drivers are 50/50 on going back out. No sunshine is going to be seen, but Race Director Beau Barfield has the right idea. Hours ago, 12 cars were or are on the lead lap in GTD. It's fun to see the advantages that different manufacturers have in differing conditions. Michelin has brought a wonderful tire, but mentally, this is really tough. The clock is ticking down towards an hour to go. We remain under a red flag, and have been for 55-56 minutes.
An update is coming at 2PM Eastern time, 25 minutes from now. Another hour to go. Stay tuned for whatever the finish of this motor race may bring us.
At the top of the shop, Fernando Alonso leads Felipe Nasr and Alexander Rossi. We've been here before, and we red flag the motor race again at 12:39 P.M. Eastern Time. Write that time down. If the race was called, it would be official. We've awarded all points for the Michelin Endurance Cup as the last set of points were awarded at the 18 hour mark. The track is getting wetter and wetter. The rain is torrential. #81 didn't have a loose wheel, but they had an upright problem. Drive time was needed for Henrik Hedman. Elton Julian has lost one of his cars, maybe. It was a sheared upright on the car. Fernando Alonso is discussing things with the safty car driver. If you are leading the motor race, of course you want it stopped.
Nasr had this motor race in the bag. He's going to be gutted if it is stopped now. No one in GTD wants to win. The #11 class leading Lamborghini is under reviw for a pass under yellow by the stewards which would promote Daniel Morad back to the lead. Richard Westbrook got snookered just before this race got stopped. Rivers of water running down the banking as we check the order under this second red flag at the Rolex. Fernando Alonso leads in the #10 Cadillac followed by Cadillac #31 and Acura #7, Nissan follows with #54, and Devlin DeFrancesco in the #85 Cadillac, the surviving JDC-Miller Cadillac. Sebastian Saavedra leads Cameron Cassels by six laps in LMP2 with Henrik Hedman third, and it may be game over for Hedman and company. The top car in GT Le Mans is Augusto Farfus in the #25 BMW M8 GTE. James Calado is second in the #62 Ferrari, followed by the bloke who could bee the unluckiest man at Daytona, Richard Westbrook in the #67 Ford GT.
He was leading moments before the red flag to get emergency service. In GTD, Christian Engelhart is under review by the stewards. Daniel Morad was leading, in second at the moment, ahad of Jeff Segal, Frederic Vervisch, Trent Hindman, and Nick Cassidy. When was Richard Westbrook leading? Before the first yellow, not during the red flag. The visibility has been horrible, not knowing where the puddles are, causing aquaplaning. Rubens Barrichello explains this. Right now, it is impossible to race with the standing water, says Barrichello. We cannot race and put everyone in danger. The pattern has been established. Green flag to yellow flag to green flag and back to yellow. It's hard to see. The visibility and fog are terrible.
Matt Campbell says he hasn't driven in conditions like this in his whole life. He and his co-drivers are still on the lead lap. It was emergency service for the #67, on an alternative strategy. #67 may have come to a closed pit under yellow. We've been under red so far for 16 minutes. The safety vehicles are waiting until the rain eases up. There's no choice with the visibility issues, but to put out the red flag. The lap times were coming down and what an amazing battle between Felipe Nasr and Fernando Alonso. Holy smokes. It'll be difficult to get the race back underway. There's a lot of green patches on the weather radar.
Christian Fittipaldi says the race didn't go the way he wanted in his final professional race after 30 years and starting in Formula 3. But, he's amazed at the driving at the front of this motor race. Fittipaldi wishes the rain would let up and have the race go green. Christian Fittipaldi won't drive again, but give the man a round of applause. Fittipaldi has won the Rolex 24 three times, including last year. Fittipaldi will keep being a consultant with Action Express Racing. Porsche #99, both Mazda's #77 and #55, #51 Ferrari, Mercedes #71... so many cars hav retired, and after a fraught race, the #47 Lamborghini is still pounding around. The #540 Black Swan Porsche, #52 Oreca (which was written off), Christopher Haase in the Starworks Audi got caught out.
No one can be invisible in these conditions. In this rain, if you weren't prepared to experiment, you weren't going to go any faster, like being a rally driver during the 1960s or a single seater driver in the 1970s on the old cross ply tires. Sprint car drivers, rally drivers, and ice racing drivers, would be in their element here today at Daytona. You have to be prepared to have the car wiggle around on you. Find out where the edge of adhesion is. Big wiggles out of turn six, we've seen that. It's been extremely wild, and these chaps are used to having the cars dance around on them.
Turn one could be freer of water if the slightly slower cars like GTD, sweep water away. The excitement as we close in on the end of this race, is palpable. Alonso, Nasr, Rossi... all of these boys were flying before the red flag, trying to find half a tenth here, half a second there. Unreal. Alonso ran wide a few times, but he saved the Cadillac. These guys are dealing with the visibility at ground level, and it's incredible. You have no clue how deep the water is. All that is seen is shininess of the water.
Third in GT Le Mans, is the #67 Ford GT with Ryan Briscoe driving. It was supposed to be a routine fuel stop for them before the yellow flag flew. Then, the red flags came out right away. This might just be the end of the motor race. We have to wait and find out. Briscoe believes he and his co-drivers are leading, but we'll see. The rain isn't easing off at all. Cars were crashing all over the shop and the drivers complained about how undrivable the conditions are. Timing and scoring would go back to the lap before the red flag. The red flag was shown at the end of the 571st lap for GTLM runners.
It's interesting to have a BMW M8 leading GTLM. But, they are leading now. They didn't qualify well, but they've focused on race pace more or less. Porsche's and Ford's have had their problems, and maybe with a larger shape, the BMW could pull through all this rain. In GT Daytona, there was a marshals' message about the #11 Lamborghini being investigated for passing under yellow. 23 GT Daytona cars entered this motor race, roughly half the field. The Christian Engelhart driven Lamborghini has kept their noses clean for the most part besides penalties from the stewards. The pass under yellow was under review a half hour ago, but there will be no further action taken for GRT Grasser.
Sebastian Saavedra still leads LMP2. He's been through the wars so far. He says "it's been the roughest 3-4 hours of my life. My spotter is my eyes. It's dangerous out there. You should see how drenched it is inside the cars. We have no telemetry. It's been completely destroyed. I want the Rolex really bad. Make sure the watch is waterproof." Officially, IMSA Race Control are working on the track, and an update will be available at 2PM Eastern Time. Here's an hourly update. Top of the shop, #10 Cadillac, #31 Cadillac, #7 Acura, #54 Nissan -4 laps. LMP2, #18 DragonSpeed Oreca, #38 Performance Tech Oreca -4 laps, #81 DragonSpeed Oreca -22 laps.
GT Le Mans has the #25 BMW leading the #62 Ferrari, and #67 Ford, all on the lead lap. Both Porsche's are a lap and two laps down for #912 and #911. For GT Daytona, the #11 Lamborghini leads the #29 Audi followed by the #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus, the #88 WRT Speedstar Audi, and the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3. Race Control is still working on how the race could come out with an hour and 15 minutes to go. James Calado says that if the standing water becomes too much, it is too dangerous and you are hanging on for dear life at 90 degrees on the banking.
Rule 47:1 scoring stops during the stoppage of a race according to Standard Supplemental Regulations in the IMSA rule book. Augusto Farfus has done very well. Tom Blomqvist would have also done really well, had he been here. He ran in the European and World Touring Car Championship with Alfa Romeo. We will wait for a further announcement in 35 minutes or so and the #52 Oreca will likely lose it's car cover if someone does not grab it. The same is true for the #88 Audi, the Canadian maple leaf Audi. Rule 27.4.5 is the rule referring to a race stoppage. Lap times in progress are void, referring to the last "complete" time for each car.
So, let us have a distance check. So far, 594 laps done and dusted, (2,115 miles). Check that. 593 laps (2,111 miles, even). Timing is corrected either during a red flag or after a race is over. Ian James says he's never seen rain this bad in all his years of racing, and says if it keeps raining, the race won't resume. James says it's been an honor to race with Audi Canada and WRT. Here are some of the fastest laps by class.
Via Italia Racing, #13 Ferrari 488 GT3 (GTD) 1:44.5
DragonSpeed, #81 Oreca LMP2 (LMP2) No fast time given
BMW Team RLL #25 BMW M8 GT (GTLM) 1:42.9
Whelen Engineering Racing #31 Cadillac DPi-V.R (DPi) 1:34.5
Townsend Bell says that the risk of going back out is really high. Drivers are helpless and caught out. But, he gives credit to co-driver Jeff Segal for all his hard work. Drivers are 50/50 on going back out. No sunshine is going to be seen, but Race Director Beau Barfield has the right idea. Hours ago, 12 cars were or are on the lead lap in GTD. It's fun to see the advantages that different manufacturers have in differing conditions. Michelin has brought a wonderful tire, but mentally, this is really tough. The clock is ticking down towards an hour to go. We remain under a red flag, and have been for 55-56 minutes.
An update is coming at 2PM Eastern time, 25 minutes from now. Another hour to go. Stay tuned for whatever the finish of this motor race may bring us.
Rolex 24: Hour 22
We're underway! Jordan Taylor flies ahead of Felipe Nasr. There is a dry line into turn one and the GTD cars are three wide into the tri oval. Porsche #911 has gone ahead of the #62 Ferrari it appears. Calado runs ahead of Bamber. Nick Tandy is two laps in-arrears. Augusto Farfus in the #25 BMW M8 GT has gone ahead of Earl Bamber in the Porsche. Richard Westbrook is also in the queue in the #67 Ford, and we have a battle on at the front! Felipe Nasr is pressing Jordan Taylor on the high side! Jordan Taylor fights back on the inside and takes the spot, retaining the lead. It's a Cadillac vs. Cadillac duel! We've got a race on our hands at the front, look.
Nick Tandy goes to get one of his laps back and James Calado is still leading GTLM. We are within three hours to go and Jordan Taylor now completes 571 laps (2,033 miles). Taylor has gapped Nasr. Taylor is quicker on the oval, and Nasr is quicker on the infield. Side by side, look. They're pushing each other. Can Taylor do the slingshot? Surely. But Nasr won't give him the racing room. Taylor has to concede the spot. Hit your marks. Look after the car. Nasr and company won the 2018 championship. Nose to tail for the lead in GTLM as Augusto Farfus wants by James Calado. he has a peak and can't get by, as Calado slams the door in the face of the BMW M8 driver. This is a chess game on the road, look. That was all through the S curves.
Ferrari and BMW run 1-2 in GTLM with Porsche 1.3 seconds adrift. Calado's gap is growing and there's a stream of water in the Bus Stop. Now, the #10 Cadillac hits the pit lane. Jordan Taylor, out, and into the car, it's Fernando Alonso, "the Prince of Spain" getting into the car. He is not used to entering a wet track with cold tires and the #912 Porsche is in the lane. These are stone cold, wet weather, sticker tires for Alonso. He will have to tiptoe at first but then can perhaps pull the pin. Now, the battles in GTLM continue and the same is true in GTD. Jeff Segal has had a brilliant race with Frederic Vervisch next. This is the time of the race when the team manager becomes like a baseball manager. Who is pitching? What is the batting order? Fernando Alonso will have a long stint, but Kobayashi could bring it home.
Nasr is strong in the #31, and then, where do you fit Pipo Derani and Eric Curran back into the puzzle? Augusto Farfus is closing up on James Calado. He can't get by as the Ferrari rockets off the corner. Full Course Yellow again for debris at turns five and six on the road circuit. One of the GTD cars it appears, has walloped the signage out on course. Nick Tandy has been overtaken. We are now into a little lull in this motor race. The rain is coming down a little heavier now. What happened to that lull in the rain? It disappeared. The leaders are headed for pit lane, but there's been a clatter between Toni Vilander and Milos Pavlovic in the #47 Lamborghini for PPM. The stewards are reviewing the incident as the Acura is in the lane as is the #31 Cadillac. Four tires and a driver change.
Felipe Nasr is into the car. Acura are replacing a nose on the car as Fernando Alonso makes a scheduled pit stop for a right front tire. Maybe there was a vibration or a slow puncture. The wind and rain are increasing in this mecca of motorsport at Daytona. Jeff Segal lost the lead to Frederic Vervisch in GT Daytona before the yellow, and Jeroen Bleekemolen also made a pass. Daniel Morad has moved the #29 Audi ahead of the #73 Porsche 911 GT3R with Matt Campbell at the wheel of it. Romain Dumas is still holding off Devlin DeFrancesco. GTLM and GTD cars pit. Back in the early 1990s, there was no pit lane speed limit in this race, so drivers could book it into the lane and it was pretty harrowing stuff.
Pit out is so, so difficult here at Daytona. The #62 Ferrari has a quick, efficient stop as James Calado stays at the wheel. The #33 Wynn's liveried Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 was in. They had the bonnet up on that automobile. No driver change at BMW, only tires. But the inside edge tire tread is really worn down. More GTD cars were in the lane, looking for their pit box. We have another problem as the #81 DragonSpeed car is stopped, Henrik Hedman just came out of the lane in that car. The #33 Mercedes seems down on straight line speed. They changed the air filter on the car. We are beginning the final wave by.
Felipe Nasr leads Fernando Alonso, and Alexander Rossi. Romain Dumas is four laps away from the top three in the Nissan followed by Devlin DeFrancesco. He is fifth in the overall. There are GT cars in the lane, including the #24 BMW M8 GT. Richard Westbrook is leading GTLM and eons ago he had a penalty for an improper wave by and the Porsche had a splitter issue. Augusto Farfus in BMW #25 is next and then, two laps off the lead is the #911 Porsche 911 RSR in the hands of Nick Tandy. Matt Campbell leads GT Daytona over Daniel Morad and Toni Vilander, followed by Fredric Vervisch, Jeff Segal, Trent Hindman, Luca Stolz, Christian Engelhart, and Austin Cindric. Cindric was in pit lane just now.
Matt Campbell leads, and didn't pit during the Full Course Yellow. Spencer Pumpelly was a lap down already and trying to get the lead back. The track is indeed beginning to dry. Race Control has been doing the right job. But, the dry line is now getting wet again as we go back to green. Felipe Nasr gets a great restart and Henrik Hedman lost a wheel causing the most recent Full Course Yellow. Joao Barbosa stays out of the way of the leaders, last year's winner. Now, the #10 car has better traction than Felipe Nasr does. Who will get the better drive? No traction control, and Alonso is struggling for grip.
Alexander Rossi is waiting for the two blokes in the front to be crash test dummies, so he can slide right by into P1. The GTLM Corvette's have let a lot of the GTD cars by. Corvette just wants to finish this race. I'd rather be driving a GTD car in the wet because of the ABS and we have major damage for Toni Vilander in the Bus Stop! He's fine, trying to start the car, but it has big damage on the car, look. That car is headed for the junkyard. Thre's hugr damag for Vilander, and the #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche was also involved. Vilander can't see in the spray, the car ahead locks up the brakes, and... ker-runch! Vilander rams him in the back end, destroying the front of the WeatherTech Ferrari.
#540 is in the lane for repairs. The Porsche stood up to the impact really well, Dirk Werner at the controls. That was a daft move by Vilander. Blokes dive inside on restarts, and #540 is being pushed behind the wall. This is a short yellow. The front end of the #63 Ferrari is demolished. That'll be an incident responsibility penalty, maybe. Yours truly is shocked that would be done by someone of the caliber and experience of Toni Vilander. Leave a gap on the road in this rain. Drivers are feeling pressure. Toni Vilander had no visibility whatsoever. Brake failure is rare. You are more likely to have a stuck throttle.
Racing has really improved ABS. Keep turning the wheel. But, in racing, we are trained to fight a skid to 90 degrees, but after that, lock it down. With ABS, the computer is going bonkers. Back in the day with no ABS, you direct a car in a spin using the brakes. Don't get an ice pedal and you think you get the ABS, and the ABS doesn't work. How do you get ABS to work when the car is going backwards? You don't. When we go green, this race is going to hot up again. DPi and GTLM are going to be bonkers. GTD will, too, as it's anyone's race. Right. Shall we try again? We're away for the restart. Nasr gets a good jump heading to the inside of the tri-oval.
He chooses his braking point as Laurens Vanthoor and Richard Westbrook have some argy bargy. Nassr twitches on cold tires, running the rim shot, as Fernando Alonso is dfinding th swweet spot, and here comes Alexander Rossi. Rossi is going for it as well. It's a huge advantage to be in front. Keep your wits about you, adjusting the throttle, the wheel, and the brakes by mere milimeters. Nasr is the crash test dummy right now. Huge sideways moment for the leadr through the Bus Stop, rallycrossing that Cadillac! Yikes! Nasr was a Formula 1 driver, and he's gone back into turn one, too deep! We have Joao Barbosa in the #5 Cadillac spinning, and a big spin for the #54 Nissan of Loic Duval! If you get off the road in turn one, you are in trouble, as the #47 Lamborghini of Mil,os Pavlovic also loses it.
For a brief moment, Loic Duval was headed for a head on collision with Joao Barbosa in the Cadillac! Mamma Mia! That was close! Daniel Morad has passed Matt Campbell in GT Daytona, and of course the Audi R8 is only allowed to be rear wheel drive as a GT3 race car, and it's All Wheel Drive system is prohibited per the IMSA regs. Off at the Bus Stop is the sole remaining "Banana Boat", the JDC-Miller Cadillac. Devlin DeFrancesco has the car pointed in the right direction. Now, is there damage to the rear suspension of that car?
He's going grass tracking and flying through puddles. Alonso just went right outside the line in turn one and stays on the road! Wow! Morad is off, and the Ferrari follows him off with Calado driving in the #62 car. Richard Westbrook ahead, and Nick Tandy spins in turn one. Tandy can't see a thing out of his windscreen, look. You can't stop once you get outside the right side line, as there's four inches of water out there. The weather is coming again, and the rain is coming again. You can't see the condos on the A1A highway. James Calado is on the high side, passing Daniel Morad, and he doesn't have the braking. Nasr opens the gap on ALonso, and don't throw it away in the Bus Stop!
Fred Vervisch has dropped behind. Everyone knows they are racing for the win in case there is a red flag. Nasr is going for it, but the track is gtting worse as the #19 Moorespeed Audi R8 of Andrew Davis loops it onto the banking. This could be the win right here. The tension is so thick, you could cut it with a knife. The weather can't be more than ten minutes away. Alonso on the high line, Nasr on the low line, and Nasr has almost gone off the road as the BMW navigates traffic. Westbrook leads Calado in GTLM as Alexander Rossi goes off the road from third. These boys are right on the limit. It's so tough. Nick Tandy off the road and back on again. Splish splash, jumping through the puddles at turn six. You have no clue where the car is going when you hit the brakes.
The water is so deep, you have an E brake on the car, an emergency brake. Rolex Submariners should be rewarded, not Daytona's. Fernando Alonso is behind by 2.4 seconds over Nasr as Rossi has dropped by 11 seconds as Alonso locks up and slides through the west horseshoe! Wow! Problems for the #66 Ford and the #29 leading Audi in GTD has spun off the road! Daniel Morad is off in turn one. Can he get it turned around and back into the race? He's lost a place to Luca Stolz. He's dropped in behind Christian Engelhart as well. Another car is off and it's hard to see in the dense spray. It was Augusto Farfus in the #25 BMW! Whoa!
THhis is serious stuff now, and the battle at the front is really going for it. Rally drivers like Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier would be delighted by this. A spin now, for the #8 retro Audi Sport liveried Starworks Audi R8. That's a dangerous spot and it's Christopher Haase at the controls! He gts it back on the road, but man, that was precarious! Katherine Legge is trying to make up places and she also takes to the grass. So many blokes are going off the road, as one of the Juncos cars and the JDC-Miller car goes off. Alonso goes into the lead of the motor race as Felipe Nasr slides off in turn one! This is going to turn the motor race totally on it's head, ladies and gentlemen!
Nasr can't get the car slowed down and out there on the greasy stuff, on the wet patch, he mercifully does not hit the tire barriers! Oh my God! That was too close! Fernando Alonso now leads. Nasr will be kicking himself, and now Luca Stolz has spun the Mercedes under pressure from Christian Englehart's Lamborghini. He's back on track. It's all happening now. Holy mackerel! The #911 Porsche has gone off at the Bus Stop and is right in the middle of the exit of the corner! Deary me, it's really treacherous out there! Tandy turns the Porsche into a hydrofoil through a puddle on the apron! Yikes!
The conditions are changing every lap as Augusto Farfus has made a pass on James Calado. If you let your heart rule your head, BMW winning after the death of Charlie Lamm the Thursday before this race, would be amazing. That's not saying others don't deserve to win. Minimal movement on the steering wheel, and these conditions are like driving on ice. Do you keep Alonso in the car or do a driver change with two hours to go to Kamui Kobayashi? Again, the "Banana Boat" has become a hydrofoil, and the flying banana spins again. Poor old Devlin DeFrancesco is all over the whirligig this time, both backwards and sideways.
Another Full Course Yellow, as there are problems again, look, for the #18 LMP2 car for DragonSpeed! Sebastian Saavedra has clouted the wall. Oh, Sebastian, be careful sunshine. The #67 Ford GT has ducked to the lane for emergency service, because technically, pit lane is closed. Augusto Farfus takes the GTLM lead in the BMW! Wow! Where did Saavedra go off? He runs wide in turn one and you can't pinch the corner in turn one as Alonso nearly hits the stranded LMP2 machine! Dear me! Unbelievable! When in doubt, straighten it out. Jeepers creepers! The rain is coming down in buckets now with two hours left. The watches are polished, but we still don't know who will wear them.
Nick Tandy goes to get one of his laps back and James Calado is still leading GTLM. We are within three hours to go and Jordan Taylor now completes 571 laps (2,033 miles). Taylor has gapped Nasr. Taylor is quicker on the oval, and Nasr is quicker on the infield. Side by side, look. They're pushing each other. Can Taylor do the slingshot? Surely. But Nasr won't give him the racing room. Taylor has to concede the spot. Hit your marks. Look after the car. Nasr and company won the 2018 championship. Nose to tail for the lead in GTLM as Augusto Farfus wants by James Calado. he has a peak and can't get by, as Calado slams the door in the face of the BMW M8 driver. This is a chess game on the road, look. That was all through the S curves.
Ferrari and BMW run 1-2 in GTLM with Porsche 1.3 seconds adrift. Calado's gap is growing and there's a stream of water in the Bus Stop. Now, the #10 Cadillac hits the pit lane. Jordan Taylor, out, and into the car, it's Fernando Alonso, "the Prince of Spain" getting into the car. He is not used to entering a wet track with cold tires and the #912 Porsche is in the lane. These are stone cold, wet weather, sticker tires for Alonso. He will have to tiptoe at first but then can perhaps pull the pin. Now, the battles in GTLM continue and the same is true in GTD. Jeff Segal has had a brilliant race with Frederic Vervisch next. This is the time of the race when the team manager becomes like a baseball manager. Who is pitching? What is the batting order? Fernando Alonso will have a long stint, but Kobayashi could bring it home.
Nasr is strong in the #31, and then, where do you fit Pipo Derani and Eric Curran back into the puzzle? Augusto Farfus is closing up on James Calado. He can't get by as the Ferrari rockets off the corner. Full Course Yellow again for debris at turns five and six on the road circuit. One of the GTD cars it appears, has walloped the signage out on course. Nick Tandy has been overtaken. We are now into a little lull in this motor race. The rain is coming down a little heavier now. What happened to that lull in the rain? It disappeared. The leaders are headed for pit lane, but there's been a clatter between Toni Vilander and Milos Pavlovic in the #47 Lamborghini for PPM. The stewards are reviewing the incident as the Acura is in the lane as is the #31 Cadillac. Four tires and a driver change.
Felipe Nasr is into the car. Acura are replacing a nose on the car as Fernando Alonso makes a scheduled pit stop for a right front tire. Maybe there was a vibration or a slow puncture. The wind and rain are increasing in this mecca of motorsport at Daytona. Jeff Segal lost the lead to Frederic Vervisch in GT Daytona before the yellow, and Jeroen Bleekemolen also made a pass. Daniel Morad has moved the #29 Audi ahead of the #73 Porsche 911 GT3R with Matt Campbell at the wheel of it. Romain Dumas is still holding off Devlin DeFrancesco. GTLM and GTD cars pit. Back in the early 1990s, there was no pit lane speed limit in this race, so drivers could book it into the lane and it was pretty harrowing stuff.
Pit out is so, so difficult here at Daytona. The #62 Ferrari has a quick, efficient stop as James Calado stays at the wheel. The #33 Wynn's liveried Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 was in. They had the bonnet up on that automobile. No driver change at BMW, only tires. But the inside edge tire tread is really worn down. More GTD cars were in the lane, looking for their pit box. We have another problem as the #81 DragonSpeed car is stopped, Henrik Hedman just came out of the lane in that car. The #33 Mercedes seems down on straight line speed. They changed the air filter on the car. We are beginning the final wave by.
Felipe Nasr leads Fernando Alonso, and Alexander Rossi. Romain Dumas is four laps away from the top three in the Nissan followed by Devlin DeFrancesco. He is fifth in the overall. There are GT cars in the lane, including the #24 BMW M8 GT. Richard Westbrook is leading GTLM and eons ago he had a penalty for an improper wave by and the Porsche had a splitter issue. Augusto Farfus in BMW #25 is next and then, two laps off the lead is the #911 Porsche 911 RSR in the hands of Nick Tandy. Matt Campbell leads GT Daytona over Daniel Morad and Toni Vilander, followed by Fredric Vervisch, Jeff Segal, Trent Hindman, Luca Stolz, Christian Engelhart, and Austin Cindric. Cindric was in pit lane just now.
Matt Campbell leads, and didn't pit during the Full Course Yellow. Spencer Pumpelly was a lap down already and trying to get the lead back. The track is indeed beginning to dry. Race Control has been doing the right job. But, the dry line is now getting wet again as we go back to green. Felipe Nasr gets a great restart and Henrik Hedman lost a wheel causing the most recent Full Course Yellow. Joao Barbosa stays out of the way of the leaders, last year's winner. Now, the #10 car has better traction than Felipe Nasr does. Who will get the better drive? No traction control, and Alonso is struggling for grip.
Alexander Rossi is waiting for the two blokes in the front to be crash test dummies, so he can slide right by into P1. The GTLM Corvette's have let a lot of the GTD cars by. Corvette just wants to finish this race. I'd rather be driving a GTD car in the wet because of the ABS and we have major damage for Toni Vilander in the Bus Stop! He's fine, trying to start the car, but it has big damage on the car, look. That car is headed for the junkyard. Thre's hugr damag for Vilander, and the #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche was also involved. Vilander can't see in the spray, the car ahead locks up the brakes, and... ker-runch! Vilander rams him in the back end, destroying the front of the WeatherTech Ferrari.
#540 is in the lane for repairs. The Porsche stood up to the impact really well, Dirk Werner at the controls. That was a daft move by Vilander. Blokes dive inside on restarts, and #540 is being pushed behind the wall. This is a short yellow. The front end of the #63 Ferrari is demolished. That'll be an incident responsibility penalty, maybe. Yours truly is shocked that would be done by someone of the caliber and experience of Toni Vilander. Leave a gap on the road in this rain. Drivers are feeling pressure. Toni Vilander had no visibility whatsoever. Brake failure is rare. You are more likely to have a stuck throttle.
Racing has really improved ABS. Keep turning the wheel. But, in racing, we are trained to fight a skid to 90 degrees, but after that, lock it down. With ABS, the computer is going bonkers. Back in the day with no ABS, you direct a car in a spin using the brakes. Don't get an ice pedal and you think you get the ABS, and the ABS doesn't work. How do you get ABS to work when the car is going backwards? You don't. When we go green, this race is going to hot up again. DPi and GTLM are going to be bonkers. GTD will, too, as it's anyone's race. Right. Shall we try again? We're away for the restart. Nasr gets a good jump heading to the inside of the tri-oval.
He chooses his braking point as Laurens Vanthoor and Richard Westbrook have some argy bargy. Nassr twitches on cold tires, running the rim shot, as Fernando Alonso is dfinding th swweet spot, and here comes Alexander Rossi. Rossi is going for it as well. It's a huge advantage to be in front. Keep your wits about you, adjusting the throttle, the wheel, and the brakes by mere milimeters. Nasr is the crash test dummy right now. Huge sideways moment for the leadr through the Bus Stop, rallycrossing that Cadillac! Yikes! Nasr was a Formula 1 driver, and he's gone back into turn one, too deep! We have Joao Barbosa in the #5 Cadillac spinning, and a big spin for the #54 Nissan of Loic Duval! If you get off the road in turn one, you are in trouble, as the #47 Lamborghini of Mil,os Pavlovic also loses it.
For a brief moment, Loic Duval was headed for a head on collision with Joao Barbosa in the Cadillac! Mamma Mia! That was close! Daniel Morad has passed Matt Campbell in GT Daytona, and of course the Audi R8 is only allowed to be rear wheel drive as a GT3 race car, and it's All Wheel Drive system is prohibited per the IMSA regs. Off at the Bus Stop is the sole remaining "Banana Boat", the JDC-Miller Cadillac. Devlin DeFrancesco has the car pointed in the right direction. Now, is there damage to the rear suspension of that car?
He's going grass tracking and flying through puddles. Alonso just went right outside the line in turn one and stays on the road! Wow! Morad is off, and the Ferrari follows him off with Calado driving in the #62 car. Richard Westbrook ahead, and Nick Tandy spins in turn one. Tandy can't see a thing out of his windscreen, look. You can't stop once you get outside the right side line, as there's four inches of water out there. The weather is coming again, and the rain is coming again. You can't see the condos on the A1A highway. James Calado is on the high side, passing Daniel Morad, and he doesn't have the braking. Nasr opens the gap on ALonso, and don't throw it away in the Bus Stop!
Fred Vervisch has dropped behind. Everyone knows they are racing for the win in case there is a red flag. Nasr is going for it, but the track is gtting worse as the #19 Moorespeed Audi R8 of Andrew Davis loops it onto the banking. This could be the win right here. The tension is so thick, you could cut it with a knife. The weather can't be more than ten minutes away. Alonso on the high line, Nasr on the low line, and Nasr has almost gone off the road as the BMW navigates traffic. Westbrook leads Calado in GTLM as Alexander Rossi goes off the road from third. These boys are right on the limit. It's so tough. Nick Tandy off the road and back on again. Splish splash, jumping through the puddles at turn six. You have no clue where the car is going when you hit the brakes.
The water is so deep, you have an E brake on the car, an emergency brake. Rolex Submariners should be rewarded, not Daytona's. Fernando Alonso is behind by 2.4 seconds over Nasr as Rossi has dropped by 11 seconds as Alonso locks up and slides through the west horseshoe! Wow! Problems for the #66 Ford and the #29 leading Audi in GTD has spun off the road! Daniel Morad is off in turn one. Can he get it turned around and back into the race? He's lost a place to Luca Stolz. He's dropped in behind Christian Engelhart as well. Another car is off and it's hard to see in the dense spray. It was Augusto Farfus in the #25 BMW! Whoa!
THhis is serious stuff now, and the battle at the front is really going for it. Rally drivers like Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier would be delighted by this. A spin now, for the #8 retro Audi Sport liveried Starworks Audi R8. That's a dangerous spot and it's Christopher Haase at the controls! He gts it back on the road, but man, that was precarious! Katherine Legge is trying to make up places and she also takes to the grass. So many blokes are going off the road, as one of the Juncos cars and the JDC-Miller car goes off. Alonso goes into the lead of the motor race as Felipe Nasr slides off in turn one! This is going to turn the motor race totally on it's head, ladies and gentlemen!
Nasr can't get the car slowed down and out there on the greasy stuff, on the wet patch, he mercifully does not hit the tire barriers! Oh my God! That was too close! Fernando Alonso now leads. Nasr will be kicking himself, and now Luca Stolz has spun the Mercedes under pressure from Christian Englehart's Lamborghini. He's back on track. It's all happening now. Holy mackerel! The #911 Porsche has gone off at the Bus Stop and is right in the middle of the exit of the corner! Deary me, it's really treacherous out there! Tandy turns the Porsche into a hydrofoil through a puddle on the apron! Yikes!
The conditions are changing every lap as Augusto Farfus has made a pass on James Calado. If you let your heart rule your head, BMW winning after the death of Charlie Lamm the Thursday before this race, would be amazing. That's not saying others don't deserve to win. Minimal movement on the steering wheel, and these conditions are like driving on ice. Do you keep Alonso in the car or do a driver change with two hours to go to Kamui Kobayashi? Again, the "Banana Boat" has become a hydrofoil, and the flying banana spins again. Poor old Devlin DeFrancesco is all over the whirligig this time, both backwards and sideways.
Another Full Course Yellow, as there are problems again, look, for the #18 LMP2 car for DragonSpeed! Sebastian Saavedra has clouted the wall. Oh, Sebastian, be careful sunshine. The #67 Ford GT has ducked to the lane for emergency service, because technically, pit lane is closed. Augusto Farfus takes the GTLM lead in the BMW! Wow! Where did Saavedra go off? He runs wide in turn one and you can't pinch the corner in turn one as Alonso nearly hits the stranded LMP2 machine! Dear me! Unbelievable! When in doubt, straighten it out. Jeepers creepers! The rain is coming down in buckets now with two hours left. The watches are polished, but we still don't know who will wear them.
Rolex 24: Hour 21
BMW #25 is into the lane as well, and it looks like the #912 Porsche is also on it's way to the pits for service. Ford GT #67 is in as well. Nothing hurriedly going on. New tires for some of the cars. Apparently, there are four new Corvette's designed by their factory drivers as limited edition models in different colors. They build on something that goes between racing and production. Cadillac does the same thing, allowing owners of these high end, performance cars, teaching owners how to drive them. Pipo Derani is leading the motor race at this moment, in the #31 Cadillac. Acura is in the lane from second with the #7 car. We've done 20 hours and are into the 21st hour. Ford GT #67 is in the pit lane.
BMW in the lane as well, the #24. Alex Zanardi gets out of the car, but, it's uncertain who has taken the car over. Ford #67 is off and back on the track. It's slick in the International Horseshoe. Everyone is running a fuel saving map behind the safety car. The driver is doing what their engineer tells them. Go to Map 5, and drive the car, this way, based on the settings in Map 5. Then, you go back to your racing map, and a harmonic is created, breaking parts of the car. Years ago, the cars were much less complex than they are now. If you aren't reminded of a new fuel map, you put your foot down, and all of a sudden... the engine goes bang. Use your traction control, too. Earl Bamber wanted traction, and he forgot to reset it, which is why he spun off the road.
Race car drivers make mistakes, especially this deep into the race. Imagine that you are the engineer, not getting any sleep, because you have to keep poring over the data on the car. Your chief mechanic is telling you when to pit, and talking you through things you've done a million times, but then, you have to make sure to have all your stuff undone when you get out of the car. Green flag, this time around as Pipo Derani leads Jordan Taylor and Alexander Rossi. Game over for the #6? Not so. It's not out of the race. It's back into the motor race, chaps. Wow. It will be a lap up on the #5 Action Express Cadillac which has been fraught with issues this whole race. Simon Pagenaud at the wheel of the Acura.
Pipo Derani is building brake temperature and tire temperature. Car #6 was having issues with a sump pump. So, the safety car makes its way to pit lane, and we think we're going green, but there's an automobile rotated on the backstretch, look. It doesn't matter because Derani mashes the pedal and he's gone. Tiptoe around turn one with all the water through the flick flack at turn two, look. Derani has clear track, but he doesn't know how much speed he needs. Do a rim shot, stay away from the other line that you'd be in on the dry, but watch out for the slippery bits, look. Make fine adjustments of the wheel, and watch your feet on the accelerator and the brakes. Right now, it is total concentration.
In three laps, these blokes will be into a rhythm. Look at the rooster tails of water spewing out from behind the cars! Derani radios to the team, "this is dangerous", and ironically, right as he keys the button, he's off the road, look. Jordan Taylor could take the lead! Not so fast. Derani gets back on the racing line, right in front and slams the door in Taylor's face. Oh, lookie lookie, we've got cars rotating on the whirligig here. There's all sorts of argy bargy going on. Nissan #54 is spun around and we've got a game of dodge 'em cars between the #66 Ford GT and the #11 Lamborghini Huracan! Oh no! This is going to be a crash, bang, wallop, for sure! Thank God the #54 exits the melee before getting T boned by the Lamborghini!
They're still skating off the road down there, look. The #911 Porsche is facing the wrong way. The two GTLM leaders skate right off the road. James Calado has taken over the #62 Ferrari from Alessandro Pier Guidi. The race lead battle is heating up, look. Pipo Derani is about to get eaten alive on the high side by Jordan Taylor. He cuts across the bow of Pipo Derani who is still fighting for traction. Whoops. We've got more spinners. The Land Motorsport Audi has rotated. Dries Vanthoor has paid admission on the merry go round, and who else will take that chance? Jordan Taylor is now leading by 2.6 seconds, and Dries Vanthoor is now rotated a third time, and he's stuck in the grass, the wet, sodden infield next to the high banks.
Vanthoor is spinning in slow motion. Vanthoor slides across to the lane, look, and another spin for the #52 LMP2 machine. Meantime, Joey Hand is rallycrossing across the grass in the Ford GT sans the rear wing. Porsche #911 in the pit lane and we see this replay again, where the GT cars just scatter. The Ford needs a new rear wing. These blokes are trying to take the rain line and they are finding grip only on the left hand side of the road. There's still water puddling down there. The #63 Ferrari is now spun at the Bus Stop, Dominik Farnbacher at the wheel of it. Cadillac #31 pits. Christopher Mies has taken over the #29 Audi.
Big damage for the #66 as Felipe Nasr is now driving the #31 Cadillac, replacing Pipo Derani. This is Nasr's first stint in this heavy rain. The #911 Porsche is in the lane and Mirko Bortolotti says he knew nothing of the incident we've just seen. He was hit a couple of times as he was aquaplaning off the road. The water is really bad, Bortolotti says. He was minding his own business before the GTLM cars piled on because they couldn't stop. In the dry, you run into the International Horseshoe too wide. Traction Control determines forward wheel spin and there is also a yaw control. The tires are getting better as they are bedded in.
The #54 Nissan is spun around again. At Le Mans, they go green anyplace on the track, and maybe IMSA should consider doing it this way as Jordan Taylor has to avoid a spinning Lamborghini. Blimey! The #44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini was just too close for comfort there! #540 spins out of second spot in GTD. Romain Dumas is the Nissan driver backwardsa and going nowhere fast as the rear wing is gone. The #66 Ford GT will be repaired in the garage. Jeff Segal is up to second in GTD in the #12 Lexus, and A.J. Allmendinger leads GTD running sub 2:10 laps and we have ourselves another full course yellow bang on 11AM. Jordan Taylor still leads this motor race even after avoiding that spun Lamborghini.
Alexander Rossi is second in the #7 Penske Acura. Third is Felipe Nasr. Romain Dumas is still fourth sans the rear end of the Nissan. Misha Goikhberg is next in the #85 JDC-Miller Cadillac. The top three (the only three) in LMP2 are next in line in fifth through eighth in the overall. Nicolas Lapierre leads for DragonSpeed in car #81 ahead of Roberto Gonzalez in the sister #18 followed by the #38 machine. James Calado is back to the sharp end in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE. Earl Bamber is second in class in the #912 Porsche 911 RSR after he spun on the banking. Augusto Farfus is third in the #25 BMW M8 GTE for BMW Team RLL, followed by Richard Westbrook in the #67 Castrol liveried Ford GT. Nick Tandy is next up in the heavily damaged #911 Porsche 911 RSR.
In GT Daytona, A.J. Allmendinger leads Jeff Segal, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Fred Vervisch, and Jack Hawksworth. So, it is Acura, Ferrari, Mercedes, Audi, Lexus. Five manufacturers in the top five in GT Daytona as the #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche is beached on the grass having the marshals recover it in a similar fashion to how we saw the now retired Pfaff Motorsport #9 Porsche recovered a little earlier on. The GTD guys are the slowest cars, but they are still really quick with GT3 specs, and there are some epic drivers out there, who are extremely talented, and they'd go quickly driving a factory prototype. Acura #7 pits. All the GTD cars have ABS and they must be really grateful for that in the wet.
The #54 Nissan did remove the rear wing, and gets the new wing and rear deck lid on that car. Emergency service makes the car good as new. Chris Wright is at the wheel of the #38 car. Keep distance on restarts so a car in trouble can recover. Don't hit anything is the golden rule in racing. Jeroen Bleekemolen pits from third in GTD, in the #33 Mercedes AMG GT3. He gets four new Michelin tires as the leaders in class stay out. A.J. Allmendinger leads Jeff Segal in GTD. Patrick Long pitted from third in the #73 Porsche and will lose ground on a scheduled stop, allowing Fred Vervisch to inherit third ahead of Jack Hawksworth.
Toni Vilander has taken over the #63 WeatherTech Scuderia Corsa Ferrari. How much fuel is being used under the safety car? How will we back time this race?: That's what the engineers ask as they crunch the numbers. Class leaders want to know as much info as they can. #10, #7, and #31 will be the top three when we go back to green. Toni Vilander is in his third stint in this race. Many drivers in that car have done triple stints, and a couple double stints. James Calado leads Earl Bamber in GTLM as the #66 and #911 cars have been delayed. #911 is a couple laps down. #62, #912, #25, and #67 are all on the lead lap. Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Ford. Corvette #3 has pitted and will move into sixth spot in class in GTLM.
No letup in the rain looking across to the Atlantic Ocean. Three hours and 20 minutes to go. Everybody knows roughly where the standing water is. Hug the grass and run deep into the corner. There was a lot of dry running leading up to the race and this part of the race is making up for that. The racing line is draining and drying. The horizon is brighter, too. The #540 Porsche is back on track with Dirk Werner at the wheel of it. It is 13th overall a couple laps behind the GT Daytona class leaders. The rain is letting up, but the wind is picking up. Drivers want to know who is in the cars around them. Put your best blokes in the car in this weather.
Some guys who have gone off the road are the best of the best. It's getting down to crunch time now. You definitely want to know who is around you, because it could be a pro like Helio Castroneves, and, well, the Am driver who is an orthodontist. Now, the lights are out on the safety car. So we are ready to go back to racing. The gloom is less in central Florida now. #52 is slow on the apron. That's one of the lagging LMP2 cars. Nicolas Lapierre leads the class over Roberto Gonzalez and the #66 Ford GT is back with a rear bumper, diffuser, and wing. We're back to green flag racing. Here comes Felipe Nasr, chasing after Alexander Rossi and Simon Pagenaud who is a lap down.
An Audi is about to rejoin the race and we have a spin for one of the DragonSpeed LMP2 cars in the International Horseshoe. That's the second place LMP2 runner, #18. Off course excursion, too, for the #50 Juncos Racing Cadillac. The water is sucked right out of the race track by the DPi cars, and the Lexus, can't tell which number, spins. Wet racing is frightening for first timers. Jack Hawksworth is the chap who spun the Lexus and he was way off the road before continuing. It wa sa spin through turn one. Acura #86 is in the lane for a driver change, and the #63 Ferrari pits, too. A car is off the road. That's the #85 JDC-Miller Cadillac with Devlin DeFrancesco at the wheel of it. Jordan Taylor leads. He is working lap 566, (2,015 miles).
Taylor's gap has extended to 5.3 seconds. WTR are prepared and they are not making any mistakes. Felipe Nasr is trying to catch Taylor. Nasr is separated from the lead lap Acura #7 of Alexander Rossi. Simon Pagenaud has the sister car in ninth place. #31 darts 'round the outside and makes the pass stick on the Acura. Go where you can find the grip. The Cadillac teams must be sharing information. That's always a possibility. The Cadillac boys work very well together. Felipe Nasr is a wheel man. He is right on top of his game. Jordan Taylor is flying and Jeff Segal in the #12 Lexus is going for it, and now, Dirk Werner has spun off the road at turn six up onto the banking, battling with Spencer Pumpelly. They are a lap apart and Marcos Gomez goes by in the #13 Via Italia Ferrari, chasing Bill Auberlen as Augusto Farfus is harrying Earl Bamber.
We have a Full Course Yellow, and it will be a short one, to try to retrieve the stricken Porsche. Turn your TC down and then forget to turn it up again. Poor old Dirk Werner has spun and he can't get the Porsche restarted again. He;s got it going now. He is rejoining the race, look. Turn everything off, wait, recycle, and crank the car up again. Two years ago, we had the same scenario, but in the dry, with the #10 and #31 Cadillac's. We are calling Fernando Alonso "the Emperor of Spain", and Kamui Kobayashi, "the Prince". Alonso has raced for the best. He continues to do so here. If Alonso wins, he may buy himself a Cadillac. Hardy har har. Trent Hindman has taken over the #86 Acura from A.J. Allmendinger.
Hindman is eighth in the GTD class. He is the last GTD car on the lead lap. A mere sprint race is still to come yet here at Daytona. It is not over by any means yet, folks. Still some track cleanup to be done as a Lamborghini is on an out lap. Check that. It's the Acura of Trent Hindman at speedway turn one. This track is starting to dry it seems. The fear factor is being reduced it looks like. Some people might tiptoe around the inside. Don't knacker your tires, whatever you do. All street cars and all race cars stop well in a straight line. You don't drive a classic line into a decreasing radius corner. The confidence level is going up with warm tires and hot brakes. Taylor, Nasr, Rossi, the top three. This time by, the green flag will be waved as we reach three hours to go in the Rolex 24. They condense behind the safety car.
Devlin DeFrancesco loops the #85 "Banana Boat" Cadillac, but he remains in fifth plac in the overall. He is ahead of the three LMP2's as the safety car will dive for pit lane this time and to start the 22nd hour, we are going to go back to green flag racing. It's on Jordan Taylor's shoulders to decide when we restart coming to the restart zone.
BMW in the lane as well, the #24. Alex Zanardi gets out of the car, but, it's uncertain who has taken the car over. Ford #67 is off and back on the track. It's slick in the International Horseshoe. Everyone is running a fuel saving map behind the safety car. The driver is doing what their engineer tells them. Go to Map 5, and drive the car, this way, based on the settings in Map 5. Then, you go back to your racing map, and a harmonic is created, breaking parts of the car. Years ago, the cars were much less complex than they are now. If you aren't reminded of a new fuel map, you put your foot down, and all of a sudden... the engine goes bang. Use your traction control, too. Earl Bamber wanted traction, and he forgot to reset it, which is why he spun off the road.
Race car drivers make mistakes, especially this deep into the race. Imagine that you are the engineer, not getting any sleep, because you have to keep poring over the data on the car. Your chief mechanic is telling you when to pit, and talking you through things you've done a million times, but then, you have to make sure to have all your stuff undone when you get out of the car. Green flag, this time around as Pipo Derani leads Jordan Taylor and Alexander Rossi. Game over for the #6? Not so. It's not out of the race. It's back into the motor race, chaps. Wow. It will be a lap up on the #5 Action Express Cadillac which has been fraught with issues this whole race. Simon Pagenaud at the wheel of the Acura.
Pipo Derani is building brake temperature and tire temperature. Car #6 was having issues with a sump pump. So, the safety car makes its way to pit lane, and we think we're going green, but there's an automobile rotated on the backstretch, look. It doesn't matter because Derani mashes the pedal and he's gone. Tiptoe around turn one with all the water through the flick flack at turn two, look. Derani has clear track, but he doesn't know how much speed he needs. Do a rim shot, stay away from the other line that you'd be in on the dry, but watch out for the slippery bits, look. Make fine adjustments of the wheel, and watch your feet on the accelerator and the brakes. Right now, it is total concentration.
In three laps, these blokes will be into a rhythm. Look at the rooster tails of water spewing out from behind the cars! Derani radios to the team, "this is dangerous", and ironically, right as he keys the button, he's off the road, look. Jordan Taylor could take the lead! Not so fast. Derani gets back on the racing line, right in front and slams the door in Taylor's face. Oh, lookie lookie, we've got cars rotating on the whirligig here. There's all sorts of argy bargy going on. Nissan #54 is spun around and we've got a game of dodge 'em cars between the #66 Ford GT and the #11 Lamborghini Huracan! Oh no! This is going to be a crash, bang, wallop, for sure! Thank God the #54 exits the melee before getting T boned by the Lamborghini!
They're still skating off the road down there, look. The #911 Porsche is facing the wrong way. The two GTLM leaders skate right off the road. James Calado has taken over the #62 Ferrari from Alessandro Pier Guidi. The race lead battle is heating up, look. Pipo Derani is about to get eaten alive on the high side by Jordan Taylor. He cuts across the bow of Pipo Derani who is still fighting for traction. Whoops. We've got more spinners. The Land Motorsport Audi has rotated. Dries Vanthoor has paid admission on the merry go round, and who else will take that chance? Jordan Taylor is now leading by 2.6 seconds, and Dries Vanthoor is now rotated a third time, and he's stuck in the grass, the wet, sodden infield next to the high banks.
Vanthoor is spinning in slow motion. Vanthoor slides across to the lane, look, and another spin for the #52 LMP2 machine. Meantime, Joey Hand is rallycrossing across the grass in the Ford GT sans the rear wing. Porsche #911 in the pit lane and we see this replay again, where the GT cars just scatter. The Ford needs a new rear wing. These blokes are trying to take the rain line and they are finding grip only on the left hand side of the road. There's still water puddling down there. The #63 Ferrari is now spun at the Bus Stop, Dominik Farnbacher at the wheel of it. Cadillac #31 pits. Christopher Mies has taken over the #29 Audi.
Big damage for the #66 as Felipe Nasr is now driving the #31 Cadillac, replacing Pipo Derani. This is Nasr's first stint in this heavy rain. The #911 Porsche is in the lane and Mirko Bortolotti says he knew nothing of the incident we've just seen. He was hit a couple of times as he was aquaplaning off the road. The water is really bad, Bortolotti says. He was minding his own business before the GTLM cars piled on because they couldn't stop. In the dry, you run into the International Horseshoe too wide. Traction Control determines forward wheel spin and there is also a yaw control. The tires are getting better as they are bedded in.
The #54 Nissan is spun around again. At Le Mans, they go green anyplace on the track, and maybe IMSA should consider doing it this way as Jordan Taylor has to avoid a spinning Lamborghini. Blimey! The #44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini was just too close for comfort there! #540 spins out of second spot in GTD. Romain Dumas is the Nissan driver backwardsa and going nowhere fast as the rear wing is gone. The #66 Ford GT will be repaired in the garage. Jeff Segal is up to second in GTD in the #12 Lexus, and A.J. Allmendinger leads GTD running sub 2:10 laps and we have ourselves another full course yellow bang on 11AM. Jordan Taylor still leads this motor race even after avoiding that spun Lamborghini.
Alexander Rossi is second in the #7 Penske Acura. Third is Felipe Nasr. Romain Dumas is still fourth sans the rear end of the Nissan. Misha Goikhberg is next in the #85 JDC-Miller Cadillac. The top three (the only three) in LMP2 are next in line in fifth through eighth in the overall. Nicolas Lapierre leads for DragonSpeed in car #81 ahead of Roberto Gonzalez in the sister #18 followed by the #38 machine. James Calado is back to the sharp end in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE. Earl Bamber is second in class in the #912 Porsche 911 RSR after he spun on the banking. Augusto Farfus is third in the #25 BMW M8 GTE for BMW Team RLL, followed by Richard Westbrook in the #67 Castrol liveried Ford GT. Nick Tandy is next up in the heavily damaged #911 Porsche 911 RSR.
In GT Daytona, A.J. Allmendinger leads Jeff Segal, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Fred Vervisch, and Jack Hawksworth. So, it is Acura, Ferrari, Mercedes, Audi, Lexus. Five manufacturers in the top five in GT Daytona as the #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche is beached on the grass having the marshals recover it in a similar fashion to how we saw the now retired Pfaff Motorsport #9 Porsche recovered a little earlier on. The GTD guys are the slowest cars, but they are still really quick with GT3 specs, and there are some epic drivers out there, who are extremely talented, and they'd go quickly driving a factory prototype. Acura #7 pits. All the GTD cars have ABS and they must be really grateful for that in the wet.
The #54 Nissan did remove the rear wing, and gets the new wing and rear deck lid on that car. Emergency service makes the car good as new. Chris Wright is at the wheel of the #38 car. Keep distance on restarts so a car in trouble can recover. Don't hit anything is the golden rule in racing. Jeroen Bleekemolen pits from third in GTD, in the #33 Mercedes AMG GT3. He gets four new Michelin tires as the leaders in class stay out. A.J. Allmendinger leads Jeff Segal in GTD. Patrick Long pitted from third in the #73 Porsche and will lose ground on a scheduled stop, allowing Fred Vervisch to inherit third ahead of Jack Hawksworth.
Toni Vilander has taken over the #63 WeatherTech Scuderia Corsa Ferrari. How much fuel is being used under the safety car? How will we back time this race?: That's what the engineers ask as they crunch the numbers. Class leaders want to know as much info as they can. #10, #7, and #31 will be the top three when we go back to green. Toni Vilander is in his third stint in this race. Many drivers in that car have done triple stints, and a couple double stints. James Calado leads Earl Bamber in GTLM as the #66 and #911 cars have been delayed. #911 is a couple laps down. #62, #912, #25, and #67 are all on the lead lap. Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Ford. Corvette #3 has pitted and will move into sixth spot in class in GTLM.
No letup in the rain looking across to the Atlantic Ocean. Three hours and 20 minutes to go. Everybody knows roughly where the standing water is. Hug the grass and run deep into the corner. There was a lot of dry running leading up to the race and this part of the race is making up for that. The racing line is draining and drying. The horizon is brighter, too. The #540 Porsche is back on track with Dirk Werner at the wheel of it. It is 13th overall a couple laps behind the GT Daytona class leaders. The rain is letting up, but the wind is picking up. Drivers want to know who is in the cars around them. Put your best blokes in the car in this weather.
Some guys who have gone off the road are the best of the best. It's getting down to crunch time now. You definitely want to know who is around you, because it could be a pro like Helio Castroneves, and, well, the Am driver who is an orthodontist. Now, the lights are out on the safety car. So we are ready to go back to racing. The gloom is less in central Florida now. #52 is slow on the apron. That's one of the lagging LMP2 cars. Nicolas Lapierre leads the class over Roberto Gonzalez and the #66 Ford GT is back with a rear bumper, diffuser, and wing. We're back to green flag racing. Here comes Felipe Nasr, chasing after Alexander Rossi and Simon Pagenaud who is a lap down.
An Audi is about to rejoin the race and we have a spin for one of the DragonSpeed LMP2 cars in the International Horseshoe. That's the second place LMP2 runner, #18. Off course excursion, too, for the #50 Juncos Racing Cadillac. The water is sucked right out of the race track by the DPi cars, and the Lexus, can't tell which number, spins. Wet racing is frightening for first timers. Jack Hawksworth is the chap who spun the Lexus and he was way off the road before continuing. It wa sa spin through turn one. Acura #86 is in the lane for a driver change, and the #63 Ferrari pits, too. A car is off the road. That's the #85 JDC-Miller Cadillac with Devlin DeFrancesco at the wheel of it. Jordan Taylor leads. He is working lap 566, (2,015 miles).
Taylor's gap has extended to 5.3 seconds. WTR are prepared and they are not making any mistakes. Felipe Nasr is trying to catch Taylor. Nasr is separated from the lead lap Acura #7 of Alexander Rossi. Simon Pagenaud has the sister car in ninth place. #31 darts 'round the outside and makes the pass stick on the Acura. Go where you can find the grip. The Cadillac teams must be sharing information. That's always a possibility. The Cadillac boys work very well together. Felipe Nasr is a wheel man. He is right on top of his game. Jordan Taylor is flying and Jeff Segal in the #12 Lexus is going for it, and now, Dirk Werner has spun off the road at turn six up onto the banking, battling with Spencer Pumpelly. They are a lap apart and Marcos Gomez goes by in the #13 Via Italia Ferrari, chasing Bill Auberlen as Augusto Farfus is harrying Earl Bamber.
We have a Full Course Yellow, and it will be a short one, to try to retrieve the stricken Porsche. Turn your TC down and then forget to turn it up again. Poor old Dirk Werner has spun and he can't get the Porsche restarted again. He;s got it going now. He is rejoining the race, look. Turn everything off, wait, recycle, and crank the car up again. Two years ago, we had the same scenario, but in the dry, with the #10 and #31 Cadillac's. We are calling Fernando Alonso "the Emperor of Spain", and Kamui Kobayashi, "the Prince". Alonso has raced for the best. He continues to do so here. If Alonso wins, he may buy himself a Cadillac. Hardy har har. Trent Hindman has taken over the #86 Acura from A.J. Allmendinger.
Hindman is eighth in the GTD class. He is the last GTD car on the lead lap. A mere sprint race is still to come yet here at Daytona. It is not over by any means yet, folks. Still some track cleanup to be done as a Lamborghini is on an out lap. Check that. It's the Acura of Trent Hindman at speedway turn one. This track is starting to dry it seems. The fear factor is being reduced it looks like. Some people might tiptoe around the inside. Don't knacker your tires, whatever you do. All street cars and all race cars stop well in a straight line. You don't drive a classic line into a decreasing radius corner. The confidence level is going up with warm tires and hot brakes. Taylor, Nasr, Rossi, the top three. This time by, the green flag will be waved as we reach three hours to go in the Rolex 24. They condense behind the safety car.
Devlin DeFrancesco loops the #85 "Banana Boat" Cadillac, but he remains in fifth plac in the overall. He is ahead of the three LMP2's as the safety car will dive for pit lane this time and to start the 22nd hour, we are going to go back to green flag racing. It's on Jordan Taylor's shoulders to decide when we restart coming to the restart zone.
Rolex 24: Hour 20
The #540 Black Swan Porsche pits with Marco Seefried at the wheel of it, from third spot in GT Daytona. A.J. Allmendinger and Dries Vanthoor are also pitting, and we have GTLM cars in the lane as well. Both of the factory Porsche 911 RSR's of Fred Makowiecki and Laurens Vanthoor. Driver changes, fuel, and tires, for both. Earl Bamber is taking over the #912. #911 has damage on the left front corner. It is newly acquired damage after a kerfuffle at the restart, more than likely. GTLM and GTD cars are now coming back onto the track. Be so, so careful on that pit lane exit road. It's really slick out there. Both AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3's have gotten back onto the lead lap, and both of them are running really well. It has a propensity to eat up it's rear tires, and this was the case in years past when the 3GT team ran the cars.
Austin Cindric is still driving the #14 and Aaron Telitz is at the wheel of the #12 machine. The #10 Cadillac and the #6 Acura didn't pit during this round of stops, so, they will be at the head of the field and in the pound seats for getting a jump on everybody else. Each class is running in their respective order. Now, Robert Masson gets a mechanical black flag, a black flag with a red dot, also called a "meatball". Now, the #3 Corvette is in pit lane. Remember, yesterday, it ran into it's sister car in the pit lane. The large piece of tape that was used on one corner is splattered with mud. That bear bond is strong stuff, but it might not be able to stick if it is covered with mud.
Ricky Taylor leads the motor race ahead of Pipo Derani, Jordan Taylor, and Simon Pagenaud. The GTD leader has just put 500 laps on the board, (1,780 miles). Acura, Audi, Audi, Lamborghini, Acura, Porsche, Mercedes, Ferrari, Porsche, Lexus, Lexus. So the respective drivers in these cars are A.J. Allmendinger, Mirko Bortolotti, Simona de Silvestro, Patrick Long, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Dominik Farnbacher, and Marco Seefried, along with Aaron Telitz and Austin Cindric at the wheel of the two Lexus'. Then comes the #13 Ferrari which started on pole, and has made it's way up to just being two laps behind, with the #96 BMW M6 GT3 behind that. It's been a miserable race in terms of the weather as the rain still falls.
This race may restart now. But the marshals are biding their time, probably reviewing track conditions. It's darn wet out on the road at the moment. The #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche is still being repaired. Zachary Robichon says he couldn't see a thing, and there were already two Lamborghini's, and he tagged one of them as the #14 Lexus makes a pit stop. It's game over for the #9 Porsche. It is not repairable whatsoever, and they'll be ready to go next time out at Sebring. More info on that race is to come, as it will happen in just a few short weeks. On the oval, the visibility for Robichon was minimal. Zachary Robichon is the Porsche GT3 Cup Canada champion. He won eight or nine races in a row in the Porsche Carrera Cup U.S. series as well.
The #6 Acura is in pit lane, steaming away. There was a lot of white smoke pouring from the brakes. They are looking at the engine at the rear end of the car. The mechanics are just looking for a problem, but they are not doing anything. Something is wrong. Penske are in trouble. There's smoke out of the right bank of cylinders, and probably both sides. It is not steam. It's smoke. The crew are looking at the gauges inside the cockpit. Running in reduced speed in wet weather, is really problematic for these race cars. There is occasional flame out of the right hand exhaust pipe as the pit crew is doing data acquisition and analysis, through their diagnostic computer.
A crewman is extinguishing the flames from the exhaust pipe. It is burning oil, which isn't good at all. There might be a piston or a valve problem on this automobile. The mechanics are looking at both sides of the motor, and also, the block. Ricky Taylor in the sister Penske Acura leads, completing 536 laps (1,908 miles), as the sister car continues to lose laps and time, hand over fist. Romain Dumas is too far back in terms of laps to maybe catch up with the #6 Acura, despite their troubles. Austin Cindric handed the #14 Lexus over to Jack Hawksworth. The #6 car is having the bodywork refitted again. The car is being pushed back to the paddock. It's probably game over for this car.
They still have one car in the hunt, on the lead lap, in the hands of Ricky Taylor at the moment. The car is on it's dollies and turned sharp left towards the paddock. We'll pass news along depending on what happens. It is going to be sinking like a stone in the running order. Acura does lead by 1.2 seconds with the sister car over the Pipo Derani and Jordan Taylor driven Cadillac's. James Allen leads by a lap over the sister car at DragonSpeed. Rain continues to pound down, as Porsche leads GTLM. It's cold, it's rainy. You want to be in the car because it is the warmest place you can be, but the cars having issues, it's unreal. Former driver Johnny O'Connell, who finished third in 2001, water sloshed around in the cockpit and they had to drill holes in the floor. Corvette went on to win the race.
The water had to be drained out, to not wreck the computer systems. Anyway, O'Connell says he's fascinated by the Cadillac and Acura battle. IMSA, in the mid 1990s, was really tough to find fans for between 1994 and oh, 1998 or so when the late Dr. Don Panoz founded the American Le Mans Series. There's a great vibe walking around the paddock. In the heyday of the American Le Mans Series, it was absolutely mega. That faded away, but now, it's back. The magic of sports car racing is back. O'Connell is a brand ambassador for Cadillac, but it is true for all the brands like Cadillac, Acura, BMW etc. to transfer technology from racing to road cars. The cars are headed back through speedway turn one.
No less moisture out there than we've seen. We're in the same phase we were in between 5AM and 7:20 AM this morning. If the rain eases, by keeping the cars on the track, it's boring, but it does help to dissipate the water. The biggest trouble now is how on earth do I get heat in my tires, if I am a driver? The GT Daytona cars have anti lock brakes, but the GT Le Mans and DPi cars, don't. Encourage the safety car to bring up the speed. The #7 Acura is in the lane for service. Drag the brakes, get the tire temperatures up. The prototypes suck the water out of the circuit because of their aerodynamics. Go to different places on the track, and find water to keep the tires in good shape. The race order hasn't changed much.
Cadillac run 1-2 with Pipo Derani in the #31 car ahead of Jordan Taylor in #10. Acura #7 in the lane. Ricky Taylor hands over to Helio Castroneves, who will rejoin now that the safety car crocodile has gone through. Romain Dumas in the #54 Nissan is fourth, followed by Simon Pagenaud in Acura #6 currently behind the wall. The LMP2 leader in seventh place in the overall is the #81 DragonSpeed car in the hands of Henrik Hedman. His team mate Pastor Maldonado is second, followed by Robert Masson. In GT Le Mans, Ferrari leads, with the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE in P1 with Alessandro Pier Guidi at the controls.
Joey Hand in the #66 Motorcraft liveried Ford GT runs second. Third belongs to the #67 Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe in the Castrol livery. Next up, the two Brumos throwback liveried factory Porsche's of Fred Makowiecki in the #911 and Earl Bamber in the #912. In GTD, A.J. Allmendinger in the MSR Acura NSX GT3 #86 leads Dries Vanthoor still at the wheel of the #29 Montaplast by Land Audi R8. The #88 WRT Speedstar Audi R8 is next with Kelvin van der Linde at the wheel of it. Mirko Bortolotti runs fourth in the #11 GRT Grasser Lamborghini Huracan GT3, and Simona de Silvestro is fifth in the #57 Caterpillar liveried MSR Acura NSX GT3.
The #46 Ebimotors Lamborghini Huracan GT3, was the other car involved in that wreck on the front straightaway. Proto says that he was in the acceleration zone, and a couple GTD cars checked up as visibility got worse, and as he was alongside a competitor, he was pushed onto the track apron and collected by the Porsche, the Pfaff Porsche. It's game over for Ebimotors. Proto is fine, and he spoke to Zachary Robichon. Proto will be racing in Blancpain GT Europe for FFF Racing. It's likely game over for the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini, which had Ryan Hardwick at the controls at the time. The Lamborghini is a modern car, and drivers can adapt to the Audi R8 which has a similar chassis and motor but different aero.
The marshals are claning up the track right now as we continue under yellow. Four and a half hours to go. Let's hope there's still some racing in store. We just need to find some kind of gap in the weather, but the rain isn't going to ease up at all. Once you get tire temperature, it's easier to find traction. Drivers are not driving the normal racing line, because the asphalt is rougher, it isn't as polished, so there's more grip out there, and the racing line is slipperier. As a driver, you are petrified to wreck the car in the rain, and you barely touch the throttle and you short shift and brake early. It takes a while to find a comfort zone before you can push. Young drivers have to learn patience, smarts, and speed.
Staying on track is the key. The walking wounded are still out there. Dr. Robert Masson has had a fantastic time in his first Rolex 24. It's "predictably unpredictable" Florida weather. The #38 was given a meatball flag earlier of course but Masson was not aware. Cameron Cassels is now at the controls. The safety car driver also wants to pick up the pace. Drivers are trying to do the math on the rest of their stint. How hard do I push? What do I do? Pipo Derani is flying, and so is Jordan Taylor. Team managers are telling their drivers to be smart and not try to prove anything.
Cadillac run 1-2 and one Cadillac is now still in contention. For the sister #6 Acura, there isn't any info on what has happened to the car. The pit crew is still working on it. Maybe they can come back into the race. Pagenaud says he was told to hit the lane. A 24 hour race is tough. It's tougher in the cold and rain. If you win, it's amazing. If you break early, fine. But if you break towards the end of the race, you are gutted. Everyone knows race car drivers want to win Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans. The giants of motorsport, have run and sometimes won this race. But, when you have a mechanical problem in bad weather like this, it's total agony. Alonso had a great run in 2018 along with Lando Norris, and the knowledge he gained, was crucial for what he has achieved so far.
Le Mans is a great race and the track is physically easier. Maybe not mentally, but physically. You have the long Mulsanne straight where you can rest a little bit. But, at Daytona, your body gets banged around. Psychologically it is harder because of the amount of darkness compared to Le Mans. Le Mans is somewhat easier. But when you get to this time of the day at hour 20, you are sore and upset with your team because you're physically knackered. Another weather system has closed back in on the track it seems. It's not 100% rain, but it's intermittent according to the forecast. Lots of showers, and lots of drizzle.
At Le Mans 2001, it rained the whole time. Yours truly remembers, because I saw that race on television and this was many, many years before I decided to write about sports car racing, but it rained the whole time, just like it has been doing here at Daytona. Johnny O'Connell had a monster wiggle through a river changing gear from fourth to fifth. One side is telling you, slow down. The other side is saying, no, speed up, now. When you are representing a brand, you floor it. You don't lift. You just pray the car doesn't get all wiggly on you. It is your responsibility as a driver for a manufacturer, and these guys are true car guys... but they expect. Your bosses are watching you, and so is your team.
It's hard to be a race car driver without having certain amounts of ego, anger, and a feeling of fear of failure. But, look at the big picture. Don't go off the road. Look after the car. Pipo Derani is leading this motor race. The pit lane is now closed. In theory, this race could be stopped at any minute, so drivers are saving fuel. But, this event could continue. With the Prototypes and GT Le Mans cars not having ABS, it is harder for them to get heat into their tires. Fuel saving and efficiency goes from race cars to production cars. But, components can be damaged if they aren't tested. There is a reason why all these manufacturers are here to race, especially in IMSA. Alonso wants this race on his CV as the #10 hits the pit lane.
Jordan Taylor gets fuel into the car and the pit crew is cleaning rubber and tire debris out of the ducting on the car. Different engineers on the DPi cars engineer their cars so so differently. It is fun to explain to people about race cars who are interested in them. You can theoretically drive a prototype or a Formula 1 car on a ceiling. The science that goes into racing is unreal. The cars used louvers at first, and made for breaking, so they could get more aerodynamic assistance. The smart thing to do is what is being done now, with no louvers over the wheel arches. It's going to stay rainy, at different amounts. The worst of it is passing to our north. Just as we are about to finish the 20th hour, there's a spin for the #912 Porsche, look.
Earl Bamber has spun in the trio oval and look how slippery it is. Now he's goiing the wrong way down the road and getting it re-fired on the apron. You are allowed only to do donuts after you win. Bamber was also looking to get heat in the tires. He hit the throttle in a lower gear. That banking is significant, very significant. More pit action. #62 is in the lane and so is the #85 Cadillac.
Austin Cindric is still driving the #14 and Aaron Telitz is at the wheel of the #12 machine. The #10 Cadillac and the #6 Acura didn't pit during this round of stops, so, they will be at the head of the field and in the pound seats for getting a jump on everybody else. Each class is running in their respective order. Now, Robert Masson gets a mechanical black flag, a black flag with a red dot, also called a "meatball". Now, the #3 Corvette is in pit lane. Remember, yesterday, it ran into it's sister car in the pit lane. The large piece of tape that was used on one corner is splattered with mud. That bear bond is strong stuff, but it might not be able to stick if it is covered with mud.
Ricky Taylor leads the motor race ahead of Pipo Derani, Jordan Taylor, and Simon Pagenaud. The GTD leader has just put 500 laps on the board, (1,780 miles). Acura, Audi, Audi, Lamborghini, Acura, Porsche, Mercedes, Ferrari, Porsche, Lexus, Lexus. So the respective drivers in these cars are A.J. Allmendinger, Mirko Bortolotti, Simona de Silvestro, Patrick Long, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Dominik Farnbacher, and Marco Seefried, along with Aaron Telitz and Austin Cindric at the wheel of the two Lexus'. Then comes the #13 Ferrari which started on pole, and has made it's way up to just being two laps behind, with the #96 BMW M6 GT3 behind that. It's been a miserable race in terms of the weather as the rain still falls.
This race may restart now. But the marshals are biding their time, probably reviewing track conditions. It's darn wet out on the road at the moment. The #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche is still being repaired. Zachary Robichon says he couldn't see a thing, and there were already two Lamborghini's, and he tagged one of them as the #14 Lexus makes a pit stop. It's game over for the #9 Porsche. It is not repairable whatsoever, and they'll be ready to go next time out at Sebring. More info on that race is to come, as it will happen in just a few short weeks. On the oval, the visibility for Robichon was minimal. Zachary Robichon is the Porsche GT3 Cup Canada champion. He won eight or nine races in a row in the Porsche Carrera Cup U.S. series as well.
The #6 Acura is in pit lane, steaming away. There was a lot of white smoke pouring from the brakes. They are looking at the engine at the rear end of the car. The mechanics are just looking for a problem, but they are not doing anything. Something is wrong. Penske are in trouble. There's smoke out of the right bank of cylinders, and probably both sides. It is not steam. It's smoke. The crew are looking at the gauges inside the cockpit. Running in reduced speed in wet weather, is really problematic for these race cars. There is occasional flame out of the right hand exhaust pipe as the pit crew is doing data acquisition and analysis, through their diagnostic computer.
A crewman is extinguishing the flames from the exhaust pipe. It is burning oil, which isn't good at all. There might be a piston or a valve problem on this automobile. The mechanics are looking at both sides of the motor, and also, the block. Ricky Taylor in the sister Penske Acura leads, completing 536 laps (1,908 miles), as the sister car continues to lose laps and time, hand over fist. Romain Dumas is too far back in terms of laps to maybe catch up with the #6 Acura, despite their troubles. Austin Cindric handed the #14 Lexus over to Jack Hawksworth. The #6 car is having the bodywork refitted again. The car is being pushed back to the paddock. It's probably game over for this car.
They still have one car in the hunt, on the lead lap, in the hands of Ricky Taylor at the moment. The car is on it's dollies and turned sharp left towards the paddock. We'll pass news along depending on what happens. It is going to be sinking like a stone in the running order. Acura does lead by 1.2 seconds with the sister car over the Pipo Derani and Jordan Taylor driven Cadillac's. James Allen leads by a lap over the sister car at DragonSpeed. Rain continues to pound down, as Porsche leads GTLM. It's cold, it's rainy. You want to be in the car because it is the warmest place you can be, but the cars having issues, it's unreal. Former driver Johnny O'Connell, who finished third in 2001, water sloshed around in the cockpit and they had to drill holes in the floor. Corvette went on to win the race.
The water had to be drained out, to not wreck the computer systems. Anyway, O'Connell says he's fascinated by the Cadillac and Acura battle. IMSA, in the mid 1990s, was really tough to find fans for between 1994 and oh, 1998 or so when the late Dr. Don Panoz founded the American Le Mans Series. There's a great vibe walking around the paddock. In the heyday of the American Le Mans Series, it was absolutely mega. That faded away, but now, it's back. The magic of sports car racing is back. O'Connell is a brand ambassador for Cadillac, but it is true for all the brands like Cadillac, Acura, BMW etc. to transfer technology from racing to road cars. The cars are headed back through speedway turn one.
No less moisture out there than we've seen. We're in the same phase we were in between 5AM and 7:20 AM this morning. If the rain eases, by keeping the cars on the track, it's boring, but it does help to dissipate the water. The biggest trouble now is how on earth do I get heat in my tires, if I am a driver? The GT Daytona cars have anti lock brakes, but the GT Le Mans and DPi cars, don't. Encourage the safety car to bring up the speed. The #7 Acura is in the lane for service. Drag the brakes, get the tire temperatures up. The prototypes suck the water out of the circuit because of their aerodynamics. Go to different places on the track, and find water to keep the tires in good shape. The race order hasn't changed much.
Cadillac run 1-2 with Pipo Derani in the #31 car ahead of Jordan Taylor in #10. Acura #7 in the lane. Ricky Taylor hands over to Helio Castroneves, who will rejoin now that the safety car crocodile has gone through. Romain Dumas in the #54 Nissan is fourth, followed by Simon Pagenaud in Acura #6 currently behind the wall. The LMP2 leader in seventh place in the overall is the #81 DragonSpeed car in the hands of Henrik Hedman. His team mate Pastor Maldonado is second, followed by Robert Masson. In GT Le Mans, Ferrari leads, with the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE in P1 with Alessandro Pier Guidi at the controls.
Joey Hand in the #66 Motorcraft liveried Ford GT runs second. Third belongs to the #67 Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe in the Castrol livery. Next up, the two Brumos throwback liveried factory Porsche's of Fred Makowiecki in the #911 and Earl Bamber in the #912. In GTD, A.J. Allmendinger in the MSR Acura NSX GT3 #86 leads Dries Vanthoor still at the wheel of the #29 Montaplast by Land Audi R8. The #88 WRT Speedstar Audi R8 is next with Kelvin van der Linde at the wheel of it. Mirko Bortolotti runs fourth in the #11 GRT Grasser Lamborghini Huracan GT3, and Simona de Silvestro is fifth in the #57 Caterpillar liveried MSR Acura NSX GT3.
The #46 Ebimotors Lamborghini Huracan GT3, was the other car involved in that wreck on the front straightaway. Proto says that he was in the acceleration zone, and a couple GTD cars checked up as visibility got worse, and as he was alongside a competitor, he was pushed onto the track apron and collected by the Porsche, the Pfaff Porsche. It's game over for Ebimotors. Proto is fine, and he spoke to Zachary Robichon. Proto will be racing in Blancpain GT Europe for FFF Racing. It's likely game over for the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini, which had Ryan Hardwick at the controls at the time. The Lamborghini is a modern car, and drivers can adapt to the Audi R8 which has a similar chassis and motor but different aero.
The marshals are claning up the track right now as we continue under yellow. Four and a half hours to go. Let's hope there's still some racing in store. We just need to find some kind of gap in the weather, but the rain isn't going to ease up at all. Once you get tire temperature, it's easier to find traction. Drivers are not driving the normal racing line, because the asphalt is rougher, it isn't as polished, so there's more grip out there, and the racing line is slipperier. As a driver, you are petrified to wreck the car in the rain, and you barely touch the throttle and you short shift and brake early. It takes a while to find a comfort zone before you can push. Young drivers have to learn patience, smarts, and speed.
Staying on track is the key. The walking wounded are still out there. Dr. Robert Masson has had a fantastic time in his first Rolex 24. It's "predictably unpredictable" Florida weather. The #38 was given a meatball flag earlier of course but Masson was not aware. Cameron Cassels is now at the controls. The safety car driver also wants to pick up the pace. Drivers are trying to do the math on the rest of their stint. How hard do I push? What do I do? Pipo Derani is flying, and so is Jordan Taylor. Team managers are telling their drivers to be smart and not try to prove anything.
Cadillac run 1-2 and one Cadillac is now still in contention. For the sister #6 Acura, there isn't any info on what has happened to the car. The pit crew is still working on it. Maybe they can come back into the race. Pagenaud says he was told to hit the lane. A 24 hour race is tough. It's tougher in the cold and rain. If you win, it's amazing. If you break early, fine. But if you break towards the end of the race, you are gutted. Everyone knows race car drivers want to win Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans. The giants of motorsport, have run and sometimes won this race. But, when you have a mechanical problem in bad weather like this, it's total agony. Alonso had a great run in 2018 along with Lando Norris, and the knowledge he gained, was crucial for what he has achieved so far.
Le Mans is a great race and the track is physically easier. Maybe not mentally, but physically. You have the long Mulsanne straight where you can rest a little bit. But, at Daytona, your body gets banged around. Psychologically it is harder because of the amount of darkness compared to Le Mans. Le Mans is somewhat easier. But when you get to this time of the day at hour 20, you are sore and upset with your team because you're physically knackered. Another weather system has closed back in on the track it seems. It's not 100% rain, but it's intermittent according to the forecast. Lots of showers, and lots of drizzle.
At Le Mans 2001, it rained the whole time. Yours truly remembers, because I saw that race on television and this was many, many years before I decided to write about sports car racing, but it rained the whole time, just like it has been doing here at Daytona. Johnny O'Connell had a monster wiggle through a river changing gear from fourth to fifth. One side is telling you, slow down. The other side is saying, no, speed up, now. When you are representing a brand, you floor it. You don't lift. You just pray the car doesn't get all wiggly on you. It is your responsibility as a driver for a manufacturer, and these guys are true car guys... but they expect. Your bosses are watching you, and so is your team.
It's hard to be a race car driver without having certain amounts of ego, anger, and a feeling of fear of failure. But, look at the big picture. Don't go off the road. Look after the car. Pipo Derani is leading this motor race. The pit lane is now closed. In theory, this race could be stopped at any minute, so drivers are saving fuel. But, this event could continue. With the Prototypes and GT Le Mans cars not having ABS, it is harder for them to get heat into their tires. Fuel saving and efficiency goes from race cars to production cars. But, components can be damaged if they aren't tested. There is a reason why all these manufacturers are here to race, especially in IMSA. Alonso wants this race on his CV as the #10 hits the pit lane.
Jordan Taylor gets fuel into the car and the pit crew is cleaning rubber and tire debris out of the ducting on the car. Different engineers on the DPi cars engineer their cars so so differently. It is fun to explain to people about race cars who are interested in them. You can theoretically drive a prototype or a Formula 1 car on a ceiling. The science that goes into racing is unreal. The cars used louvers at first, and made for breaking, so they could get more aerodynamic assistance. The smart thing to do is what is being done now, with no louvers over the wheel arches. It's going to stay rainy, at different amounts. The worst of it is passing to our north. Just as we are about to finish the 20th hour, there's a spin for the #912 Porsche, look.
Earl Bamber has spun in the trio oval and look how slippery it is. Now he's goiing the wrong way down the road and getting it re-fired on the apron. You are allowed only to do donuts after you win. Bamber was also looking to get heat in the tires. He hit the throttle in a lower gear. That banking is significant, very significant. More pit action. #62 is in the lane and so is the #85 Cadillac.
Rolex 24: Hour 19
We have been given a time for when we will go back to green. 9AM Eastern Time. So, in another 24 minutes. We're inside the final six hours. Some of the cars have almost
waterfalls falling off them. Pierre Dieudonne from WRT Speedstar says
that the driver out of the car at the red flag, has to restart,
stretching their stint extra. It's unfortunate for everyone, but, it
was a relief to the drivers because the aquaplaning and also, the poor visibility.
Teams from Europe are accustomed to rain, but it has been falling since almost three hours into the motor race. The best way to dry the track out is to have cars racing around. Taylor Proto from Ebimotors says that endurance racing is a new challenge for him between racing in IMSA and Blancpain Endurance. Proto wants to win a Rolex 24 in the future even though he's had troubles here in 2019. He has been running in Lamborghini Super Trofeo for two years and he was floored by being passed by Fernando Alonso. Proto loves racing at the Rolex 24. Drivers are headed for their cars, which means we can keep racing, soon.
The drivers have to take the restart, who brought the car into the pit lane, and that's why so many drivers were sleeping on their pit boxes. They had to stay on call and couldn't leave the pit box. Alex Riberas, Patrick Long, A.J. Allmendinger and others are a couple of drivers in that situation. Their suits will be wet, and the cars will be steamed up. So, you need a telescopic stick with a sponge on it. Put some Rain-X on the windscreen. The drive times will not be altered too much. 15-20 minutes less than the scheduled minimum times for pro rated drivers. The engines are running now.
Fernando Alonso will lead the field, with the Acura's behind of Dane Cameron and Ricky Taylor. Fourth place belongs to Pipo Derani in the #31 Cadillac. Colin Braun next, four laps off the lead in the #54 Nissan for CORE Autosport, followed another few laps behind by Tristan Vautier in the #85 Cadillac, the JDC-Miller "Banana Boat". James Allen leads LMP2, in the #81 DragonSpeed car. Three laps down to him is his team mate, Pastor Maldonado in the #18 DragonSpeed car, and further behind is the third LMP2 machine, the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports car in the hands of Kyle Masson. Alessandro Pier Guidi leads GTLM. Laurens Vanthoor, Joey Hand, Fred Makowiecki, Ryan Briscoe, and Colton Herta, are the guys on the lead lap, followed, seven laps down, Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette.
A dozen GTD cars are on the lead lap with A.J. Allmendinger leading Dries Vanthoor, Marco Seefried, Dominik Farnbacher, Kelvin van der Linde, Mirko Bortolotti, Simona de Silvestro, Frankie Montecalvo, followed by the sister AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus, and then comes Patrick Long, Ryan Hardwick, and Jeroen Bleekemolen. The sun has risen, even though we can't see it through the cloud cover. Ricky Taylor climbs into the #7 Acura, taking off his overshoes. The rain has abated a little bit. We have had a red flag for exactly an hour and a half. We'll have two to three sighting laps to spot residual standing water. Beaux Barfield, Race Director, and Paul Walter, Assistant Race Director, have made their decisions as far as track conditions.
Can they get the cars restarted? That's the first question. The #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R has steam emanating from the front of the car. Even the GT3 cars are not up to snuff yet. Warm up the engines and gearboxes because right now, they are stone cold. Alex Zanardi makes his way back out onto the grid. He did bring the car in as he transfers into the car, from his wheelchair. The GTLM cars have all been closely matched. Colton Herta ran a 1:42.908 as the best lap, by BMW M8 GT #25, when he was racing earlier in the event. Jesse Krohn in the sister car #24, did have a major puncture earlier on.
He thankfully didn't sustain more damage that couldn't be fixed. The safety car is ready to go. No remedial work has been done, because of the red flag. Marcel Fassler is back into the #4 Corvette. At 9AM, we roll back onto the track to restart the Rolex 24. The rain hasn't stopped, but it's lightened up. How many of these cars are not happy from being stopped. Race cars hate staying still and having water in their electrical systems. More worries for the #50 Juncos Racing Cadillac. It's got to be raining just as hard as it was when we saw it at 4AM-5AM this morning. We'll try and get some racing done with five and a half hours left.
You've missed nothing. We're set to rock and roll. #33 is at the back of the queue of lead lap cars in GTD as an effect of their pit strategy. We have pit callers headed for the lane. One is the #50 Cadillac and the other is the #63 WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3 of Dominik Farnbacher, who will stay at the wheel of the car. He feels rested enough to keep going. Four Michelin wet tires and fuel. Farnbacher is a rainmeister. The #47 PPM Lamborghini has tape on the front from argy bargy from earlier in the motor race. These cars are exiting the lane right now and so is the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R.
The #50 Juncos Racing team have done very well so far. Augustin Canapino has been a stellar driver. They aren't giving up yet. On the banking of the speedway, they'll be OK. The Bus Stop will be tough, and so will turns one, five, and six. Three on the road circuit will be slippery, and we are ready to race! Give it a spin! Fernando Alonso leads Dane Cameron and Ricky Taylor. Lots of spray in the air as we get restarted. Trouble for the #48 Lamborghini and the #9 Porsche has smashed the wall with big damage. He rear ended the Ebimotors #46 Lamborghini! This is a crash, bang, wallop of epic proportions.
Zachary Robichaud from Canada is used to driving in snow, ice, and rain, but he won't like having damage to his much modified GT3 Porsche. Full Course Yellow on the speedway, look. #9 just ran right in the back of a Prototype, one of the remaining LMP2 cars by the look of it. The whole wheel has come off the Lamborghini. Poor old Taylor Proto is stuck in the grass. Debris is scatter on the apron of the tri-oval. #9 crunched straight into the #46. Left front damage on #9, right rear damage on #46. The #46 checked up, and this was a ripple effect crash. The spray was all over, and no one could see a thing.
Taylor Proto, from England, and his dad, Mark, have raced in Lamborghini Super Trofeo, after moving to California. The recovery of the #9 car will need a tractor or a very, very, very long tow rope. A pickup truck on the grass will slip and slide all over the shop. The safety vehicles will park as close as possible. Flooded with fans at 2PM yesterday afternoon, and now, the grass is flooded with water, no question. Zachary Robichaud has exited the vehicle. So, he's not going to try and get it out of there. The #48 Lamborghini was also involved in this kerfuffle, Ryan Hardwick at the wheel of it. That's the Paul Miller Racing car. A flatbed is parking in front of the #46 Lamborghini, to retrieve it.
There was a bow wave of water in front of the flatbed truck and it looked like the darn thing was about to sink like a boat, but the Lamborghini is missing a wheel. Three wheels on my wagon, loook, as the flatbed pitches to 45 degrees and the Lamborghini will be winched away. The loose wheel is being moved back close to the hub, and then, the rear end is in the mud sans a wheel. That's going to be a bugaboo of the highest order. The winch is turned on and the Lamborghini is being moved forward, towed through the gap in the wall, straight back to the garage. The metal extension planks attached to the flatbed are sinking into the grass because of the weight of the GT3 Lamborghini. Dear me.
Also, what to do, what to do, with the #9 Porsche? Beam me up, Scotty. Hardy har har. That tow rope will kink and snap if the blokes on the safety crew make a mistake. Work going on on the windscreen wiper on the #25 BMW, look. The Lamborghini is now level, but can the truck move? Another track worker is headed to the rear of the Porsche. Interesting. The end of the tow strap might not stretch back to the rear of the truck. Wowzers. Fans are cheering on the truck for getting out of the mud. It's made it to terra firma again! Kudos to the truck driver and the poor old marshals having to recover the poor old Lamborghini with big damage. Porsche #9 sits forlornly with the bonnet up in the grass and damage of its's own.
Move the stricken race car with the jet blower. No, don't do that. This isn't funny, chaps. Thank goodness these two are OK. The plaid Porsche, or, "the poutine machine", their race is over. Ebimotors will be racing in Europe after this, and the Paul Miller Racing team will be running for points, so this will put those blokes behind the eight ball. The safety truck has done a three point turn inching towards the double yellow line. The cars are still circulated under this, the 12th Full Course Yellow in addition to a red flag. 527 laps done and dusted, 1,876 miles.
We've been under yellow and red flag for two hours and 40 minutes, and then, back to green, and back over to yellow again. The tow truck will return to it's safe place, and the secondary pickup truck will also have to move to a safe location as well. No let up in the weather, as we try for yet another restart. It's tricky out there. Give yourselves a wide berth. Everyone will be slow on the restart lap trying to suss out the conditions. It'll be hard to get up to full speed and if someone aquaplanes, that's all she wrote for a three way chain reaction motorway smashup.
Both left hand wheels on the #9 Porsche have likely been knocked out of square. On two separate occasions, the #9 Porsche had headlights that were intermittent. The #44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini had the same identical problem. Marco Mapelli is currently driving the #44 as the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche is going behind the wall. They need to work their magic again to try and get the car back on the track. The course marshals have gone outside the manual and improvised with clearing these automobiles off the track. Pit lane is open, look. The #10 Cadillac and the #6 Acura pit. Jordan Taylor will replace Fernando Alonso, and they get fuel. The #6 Acura gets the windscreen cleaned. These two stop at the end of the pit lane, and wait for the light to turn green on the gantry.
Two Acura's are now at the head of the field. Simon Pagenaud is at the wheel of the #6. Ricky Taylor leads as we complete 531 laps (1,912 miles). #7 and the #31 Whelen Cadillac, did not pit. The final wave by has alrrady taken place. The #10 and #6 will start at the tail end of the field. Kyle Masson pits the #38 car from third in LMP2 with Robert Masson at the wheel of it. The #81 DragonSpeed Oreca leads with team mate #18 in second, with James Allen and Pastor Maldonado, the respective drivers at the moment. There is a two lap spread between the cars. 523 laps (1,862 miles) for Maldonado, and 521 laps (1,855 miles) for Allen.
Teams from Europe are accustomed to rain, but it has been falling since almost three hours into the motor race. The best way to dry the track out is to have cars racing around. Taylor Proto from Ebimotors says that endurance racing is a new challenge for him between racing in IMSA and Blancpain Endurance. Proto wants to win a Rolex 24 in the future even though he's had troubles here in 2019. He has been running in Lamborghini Super Trofeo for two years and he was floored by being passed by Fernando Alonso. Proto loves racing at the Rolex 24. Drivers are headed for their cars, which means we can keep racing, soon.
The drivers have to take the restart, who brought the car into the pit lane, and that's why so many drivers were sleeping on their pit boxes. They had to stay on call and couldn't leave the pit box. Alex Riberas, Patrick Long, A.J. Allmendinger and others are a couple of drivers in that situation. Their suits will be wet, and the cars will be steamed up. So, you need a telescopic stick with a sponge on it. Put some Rain-X on the windscreen. The drive times will not be altered too much. 15-20 minutes less than the scheduled minimum times for pro rated drivers. The engines are running now.
Fernando Alonso will lead the field, with the Acura's behind of Dane Cameron and Ricky Taylor. Fourth place belongs to Pipo Derani in the #31 Cadillac. Colin Braun next, four laps off the lead in the #54 Nissan for CORE Autosport, followed another few laps behind by Tristan Vautier in the #85 Cadillac, the JDC-Miller "Banana Boat". James Allen leads LMP2, in the #81 DragonSpeed car. Three laps down to him is his team mate, Pastor Maldonado in the #18 DragonSpeed car, and further behind is the third LMP2 machine, the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports car in the hands of Kyle Masson. Alessandro Pier Guidi leads GTLM. Laurens Vanthoor, Joey Hand, Fred Makowiecki, Ryan Briscoe, and Colton Herta, are the guys on the lead lap, followed, seven laps down, Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette.
A dozen GTD cars are on the lead lap with A.J. Allmendinger leading Dries Vanthoor, Marco Seefried, Dominik Farnbacher, Kelvin van der Linde, Mirko Bortolotti, Simona de Silvestro, Frankie Montecalvo, followed by the sister AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus, and then comes Patrick Long, Ryan Hardwick, and Jeroen Bleekemolen. The sun has risen, even though we can't see it through the cloud cover. Ricky Taylor climbs into the #7 Acura, taking off his overshoes. The rain has abated a little bit. We have had a red flag for exactly an hour and a half. We'll have two to three sighting laps to spot residual standing water. Beaux Barfield, Race Director, and Paul Walter, Assistant Race Director, have made their decisions as far as track conditions.
Can they get the cars restarted? That's the first question. The #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R has steam emanating from the front of the car. Even the GT3 cars are not up to snuff yet. Warm up the engines and gearboxes because right now, they are stone cold. Alex Zanardi makes his way back out onto the grid. He did bring the car in as he transfers into the car, from his wheelchair. The GTLM cars have all been closely matched. Colton Herta ran a 1:42.908 as the best lap, by BMW M8 GT #25, when he was racing earlier in the event. Jesse Krohn in the sister car #24, did have a major puncture earlier on.
He thankfully didn't sustain more damage that couldn't be fixed. The safety car is ready to go. No remedial work has been done, because of the red flag. Marcel Fassler is back into the #4 Corvette. At 9AM, we roll back onto the track to restart the Rolex 24. The rain hasn't stopped, but it's lightened up. How many of these cars are not happy from being stopped. Race cars hate staying still and having water in their electrical systems. More worries for the #50 Juncos Racing Cadillac. It's got to be raining just as hard as it was when we saw it at 4AM-5AM this morning. We'll try and get some racing done with five and a half hours left.
You've missed nothing. We're set to rock and roll. #33 is at the back of the queue of lead lap cars in GTD as an effect of their pit strategy. We have pit callers headed for the lane. One is the #50 Cadillac and the other is the #63 WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3 of Dominik Farnbacher, who will stay at the wheel of the car. He feels rested enough to keep going. Four Michelin wet tires and fuel. Farnbacher is a rainmeister. The #47 PPM Lamborghini has tape on the front from argy bargy from earlier in the motor race. These cars are exiting the lane right now and so is the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R.
The #50 Juncos Racing team have done very well so far. Augustin Canapino has been a stellar driver. They aren't giving up yet. On the banking of the speedway, they'll be OK. The Bus Stop will be tough, and so will turns one, five, and six. Three on the road circuit will be slippery, and we are ready to race! Give it a spin! Fernando Alonso leads Dane Cameron and Ricky Taylor. Lots of spray in the air as we get restarted. Trouble for the #48 Lamborghini and the #9 Porsche has smashed the wall with big damage. He rear ended the Ebimotors #46 Lamborghini! This is a crash, bang, wallop of epic proportions.
Zachary Robichaud from Canada is used to driving in snow, ice, and rain, but he won't like having damage to his much modified GT3 Porsche. Full Course Yellow on the speedway, look. #9 just ran right in the back of a Prototype, one of the remaining LMP2 cars by the look of it. The whole wheel has come off the Lamborghini. Poor old Taylor Proto is stuck in the grass. Debris is scatter on the apron of the tri-oval. #9 crunched straight into the #46. Left front damage on #9, right rear damage on #46. The #46 checked up, and this was a ripple effect crash. The spray was all over, and no one could see a thing.
Taylor Proto, from England, and his dad, Mark, have raced in Lamborghini Super Trofeo, after moving to California. The recovery of the #9 car will need a tractor or a very, very, very long tow rope. A pickup truck on the grass will slip and slide all over the shop. The safety vehicles will park as close as possible. Flooded with fans at 2PM yesterday afternoon, and now, the grass is flooded with water, no question. Zachary Robichaud has exited the vehicle. So, he's not going to try and get it out of there. The #48 Lamborghini was also involved in this kerfuffle, Ryan Hardwick at the wheel of it. That's the Paul Miller Racing car. A flatbed is parking in front of the #46 Lamborghini, to retrieve it.
There was a bow wave of water in front of the flatbed truck and it looked like the darn thing was about to sink like a boat, but the Lamborghini is missing a wheel. Three wheels on my wagon, loook, as the flatbed pitches to 45 degrees and the Lamborghini will be winched away. The loose wheel is being moved back close to the hub, and then, the rear end is in the mud sans a wheel. That's going to be a bugaboo of the highest order. The winch is turned on and the Lamborghini is being moved forward, towed through the gap in the wall, straight back to the garage. The metal extension planks attached to the flatbed are sinking into the grass because of the weight of the GT3 Lamborghini. Dear me.
Also, what to do, what to do, with the #9 Porsche? Beam me up, Scotty. Hardy har har. That tow rope will kink and snap if the blokes on the safety crew make a mistake. Work going on on the windscreen wiper on the #25 BMW, look. The Lamborghini is now level, but can the truck move? Another track worker is headed to the rear of the Porsche. Interesting. The end of the tow strap might not stretch back to the rear of the truck. Wowzers. Fans are cheering on the truck for getting out of the mud. It's made it to terra firma again! Kudos to the truck driver and the poor old marshals having to recover the poor old Lamborghini with big damage. Porsche #9 sits forlornly with the bonnet up in the grass and damage of its's own.
Move the stricken race car with the jet blower. No, don't do that. This isn't funny, chaps. Thank goodness these two are OK. The plaid Porsche, or, "the poutine machine", their race is over. Ebimotors will be racing in Europe after this, and the Paul Miller Racing team will be running for points, so this will put those blokes behind the eight ball. The safety truck has done a three point turn inching towards the double yellow line. The cars are still circulated under this, the 12th Full Course Yellow in addition to a red flag. 527 laps done and dusted, 1,876 miles.
We've been under yellow and red flag for two hours and 40 minutes, and then, back to green, and back over to yellow again. The tow truck will return to it's safe place, and the secondary pickup truck will also have to move to a safe location as well. No let up in the weather, as we try for yet another restart. It's tricky out there. Give yourselves a wide berth. Everyone will be slow on the restart lap trying to suss out the conditions. It'll be hard to get up to full speed and if someone aquaplanes, that's all she wrote for a three way chain reaction motorway smashup.
Both left hand wheels on the #9 Porsche have likely been knocked out of square. On two separate occasions, the #9 Porsche had headlights that were intermittent. The #44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini had the same identical problem. Marco Mapelli is currently driving the #44 as the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche is going behind the wall. They need to work their magic again to try and get the car back on the track. The course marshals have gone outside the manual and improvised with clearing these automobiles off the track. Pit lane is open, look. The #10 Cadillac and the #6 Acura pit. Jordan Taylor will replace Fernando Alonso, and they get fuel. The #6 Acura gets the windscreen cleaned. These two stop at the end of the pit lane, and wait for the light to turn green on the gantry.
Two Acura's are now at the head of the field. Simon Pagenaud is at the wheel of the #6. Ricky Taylor leads as we complete 531 laps (1,912 miles). #7 and the #31 Whelen Cadillac, did not pit. The final wave by has alrrady taken place. The #10 and #6 will start at the tail end of the field. Kyle Masson pits the #38 car from third in LMP2 with Robert Masson at the wheel of it. The #81 DragonSpeed Oreca leads with team mate #18 in second, with James Allen and Pastor Maldonado, the respective drivers at the moment. There is a two lap spread between the cars. 523 laps (1,862 miles) for Maldonado, and 521 laps (1,855 miles) for Allen.
Rolex 24: Hours 17 & 18
The sun is coming up, and we see the rain falling harder against the blue sky. This is racing. It is very treacherous out there. Fred Makowiecki says the Bus Stop chicane, and turn six transitioning from the road course onto the banking, are the most difficult turns on the course in this weather. Once again, it is still raining, and the driver's are off getting breakfast. This is time for driver interviews. The safety car went back behind the wall to top up it's fuel tank and now, it is ready to go if it is called upon. The jet dryers, sweepers etc. are out there tackling the standing water as we are under parc ferme (closed parking) conditions.
The only thing the pit crews can do, is prepare them to be restarted once Race Control gives the OK. IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship Race Director Beaux Barfield put out an announcement on social media, to sit out the racing for a while. Let's see what we can get when the sun comes up. That's what we are looking for, ladies and gentlemen. The front end of the #66 Ford GT, has been crumpled. The headlight cover on the left front is busted, and there are missing dive planes and a few other things. It's been so, so difficult in this weather. Team members debrief under their tents. Fernando Alonso says the conditions were very tricky and there was a lot of aquaplaning. The drivers did too many laps under the safety car.
Alonso says he's very confident with the car and has been throughout the race. He sees more competitiveness in the car than there was at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 in January. You find different people in different places through the race, and the different conditions including daylight and nighttime racing. A.J. Allmendinger has run this race with Michael Shank Racing 13 times, and he's led every time. Fernando Alonso's drive in the wet, was very much like J.J. Lehto's drive in the McLaren F1 GTR at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, when he won that race. Look at the water puddling all over the circuit. Wow.
Fernando Alonso wants to be outside of his comfort zone as a racing driver. No racing going on right now. You aren't missing a thing. If'we'd known it was going to rain, everyone should have brought pontoon boats to Daytona. Land Motorsport wants to make amends for not winning this race over the years. A.J. Allmendinger is giving credit to his co-drivers Trent Hindman and Justin Marks. Allmendinger says running in fifth gear under yellow was a tough and scary thing to do. A.J. Allmendinger, as both a driver and broadcaster, trying to learn people's names, was a big deal.
Sports car racing is so, so competitive, in each class. A.J. Allmendinger mentions this, and yours truly echoes that sentiment. If you aren't already following sports car racing, definitely check it out. Happy Birthday, Alex Riberas. Riberas has been asking about getting a lap back, for his birthday, as a gift, that would be great. But seriously, Alex Riberas really enjoys racing at the Rolex 24. He wants to see Starworks continue their comeback. Will Hardeman and Alex Riberas are full-time here for Starworks in IMSA in 2019. Jeroen Bleekemolen has dropped like a stone into 12th place in GTD now that there's a red flag. They were sure they'd made the right call, but no.
Bleekemolen says IMSA's decision is unacceptable if they don't restart this motor race, should the rain let up. No puddling on the banking, and puddling only in the infield. More yellow flags are to be expected. The rain continues to fall and we've been under a red flag now for about 38 minutes. The #10 Cadillac is still the leader. #10, Acura's #6 and #7, and Cadillac #31 are all on the lead lap. Car #81 continues to lead it's sister car in LMP2. Pastor Maldonado is three laps behind his team mate, but four laps ahead of the #38 car. The top six GTLM cars are all on the same lap. Ferrari, Porsche, Ford, Porsche, Ford, BMW. A dozen cars are on the lead lap in GT Daytona with the #86 Acura still leading followed by the #29 Audi, the #540 Porsche, the #63 Ferrari, the #88 Audi, the #11 Lamborghini, the #57 Acura, the #12 and #14 Lexus's, the #73 Porsche, the #48 Lamborghini, and the #33 Mercedes.
Driving road cars in this rain is bad enough, and driving race cars is unthinkable. Putting a red flag out is the right thing to do. Nissan's Darren Cox says that they had big problems in the rain with LMP3 and GT4 cars racing in the rain at the 24 Hours of Silverstone. There's a difference between racing in the rain and the dark, but not in monsoon conditions. These are monsoon conditions here at Daytona. This is the fifth time the Rolex 24 has been stopped. 1989 for fog, 2004 for rain, 2007 and 2014 for accidents, and 2019, for rain. You have to have significant improvement once the rain stops. So, we are on the precipice.
All the 24 hour races bar Dubai, have weather. It is wetter than an otter's pocket right now and in 2016 at the Nurburgring 24 Hours, it snowed and hailed in addition to rain. The radar is showing a lull as far as weather, but there is still rain falling persistently. It's smaller drops, but a bigger quantity of rain. Every championship around the world has some form of eSports, gaming series to get more young people into racing. Get young people to engage in the sport, whether they want to drive a race car or not. Darren Cox used to work with Nissan GT Academy, and discovered some amazing talent. A lot of gamers are also into the real world of racing. eSports is a big deal.
78% of people have found racing through gaming, not through watching races on TV or in person. In the real world, there is no Control, Alt, Delete, or restart, like there is in gaming. Corvette replaced many parts on the #4 Corvette and the car is back on the speedway once again. 2019 is the last year of racing for the C-7-R- model. Corvette Racing has 99 wins on American soil. Look at the water on the road. It's unbelievable. Devlin DeFrancesco at age 18, is the youngest chap in a DPi, and there are a lot of older drivers who are still practicing on iRacing.
Darren Cox has acquired a race car for fun, the C1 Cup, which is an original Mini. EC1 is like corporate karting. They are Citroen hatchbacks with itty bitty engines. It follows on from the Citroen 2CV cars as well. Citroen multi-class racing. The 24 Hours of Silverstone is at the end of April. So, if you want to compete, sign up, but there's no go without the dough. Check your bank accounts. Nissan's Jann Mardenborough is running in Japan, and he's stepped into a Formula E car recently. The banking isn't the issue. The flat parts of the track with the puddling is unreal. The cars run with virtually zero ride height.
Street sweepers and jet dryers are cleaning up all the water. Drivers were aquaplaning all over the road. Anyone who thinks otherwise, you are wrong. Sorry to tell you. The big 24 hour races all have their own character. Daytona, Le Mans, Spa, Dubai etc. How much water is still falling from the sky? That's the question at this moment. There isn't a river flowing down the pit lane, and there's less water dropping out of the sky. A lot of the drivers are catching up on their sleep right now. We have now been under a red flag for an hour and ten minutes. Most cars are covered, but no all. The two Lexus RC F GT3's don't have covers on, nor does the #9 Porsche, the #57 Acura, the #8 Audi, and the #47 PPM Racing Lamborghini.
The trouble is, there is another giant squall line moving into the area here in Daytona Beach. If we get the cars running around again, it could dry out, but there's more rain coming. The jet dryer is in the pit lane, and everyone is getting soaked at the moment. It is brighter and lighter, so the 13 hours and seven minutes of darkness is now gone.
The only thing the pit crews can do, is prepare them to be restarted once Race Control gives the OK. IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship Race Director Beaux Barfield put out an announcement on social media, to sit out the racing for a while. Let's see what we can get when the sun comes up. That's what we are looking for, ladies and gentlemen. The front end of the #66 Ford GT, has been crumpled. The headlight cover on the left front is busted, and there are missing dive planes and a few other things. It's been so, so difficult in this weather. Team members debrief under their tents. Fernando Alonso says the conditions were very tricky and there was a lot of aquaplaning. The drivers did too many laps under the safety car.
Alonso says he's very confident with the car and has been throughout the race. He sees more competitiveness in the car than there was at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 in January. You find different people in different places through the race, and the different conditions including daylight and nighttime racing. A.J. Allmendinger has run this race with Michael Shank Racing 13 times, and he's led every time. Fernando Alonso's drive in the wet, was very much like J.J. Lehto's drive in the McLaren F1 GTR at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, when he won that race. Look at the water puddling all over the circuit. Wow.
Fernando Alonso wants to be outside of his comfort zone as a racing driver. No racing going on right now. You aren't missing a thing. If'we'd known it was going to rain, everyone should have brought pontoon boats to Daytona. Land Motorsport wants to make amends for not winning this race over the years. A.J. Allmendinger is giving credit to his co-drivers Trent Hindman and Justin Marks. Allmendinger says running in fifth gear under yellow was a tough and scary thing to do. A.J. Allmendinger, as both a driver and broadcaster, trying to learn people's names, was a big deal.
Sports car racing is so, so competitive, in each class. A.J. Allmendinger mentions this, and yours truly echoes that sentiment. If you aren't already following sports car racing, definitely check it out. Happy Birthday, Alex Riberas. Riberas has been asking about getting a lap back, for his birthday, as a gift, that would be great. But seriously, Alex Riberas really enjoys racing at the Rolex 24. He wants to see Starworks continue their comeback. Will Hardeman and Alex Riberas are full-time here for Starworks in IMSA in 2019. Jeroen Bleekemolen has dropped like a stone into 12th place in GTD now that there's a red flag. They were sure they'd made the right call, but no.
Bleekemolen says IMSA's decision is unacceptable if they don't restart this motor race, should the rain let up. No puddling on the banking, and puddling only in the infield. More yellow flags are to be expected. The rain continues to fall and we've been under a red flag now for about 38 minutes. The #10 Cadillac is still the leader. #10, Acura's #6 and #7, and Cadillac #31 are all on the lead lap. Car #81 continues to lead it's sister car in LMP2. Pastor Maldonado is three laps behind his team mate, but four laps ahead of the #38 car. The top six GTLM cars are all on the same lap. Ferrari, Porsche, Ford, Porsche, Ford, BMW. A dozen cars are on the lead lap in GT Daytona with the #86 Acura still leading followed by the #29 Audi, the #540 Porsche, the #63 Ferrari, the #88 Audi, the #11 Lamborghini, the #57 Acura, the #12 and #14 Lexus's, the #73 Porsche, the #48 Lamborghini, and the #33 Mercedes.
Driving road cars in this rain is bad enough, and driving race cars is unthinkable. Putting a red flag out is the right thing to do. Nissan's Darren Cox says that they had big problems in the rain with LMP3 and GT4 cars racing in the rain at the 24 Hours of Silverstone. There's a difference between racing in the rain and the dark, but not in monsoon conditions. These are monsoon conditions here at Daytona. This is the fifth time the Rolex 24 has been stopped. 1989 for fog, 2004 for rain, 2007 and 2014 for accidents, and 2019, for rain. You have to have significant improvement once the rain stops. So, we are on the precipice.
All the 24 hour races bar Dubai, have weather. It is wetter than an otter's pocket right now and in 2016 at the Nurburgring 24 Hours, it snowed and hailed in addition to rain. The radar is showing a lull as far as weather, but there is still rain falling persistently. It's smaller drops, but a bigger quantity of rain. Every championship around the world has some form of eSports, gaming series to get more young people into racing. Get young people to engage in the sport, whether they want to drive a race car or not. Darren Cox used to work with Nissan GT Academy, and discovered some amazing talent. A lot of gamers are also into the real world of racing. eSports is a big deal.
78% of people have found racing through gaming, not through watching races on TV or in person. In the real world, there is no Control, Alt, Delete, or restart, like there is in gaming. Corvette replaced many parts on the #4 Corvette and the car is back on the speedway once again. 2019 is the last year of racing for the C-7-R- model. Corvette Racing has 99 wins on American soil. Look at the water on the road. It's unbelievable. Devlin DeFrancesco at age 18, is the youngest chap in a DPi, and there are a lot of older drivers who are still practicing on iRacing.
Darren Cox has acquired a race car for fun, the C1 Cup, which is an original Mini. EC1 is like corporate karting. They are Citroen hatchbacks with itty bitty engines. It follows on from the Citroen 2CV cars as well. Citroen multi-class racing. The 24 Hours of Silverstone is at the end of April. So, if you want to compete, sign up, but there's no go without the dough. Check your bank accounts. Nissan's Jann Mardenborough is running in Japan, and he's stepped into a Formula E car recently. The banking isn't the issue. The flat parts of the track with the puddling is unreal. The cars run with virtually zero ride height.
Street sweepers and jet dryers are cleaning up all the water. Drivers were aquaplaning all over the road. Anyone who thinks otherwise, you are wrong. Sorry to tell you. The big 24 hour races all have their own character. Daytona, Le Mans, Spa, Dubai etc. How much water is still falling from the sky? That's the question at this moment. There isn't a river flowing down the pit lane, and there's less water dropping out of the sky. A lot of the drivers are catching up on their sleep right now. We have now been under a red flag for an hour and ten minutes. Most cars are covered, but no all. The two Lexus RC F GT3's don't have covers on, nor does the #9 Porsche, the #57 Acura, the #8 Audi, and the #47 PPM Racing Lamborghini.
The trouble is, there is another giant squall line moving into the area here in Daytona Beach. If we get the cars running around again, it could dry out, but there's more rain coming. The jet dryer is in the pit lane, and everyone is getting soaked at the moment. It is brighter and lighter, so the 13 hours and seven minutes of darkness is now gone.
Rolex 24: Hour 16
Bang on the hour of 5AM, the skies opened, and the rain continues to fall as we being the 16th hour of the Rolex 24 with eight left. Nothing in it for the third place battle between Connor De Philippi and Sebastien Bourdais. Patrick Pilet and Ryan Briscoe follow. Pilet is not as comfortable in the rain as some of the other Porsche driver's as he's lost a spot to Bourdais. Ryan Briscoe passes Pilet as well. It is a question of how his Porsche 911 RSR is set up at the moment. Teams will have been gearing up for this spell of rain which will last likely until the checkered flag, less than nine hours away. Ryan Briscoe has also passed Patrick Pilet. Pilet went off the road in sector one and is now sixth in class.
Fernando Alonso has stretched out another two seconds and has 10.5 seconds in hand over Dane Cameron. Eric Curran is slowest of the top four, 43 seconds back, running laps in the 1:55 range. Curran was probably off the road a little while ago. He is in recovery mode at the moment, as he lost 37 seconds in sector one, going straight on at the first turn or in one of the horseshoes. 47 seconds is the difference between Curran and Taylor. Rubens Barrichello and Colin Braun are next. Ben Hanley remains the leader in LMP2 over his team mate Ryan Cullen who had to undergo repairs to his #18 DragonSpeed racer. The two DragonSpeed cars are four laps apart, and Kyle Masson is the only other LMP2 car still running. 1:48.6 for Fernando Alonso last time around while Dane Cameron runs a 1:50.8 and 1:51.2 for the #7 machine at the moment.
Poor old Filipe Albuquerque is 14 laps down at this time, one of last year's winners for Action Express Racing. Ferrari #63 is running slower out of turn six, but being very cautious in the wet through turn six, with Jeff Westphal driving, staying in touch with Ricardo Feller. Kelvin van der Linde is catching Westphal. Corey Lewis is being caught by Christian Engelhart as well, in a battle of the Lamborghini's. #33 Mercedes, is Luca Stolz and he has Nick Cassidy bearing down on him, but Stolz is running quicker than Cassidy's #14 Lexus RC F GT3. Justin Marks is third in the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3 having overtaken Ricardo Feller and Jeff Westphal. Luca Stolz gets the drive and passes Nick Cassidy in GT Daytona.
Luca Stolz goes past Nick Cassidy and into the lead of GT Daytona in class. A crowded house at the West Horseshoe, look. Fernando Alonso has put a lap on Eric Curran. Everyone is losing a second or two to Alonso. He is on a Sunday drive. Eric Curran is 1:08 ahead of Ricky Taylor and Curran is currently working lap 492, so, 492 laps = 1,751 and a half miles. Dirk Werner is at the wheel of the #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche 911 GT3R and has gone ahead of Cory Lewis. Werner is behind Christian Engelhart. Peter Baron, team manager for Starworks says the other Audi's are tough and so is the Mercedes. Baron of course, has an Audi in this race.
Baron is the alarm clock for his team. Ryan Dalziel is at the wheel of the Starworks car right now and Baron wants to stay motivated to keep Dalziel motivated. Bill Riley says be careful to his drivers. He is confident if it keeps rainingf. It is very dark, and the sun hasn't come up yet. The internal clock is turned over to morning. Some damage to the #5 Cadillac. Bill Riley is running a single car in GTD this year and he wants to go for the championship in GT Daytona. The #5 Cadillac has slammed the tire wall and much of the rear deck is damaged and there's a banner or something on it. Albuquerque loses a wheel spat or one of the rear fender's.
Keep the welly down off turn four and Albuquerque hits pit lane and the garage. He makes the hard left turn towards the garage, look. A whole lot of work for Mustang Sampling Racing, and again, the #18 car is off the road, Ryan Cullen at the wheel, and he slides off onto thr wet grass at the International Horseshoe. Thankfully he reversed the car, and he continues in the race in second in class in LMP2. Ben Hanley has a clear lead in the DragonSpeed sister car. Justin Marks overtakes Nick Cassidy but he is behind Luca Stolz, and still driving beautifully and Ryan Cullen is off the road another time in the standing water, the flood, at turn one onto the road course.
These are really tricky conditions for an aero dependent car like a prototype. The red rain light on the back of the car is piercing the darkness. The gap is now 13.6 seconds between Dane Cameron and Ricky Taylor. Taylor is losing time over both Fernando Alonso and Dane Cameron. Ben Hanley is still leading LMP2 of course. Kyle Masson is still in the race in third in LMP2 but he is not in contention to truly compete with the DragonSpeed cars. The visibility is zero right now going towards the Bus Stop. We've reached 6AM Eastern Time as Luca Stolz is off the road at turn one and thankfully gets back on course.
His 11 second lead may evaporate. Fernando Alonso is blazingly quick. He leads the motor race by 45 seconds over Dane Cameron, and Ricky Taylor. Alonso has run 500 laps exactly, so, a total of 1,780 miles. The gap now between the two Penske Acura's is 16 seconds or so between Dane Cameron and Ricky Taylor, while fourth place runner Eric Curran in the #31 Cadillac is no longer on the lead lap. Colin Braun in the Nissan is fifth. #81, #18, #38, in LMP2. James Calado leads by 17 seconds over Laurens Vanthoor. Ferrari over Porsche. Sebastien Bourdais is next in line in the Ford GT, and we have drama! The #4 Corvette has slammed the tire wall! More on this incident, momentarily.
Sebastien Bourdais is next in third in class, followed by the BMW M8 GT of Connor De Philippi, car #25, and following him is the #67 Ryan Briscoe driven Castrol liveried Ford GT. In GTD, Luca Stolz leads the division despite a slight off, from Justin Marks in the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3, and then comes Nick Cassidy in the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 and Kelvin van der Linde in the #29 Land Motorsport Audi R8. Tommy Milner got sideways and aquaplanes right across the run off area, and bang, right into the tires. That was heavy contact on the driver's side into the tire wall, which has a concrete barrier behind it.
Several GTD cars are in the lane. Turn one is getting wet and so is the entry to the pit lane. The #11 GRT Grasser Lamborghini spins in the pit lane as cars take a chance to pit who didn't do so early. The #10 Cadillac pits and we'll see who else makes a dive for the lane. #33 and #86 in GT Daytona are in. The flashing rain lights at the back of the Prototypes are very distracting. Pits are closed as we are into a full course yellow. Acura #6 pits while the sister car stays out. We are just after 6AM Eastern Time. The #11 Grasser Lamborghini was able to do a full service of tires, fuel, and a driver change as Mirko Bortolotti gets into the car, and #11 will be in the pound seats and be able to move up.
The wet conditions are undrivable according to Christian Engelhart. His windscreen was dirty enough that he couldn't see the rain at all. He is an accomplished wet weather driver. When the #4 Corvette walloped the wall, maybe it stalled and was pitched sideways as the wave by has begun under yellow. Fernando Alonso has been running extremely well, echoing much of the performance by J.J. Lehto in the McLaren F1 GTR at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans which was also a really wet race. Tommy Milner will be OK, but he had to come across the car to escape out of the passenger side door. That was a major crash, and Milner could have slid along a lot farther and the accident could have been a lot worse.
When the #10 Cadillac pitted, Eric Curran was able to get back on the lead lap. We have now run 502 laps (1,787 miles). We have had 11 safety car interventions in this race so far. The GTLM and GTD cars are on the same exact wet tires, and the GT Daytona cars have anti lock brakes, which the GT Le Mans cars don't have. Now, we have a report from the Mazda camp and their Rolex 24 is officially over. #77 retired with the fire in hour six, and now, it is official that the #55 machine has also retired from the race. It's game over for Mazda Team Joest. The pits are open for the Prototype cars.
The pits are open for Prototype stops. Fernando Alonso stays out but both Ricky Taylor and Dane Cameron pit for Acura Team Penske. Four Michelin tires and fuel, and Taylor stays in the car. Now, if you try to walk in your socks on a tile floor, you know how downright slippery that can be. Well, these teams are jumping off a concrete wall onto the wet pit box. There's sandpaper on the wall to make the wall edge less slick for the crew members. Good safety measure. Tommy Milner has been taken in the AMR Rapid Response vehicle to the infield care center. The marshals will still have to drag the Corvette out of the barriers.
Again, Eric Curran pitted but Fernando Alonso was just in the lane before the yellow flew. Acura #6 pitted for fuel only. Alonso has shown incredible car control. He is in a different zip code from everybody else. One of the Porsche Cayenne medical cars is out at the Bus Stop. There's a big puddle of water at the Bus Stop it seems. So no wonder the drivers are being directed around a different line. The wind is still blowing behind the cars down the front straight on the tri oval. So, the medical car is directing the driver's right through the chicane. More pit action, this time for the GT class cars. Risi Competizione leads GT Le Mans with James Calado driving, but he will hand the car over to Alessandro Pier Guidi. Pier Guidi was one of the winners in this motor race back in 2014.
Many GTLM and GTD cars are in. The #88 WRT Speedstar Audi changes tires to a new set of wets. Put a new set of boots on under yellow, and the wet tires don't count towards your tire allocation, so you can use as many as you please. There's been a little switcheroo in GTLM it seems. Laurens Vanthoor in the #912 Porsche maybe got out ahead of everyone else. Give me a moment, and yours truly will confirm that. There is a street sweeper now at the exit of the Bus Stop chicane, to move the standing water that is puddling down in that corner.
#11, #12, and #73 in GT Daytona did not pit under yellow. The GRT Grasser Lamborghini, the first AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus, and the Park Place Motorsports Porsche. The three aforementioned cars were waved by, by the marshals, to get back onto the lead lap. BMW has new wet tires for the #25 or #24 BMW. #24 is in the pit lane, now. Alex Zanardi will go out for another stint. He is ready to go in the wet. He said he didn't want to run in the wet, but you know he's itching to be able to do it. It is out of contention to challenge at the front of GTLM. But, he can go out and have some fun. There's standing water in parts of the pit lane. So, did Alex Zanardi get his racing overalls wet?
That's the least of his worries. Remember, he has one hand pushing a bar to work the accelerator, and the other hand pulling a lever to work the hand brake inside the car. He has a trigger button on the brake lever to downshift. Zanardi made his own hand cycle and is good with a lathe. The #62 Ferrari leads GTLM ahead of Porsche #912 as the #31 Cadillac pits along with many GT Daytona cars. Eric Curran got out of the #31 Cadillac and nhow, Pipo Derani is behind the wheel of it. Pipo will do well in the wet and far more comfortable in the car. Eric Curran did very well in the dry conditions. Eric Curran is only focusing on the endurance races in IMSA this year, but he remains a very solid, competitive sports car driver.
The windshield of the Cadillac is fogging up according to Curran. Curran says that the bright white headlights are not a concern, but what is visually concerning are the flashing red rain lights on the cars that are mandatory for running in the wet. It's a bright red flash across your windscreen and straight into your eyes. Fernando Alonso eschewing the opportunity to hit pit lane. We will check in to see how Tommy Milner is doing. He was a bit dazed but climbed out of the car under his own power. It is so interesting to watch Alex Zanardi pulling the accelerator bar control towards him, and manipulating the brake lever which looks lik a gearshift lever, but has a trigger underneath it to operate the transmission.
That isn't a hand brake, it works all four brakes on the car. It is amazing how he is able to work the car with the hand brake. Their earlier mistake with Zanardi's special steering wheel, won't happen again because he is able to give a signal of when he is set to go. It is very wet in the gloom as we are under the 11th yellow flag of the race. Tommy Milner has been medically cleared from the care center. He's fine. The headlights were out. Did the rear wheels lock and stall the engine? That could have happened. Even in the wet, you are flying through the tri-oval.
It is hard to say why the high intensity lights have to flash. It is difficult to keep the cars under control under safety car speed, but it will be even more so when we go back to racing speed. The tire wall has been repaired. The #5 Cadillac is seventh in the DPi class. LMP2 cars could come up into the top five overall before long. The two DragonSpeed cars are running really well. Fernando Alonso leads overall and in DPi. Ben Hanley, running seventh overall, leads LMP2. Alessandro Pier Guidi leads GTLM ahead of Laurens Vanthoor. Ferrari, Porsche, Ford, Porsche. Luca Stolz leads GT Daytona ahead of A.J. Allmendinger, and Nick Cassidy. So, it's Mercedes, Acura, and Lexus. We will have just eight hours to go.
Fernando Alonso has stretched out another two seconds and has 10.5 seconds in hand over Dane Cameron. Eric Curran is slowest of the top four, 43 seconds back, running laps in the 1:55 range. Curran was probably off the road a little while ago. He is in recovery mode at the moment, as he lost 37 seconds in sector one, going straight on at the first turn or in one of the horseshoes. 47 seconds is the difference between Curran and Taylor. Rubens Barrichello and Colin Braun are next. Ben Hanley remains the leader in LMP2 over his team mate Ryan Cullen who had to undergo repairs to his #18 DragonSpeed racer. The two DragonSpeed cars are four laps apart, and Kyle Masson is the only other LMP2 car still running. 1:48.6 for Fernando Alonso last time around while Dane Cameron runs a 1:50.8 and 1:51.2 for the #7 machine at the moment.
Poor old Filipe Albuquerque is 14 laps down at this time, one of last year's winners for Action Express Racing. Ferrari #63 is running slower out of turn six, but being very cautious in the wet through turn six, with Jeff Westphal driving, staying in touch with Ricardo Feller. Kelvin van der Linde is catching Westphal. Corey Lewis is being caught by Christian Engelhart as well, in a battle of the Lamborghini's. #33 Mercedes, is Luca Stolz and he has Nick Cassidy bearing down on him, but Stolz is running quicker than Cassidy's #14 Lexus RC F GT3. Justin Marks is third in the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3 having overtaken Ricardo Feller and Jeff Westphal. Luca Stolz gets the drive and passes Nick Cassidy in GT Daytona.
Luca Stolz goes past Nick Cassidy and into the lead of GT Daytona in class. A crowded house at the West Horseshoe, look. Fernando Alonso has put a lap on Eric Curran. Everyone is losing a second or two to Alonso. He is on a Sunday drive. Eric Curran is 1:08 ahead of Ricky Taylor and Curran is currently working lap 492, so, 492 laps = 1,751 and a half miles. Dirk Werner is at the wheel of the #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche 911 GT3R and has gone ahead of Cory Lewis. Werner is behind Christian Engelhart. Peter Baron, team manager for Starworks says the other Audi's are tough and so is the Mercedes. Baron of course, has an Audi in this race.
Baron is the alarm clock for his team. Ryan Dalziel is at the wheel of the Starworks car right now and Baron wants to stay motivated to keep Dalziel motivated. Bill Riley says be careful to his drivers. He is confident if it keeps rainingf. It is very dark, and the sun hasn't come up yet. The internal clock is turned over to morning. Some damage to the #5 Cadillac. Bill Riley is running a single car in GTD this year and he wants to go for the championship in GT Daytona. The #5 Cadillac has slammed the tire wall and much of the rear deck is damaged and there's a banner or something on it. Albuquerque loses a wheel spat or one of the rear fender's.
Keep the welly down off turn four and Albuquerque hits pit lane and the garage. He makes the hard left turn towards the garage, look. A whole lot of work for Mustang Sampling Racing, and again, the #18 car is off the road, Ryan Cullen at the wheel, and he slides off onto thr wet grass at the International Horseshoe. Thankfully he reversed the car, and he continues in the race in second in class in LMP2. Ben Hanley has a clear lead in the DragonSpeed sister car. Justin Marks overtakes Nick Cassidy but he is behind Luca Stolz, and still driving beautifully and Ryan Cullen is off the road another time in the standing water, the flood, at turn one onto the road course.
These are really tricky conditions for an aero dependent car like a prototype. The red rain light on the back of the car is piercing the darkness. The gap is now 13.6 seconds between Dane Cameron and Ricky Taylor. Taylor is losing time over both Fernando Alonso and Dane Cameron. Ben Hanley is still leading LMP2 of course. Kyle Masson is still in the race in third in LMP2 but he is not in contention to truly compete with the DragonSpeed cars. The visibility is zero right now going towards the Bus Stop. We've reached 6AM Eastern Time as Luca Stolz is off the road at turn one and thankfully gets back on course.
His 11 second lead may evaporate. Fernando Alonso is blazingly quick. He leads the motor race by 45 seconds over Dane Cameron, and Ricky Taylor. Alonso has run 500 laps exactly, so, a total of 1,780 miles. The gap now between the two Penske Acura's is 16 seconds or so between Dane Cameron and Ricky Taylor, while fourth place runner Eric Curran in the #31 Cadillac is no longer on the lead lap. Colin Braun in the Nissan is fifth. #81, #18, #38, in LMP2. James Calado leads by 17 seconds over Laurens Vanthoor. Ferrari over Porsche. Sebastien Bourdais is next in line in the Ford GT, and we have drama! The #4 Corvette has slammed the tire wall! More on this incident, momentarily.
Sebastien Bourdais is next in third in class, followed by the BMW M8 GT of Connor De Philippi, car #25, and following him is the #67 Ryan Briscoe driven Castrol liveried Ford GT. In GTD, Luca Stolz leads the division despite a slight off, from Justin Marks in the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3, and then comes Nick Cassidy in the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 and Kelvin van der Linde in the #29 Land Motorsport Audi R8. Tommy Milner got sideways and aquaplanes right across the run off area, and bang, right into the tires. That was heavy contact on the driver's side into the tire wall, which has a concrete barrier behind it.
Several GTD cars are in the lane. Turn one is getting wet and so is the entry to the pit lane. The #11 GRT Grasser Lamborghini spins in the pit lane as cars take a chance to pit who didn't do so early. The #10 Cadillac pits and we'll see who else makes a dive for the lane. #33 and #86 in GT Daytona are in. The flashing rain lights at the back of the Prototypes are very distracting. Pits are closed as we are into a full course yellow. Acura #6 pits while the sister car stays out. We are just after 6AM Eastern Time. The #11 Grasser Lamborghini was able to do a full service of tires, fuel, and a driver change as Mirko Bortolotti gets into the car, and #11 will be in the pound seats and be able to move up.
The wet conditions are undrivable according to Christian Engelhart. His windscreen was dirty enough that he couldn't see the rain at all. He is an accomplished wet weather driver. When the #4 Corvette walloped the wall, maybe it stalled and was pitched sideways as the wave by has begun under yellow. Fernando Alonso has been running extremely well, echoing much of the performance by J.J. Lehto in the McLaren F1 GTR at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans which was also a really wet race. Tommy Milner will be OK, but he had to come across the car to escape out of the passenger side door. That was a major crash, and Milner could have slid along a lot farther and the accident could have been a lot worse.
When the #10 Cadillac pitted, Eric Curran was able to get back on the lead lap. We have now run 502 laps (1,787 miles). We have had 11 safety car interventions in this race so far. The GTLM and GTD cars are on the same exact wet tires, and the GT Daytona cars have anti lock brakes, which the GT Le Mans cars don't have. Now, we have a report from the Mazda camp and their Rolex 24 is officially over. #77 retired with the fire in hour six, and now, it is official that the #55 machine has also retired from the race. It's game over for Mazda Team Joest. The pits are open for the Prototype cars.
The pits are open for Prototype stops. Fernando Alonso stays out but both Ricky Taylor and Dane Cameron pit for Acura Team Penske. Four Michelin tires and fuel, and Taylor stays in the car. Now, if you try to walk in your socks on a tile floor, you know how downright slippery that can be. Well, these teams are jumping off a concrete wall onto the wet pit box. There's sandpaper on the wall to make the wall edge less slick for the crew members. Good safety measure. Tommy Milner has been taken in the AMR Rapid Response vehicle to the infield care center. The marshals will still have to drag the Corvette out of the barriers.
Again, Eric Curran pitted but Fernando Alonso was just in the lane before the yellow flew. Acura #6 pitted for fuel only. Alonso has shown incredible car control. He is in a different zip code from everybody else. One of the Porsche Cayenne medical cars is out at the Bus Stop. There's a big puddle of water at the Bus Stop it seems. So no wonder the drivers are being directed around a different line. The wind is still blowing behind the cars down the front straight on the tri oval. So, the medical car is directing the driver's right through the chicane. More pit action, this time for the GT class cars. Risi Competizione leads GT Le Mans with James Calado driving, but he will hand the car over to Alessandro Pier Guidi. Pier Guidi was one of the winners in this motor race back in 2014.
Many GTLM and GTD cars are in. The #88 WRT Speedstar Audi changes tires to a new set of wets. Put a new set of boots on under yellow, and the wet tires don't count towards your tire allocation, so you can use as many as you please. There's been a little switcheroo in GTLM it seems. Laurens Vanthoor in the #912 Porsche maybe got out ahead of everyone else. Give me a moment, and yours truly will confirm that. There is a street sweeper now at the exit of the Bus Stop chicane, to move the standing water that is puddling down in that corner.
#11, #12, and #73 in GT Daytona did not pit under yellow. The GRT Grasser Lamborghini, the first AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus, and the Park Place Motorsports Porsche. The three aforementioned cars were waved by, by the marshals, to get back onto the lead lap. BMW has new wet tires for the #25 or #24 BMW. #24 is in the pit lane, now. Alex Zanardi will go out for another stint. He is ready to go in the wet. He said he didn't want to run in the wet, but you know he's itching to be able to do it. It is out of contention to challenge at the front of GTLM. But, he can go out and have some fun. There's standing water in parts of the pit lane. So, did Alex Zanardi get his racing overalls wet?
That's the least of his worries. Remember, he has one hand pushing a bar to work the accelerator, and the other hand pulling a lever to work the hand brake inside the car. He has a trigger button on the brake lever to downshift. Zanardi made his own hand cycle and is good with a lathe. The #62 Ferrari leads GTLM ahead of Porsche #912 as the #31 Cadillac pits along with many GT Daytona cars. Eric Curran got out of the #31 Cadillac and nhow, Pipo Derani is behind the wheel of it. Pipo will do well in the wet and far more comfortable in the car. Eric Curran did very well in the dry conditions. Eric Curran is only focusing on the endurance races in IMSA this year, but he remains a very solid, competitive sports car driver.
The windshield of the Cadillac is fogging up according to Curran. Curran says that the bright white headlights are not a concern, but what is visually concerning are the flashing red rain lights on the cars that are mandatory for running in the wet. It's a bright red flash across your windscreen and straight into your eyes. Fernando Alonso eschewing the opportunity to hit pit lane. We will check in to see how Tommy Milner is doing. He was a bit dazed but climbed out of the car under his own power. It is so interesting to watch Alex Zanardi pulling the accelerator bar control towards him, and manipulating the brake lever which looks lik a gearshift lever, but has a trigger underneath it to operate the transmission.
That isn't a hand brake, it works all four brakes on the car. It is amazing how he is able to work the car with the hand brake. Their earlier mistake with Zanardi's special steering wheel, won't happen again because he is able to give a signal of when he is set to go. It is very wet in the gloom as we are under the 11th yellow flag of the race. Tommy Milner has been medically cleared from the care center. He's fine. The headlights were out. Did the rear wheels lock and stall the engine? That could have happened. Even in the wet, you are flying through the tri-oval.
It is hard to say why the high intensity lights have to flash. It is difficult to keep the cars under control under safety car speed, but it will be even more so when we go back to racing speed. The tire wall has been repaired. The #5 Cadillac is seventh in the DPi class. LMP2 cars could come up into the top five overall before long. The two DragonSpeed cars are running really well. Fernando Alonso leads overall and in DPi. Ben Hanley, running seventh overall, leads LMP2. Alessandro Pier Guidi leads GTLM ahead of Laurens Vanthoor. Ferrari, Porsche, Ford, Porsche. Luca Stolz leads GT Daytona ahead of A.J. Allmendinger, and Nick Cassidy. So, it's Mercedes, Acura, and Lexus. We will have just eight hours to go.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)