Helio Castroneves stays at the wheel of the leading Acura, car #7. We begin yet another hour of racing, closer and closer now to the halfway mark of the race as Porsche #911 is in the lane. Patrick Pilet is out of the car, and we'll see who is into the car as Porsche's Dave Engelman joins the IMSA Radio team in the broadcast booth. Porsche #911 was pulled back to avoid contact with the #50 Juncos Racing Cadillac. It's been a roller coaster ride for the Porsche's in GT Le Mans, so far, the factory cars. There was no answer on how the splitter on the #912 car, came apart. Fred Makowiecki is back into the #911 machine. Mirko Bortolotti wants to stay on the lead lap with the GRT Grasser Lamborghini.
Into pit lane now, the #31 Cadillac with Eric Curran at the wheel of it. It's a full service stop. There was a driver change. Pipo Derani is now at the wheel of the car. The #7 car ran 21 laps on it's previous stint and the #31, ran a lap longer at 22 laps. Helio Castroneves cycles back to the lead of the motor race followed by Renger van der Zande and Simon Pagenaud. Porsche had a standard driver change and everything went well, but it is hard to put the safety harness on with the HANS Device on. Porsche had it's 70th anniversary in 2018, and it was a very busy year for them. The #50 Juncos Cadillac is missing it's right rear wheel, and we will have a full course yellow as the driver is on the apron of the tri-oval in NASCAR turn three, and, it is never good when different parts of the car are running differentr lap times. Right rear wheel, departed.
You've picked a fine time to leave me, loose wheel. Wait. Stop it. It might be early in the morning, but it's not that early! The #50 car has left the wheel in it's wake. This is the same car that had throttle issues shortly after the green flag. The Brumos livery on their factory cars is for the 50th anniversary of IMSA. It was a unanimous decision to use the iconic Brumos livery, which will also be used at the next race at Sebring. These are the works Porsche GT cars in North America. Hurley Haywood and Dan Davis were mildly enthusiastic and then, speechless, when they saw the car in it's resplendent livery.
Porsche is working on the street version of their Cayman Clubsport. There are new GT3 Porsche's. They are the R model, the Pro/Am customer car. The safety team is attending to the Cadillac stopped on the banking. IMSA will be the featured marque at the Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca Raceway, in August. Go check it out. The new Porsche 911 (992) model, is coming out. The new car also has staggered wheel sizes. Pit stop time for Acura #6, looking at tjhe brake rotors with a selfie stick of all things. Fuel only stops for Helio Castroneves and Pipo Derani. A slight traffic jam at the end of the pit lane and #31 makes up a place.
Sebring will have many manufacturers representing both IMSA and FIA WEC. That race is less than a month away. It's going to be fun. We are headed for 1AM Eastern Time. In the pit lane now, Miguel Molina in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari. It will be a full service stop. They'd run 33 minutes on their last stint. No driver change. Fuel and tires only. They beat the #66 Ford GT out. Daniel Morad pits the #29 Audi for fuel only. The #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 is i9n the lane as well. If you have planned maintenance, catch up with it under yellow. Scuderia Corsa are changing brakes on the #63 Ferrari. The teams are really efficient. Keep in mind how hot the brakes are.
We are just under halfway through this race as we have a wave by going on. This is our seventh full course yellow as we have Renger van der Zande in the race lead currently. The #10 Cadillac did not pit during this caution period. We are an hour and a half away from points being awarded for the Michelin Endurance Cup. The track is being cleaned up, but the safety car lights are now off, meaning we should be going green in a couple minutes. Renger van der Zande leads the motor rasce at the head of the safety car queue. Helio Castroneves runs second, Pipo Derani third in the #31 Cadillac. Romain Dumas fourth in the #54 Nissan. Simon Pagenaud is fifth in the #54 CORE Autosport Nissan. Sixth is the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsport Cadillac, the sole remaining "Banana Boat" in the field.
Harry Tincknell is seventh overall in the sole ramining #55 Mazda. In LMP2, DragonSpeed continues to dominate as car #18 leads car #81. Pastor Maldonado leads Henrik Hedman. Third in class is the #38 Performance Tech machine in the hands of Kris Wright. In GT Le Mans, it is the #912 Porsche with Matthieu "Jam Jam" Jaminet, at the wheel, with the #3 Corvette of Antonio Garcia second followed by the #4 Corvette. Colton Herta is next up in the #25 BMW M8 GT, followed by Fred Makowiecki in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR. Miguel Molina is sixth in class. Two Lamborghini's are at the head of GT Daytona as Bryan Sellers leads the motor race in class, over Rolf Ineichen. #48 and #11 lead the #8 Starworks Audi R8 as we are back to green flag racing, finally!
Straight into pit lane is the delayed #84 "Banana Boat" Cadillac. Renger van der Zande is looking for heat in his tires, with Helio Castroneves bearing down on him on cold tires. Castroneves is great on cold rtires as work is going on, on the right front of the #84 machine. The right front tire is down. Helio Castroneves is pressing Renger van der Zande, look. He's playing mind games with the leader, flasshing the lights. There's a penalty, too, for the other JDC-Miller "Banana Boat". A drive through for Misha Goikhberg. Both Porsche's are together in third and fourth place in class. In Corvette world at the moment, Marcel Fassler is running ahead of Antonio Garcia.
Fassler took over on the most recent pit stop, and Jaminet and Makowiecki are next. So, it's clear that Matthieu Jaminet got mugged by both Corvette's at the restart. However, there's no argy bargy, and not bits scattered around on the track. #84 is just sitting there, alone. One mechanic at the front of the car. I fear this banana is going to be peeled and eaten. It's not good news for the #84 car. #84 is 45th in the overall, right near being caboose on the field. Renger van der Zande can't break the tow or the resolve of Helio Castroneves who continues pushing. Pipo Derani can't match the leaders' pace. Fred Makowiecki has made a pass on Matthieu Jaminet. Fassler and Garcia run together and so do the Porsche's and the Colton Herta piloted BMW.
Now, Cadillac #50 is in the lane, being repaired. That car didn't stop in it's pit box. We are back at full speed, under green flag track conditions, as the battle for the lead continues. Romain Dumas has run some slow laps, and the Nissan is not anywhere near the leaders in DPI. Romain Dumas is running nine seconds behind Simon Pagenaud right now. The #84 car has been in and out of the pit lane since the beginning, and the team is downloading the data on the car. The crew is not sure of what the issue is. Maybe the engine is overheating. It's been a long day for the JDC-Miller boys. Meantime, at the sharp end, look, there's a scrap for the lead of this motor race.
There will be a change of lead, as Renger van der Zande beats Helio Castroneves into the corner, and there's more issues for Romain Dumas who is 12 seconds behind the leading quartet right now. Dear oh dear. What could be ailing the Nissan? Antonio Garcia is falling into the clutches of his rivals in GTLM. The Porsche's and BMW have gotten around him. Fred Makowiecki is chasing Matthieu Jaminet. Jaminet recovered from a horrid restart. Porsche on the Corvette into the braking zone. Turn left through the Bus Stop, and Porsche takes the class lead in GT Le Mans!
Fred Makowiecki is going for it and so does Matthieu Jaminet. Jaminet sweeps past Fassler like he's tied to a post. Colton Herta is gaining, but is being balked by a prototype. A flock of cars heads through turn six and onto the high banks again. The two Porsche's have flown the coop here, look. Matthieu Jaminet has caught Fred Makowiecki. Colton Herta is giving it a great run so far. Time for overnight fast food at Ford, as one of the crew members is getting a late night hot dog, with mustard, no less. Now, could the maladies on Romain Dumas' Nissan, causing it to lose speed, be tire related? That's a good question. Dumas is three seconds slower at 1:38 while all the other Prototypes are cutting 1:35 laps right now.
No worries for Pipo Derani, although, he is catching Helio Castroneves. They go past Bryan Sellers, and the BMW has caught the Corvette's! Colton Herta gets passed by Antonio Garcia. He was overtaken at turn one, and side by side stuff as Castroneves goes by Derani. Into the turn, they deal with the Canadian Audi with the maple leaf on it, the #88 WRT Speedstar machine. Derani is forced to run behind Castroneves after passing the Audi. That's the Vervisch/Van der Linde/James/De Angelis driven entry. The AMG Mercedes darts to the right, and now, one of the Audi's was also passed by Derani, as Castroneves can use the GTD cars as a buffer. Castroneves has to thread the needle on the banking! He slides through the center of the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari and the #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus!
Check that. It was Lexus #14. Austin Cindric and Dominik Farnbacher were in the midst of their own battle there when the leaders screamed past. Renger van der Zande's lead, with all this battling, has ballooned to three seconds. Fassler and Garcia are third and fourth in GTLM, and being caught up by Colton Herta. Lamborghini's battle for GT Daytona honors, with the #96 BMW M6 GT3 five or so seconds further back, in the hands of Bill Auberlen. Ezequiel Perez-Companc is next followed by Jeroen Bleekemolen, and Scott Hargrove. So, that's the Starworks Audi, with the classic Audi Sport livery, the Team Riley Wynn's liveried Mercedes AMG GT3 #33, and the #9 plaid/tartan patterned Pfaff Motorsports Porsche, another Canadian entered automobile.
Just under five seconds between the top four cars in the overall. Traffic is still a factor, but don't panic. Farnbacher and Cindric are running right together, and Helio Castroneves slashes past them. Castroneves has Pipo Derani and team mate Simon Pagenaud all over his gearbox! It's nonstop action. Your brain has to be lit up like a thousand watt bulb. Alex Zanardi is still at the wheel of the #24 BMW M8 GT. He blocks Pipo Derani. Pipo Derani is on the high side into the tri oval, side drafting the Acura, and Derani can't quite go by. That was a few minutes ago, so we are looking at a replay.
The CORE Autosport Nissan has an electrical issue at the moment. The car will head for pit lane, soon. Electrical glitches. Yuck. Nicolas Lapierre is second in LMP2 and ninth overall, as Helio Castroneves and Pipo Derani continue their scrap. Harry Tincknell is closing in on Romain Dumas, who ran a 1:39.1. Harry Tincknell in the Mazda has eaten away about four seconds out of the gap he has to the Mazda. We are an hour and 15 minutes away from the halfway mark of the race. Castroneves passes Fred Makowiecki's GTLM leading Porsche. Renger van der Zande's gap has shrunk. The top three are compressing back together. It is difficult for the Prototypes to work their way through the GTLM traffic. Brilliant racing across the whole field so far. The laps are impressive. The Prototypes are running 193-195 miles an hour through the speed traps on the quickest parts of the circuit.
The #10 Cadillac will pit. Renger van der Zande will be handing the car over to Jordan Taylor. He has been very comfortable in the car this evening it seems. van der Zande peels off the track into the lane. The leader is in the pit lane. He touches the lollipop, and the tires are changed, fuel is added. Jordan Taylor is into the car. The car off the air jacks, and the fuel has gone into the tank. Jordan Taylor is down and away, back into the race. The electrical issues on the #54 Nissan are continuing. They've fueled the car in the pit lane and the data lead is plugged into the car to download the telemetry to fix the problem. The retro liveried Nissan with the Flex Box sponsorship as well, waits. Timo Bernhard is in the Mazda. So, it could be a battle between former Porsche team mates, Romain Dumas, and Timo Bernhard. #7, Helio Castroneves is the new leader, and our 28th lead change of the motor race.
Bernhard is in the sole remaining Mazda, #55. The GTLM and GTD battles are unrelenting and still as strong as ever, ebbing and flowing on a lap by lap basis. Antonio Garcia is inching closer to Matthieu Jaminet. The top five GTLM cars are all together. Garcia passes Jaminet into the International Horseshoe. This is good. Jaminet gives him racing room, but Garcia can't get there. Thw BMW M8 is coming as second, third, fourth, and fifth head into speedway turn one. Helio Castroneves and Pipo Derani both hit the pit lane. #7 is taken over by a new driver. Pipo Derani is staying in the #31 Cadillac, but there's trouble with the left front wheel. They've lost the position as the #7 Acura goes by.
Romain Dumas is still having work done on the Nissan as Pastor Maldonado pits the leading #18 DragonSpeed LMP2 entry from eight in the overall. Alexander Rossi has taken over from Helio Castroneves in Acura #7. Simon Pagenaud in the sister Penske Acura now leads this motor race, and he will pit next time by. Pagenaud is in the lane with no sign of a driver change, so he'll do a double stint, but with brand new Michelin tires. Piece of cake for Penske Acura. Pagenaud on cold tires has to take it easy. No tire warmers allowed in IMSA. At this moment, as we close in on halfway, Bryan Sellers leads by four seconds over Rolf Ineichen in GT Daytona. Bill Auberlen is next in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3.
IMSA Radio's Jamie Howe, has Renger van der Zande read a page of "Fox In Socks" by Dr. Seuss! Tee hee! How funny is that?! Marion's Restaurant, is in the paddock again here at Daytona. Before we end the hour, let's quickly move through the GT class running order. GTLM has Porsche, Porsche, Chevy, and Chevy. #911, #912, #3, and #4, separated by three seconds. We'll get to the rest as we begin another racing hour, next.
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