Alexander Rossi has stayed on track. Cadillac #31 is in the lane. It is full service for that car as Pipo Derani stays behind the wheel. Acura #7 has stayed out to score the points for the Michelin Endurance Cup, for the race here, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, and the Petit Le Mans. Jonathan Bomarito in the #55 Mazda is caught and will not be able to get back on the lead lap. We are under half distance to go on the clock. Merely 11 hours and 58 minutes. The first 12 hours have been a sprint, and the second 12 hours will be to go. We go to Sebring, next, for the 12 Hours, in just a few weeks. It is a Saturday race. Tune in on Sunday, and you'll have missed it. Don't forget there is also the FIA World Endurance Championship event on Friday before the 12 Hours as well.
Porsche is in for the GTLM pit stops as all GT cars are in. Porsche's will have a slightly lengthier stop because of front brake pad changes. Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber will be driving the #911 and #912. Earl Bamber will be fighting with his team mate Nick Tandy, who won as part of the trio with Nico Hulkenberg in the 919 Hybrid LMP1 racer in the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans. The #66 Ford GT is in the lane, the Motorcraft liveried car. Corvette |#4 came in for a brake change. #66 also did a brake pad change. This is the eighth full course caution of the race. We only had four in the 2018 race. The #33 GTD Mercedes has also pitted. The GT Le Mans cars have had to do a lot of brake changes. It used to be, that teams could run at Le Mans, without changing brakes. Or, is Daytona harder on brakes than Le Mans? The DPi cars are coming back to the front of the field.
Alexander Rossi is in the lane with the #7 Acura and Mazda #55 is at the head of the queue. So, there will be a wave around. #7 gets back out on track. They have done the final wave by it seems, or not. We will come back to green, soon. Juan Pablo Montoya is now at the wheel of the #6 Acura. Jonathan Bomarito is ahead of Juan Montoya as the first car behind the safety car and he has gotten back onto the lead lap, look. He needed a stop, and will resume at the head of the field. #6 and #10 are right behind and so is the #85 Cadillac which is two laps down after penalties for speeding in the pit lane.
In the early 2000s, the Saleen S7R and other what were then called GT1 cars, ran carbon brake discs. GT Le Mans and GTE cars run steel rotors. They don't use the carbon rotors anymore. Antonio Garcia has been towed to the garage. He is now ninth in GTLM, five laps behind. Fuel pressure issues for Garcia. Mazda must stay ahead of the Cadillac and the Acura. Big lockup for someone. Lapped cars are in among the leaders, look. Juan Montoya leads and it's side by side stuff! The #85 Cadillac of Devlin DeFrancesco locks up! Yikes! There's a penalty for the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3 with Justin Marks at the wheel of it.
DeFrancesco is two laps down. Side by side stuff as Cadillac #5 is trying to stay ahead of going another lap down. He is four laps off the lead, fighting with Jordan Taylor. Joao Barbosa at the wheel of the #5 Cadillac. Jonathan Bomarito in the #55 Mazda has fallen off the lead lap. Again, Jordan Taylor has clear traffic, as he got through the traffic shemozzle. Justin Marks is penalized for passing under yellow, running second to the #63 Scuderia Corsa WeatherTech Ferrari. Juan Pablo Montoya couldn't hold back the charge by Jordan Taylor. Taylor has a half a second in hand over Montoya with Felipe Nasr next up.
Joao Barbosa hits the pit lane and so does Zachary Robichon in the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. No headlights on the car. They are out. The taillights were working. They have a wiring issue on the headlamps. This enthralling race continues through the gloom of the early morning as Corvette #3 was in pit lane and is now back on track. There was a lot of white smoke that came from the car. It was possibly a tire burnout, but, it could be another issue as well. He is on very cold, stone cold Michelin tires. Mike Rockenfeller has taken the car over from Antonio Garcia, but they are 8-9 laps behind. They just need to finish the race. #3 has run 373 laps (1,328 miles), while the leading BMW has run 381 laps (1,356 miles). Pfaff Motorsports is doing a brake change at the mid point of the motor race.
Meanwhile, Jordan Taylor pulls the pin and runs the fastest first sector time of the race. He is 1 and 3/4 seconds ahead of the field at the moment. So, he's motoring right now. 1:34.643 for Jordan Taylor, moving 2.5 seconds ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya, Felipe Nasr, and Alexander Rossi. Cadillac leads overall and in DPi with Jordan Taylor, and the LMP2 division is still being led by the DragonSpeed duo, with #18 Sebastian Saavedra ahead of #81 Nicolas Lapierre. GTLM sees BMW ahead with Philipp Eng in the #25 BMW M8 GT ahead of the #912 Porsche 911 RSR with Earl Bamber at the keyboard. Dirk Mueller is third in the #66 Ford GT. Cooper MacNeil leads GT Daytona in the #63 WeatherTech Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3, and runs ahead of two Audi R8s in the hands of Christopher Mies and Frederic Vervisch.
The #29 Land Motorsports Audi is followed by the #88 WRT Speedstar Audi, adorned with the Canadian maple leaf. We have yet another slow GTLM car. It is Jesse Krohn aboard the #24 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GT, crawling on the apron of the tri oval. Philipp Eng in the sister car leads Earl Bamber by nine seconds. This can't be fuel related. Krohn just pitted. This is the car that had the steering column issue when the contacts were damaged changing from the standard wheel to the adapted wheel for Alex Zanardi. He has power, but the 4.0 liter V8 won't rev. Something is indeed wrong with that automobile, look.
Phillip Eng was in some traffic and ran a slower lap. So, #24 is in pit lane for service. The car went off the road. Krohn went off the road at the kink and has a right front tire puncture on the car. Grass is filling the front radiators as well. Dear me. That's not good. The splitter is bent. One of the Porsche's, #912, also had front end problems after an off. The whole front clip is actually being replaced on the #24 BMW. Are the clips straightened out? Can they put the nose on, with the stock mounting points? There's a problem for the #51 AF Corse Ferrari with damage to the bodywork, and smoke. The drama is definitely still here.
Jesse Krohn is back in the race. The BMW is still seven laps behind the rest of the GTLM field. Jesse Krohn has run 282 laps (1,004 miles), and everyone else in the class has run 289 laps (1,029 miles). Both Porsche's have run well. Ford #66 is third, and we've seen a split for the Corvette's of course. #3 had it's fuel issue. Porsche and Ford run side by side into the Bus Stop. It is Earl Bamber being chased by Dirk Mueller. It is actually Nick Tandy vs. Dirk Mueller. Felipe Nasr goes ahead of Alexander Rossi. The #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari is being pushed in reverse down the pit lane, pushed back into the paddock it appears.
It is falling right to the caboose end of GT Daytona, going behind the wall for further repairs. They have to wheel it into the garage. It is on it's wheels, not on dollies. In the meantime, a whole wad of cars are being lapped by Felipe Nasr and Alexander Rossi. Juan Pablo Montoya runs a few seconds behind Jordan Taylor as #31 and #7 are catching up as we've gone 410 laps, 1,460 miles. The Ferrari is being towed by a cart to the paddock area. It is dead stick and needs a tow along with the assistance of the mechanics. Jordan Taylor leads the motor race. Montoya runs 4.1 seconds behind. Felipe Nasr has gone past Alexander Rossi and Jonathan Bomarito in the sole remaining Mazda, is next.
In the #3 Corvette, they were having issues with the dashboard, as the driver could not read the gauge and tell that the car was on it's reserve fuel pump. Paul Dalla Lana said he was hit from behind on his out lap and the rear suspension is broken, and so is the wheel rim. But the suspension is the problem 100%. Felipe Nasr has caught Juan Montoya, look. Can Nasr pass? No. They were both balked by a GTD car. Look for two Prototypes popping off speedway turn four. They are virtually together into turn one as Nasr takes a wider line into the first left hander on the road course here at Daytona. The Acura makes a move on one of the GTD cars, coincidentally, the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3. The gap has ballooned rapidly between Jordan Taylor and Juan Montoya.
Felipe Nasr is quicker on corner entry, but the Acura gets the power down really well. Traffic ahead as he had to back out, Nasr did, and Rossi goes by, as Nasr was balked by the AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus. Did the Acura's pit on the same lap? They both came in under yellow, but #7 was in the lane two laps later than was #6, under yellow. They will b back into the lane very soon, will Team Penske. Cadillac are looking after their tires very well. Jordan Taylor is turning very good lap times, extending his lead from 2.4 to 4.1, to six, to nine, to ten and a half seconds. Five cars nose to tail in GT Daytona. Cooper MacNeil has Christopher Mies and Frederic Vervisch, as well as Bryan Sellers and Rik Breukers, all over him.
The #44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini pitted and so did the #86 MSR Acura. Fuel and tires for Felipe Nasr and for Jordan Taylor. The #6 is in as well. Montoya stays in the car. When Alexander Rossi pits, he won't get new tires, but rather, scrubbed ones that are still clean. #7 hasn't pitted yet. #31 is just ahead of #6. Felipe Nasr just had a slightly quicker stop. Don't cross the white blend line from pit lane to the speedway too early. Jonathan Bomarito hands the #55 Mazda over to Olivier Pla. Alexander Rossi stays in the #7 Acura, which comes for tires and fuel, and a slow stop as the tire won't attach but now it does.
Rossi, the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner, is back in action, ahead of the #55 Mazda. Jordan Taylor will assume the lead of the motor race as Felipe Nasr leapfrogs Alexander Rossi. Rossi is now fourth overall. The #50 Juncos Racing Cadillac is stopped in pit lane with the engine stalled. The mechanics bump start the car and it almost goes sideways accelerating out of pit lane. The #54 Nissan pits and Jon Bennett gets out, Loic Duval, it appears, gets in. It's a real scrap for Juan Pbalo Montoya and Alexander Rossi. Side by side stuff, look, going to turn six. Rossi was just millimeters behind Montoya. Wowzers.
Montoya may have new tires, knocking the release agent off of them. Montoya and Rossi have both been going for it, hammer and tongs. They've been passing each other all over the track. Montoya is just now bedding new Michelin's in on his Acura. Olivier Pla in the #55 Mazda is a lap down but still in contention. Sixth is the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports "Banana Boat" Cadillac driven by Canadian Devlin DeFrancesco. Devlin DeFrancesco is on the 418th lap for that car. 418 laps, 1,488 miles. We have 11 hours and 11 minutes to go. 12 hours and 49 minutes have been. Porsche will resume 1-2 in GTLM as Austrian Phillip Eng is in the lane for the #25 BMW M8 GT. Eng out, and into the car, Brazilian Augusto Farfus.
Farfus was brought in as a super sub when Tom Blomqvist had visa issues. Dirk Mueller now runs third in GTLM in Ford #66 with Olvier Gavin fourth in Corvette #4. BMW slows on their way out of the lane and a couple of the Lamborghini's have had a clatter through turn one with Rik Breukers it appears, running wide through the corner. There seems to be a lack of spare drivers. Fernando Alonso is on deck to get into the #10 Cadillac. It is that weird hour of the race when a lot of the driver's are trying to get ready to go back out, and the crews are getting some sleep. Were at 3:30 A.M. Eastern Time in Daytona Beach, Florida at the moment.
Jordan Taylor leads Felipe Nasr by 7.5 seconds in third and fourth, and there's nothing between the two leading Acura's. Roberto Gonzalez leads Henrik Hedman in LMP2. DragonSpeed continues to lead the division. Nothing new there. Robert Masson is seven laps down in the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports car. In GTLM, it is Earl Bamber at the sharp end in Porsche #912 followed by Nick Tandy in the sister car, with a gap to Dirk Mueller in the #66 Ford GT, and then comes Oliver Gavin in the #4 Corvette and the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE of Davide Rigon. All of these cars are ahead of the #25 BMW.
Felipe Nasr hits the curb in the International Horseshoe and the Acura gets caught behind some GTD cars, but the GTD cars allow the Acura to take its own line. Frederic Vervisch runs a second behind GTD leader Cooper MacNeil. The Audi's have swapped places within the last lap or two. The top six cars are nose to tail in GT Daytona. BMW #24 was in the lane with a front right punctured tire and a new nose was put on. They have more damage to the right front corner of the car. Was there an off course excursion? Lots of bear bond being brought out to secure the bodywork. BMW #24 has had a fraught race thus far.
Jesse Krohn says the puncture came before the off course excursion, in the kink. The splitter hit a big divot, a pothole in the road, and that's why it was damaged. Persistence pays off in these endurance races. We have completed 13 hours at the Rolex 24. Hour 14 is up next.
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