Everyone is concerned now, about the weather forecast. When will the predicted rain arrive? It's been moving around between 4:30AM and 6AM. The latest estimation is 6AM and real rain will begin pouring at 7AM. More pit visitors in GT Daytona, as three of the top half dozen cars are in the pit lane. The #29 Montaplast by Land Motorsport Audi will move back into the class lead with 398 laps (1,417 miles) on the board. Christopher Mies at the wheel of it. #63, #88, #11, all of them pit, too. Fuel and tires only for Cooper MacNeil. Nick Tandy gets fuel and tires in GTLM and the #66 Ford GT is also in, for fuel and tires. No driver change. Pit stop time as well for Ford #67 and Ferrari #62. Corvette #4 pits for fuel and tires, as Oliver Gavin continues in the car. They've done very well, but the #3 team has had drama the whole race. It recently ran out of gas, and had to limp to pit lane.
Corvette #3 is way down in 31st in the overall. Chaz Mostert has taken the wheel of the #24 BMW as we have two Porsche's in the lead in GT Le Mans at this time. #912 is in the lane for new Michelin tires. Earl Bamber stays in the car and gets fresh Michelin tires, and a tear off peeled off the windscreen. The fuel is the last thing done. The car screams back into the race. Christopher Mies pits the Audi from the GT Daytona lead, and we also see the beleaguered #46 Ebimotors Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in the lane as well. Ricardo Feller is now at the controls of the #29 Audi. Cooper MacNeil maintains the GT Daytona class lead. He has a margin over Frederic Vervisch in the WRT Speedstar Audi, and the #33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 that has been taken over by Brazilian, Felipe Fraga.
Corey Lewis has taken over the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini, and, Spencer Pumpelly has moved up in the #44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini as well. 400 laps now completed in GT Daytona, the GT3 category in IMSA. 400 laps, 1,424 miles. Earl Bamber is back into the motor race and was battling with his team mate Nick Tandy. Where will he rejoin in the GTLM sequence? Augusto Farfus splits the Porsche's and the GTD leaders are now bunched together in a wad. The #73 Park Place Porsche 911 GT3R is in the queue, but not on the same lap, with Nick Boulle driving right now. The aforementioned chaps in GTD are all battling each other.
Jordan Taylor leads overall over Felipe Nasr by 6.3 seconds. Oh dear. The #8 Starworks Audi R8 has perhaps gone behind the wall. What could the trouble be for those boys? The car is in the pit lane, but not in the lane itself. Hmmm. Where oh where is car #8? It's gone behind the wall, clearly. The #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus also pitted, out of sequence and that car is a lap or more off the pace, with Aaron Telitz at the wheel of it. Cooper MacNeil, Fred Vervisch, Felipe Fraga, and Ricardo Feller, are the top four in GT Daytona. Now, Mike Rockenfeller is back into pit lane in the #3 Corvette. Parker Chase is at the wheel of the aforementioned car #8.
Cooper MacNeil is still your GTD leader. You've not missed anything. Ditto for the overall as Jordan Taylor leads by 7.2 seconds over Felipe Nasr. The same gap is back to the two Acura's of Juan Montoya and Alexander Rossi. Henrik Hedman is in the lane in the second placed LMP2 car. Roberto Gonzalez and Henrik Hedman run 1-2 in LMP2. 425 laps done for Gonzalez, and 424 for Hedman. So, both have roughly completed anywhere from 1,509 to 1,513 miles. It's a standard stop for #81. No dramas. Ah. A penalty assessed for the #11 Lamborghini for running over equipment in pit lane. Car #11 will need to serve a drive through penalty for the GRT Grasser car which has had two to three penalties in the race. There's also a GTD machine stopped on track.
This is the #71 P1 Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 with Fabian Schiller at the controls. That car is on the apron, coming around NASCAR turns three and four. Schiller stalled the car and he has recycled the car, trundling into the lane, look. There's a car at full speed, too. Schiller takes the Mercedes behind the wall. Attrition may be beginning to take it's toll. The #8 Starworks Audi has been in the pit lane for some time, however, it could be in the paddock. The Starworks Audi is likely behind the wall. Parker Chase actually went out, and Ryan Dalziel wonders where it is. The car will be fixed, but, oh dear. He hit the wall to driver's right, leaving the pit lane.
This is Parker Chase's first Rolex 24. But, he's far from the first driver to hit the wall coming out of pit lane at Daytona. The first bit of the pit lane exit doesn't have a wall, but the second bit does. With the release agent on the tires, it's like driving on ice. The #31 Cadillac pits from second. Felipe Nasr stays in the car for another stint. He gets four brand new tires and a windscreen tear off. The fuel hose came out too early! Oh dear. Nasr has only run 19 laps since his most recent pit stop. Hmmm. The Acura's continue pounding around in second and third in the overall. Ah. The second place car, #7 is in the lane for service.
It's a staggered tire stop. Alexander Rossi will stay in the car for another stint, and there's fuel added to the car. Now, the #71 Mercedes might have a broken shock on it. It was running very low on the banking earlier. Fabian Schiller took it behind the wall, but the pink car is now back into the race. In GT Le Mans, we missed something. Nick Tandy turns the best lap for the #911 Porsche 911 RSR at 1:42.963, passing Earl Bamber for the lead in class. BMW #25 is also in the hunt. Pit stop time too for the #10 Cadillac and the #6 Acura. They look to be changing the nose on that car. Yes. The clips have been detached, and reattached.
It was a longer pit stop for the #6, setting it up for more running in the darkness. We're not quite to the dawn yet. Nick Cassidy in the #14 Lexus has just done a stint, and the GT Daytona car is so different from a Super GT car that Nick Cassidy is used to. The Super GT cars are somewhat comparable to the Daytona Prototype International machines. Cassidy is from Auckland, New Zealand. He won one Super GT race and finished second in the championship in 2018. He is also racing in Super Formula open wheel cars. Nissan #54 is in the lane, look. It's a standard stop. They are seventh in the overall right now, six laps behind the leaders.
It is a standard stop for the #54 entry with Loic Duval still at the wheel. Olivier Pla pits Mazda #55 as well. Nick Tandy has pulled out 3.5 seconds on Earl Bamber in GTLM. Bamber is defending the attack from Augusto Farfus in BMW #25. The comes the #66 Ford GT, the #4 Corvtte, and the #62 Ferrari. In GT Daytona, the #88 of Frederic Vervisch leads. He is at the wheel of the #88 WRT Speedstar Audi emblazoned with the Canadian flag, the maple leaf, on it. Felipe Fraga holds down second in class aboard the #33 Wynn's historic liveried Mercedes AMG GT3. Cooper MacNeil has dropped to fifth in class in the #63 WeatherTech Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3. Corey Lewis is working his way back up and has latched himself onto the train and passed Cooper MacNeil. The comes Spencer Pumpelly in Lamborghini #44 for Magnus Racing.
Frederic Vervisch has three seconds in hand over Felipe Fraga with Ricardo Feller third, and again, Cory Lewis is fourth followed by Cooper MacNeil and Spencer Pumpelly. Justin Marks, Richard Heistand, and Ana Beatriz Figueredo are all in the hunt in GTD, nine cars on the lead lap. One lap down is the #11 GRT Grasser Lamborghini of Rik Breukers. It is now 4AM in Florida. The rain isn't too far away. Here's the hourly update. Jordan Taylor leads overall by 13 seconds over Felipe Nasr in the #31 Whelen Cadillac. Taylor has completed 442 laps (1,573 and a half miles). Alexander Rossi is third ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya. Now, the #55 Mazda of Olivier Pla is stopped on the circuit somewhere. He is a lap behind. Rubens Barrichello is sixth in the sole remaining JDC-Miller Motorsports "Banana Boat" Cadillac, car #85, ahead of Loic Duval in the #54 retro liveried CORE Autosport Nissan.
Roberto Gonzalez leads LMP2 in the #18 DragonSpeed car, with a minute and 20 seconds in hand over his team mate, the #81 car currently in the hands of Ben Hanley. Third in class, 11th overall, is the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca with Cameron Cassels at the wheel of it. The GT Le Mans class is headed by Nick Tandy in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR. Earl Bamber in the sister car is second followed by Augusto Farfus and Dirk Mueller, and then, Oliver Gavin. Frederic Vervisch leads GT Daytona by 3.1 seconds over Felipe Fraga, Ricardo Feller, Cory Lewis, and Cooper MacNeil.
Mazda #55 is moving again, but moving quite slowly. Olivier Pla lost over a minute, and stopped again. He's got a problem with the left rear wheel. He's had some argy bargy, some contact out on track. He's spun on the infield at the International Horseshoe, and the car is cocked at 45 degrees. Big damage to the rear left corner it seems. Was he collected by another car? It doesn't seem likely. The bodywork has been left to the left side of the circuit, and we do have a full course yellow. What happened here. All is well into the corner, and out of the corner, he gets biffed by someone. That's strange. One of the track marshals is assisting Olivier Pla.
We are now under our ninth full course yellow of the race at lap 444. 444 laps, 1,581 miles. Corvette #4 pits just before the yellow appears, which will pay dividends to that team. Porsche #911 will have Patrick Pilet taking over the car. He's suited and booted, ready to drive. Mazda are expecting the car back ASAP. They need new A arms, as something has broken for them to fix. Down pit lane, the leaders in DPi come. Jordan Taylor, Felipe Nasr, Alexander Rossi, and Juan Pablo Montoya. Rubens Barrichello is not on the lead lap but will pit. Alexander Rossi stays in the #7. He stalled the automobile and Felipe Nasr beats him out.
Jordan Taylor beats both of them out, so he will retain the lead. Acura #6 is having work done on the front end just like #7 a few moments ago. It's a suspsension adjustment for the Acura. They are probably setting up for the rain that will be here in an hour and a half. The Prototypes will move to the front of the queue on this yellow. There can be incremental changes to the car before we see raindrops. There will be two or so more pit stops before we see moisture. Showers at 5AM and rain at 6AM. Currently we're at 4:12 A.M. Eastern. Nose to tail GT traffic for pit stop action, look. Tandy, Bamber, Farfus, and Mueller are all in.
Both Porsche's are in the lane togther. The #4 Corvette stopped directly before this Full Course Yellow, and they will cycle to the top of the tree. Laurens Vanthoor has taken over the #912 Porsche. Montaplast by Land Audi are doing a brake change. The #57 Caterpillar Acura is doing their first brake change of the Rolex 24, with Katherine Legge at the wheel of it. Legge was second in last year's championship. This is right around the time where brake pad changes are expected. We have run 13 hours and 39 minutes of clock time. The #4 Corvette has regained a lap and is on the lead lap. Ditto, the #67 Ford GT, on the lead lap. The #71 Mercedes AMG GT3 comes back onto the speedway.
Felipe Fraga is still leading in GT Daytona. Dirk Werner pits the #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche 911 GT3R for scheduled service. A potential issue for the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R with no working headlights. Oh dear, oh dear. They did a brake pad change, too, and both Corvette's in for service. #4 on the lead lap and #3 many laps behind. Oliver Gavin is in the #4, and there is a brake change for both of the cars. We're headed back to green, now. They charge towards turn one as Jordan Taylor leads Felipe Nasr and Alexander Rossi who wants by Nasr for second, but can't quite make the move. Rossi and Cameron are close behind.
Rubens Barrichello is two laps behind, and now, Loic Duval has gone missing. Where is the #54 Nissan? Felipe Nasr inches up on Jordan Taylor. The two Cadillac's are nose to tail. Corvette #4 is back on track, and now, more issues for the #24 BMW M8 GT. There's more bodywork damage, and this time, the right front fender is damaged. Loic Duval is running well, and so maybe there was a glitch on timing and scoring. The #3 car had a planned brake change, and the #4 had plenty of bodywork damage that has now been bandaged up.
Neither of the Corvette's are on the lead lap in GTLM. But, they have time to get back into the fight. The leaders are back together as Jordan Taylor gets balked, and Nasr is trying Taylor on the outside, but Taylor gets a runh off turn six and slams the door in Nasr's face. 450 laps now in the books, 1,602 miles. The #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche is rejoining the race and the headlights seem to be working again. Nasr is close enough to Jordan Taylor to make a move, and now, steaming up behind them is Alexander Rossi. Nasr draws alongside Taylor. Nasr is fending off Rossi's challenge, too. There are some spits of rain falling in pit lane.
No visible raindrops yet. Oh. It's side by side stuff for Nasr and Taylor, and again, he tries the patented slam the door in your rival's face maneuver. He gave Nasr enough room. Nasr ducks to the bottom, and Nasr slides past Taylor into the race lead. Jordan Taylor deciding discretion is the better part of valor. Alexander Rossi is right with Jordan Taylor, closing up on the Cadillac. Next up is the kink before the west horseshoe from turn six up onto the NASCAR banking. Dane Cameron is on older tires that might be knackered by now. He is at the wheel of the #6 Penske Acura of course. Rubens Barrichello is fifth followed by Loic Duval.
The Porsche scrap is hot and heavy for the lead in GTLM. Patrick Pilet is running ahead of Laurens Vanthoor at the moment with nearly 14 hours on the board. Vanthoor is close, as the rotors glow cherry red into the braking zone. #54 is still running. That was a scoring glitch. There's a slight issue with looping the sector times. Sebastien Bourdais is being chased by Augusto Farfus, and Farfus has James Calado in the Ferrari next. The rain is starting to spritz down. It's just misting right now. But, it could get worse. There's always a doubt about grip on the circuit. One of the fixed cameras off of turn six, shows some raindrops. The rain band is moving in, and it will last for the whole rest of the race. Rain will come at 6AM and last until the evening hours of Sunday, so we won't avoid it at all.
The AIM Vasser Sullivan team and the Penske crew are already prepping wet weather Michelin tires. Raindrops also on Felipe Fraga's windscreen in the #33 Mercedes. The tires have to be ready at a moment's notice. This is a tough call. Someone hasd to blink first. One lap will see benefit for the wet tires, but we aren't there just yet. The banking drains pretty well, but the infield will be soaked if it starts raining hard. Keep an eye on the skies. The Porsche's are glued together. Sudden rain will be really dodgy. Tune in your weather radar and keep a wary eye on your windscreen. It's blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean it seems.
There are some different views on how the weather could go. The flags are blowing around down the start/finish straight. Don't be fooled by the direction of the wind. The weather is moving over NASCAR turn two, from the southwest from Naples. Wow. The big blob of green on the radar is working it's way in from the west. We are just moments from the coast. It's coming just from the west of us. The whole circuit will be awash. Red hot tires are going to be like dropping water onto a flaming hot stove. They wouldn't stand a chance. The water will get heavier and then the teams will really have to be on their toes. There's a long, long way to go yet. We have just seen a pit stop for the #38 Performance Tech Oreca. They didn't change to full on wets as it is nowhere near saturated enough with water to consider doing so at all just yet. We only have a light drizzle out there.
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