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.
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