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.
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