We're underway! Jordan Taylor flies ahead of Felipe Nasr. There is a dry line into turn one and the GTD cars are three wide into the tri oval. Porsche #911 has gone ahead of the #62 Ferrari it appears. Calado runs ahead of Bamber. Nick Tandy is two laps in-arrears. Augusto Farfus in the #25 BMW M8 GT has gone ahead of Earl Bamber in the Porsche. Richard Westbrook is also in the queue in the #67 Ford, and we have a battle on at the front! Felipe Nasr is pressing Jordan Taylor on the high side! Jordan Taylor fights back on the inside and takes the spot, retaining the lead. It's a Cadillac vs. Cadillac duel! We've got a race on our hands at the front, look.
Nick Tandy goes to get one of his laps back and James Calado is still leading GTLM. We are within three hours to go and Jordan Taylor now completes 571 laps (2,033 miles). Taylor has gapped Nasr. Taylor is quicker on the oval, and Nasr is quicker on the infield. Side by side, look. They're pushing each other. Can Taylor do the slingshot? Surely. But Nasr won't give him the racing room. Taylor has to concede the spot. Hit your marks. Look after the car. Nasr and company won the 2018 championship. Nose to tail for the lead in GTLM as Augusto Farfus wants by James Calado. he has a peak and can't get by, as Calado slams the door in the face of the BMW M8 driver. This is a chess game on the road, look. That was all through the S curves.
Ferrari and BMW run 1-2 in GTLM with Porsche 1.3 seconds adrift. Calado's gap is growing and there's a stream of water in the Bus Stop. Now, the #10 Cadillac hits the pit lane. Jordan Taylor, out, and into the car, it's Fernando Alonso, "the Prince of Spain" getting into the car. He is not used to entering a wet track with cold tires and the #912 Porsche is in the lane. These are stone cold, wet weather, sticker tires for Alonso. He will have to tiptoe at first but then can perhaps pull the pin. Now, the battles in GTLM continue and the same is true in GTD. Jeff Segal has had a brilliant race with Frederic Vervisch next. This is the time of the race when the team manager becomes like a baseball manager. Who is pitching? What is the batting order? Fernando Alonso will have a long stint, but Kobayashi could bring it home.
Nasr is strong in the #31, and then, where do you fit Pipo Derani and Eric Curran back into the puzzle? Augusto Farfus is closing up on James Calado. He can't get by as the Ferrari rockets off the corner. Full Course Yellow again for debris at turns five and six on the road circuit. One of the GTD cars it appears, has walloped the signage out on course. Nick Tandy has been overtaken. We are now into a little lull in this motor race. The rain is coming down a little heavier now. What happened to that lull in the rain? It disappeared. The leaders are headed for pit lane, but there's been a clatter between Toni Vilander and Milos Pavlovic in the #47 Lamborghini for PPM. The stewards are reviewing the incident as the Acura is in the lane as is the #31 Cadillac. Four tires and a driver change.
Felipe Nasr is into the car. Acura are replacing a nose on the car as Fernando Alonso makes a scheduled pit stop for a right front tire. Maybe there was a vibration or a slow puncture. The wind and rain are increasing in this mecca of motorsport at Daytona. Jeff Segal lost the lead to Frederic Vervisch in GT Daytona before the yellow, and Jeroen Bleekemolen also made a pass. Daniel Morad has moved the #29 Audi ahead of the #73 Porsche 911 GT3R with Matt Campbell at the wheel of it. Romain Dumas is still holding off Devlin DeFrancesco. GTLM and GTD cars pit. Back in the early 1990s, there was no pit lane speed limit in this race, so drivers could book it into the lane and it was pretty harrowing stuff.
Pit out is so, so difficult here at Daytona. The #62 Ferrari has a quick, efficient stop as James Calado stays at the wheel. The #33 Wynn's liveried Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 was in. They had the bonnet up on that automobile. No driver change at BMW, only tires. But the inside edge tire tread is really worn down. More GTD cars were in the lane, looking for their pit box. We have another problem as the #81 DragonSpeed car is stopped, Henrik Hedman just came out of the lane in that car. The #33 Mercedes seems down on straight line speed. They changed the air filter on the car. We are beginning the final wave by.
Felipe Nasr leads Fernando Alonso, and Alexander Rossi. Romain Dumas is four laps away from the top three in the Nissan followed by Devlin DeFrancesco. He is fifth in the overall. There are GT cars in the lane, including the #24 BMW M8 GT. Richard Westbrook is leading GTLM and eons ago he had a penalty for an improper wave by and the Porsche had a splitter issue. Augusto Farfus in BMW #25 is next and then, two laps off the lead is the #911 Porsche 911 RSR in the hands of Nick Tandy. Matt Campbell leads GT Daytona over Daniel Morad and Toni Vilander, followed by Fredric Vervisch, Jeff Segal, Trent Hindman, Luca Stolz, Christian Engelhart, and Austin Cindric. Cindric was in pit lane just now.
Matt Campbell leads, and didn't pit during the Full Course Yellow. Spencer Pumpelly was a lap down already and trying to get the lead back. The track is indeed beginning to dry. Race Control has been doing the right job. But, the dry line is now getting wet again as we go back to green. Felipe Nasr gets a great restart and Henrik Hedman lost a wheel causing the most recent Full Course Yellow. Joao Barbosa stays out of the way of the leaders, last year's winner. Now, the #10 car has better traction than Felipe Nasr does. Who will get the better drive? No traction control, and Alonso is struggling for grip.
Alexander Rossi is waiting for the two blokes in the front to be crash test dummies, so he can slide right by into P1. The GTLM Corvette's have let a lot of the GTD cars by. Corvette just wants to finish this race. I'd rather be driving a GTD car in the wet because of the ABS and we have major damage for Toni Vilander in the Bus Stop! He's fine, trying to start the car, but it has big damage on the car, look. That car is headed for the junkyard. Thre's hugr damag for Vilander, and the #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche was also involved. Vilander can't see in the spray, the car ahead locks up the brakes, and... ker-runch! Vilander rams him in the back end, destroying the front of the WeatherTech Ferrari.
#540 is in the lane for repairs. The Porsche stood up to the impact really well, Dirk Werner at the controls. That was a daft move by Vilander. Blokes dive inside on restarts, and #540 is being pushed behind the wall. This is a short yellow. The front end of the #63 Ferrari is demolished. That'll be an incident responsibility penalty, maybe. Yours truly is shocked that would be done by someone of the caliber and experience of Toni Vilander. Leave a gap on the road in this rain. Drivers are feeling pressure. Toni Vilander had no visibility whatsoever. Brake failure is rare. You are more likely to have a stuck throttle.
Racing has really improved ABS. Keep turning the wheel. But, in racing, we are trained to fight a skid to 90 degrees, but after that, lock it down. With ABS, the computer is going bonkers. Back in the day with no ABS, you direct a car in a spin using the brakes. Don't get an ice pedal and you think you get the ABS, and the ABS doesn't work. How do you get ABS to work when the car is going backwards? You don't. When we go green, this race is going to hot up again. DPi and GTLM are going to be bonkers. GTD will, too, as it's anyone's race. Right. Shall we try again? We're away for the restart. Nasr gets a good jump heading to the inside of the tri-oval.
He chooses his braking point as Laurens Vanthoor and Richard Westbrook have some argy bargy. Nassr twitches on cold tires, running the rim shot, as Fernando Alonso is dfinding th swweet spot, and here comes Alexander Rossi. Rossi is going for it as well. It's a huge advantage to be in front. Keep your wits about you, adjusting the throttle, the wheel, and the brakes by mere milimeters. Nasr is the crash test dummy right now. Huge sideways moment for the leadr through the Bus Stop, rallycrossing that Cadillac! Yikes! Nasr was a Formula 1 driver, and he's gone back into turn one, too deep! We have Joao Barbosa in the #5 Cadillac spinning, and a big spin for the #54 Nissan of Loic Duval! If you get off the road in turn one, you are in trouble, as the #47 Lamborghini of Mil,os Pavlovic also loses it.
For a brief moment, Loic Duval was headed for a head on collision with Joao Barbosa in the Cadillac! Mamma Mia! That was close! Daniel Morad has passed Matt Campbell in GT Daytona, and of course the Audi R8 is only allowed to be rear wheel drive as a GT3 race car, and it's All Wheel Drive system is prohibited per the IMSA regs. Off at the Bus Stop is the sole remaining "Banana Boat", the JDC-Miller Cadillac. Devlin DeFrancesco has the car pointed in the right direction. Now, is there damage to the rear suspension of that car?
He's going grass tracking and flying through puddles. Alonso just went right outside the line in turn one and stays on the road! Wow! Morad is off, and the Ferrari follows him off with Calado driving in the #62 car. Richard Westbrook ahead, and Nick Tandy spins in turn one. Tandy can't see a thing out of his windscreen, look. You can't stop once you get outside the right side line, as there's four inches of water out there. The weather is coming again, and the rain is coming again. You can't see the condos on the A1A highway. James Calado is on the high side, passing Daniel Morad, and he doesn't have the braking. Nasr opens the gap on ALonso, and don't throw it away in the Bus Stop!
Fred Vervisch has dropped behind. Everyone knows they are racing for the win in case there is a red flag. Nasr is going for it, but the track is gtting worse as the #19 Moorespeed Audi R8 of Andrew Davis loops it onto the banking. This could be the win right here. The tension is so thick, you could cut it with a knife. The weather can't be more than ten minutes away. Alonso on the high line, Nasr on the low line, and Nasr has almost gone off the road as the BMW navigates traffic. Westbrook leads Calado in GTLM as Alexander Rossi goes off the road from third. These boys are right on the limit. It's so tough. Nick Tandy off the road and back on again. Splish splash, jumping through the puddles at turn six. You have no clue where the car is going when you hit the brakes.
The water is so deep, you have an E brake on the car, an emergency brake. Rolex Submariners should be rewarded, not Daytona's. Fernando Alonso is behind by 2.4 seconds over Nasr as Rossi has dropped by 11 seconds as Alonso locks up and slides through the west horseshoe! Wow! Problems for the #66 Ford and the #29 leading Audi in GTD has spun off the road! Daniel Morad is off in turn one. Can he get it turned around and back into the race? He's lost a place to Luca Stolz. He's dropped in behind Christian Engelhart as well. Another car is off and it's hard to see in the dense spray. It was Augusto Farfus in the #25 BMW! Whoa!
THhis is serious stuff now, and the battle at the front is really going for it. Rally drivers like Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier would be delighted by this. A spin now, for the #8 retro Audi Sport liveried Starworks Audi R8. That's a dangerous spot and it's Christopher Haase at the controls! He gts it back on the road, but man, that was precarious! Katherine Legge is trying to make up places and she also takes to the grass. So many blokes are going off the road, as one of the Juncos cars and the JDC-Miller car goes off. Alonso goes into the lead of the motor race as Felipe Nasr slides off in turn one! This is going to turn the motor race totally on it's head, ladies and gentlemen!
Nasr can't get the car slowed down and out there on the greasy stuff, on the wet patch, he mercifully does not hit the tire barriers! Oh my God! That was too close! Fernando Alonso now leads. Nasr will be kicking himself, and now Luca Stolz has spun the Mercedes under pressure from Christian Englehart's Lamborghini. He's back on track. It's all happening now. Holy mackerel! The #911 Porsche has gone off at the Bus Stop and is right in the middle of the exit of the corner! Deary me, it's really treacherous out there! Tandy turns the Porsche into a hydrofoil through a puddle on the apron! Yikes!
The conditions are changing every lap as Augusto Farfus has made a pass on James Calado. If you let your heart rule your head, BMW winning after the death of Charlie Lamm the Thursday before this race, would be amazing. That's not saying others don't deserve to win. Minimal movement on the steering wheel, and these conditions are like driving on ice. Do you keep Alonso in the car or do a driver change with two hours to go to Kamui Kobayashi? Again, the "Banana Boat" has become a hydrofoil, and the flying banana spins again. Poor old Devlin DeFrancesco is all over the whirligig this time, both backwards and sideways.
Another Full Course Yellow, as there are problems again, look, for the #18 LMP2 car for DragonSpeed! Sebastian Saavedra has clouted the wall. Oh, Sebastian, be careful sunshine. The #67 Ford GT has ducked to the lane for emergency service, because technically, pit lane is closed. Augusto Farfus takes the GTLM lead in the BMW! Wow! Where did Saavedra go off? He runs wide in turn one and you can't pinch the corner in turn one as Alonso nearly hits the stranded LMP2 machine! Dear me! Unbelievable! When in doubt, straighten it out. Jeepers creepers! The rain is coming down in buckets now with two hours left. The watches are polished, but we still don't know who will wear them.
No comments:
Post a Comment