It's time to catch a collective breath now that we have a yellow flag. This racing has been extraordinary. Sebastian Saavedra has made it back to the lane for a new nose and yet, another clatter, as the rain is tipping down. This is as bad as it was when the red flag came out. We're going to surely stay under yellow. John Dagys from Sportscar365 has said, "no one wants to win LMP2". Well, the same could be true of GTD. Grasser Racing leads GTD. Christian Engelhart leads Daniel Morad, Jeff Segal, Frederic Vervisch, Trent Hindman, five cars on the lead lap in GTD. We have to find Nick Cassidy in the #14 Lexus, trapped behind the safty car. The Bus Stop is soaked. It is more scary in a race car to hydroplane off the road. Augusto Farfus was ahead of James Calado and we have a red flag. The red flag is out. Ford #67 comes into the lane for fuel from the lead in GTLM. Farfus leads Calado and Westbrook. In LMP2, it's survival of the fittest. Sebastian Saavedra leads over Cameron Cassels, and Henrik Hedman has fallen like a stone.
At the top of the shop, Fernando Alonso leads Felipe Nasr and Alexander Rossi. We've been here before, and we red flag the motor race again at 12:39 P.M. Eastern Time. Write that time down. If the race was called, it would be official. We've awarded all points for the Michelin Endurance Cup as the last set of points were awarded at the 18 hour mark. The track is getting wetter and wetter. The rain is torrential. #81 didn't have a loose wheel, but they had an upright problem. Drive time was needed for Henrik Hedman. Elton Julian has lost one of his cars, maybe. It was a sheared upright on the car. Fernando Alonso is discussing things with the safty car driver. If you are leading the motor race, of course you want it stopped.
Nasr had this motor race in the bag. He's going to be gutted if it is stopped now. No one in GTD wants to win. The #11 class leading Lamborghini is under reviw for a pass under yellow by the stewards which would promote Daniel Morad back to the lead. Richard Westbrook got snookered just before this race got stopped. Rivers of water running down the banking as we check the order under this second red flag at the Rolex. Fernando Alonso leads in the #10 Cadillac followed by Cadillac #31 and Acura #7, Nissan follows with #54, and Devlin DeFrancesco in the #85 Cadillac, the surviving JDC-Miller Cadillac. Sebastian Saavedra leads Cameron Cassels by six laps in LMP2 with Henrik Hedman third, and it may be game over for Hedman and company. The top car in GT Le Mans is Augusto Farfus in the #25 BMW M8 GTE. James Calado is second in the #62 Ferrari, followed by the bloke who could bee the unluckiest man at Daytona, Richard Westbrook in the #67 Ford GT.
He was leading moments before the red flag to get emergency service. In GTD, Christian Engelhart is under review by the stewards. Daniel Morad was leading, in second at the moment, ahad of Jeff Segal, Frederic Vervisch, Trent Hindman, and Nick Cassidy. When was Richard Westbrook leading? Before the first yellow, not during the red flag. The visibility has been horrible, not knowing where the puddles are, causing aquaplaning. Rubens Barrichello explains this. Right now, it is impossible to race with the standing water, says Barrichello. We cannot race and put everyone in danger. The pattern has been established. Green flag to yellow flag to green flag and back to yellow. It's hard to see. The visibility and fog are terrible.
Matt Campbell says he hasn't driven in conditions like this in his whole life. He and his co-drivers are still on the lead lap. It was emergency service for the #67, on an alternative strategy. #67 may have come to a closed pit under yellow. We've been under red so far for 16 minutes. The safety vehicles are waiting until the rain eases up. There's no choice with the visibility issues, but to put out the red flag. The lap times were coming down and what an amazing battle between Felipe Nasr and Fernando Alonso. Holy smokes. It'll be difficult to get the race back underway. There's a lot of green patches on the weather radar.
Christian Fittipaldi says the race didn't go the way he wanted in his final professional race after 30 years and starting in Formula 3. But, he's amazed at the driving at the front of this motor race. Fittipaldi wishes the rain would let up and have the race go green. Christian Fittipaldi won't drive again, but give the man a round of applause. Fittipaldi has won the Rolex 24 three times, including last year. Fittipaldi will keep being a consultant with Action Express Racing. Porsche #99, both Mazda's #77 and #55, #51 Ferrari, Mercedes #71... so many cars hav retired, and after a fraught race, the #47 Lamborghini is still pounding around. The #540 Black Swan Porsche, #52 Oreca (which was written off), Christopher Haase in the Starworks Audi got caught out.
No one can be invisible in these conditions. In this rain, if you weren't prepared to experiment, you weren't going to go any faster, like being a rally driver during the 1960s or a single seater driver in the 1970s on the old cross ply tires. Sprint car drivers, rally drivers, and ice racing drivers, would be in their element here today at Daytona. You have to be prepared to have the car wiggle around on you. Find out where the edge of adhesion is. Big wiggles out of turn six, we've seen that. It's been extremely wild, and these chaps are used to having the cars dance around on them.
Turn one could be freer of water if the slightly slower cars like GTD, sweep water away. The excitement as we close in on the end of this race, is palpable. Alonso, Nasr, Rossi... all of these boys were flying before the red flag, trying to find half a tenth here, half a second there. Unreal. Alonso ran wide a few times, but he saved the Cadillac. These guys are dealing with the visibility at ground level, and it's incredible. You have no clue how deep the water is. All that is seen is shininess of the water.
Third in GT Le Mans, is the #67 Ford GT with Ryan Briscoe driving. It was supposed to be a routine fuel stop for them before the yellow flag flew. Then, the red flags came out right away. This might just be the end of the motor race. We have to wait and find out. Briscoe believes he and his co-drivers are leading, but we'll see. The rain isn't easing off at all. Cars were crashing all over the shop and the drivers complained about how undrivable the conditions are. Timing and scoring would go back to the lap before the red flag. The red flag was shown at the end of the 571st lap for GTLM runners.
It's interesting to have a BMW M8 leading GTLM. But, they are leading now. They didn't qualify well, but they've focused on race pace more or less. Porsche's and Ford's have had their problems, and maybe with a larger shape, the BMW could pull through all this rain. In GT Daytona, there was a marshals' message about the #11 Lamborghini being investigated for passing under yellow. 23 GT Daytona cars entered this motor race, roughly half the field. The Christian Engelhart driven Lamborghini has kept their noses clean for the most part besides penalties from the stewards. The pass under yellow was under review a half hour ago, but there will be no further action taken for GRT Grasser.
Sebastian Saavedra still leads LMP2. He's been through the wars so far. He says "it's been the roughest 3-4 hours of my life. My spotter is my eyes. It's dangerous out there. You should see how drenched it is inside the cars. We have no telemetry. It's been completely destroyed. I want the Rolex really bad. Make sure the watch is waterproof." Officially, IMSA Race Control are working on the track, and an update will be available at 2PM Eastern Time. Here's an hourly update. Top of the shop, #10 Cadillac, #31 Cadillac, #7 Acura, #54 Nissan -4 laps. LMP2, #18 DragonSpeed Oreca, #38 Performance Tech Oreca -4 laps, #81 DragonSpeed Oreca -22 laps.
GT Le Mans has the #25 BMW leading the #62 Ferrari, and #67 Ford, all on the lead lap. Both Porsche's are a lap and two laps down for #912 and #911. For GT Daytona, the #11 Lamborghini leads the #29 Audi followed by the #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus, the #88 WRT Speedstar Audi, and the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3. Race Control is still working on how the race could come out with an hour and 15 minutes to go. James Calado says that if the standing water becomes too much, it is too dangerous and you are hanging on for dear life at 90 degrees on the banking.
Rule 47:1 scoring stops during the stoppage of a race according to Standard Supplemental Regulations in the IMSA rule book. Augusto Farfus has done very well. Tom Blomqvist would have also done really well, had he been here. He ran in the European and World Touring Car Championship with Alfa Romeo. We will wait for a further announcement in 35 minutes or so and the #52 Oreca will likely lose it's car cover if someone does not grab it. The same is true for the #88 Audi, the Canadian maple leaf Audi. Rule 27.4.5 is the rule referring to a race stoppage. Lap times in progress are void, referring to the last "complete" time for each car.
So, let us have a distance check. So far, 594 laps done and dusted, (2,115 miles). Check that. 593 laps (2,111 miles, even). Timing is corrected either during a red flag or after a race is over. Ian James says he's never seen rain this bad in all his years of racing, and says if it keeps raining, the race won't resume. James says it's been an honor to race with Audi Canada and WRT. Here are some of the fastest laps by class.
Via Italia Racing, #13 Ferrari 488 GT3 (GTD) 1:44.5
DragonSpeed, #81 Oreca LMP2 (LMP2) No fast time given
BMW Team RLL #25 BMW M8 GT (GTLM) 1:42.9
Whelen Engineering Racing #31 Cadillac DPi-V.R (DPi) 1:34.5
Townsend Bell says that the risk of going back out is really high. Drivers are helpless and caught out. But, he gives credit to co-driver Jeff Segal for all his hard work. Drivers are 50/50 on going back out. No sunshine is going to be seen, but Race Director Beau Barfield has the right idea. Hours ago, 12 cars were or are on the lead lap in GTD. It's fun to see the advantages that different manufacturers have in differing conditions. Michelin has brought a wonderful tire, but mentally, this is really tough. The clock is ticking down towards an hour to go. We remain under a red flag, and have been for 55-56 minutes.
An update is coming at 2PM Eastern time, 25 minutes from now. Another hour to go. Stay tuned for whatever the finish of this motor race may bring us.
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