Darkness is beginning to fall, as we are at the restart to begin the fourth hour and Helio Castroneves makes up two places, but nearly whams his team mate! Helio Castroneves has lit the afterburners! He'll be laughing his head off after that one, look. Rene Rast leads and the LMP2 cars are singing their tires at the moment. Virtual fireworks towards turn one as they go through the chicane. Rene Rast has gone to the race lead and the #24 BMW M8 GT is back on track. The car was dropped off it's jacks, and there was some connector damage on the steering column. Harry Tincknell is reeling in Chris Miller in the #84 Cadillac, as Tincknell locks the brakes, look. Rene Rast has now run 99 laps, (352 miles).
Even though Christian Fittipaldi is in the lead pack, he is 12 laps down now. Christopher Mies leads Christopher Haase in GT Daytona, as Tommy Milner passes him for position as Milner is fourth in GTLM. All of the sister factory GTLM cars have had troubles compared to their team mates so far in this motor race. Christopher Mies, Townsend Bell, and Mario Farnbacher, are the top three runners presently in the GT Daytona class. The #67 Ford GT, the Castrol liveried car, makes it's way past the #57 Caterpillar sponsored MSR Acura NSX GT3 with Christina Nielsen at the controls right now. BMW #25 has gone back onto the lead lap in GT Le Mans now.
100 laps up, now, (356 miles), for Rene Rast. The battle for fifth in the overall is hot and heavy, between two Cadillac's. Fernando Alonso wants by Eric Curran. Alonso professionally decides discretion is definitely the better part of valor at this stage. New fast lap in LMP2 as Nicolas Lapierre is trying hard to catch up with team mate Pastor Maldonado. The battle is hotting up in GTD as Christopher Haase is looking for a way by Christina Nielsen at the moment. After losing gobs of position, Laurens Vanthoor is working his way back into the fold in the #912 Porsche 911 RSR in GTLM.
Ryan Dalziel makes a valid point that the weather is warmer at the Roar test session compared to the race. Ryan Dalziel is glad to be reunited with Starworks and team boss Peter Baron. Rene Rast puts in a lap at 1:35.519 in the leading Mazda. Juan Pablo Montoya did the fastest lap so far, 1:43 dead on lap 53 or so. Fernando Alonso has made a pass on Eric Curran, taking fourth place. Mazda, Acura, Acura, Cadillac, Cadillac, Mazda. Laurens Vanthoor is being told to save fuel, but also to fend off the challenge of Antonio Garcia. Townsend Bell and the #12 Lexus is having communication issues between the spotter and the car. That's going to be a difficult thing to deal with if they can't fix it. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso has made a pass on Dane Cameron for third and he is chasing Helio Castroneves.
Pastor Maldonado is reeling off some sensational laps in LMP2, at 1:36.8, going quicker than his closest rival and team mate Nicolas Lapierre. The lead between them is 1.2 seconds, and Enzo Guibbert in third spot in class for PR1 Mathiasen is not far away. Guibbert is only a tenth off of Maldonado's times. The air conditions are just about perfect for the LMP2 cars. Miguel Molina is leading GT Le Mans by a second over Tommy Milner, Patrick Pilet, and Dirk Mueller. Alonso sets a new best lap at 1:35.434. Dane Cameron, Eric Curran, and Harry Tincknell are coming, and Curran has gone around Tincknell for position.
A few cars are running sans headlights, including the #44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Surprised the marshals have not put out the headlights on message.; Alonso passes the Roman De Angelis driven #88 Audi R8 LMS, the car adorned with the Canadian maple leaf. Alonso meanwhile, look, has the draft on Helio Castroneves. The Formula 1 World Champion is looking to make the pass on the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner. Castroneves is yusing the traffic to his advantage. Alonso is making his move on Castroneves in the braking zone for turn one! Yikes!
Alonso sets up Castroneves, but into the next right hand curve, Castroneves slams the door in his face. Extraordinary racing as the top three is covered by a quarter of a second. Cameron, Curran, and Tincknell are also nose to tail. Traffic ahead, look. Back onto the banking another time. Nothing in it at the front right now. The #18 DragonSpeed car is making up time, Pastor Maldonado still at the wheel of it, leading LMP2 as we are in the gathering gloom here at Daytona. Harry Tincknell has gone ahead of Eric Curran for fifth place. Harry Tincknell is catching Dane Cameron, and three of the Cadillac's are in it. Chris Miller, Misha Goikhberg, and Will Owen.
Rene Rast is still in the lead of this motor race. Alonso is level with Castroneves coming to the kink and he has to concede once again to avoid playing a game of chicken. Down the back straightaway, Alonso is evenly matched with Castroneves. It's Cadillac vs. Acura. Alonso is able to pass. He's up to second overall now. The Cadillac and the Acura were neck and neck for the longest time. Rene Rast on the high line through the tri oval, is being caught by Alonso as well. Alonso is a rocket out of turn six. Fernando is coming in a hurry. He's hanging back to get a run on the Mazda. The Mazda is pulling away, nearly blocked by one of the factory Porsche's.
There's still only 6/10ths of a second in LMP2 between Pastor Maldonado and Nicolas Lapierre as well. Alonso dives to the inside in corner number one and takes the lead from Rene Rast. The #10 Cadillac leads the Rolex 24 for the first time in 2019. Alonso is likely to open a gap up on Rene Rast, who is a former champion in the DTM in Germany, for the tin top cars. Harry Tincknell is chasing after Dane Cameron. It's Acura vs. Mazda. Tommy Milner in the #4 Corvette leads GT Le Mans, while Christopher Mies in the #29 Land Motorsports Audi R8 leads GT Daytona.
The #5 Action Express Cadillac is back on track, and did pit to top off the fuel tank. But, they had to replace the battery. Christian Fittipaldi stayed at the wheel. Remember, this is Christian Fittipaldi's final endurance race and the final race of his career before he moves into a team management role at Action Express for the rest of the season. Consternation for the #44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini, a car running currently sans it's headlights, which will have to be addressed on the next pit stop. It's been a bit of a fraught section of the race for John Potter, Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly, and Marco Mapelli.
It is just about 6PM in the evening, here at Daytona. These cars entry speeds are amazing. The racing is very, very close, and Hurley Haywood says he's truly enjoying it. Mazda #77 is still pushing hard. Conceivably, with the track lighting only at 20% power, you could race at Daytona in the darkness without headlights. But the rules stipulate the use of headlights for endurance races, and the dark places on the course are the Bus Stop chicane and also, the kink on the infield road course. Fernando Alonso leads Rene Rast now by five seconds.
Mazda #55 is in the lane for scheduled service. Same for the #31 Cadillac. Fernando Alonso, too, brings the leading #10 Cadillac to pit lane and to the attention of Wayne Taylor Racing's pit crew. The GRT Grasser Lamborghini has been given a mechanical black flag, a "meatball" flag which is a black flag with a red circle in the middle. Also, the #18 DragonSpeed car has spun out on the circuit on the high banks. Fernando Alonso will stay in the car getting new tires and fuel. Acura also in the lane. Correction, the spinning LMP2 machine was the #52, the Enzo Guibbert driven entry that he shares with Matt McMurry, Gabriel Aubry, and Mark Kvamme.
Nissan #54 is in the lane for scheduled service with the retro NPTI livery on the car. Two FIA World Endurance champions are in that car. Loic Duval will take over from Romain Dumas. Fernando Alonso has a massive lockup of the front brake coming out of pit lane on cold Michelin's. Be super cautious on the out lap from the lane. Stone cold tires on a cold race track is not a good combination of factors. Another Lamborghini has been given the meatball flag by the marshals. That's the #46 Ebimotors car that we saw in strife during the opening daylight hours, being shared by Emanuelle Busnelli, Fabio Babini, and Giacomo Altoe, all Italian's along with American Taylor Proto.
Everyone wants to race the Rolex 24, whether they are Formula 1 drivers, sports car drivers, stock car drivers, or IndyCar drivers. The Mazda and Acura battle continues apace. It's Tristan Nunez vs. Alexander Rossi vs. Simon Pagenaud vs. Harry Tincknell. Pipo Derani is in close attendance in the #31 Cadillac. Fernando Alonso is whistling off into the distance. He is now 13 seconds exactly, clear of Alexander Rossi in Acura #7. Tristan Nunez has now passed Alexander Rossi back. We are beginning 13+ hours of darkness. Harry Tincknell is having a go as Pipo Derani has made the pass and Simon Pagenaud is also right there.
Here comes Tincknell on the high line in the tri oval, look. Fernando Alonso's lead has ballooned to 16 seconds. Corvette #4 is in the pit lane for scheduled service. Christopher Mies brings the #29 Audi into pit lane and Mies stays in the car for another stint. Lexus #12 is also into the pit lane and a new driver is in that car as well. Riley Motorsports services and sends the Mercedes #33 and Felipe Fraga stays behind the wheel. There was damage to the #12 Lexus, the front valance and splitter, needing racer's tape. Will Owen has taken over from Kyle Kaiser in the #50 Juncos Racing Cadillac, which was dinged for speeding in the lane just as the #47 car was as well, the PPM Lamborghini.
Whoops! The #50 Juncos Racing Cadillac is stopped out on course. Christopher Haase brings the #8 Starworks Audi to the lane for service. Haase will hand the car to one of his co-drivers and this also puts Austin Cindric at the wheel of the sister AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 into the class lead. Cindric is sharing car #14 with Richard Heistand, Jack Hawksworth, and Nick Cassidy. Dominik Farnbacher also brings the #63 Ferrari, the Scuderia Corsa WeatherTech sponsored car, to the lane. Likewise, Patrick Pilet is in the pits now in the leading #911 Porsche in GTLM.
The Juncos Racing Cadillac is still stopped dead stick out on course. Presumably, Laurens Vanthoor is now at the wheel of the #911 Porsche after the pit stop, and the #3 Corvette is now hitting pit lane. Hang on, Fred Makowiecki. Wrong car there, Bruber, get it right next time. Meanwhile, Antonio Garcia is now out of the #3 Corvette. The pit lane is closed now, since we are going full course yellow to move the stricken #50 Juncos Racing Cadillac. Since the pit lane is closed, you cannot come in. So, a lucky break for Corvette Racing? That could be the case.
Car #88 is lucky, getting to the lane just before it closed when the yellow appeared. That is the WRT Speedstar car, the Vervisch/van der Linde/James/de Angelis entry.The yellow flags we've soon so far have been relatively short. Texan Will Hardeman is in his first Rolex 24, sharing the #19 Moorespeed Audi R8 sharing with team mate Alex Riberas from Spain, Markus Winkelhock from Germany, and fellow American Andrew Davis. Cadillac leads with Fernando Alonso over Tristan Nunez, Alexander Rossi, and Simon Pagenaud, followed by Harry Tincknell and Pipo Derani. Nicolas Lapierre leads Sebastian Saavedra in LMP2.
Alexander Rossi also raced here with the Deltawing back in 2014-2015 or so. Nico Lapierre and Sebastian Saavedra lead LMP2 in the DragonSpeed cars. Porsche and Fred Makowiecki leads GT Le Mans. n Marcel Fassler is second in class for Corvette while Phillip Eng has BMW in third driving the #25 car, and Davide Rigon is fourth in the Ferrari, as well as Dirk Mueller for Ford in fifth in class. Mario Farnbacher, Christopher Mies, Felipe Fraga, and Justin Marks, are the top four drivers in the GT Daytona scrap to this point in the race. Ferrari, Audi, Mercedes, Acura. Fifth in class is Patrick Lindsey, sixth is Paul Dalla Lana. Porsche and Ferrari, respectively. Now, speaking of Ferrari, under full course yellow, problems for the #63 WeatherTech Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3.
It is moving slowly on the apron of the speedway. It's our GT Daytona leader! Dominik Farnbacher has come to grief out on the circuit. Oh dear. Pit lane is open for Prototypes. Pit stop time for the Prototypes. Mazda #77 pits and so does the sister #55. A very close shave between #55 and #77! Yikes! Fuel only for the #10 Cadillac and for the #6 Penske Acura. Emergency service for the #912 Porsche as the GTLM and GTD cars can't pit yet. Both JDC-Miller Cadillac's pitted, but #85 hits the tire of #84. The #18 DragonSpeed car also exits the lane. Emergency service, in case you are wondering, allows a five second splash of fuel so the tank doesn't run dry while running behind the safety car.
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