Derek Bell has joined the IMSA Radio broadcast crew as we begin the fifth hour of the Rolex 24. So many memories as we begin the 50th anniversary of IMSA. Derek Bell was here back in 1970 with the Gulf Porsche 917's and John Wyer. We continue under the yellow flag. As far as the new lap record for the Mazda and Oliver Jarvis has smashed the record of the GTP cars and the Toyota back in 1993. The Toyota's were really, really quick cars. They had loads of power in qualifying and didn't have to show much, although the Porsche 962 still had 700 horsepower at the time. Pit stop time now for the GT cars including GTLM and GTD. Ford, Corvette, Ferrari, and more. Porsche and Lamborghini in the lane. It's a massive traffic jam and poor old Pfaff Motorsports have had a tough go of it, and even more so since they were boxed in by the Ebimotors Lamborghini, car #46.
There was a Ferrari stopped at the end of the lane, and the light was green at pit exit. BMW #24 did a splash and a dash to try to get back on the lead lap. Some very odd procedural mistakes by professional teams so far. Race cleverly, and use strategy smartly. That's the key to these modern endurance events. Don't panic. You have to be there at the end on Sunday afternoon, chaps. Derek Bell has run with the works Porsche's the 935's, 956's and 962's, as well as the Ferrari 333SP with Gianpiero Moretti, the late, great IMSA campaigner and owner of the Momo performance company.
The infield road course is more technical than people give it credit for. The banking is fast, and the road course is very point and squirt.
Sebring is fast, but has the bumps, and then, Le Mans is incredibly fast, and billiard table smooth despite being a public road. Handling is a major asset here at Daytona. The guys are braking so late for the chicane now and riding the curbs. It looks like a 20 minute touring car sprint race. These cars have a lot more downforce on them today. In the earlier days, there were ground effects, but now, the downforce is mind blowing. Problems for the #5 Cadillac. The wiring harness is being adjusted in the back of the car. They've also had a battery issue. Christian Fittipaldi wants a final win before he retires from driving, but it is doubtful at this point, that glory will come his way.
Again, we are in full darkness here at Daytona, and we are rady to race once more. Fernando Alonso controls the field, and we're back underway! One of the JDC-Miller Cadillac's gets a massive jump, and Harry Tincknell in the #55 Mazda locks up the brakes. Alonso runs wide at the International Horseshoe, but he is on it indeed. Alonso, if he wins Indianapolis, the Indy 500, with McLaren this year ot next year, Graham Hill did that the last time. We don't see too many drivers allowed to run in different races anymore. Once you are committed to a series, you are committed. Now, the DPi chaps are flying through traffic at the moment.
Meanwhile, direct your attention to the banking. A problem, look, for the #44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini. It appears to be a cut down left rear tire. Somehow, he's had a clatter in the left rear of that car, and it's pushed the fender onto the tire. Remedial service is needed on that racer ASAP. The Magnus Lamborghini has car/team owner John Potter at the wheel of it right now. This kind of thing can happen on restarts, and the bloke ought to slow down. It could have been one of the Porsche's that clipped the Lamborghini. He's in the lane now for service. It's got to be just the rear fender on the left side. Fuel the car, too.
Meanwhile, it's amazing to see Alonso's versatility. Formula 1, IndyCar, sports cars. Magnus has the trouble with the Lamborghini fixed. Rip the bodywork off the car so it doesn't scrape. Mistakes will cost you, and the #912 Porsche has been caught out. They didn't come back to the lane after emergency service, causing a ten second penalty from the stewards. Don't make mistakes. Don't compound the error. Fernando Alonso has been reeling off some good laps. 1:35.50 and 1:35.68, his most recent times. The fastest lap, 1:35.43. Fernando Alonso is going for it, and Alexander Rossi is also running extremely well in the #7 Penske Racing Acura.
During a full course yellow, you can come out onto an empty track. Once the traffic starts, back off a shade. The track temperature is still crucial. Felipe Fraga is maneuvering, trying to gof rht elead in class in GT Daytona, chasing Christopher Mies. That Mercedes AMG GT3 is very quick. He got a double draft and Mies is in a major scrap with Felipe Fraga. Fernando Alonso lowers his best lap time as Marcel Fassler goes outside Felipe Fraga. This is the beauty of multiple classes racing together. GT Le Mans and GT Daytona, both dicing. You can get closer in the banking and lose time in the braking zone.
Phillip Eng must be losing some patience as he cannot work his GTLM class BMW M8 GT past the two aforementioned GT Daytona machines, the Audi and the Mercedes. He'll have a go, and try to get by two blokes at the same time, and Eng is held up by the Audi, super quick in a straight line. Eng makes the pass on the high side. GTLM and GTD are so close together, and there's really, what, five miles per hour of difference between the two classes. They are extremely evenly matched. Audi vs. Mercedes vs. Acura vs. Porsche vs. Lexus vs. Ferrari. So many manufacturers in GT Daytona, in addition to Ford, Ferrari, BMW, Chevrolet, and Porsche in GTLM. Felipe Fraga has passed Christopher Mies, as Pipo Derani passses Simon Pagenaud for fifth overall in the DPi class.
The organizers working on Balance of Performance is working pretty well. The public want to be entertained by these races. Fernando Alonso is eking out a tad of a lead, look. He's four seconds up the road from Alexander Rossi, followed by the two Mazda's of Harry Tincknell and Tristan Nunez, and the fifth place Nissan for CORE Autosport, car #54, in the hands of Loic Duval, presently. Duval is right on top of Pipo Derani, a former Nissan driver, now in a Cadillac. Simon Pagenaud is another bloke who can race anything. He's done IndyCar and sports cars equally well. At this time, we are searching for car #84, the first of the two "banana boat" Cadillac's from JDC-Miller Racing, which is shown as being in pit lane.
Simon Trummer came to the lane, and #84 has gone behind the wall as we see drafting between Pipo Derani and Dane Cameron, balked by the #9 Pfaff Porsche. Whoops! We have a spin, look. Who has rotated on the whirligig this time? At first glance it appeared to be the leading #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac. But, closer inspection reveals the spinner to be Mazda #55. This car is second in the overall. Harry Tincknell at the wheel of it. There's damage on the car, and he can't seem to re-fire the engine. Tincknell had just gone ahead of the Acura, car #7 of Alexander Rossi. Does the car have damage to the right rear bodywork?
Tincknell gets drilled by Katherine Legge in the #57 Caterpillar sponsored Acura, as he was slowing to avoid another car, and he's sent spinning 'round like a top because of that. Tincknell has the car pointed back in the right direction, and we see that Katherine Legge certainly nerfed the Mazda out of the way, look. Simon Trummer lost power in the #84 "Banana Boat" Cadillac for JDC-Miller Motorsports. Why did it happen? A windshield tear off was sucked into the air intake on the V8 motor, and they were fortunate to be able to clear out that debris, restart the engine and send Simon Trummer back on his way.
Trummer is of course sharing the car with Stephen Simpson, Chris Miller, and Juan Piedrahita. The car was refueled and Trummer is sent on his way. The previous incident between the Mazda and the Acura NSX was a racing incident. The DPi couldn't fully put the welly down because he had to avoid one of the other cars. Incident responsibility has to be considered. So, we look at where the leaders are, and Fernando Alonso is still in P1, holding a 12 second margin over Alexander Rossi. Tristan Nunez in the Mazda is next followed by the sister Acura #6 of Simon Pagenaud, Pipo Derani in the #31 Cadillac, and Loic Duval in the beautiful retro liveried #54 CORE Autosport Nissan DPi carrying the red, white, and blue colors of the NPTI factory Nissan GTP cars froim the late 1980s and early 1990s.
We have a new leader in the LMP2 division as Matt McMurry assumes the lead in class aboard the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Oreca he is sharing with Gabriel Aubry, Mark Kvamme, and Enzo Guibbert. The two DragonSpeed cars are still running consistently, too, with Sebastian Saavedra at the wheel of #18 and at the keyboard of #81, it is Nicolas Lapierre. Porsche leads GTLM with Fred Makowiecki driving the #911 car, ahead of the #4 Corvette with Marcel Fassler, and now, he is being hotly pursued by Phillip Eng in the #25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GT. In GT Daytona, Felipe Fraga continues to lead in class in the #33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes, with Christopher Mies and Austin Cindric next, followed by Justin Marks and a battle between the P1 Mercedes, #71 and the Park Place Motorsports Porsche, car #73.
It has been announced that the stewards in Race Control will examine the incident between Harry Tincknell and Katherine Legge. Drivers enjoy driving at night as the air is cleaner, clearer, and cooler. It is easier to see cars at night. All of the driver's have already cycled through the cars. The attrition rate is not such a concern at this time, except for the fact that in GT Le Mans, each manufacturer has had at least one car hit trouble. The #912 Porsche 911 RSR for the factory team has gotten a lap back. Matthieu Jaminet of France is at the wheel of it at the moment, sharing with Earl Bamber, the well known New Zealander, and Belgian Laurens Vanthoor. The #3 Corvette C-7-R- had it's issues earlier with a steering arm. Mike Rockenfeller at the wheel right now. ...And, speaking of Corvette, Marcel Fassler has just been passed by Philip Eng.
Turn one is amazing, because the car is loaded off the banking, and the car loads up since you are not dead level into the turn. The weight transfer really affects how the approach to that corner works. Not a car in the pit lane, currently. When it gets dark at an endurance sports car race, it is magical. Marcel Fassler continues applying the blowtorch to Phillip Eng in the BMW. BMW is running the words "Godspeed Charley" on the cars and their helmets, remembering Charley Lamm, the head of BMW Schnitzer Racing who passed away recently of course. Rest In Peace, Charley. Into the lane, #25, and it appears Colton Herta needs to adjust the safety belts for Philipp Eng who will do a double stint.
No further action on the Katherine Legge/Harry Tincknell incident. Good call. Mazda #77 in the pit lane from third as well. A routine stop for the Mazda boys. Team Penske is readying for one of their cars to hit the pit lane as well. They are in the lane indeed, and so are the DragonSpeed cars. Tristan Nunez is doing very well. Acura #7 is into the lane for service, likewise. Both Acura's are in, for fuel and tires. Simon Pagenaud and Ricky Taylor are back on track. Mazda also in for a standard pit stop. The #55 car almost stalls in pit lane. But, they are back into the motor race. The Mazda has had occasional starter and clutch issues.
Their system is a combined starter and alternator. One of the Prototypes gets caught out behind one of the factory BMW M8's. Cadillac are showing really good fuel economy at this point and they may come in next lap around. Fernando Alonso has had a three hour stint, and he's in the lane now for service. Alonso is out of the car and we wonder who is getting into the Cadillac. The pit stop works like clockwork. Well done, gentlemen. Kamui Kobayashi takes over the car. Good to see Kamui Kobayashi taking his first stint in this 57th Rolex 24. He is out on cold tires and bedding in the new Michelin tires.
You cannot drive more than four hours in any six hour period. Because it's cooler, it is more acceptable. Cold front tires for Kobayashi. Look out, sunshine. Again, no tire warmers. There are heat ovens for the WEC cars, and he gets into the clag on the outside of turn one on the road course, look. We have the GT Daytona leading #33 Mercedes AMG GT3 in the lane for a stop. Felipe Fraga will do a double stint it appears. Fraga leads the #29 Audi, the Land Motorsports car. The cars have their own pit timers in the number panel per the regulations. Ford GT #67 in the pit lane, too, the much delayed Castrol retro liveried car.
Hard not to confuse this car with one of the old, wonderful Group C/IMSA GTP Jaguar's from the '80s and early '90s. The faster you go, the better your tires will be, but if you can't drive fast on the out lap, you can't get the tires hot. We watch the Land Motorsports Audi in GTD, and Harry Tincknell has not been making up ground on the #85 Cadillac. Jonathan Bomarito has replaced Harry Tincknell in the #55 Mazda as the GTD leading Audi is in the pit lane. Christopher Mies is out of the car and Ricardo Feller into the car. This is a baptism by fire for Feller, as the Swiss driver has not driven this track at night yet.
The pit crew cleans the windshield. Feller is now back in the race, and also in pit lane, the Lexus, car #12. Alex Zanardi's #24 BMW M8 GT had to have the steering column replaced. It was never damaged in testing, but it was when the special steering wheel for Zanardi, the adapted wheel that works with his hand controls, was swapped over for a regular steering wheel. The miracle so far is that we have not had too many big incidents in the night so far. Kamui Kobayashi leads the Rolex 24 in the #10 Cadillac, leading Tristan Nunez in the Mazda followed by Simon Pagenaud and Alex Rossi in the Penske Acura's, and Pipo Derani si next followed by Loic Duval. 26 seconds separating the top five.
Fred Makowiecki and Porsche lead GTLM over Davide Rigon and Ferrari. Meanwhile, a spot of bother for the #47 PPM Lamborghini once again. This car has had a fraught race already and on the out lap, cold tires catch the driver out, look. Sebastian Saavedra is the LMP2 leader in the #18 DragonSpeed car. The top five in GTLM has every manufacturer represented in the class, and the #47 Lambrorghini we've seen, has fluid coming out under the tire. Now, Makowiecki has made his pit stop, being passed for the class lead by Davide Rigon in the Ferrari 488 GTE followed by Dirk Mueller in the #66 Motorcraft liveried Ford GT, and then the #4 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R- in the hands of Marcel Fassler.
Fassler lost a spot, ahead of Phillip Eng in the #25 BMW M8 GT. In GT Daytona, Lexus #14 in it's bumble bee colors, for AIM Vasser Sullivan leads. Austin Cindric is currently driving, followed by Roman De Angelis in the maple leaf liveried Canadian Audi R8 #88. He gives up the spot and Paul Dalla Lana, another Canadian takes over the place in the #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3 he is sharing with Pedro Lamy from Portugal (ex F1 driver turned sports car ace), Mathias Lauda (son of Formula 1 world champion Niki Lauda, hailing from Austria), and Brazilian Daniel Serra, son of another former F1 ace, Chico Serra.
Felipe Fraga runs ahead of Jens Klingman and Ricardo "Ricky" Feller in the Land Audi. Mike Rockenfeller brings the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R- to pit lane. Dirk Mueller has also pitted the #66 Motorcraft liveried Ford GT. The GTD leading Lexus is in the lane, and Austin Cindric has finished his driving stint. Who is taking over? Not sure. New sticker tires for this car. The fifth hour of the Rolex 24 is done and dusted, but there's a long, long way to go yet. Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment