We are back to green, now! Straight away, some argy bargy between Jonathan Bomarito and Ricky Taylor, and... it's going to end in tears, look. Ricky Taylor loops the #7 Acura. Oh boy. Ricky Taylor will need to let the whole field go by before he's clear to move, and he'll have to play catch up as he'll likely be caboose on the field here. He can select first gear and get on with the race, but he will be steaming with anger under the helmet, no doubt. Which of those Mazda's tipped him into a spin? Was it Timo Bernhard, or Jonathan Bomarito? There is some debris from the kerfuffle that we have a chance to see in replay. Side by side with #77, and sure enough, knock, knock. Taylor gets spun around. This one, is down to Ricky Taylor being on cold tires more than anything. In the meantime, Pipo Derani holds the lead of this motor race, as he's leapfrogged his way past Kamui Kobayashi.
The top six in terms of brands is Cadillac, Cadillac, Acura, Mazda, Mazda, Nissan. Pipo Derani is followed by Kamui Kobayashi, Juan Pablo Montoya, Timo Bernhard, Jonathan Bomarito, and Jon Bennett. Derani is opening an advantage over Kobayashi at the moment. Derani still needs a pit stop. Surprising he didn't hit the lane for a splash of fuel at the end of the yellow flag. The Mazda four cylinder is screaming away in the back of the prototype, chasing down Montoya. Honda V6 vs. Mazda four cylinder. LMP2 still sees both of the DragonSpeed cars 1-2. The #38 Performance Tech entry is still running, but we are down to three of the four cars that took the start in LMP2 as Mark Kvamme and company aboard the #52 car are out of the race. In GT Daytona, Felipe Fraga leads aboard the classic liveried Wynn's #33 Mercedes AMG GT3 by two seconds over the #29 Land Motorsports Audi.
The GTLM lead battle is beginning to sizzle. James Calado battles one of the Corvette's, and Nick Tandy says, "thank you so much, James!" and he makes a pass. Ricky Taylor is flying, and he almost hits the wall going through thr GT cars! Taylor is booking it to make up time. Side by side stuff for the lead in GTLM. Discretion is the better part of valor as Tandy gives way to Oliver Gavin, and these two chaps are neighbors in central England. Oliver Gavin from Northamptonshire, and Nick Tandy from Bedfordshire. Pipo Derani wants to make a pit stop, because he just can't get the legs on the similar Cadillac of Kamui Kobayashi at this particular moment. Rubens Barrichello has put in the fastest lap for the #85 Cadillac, the sister JDC-Miller Racing "Banana Boat" car.
Barrichello is of course sharing the automobile with Misha Goikhberg, Tristan Vautier, and Devlin DeFrancesco. Ricky Taylor and Loic Duval have both run laps consistently in the 1:34 bracket. The battle is heating up at DragonSpeed as Ben Hanley in car #81 is closing up on team mate Roberto Gonzalez in #18. It may be close to game over for Juan Piedrahita after the contact with Mark Kvamme that we saw earlier. Kamui Kobayashi is right with Pipo Derani! They were right together through the Bus Stop! Derani won't pit this time. They were expecting him in the pit lane. He runs wide into turn one.
This is a really hot pace just over six hours in the bag. WTR has to get on the phone to Kobayashi and say, "don't race Derani as Derani needs to pit." Now, the lead in GTLM is hot and heavy. Olvier Gavin has it and Nick Tandy wants it. Tandy tries it, but has to go back. Here he comes. Calado is flying, too. GT Le Mans competition is great right now. Now, #31 is finally in the pit lane. Pipo Derani out and into the car, will be Felipe Nasr. Windscreen clean, tires on, car fueled up, and Nasr is back on track. In the IMSA Radio booth now, John Dagys, from Sportscar365. He makes the point that just as we thought we were getting into a rhythm for this motor race, things are switching around every minute it seems.
Nissan is getting back up there, and now, GTLM has some of the cars coming back into contention that had troubles earlier on. GTD is a lottery right now, draw numbers from a hat. Audi was concerned about pace and performance. But, the racing is still top notch at the moment. Dagys mentions he and his team also have their electric racing website, E Racing 365. Meantime, Jonathan Bomarito is watching Timo Bernhard going for it. Bernhard is trying for second. Bernhard is reunited with many of the people who ran the Audi's for Joest years ago. Bernhard gets pushed out to the side as Juan Pablo Montoya defends his spot. Bernhard also has his own GT team that races Porsche's in Europe.
Traffic ahead for Montoya, the #44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini. The Montaplast by Land Audi #29 is pitting. Ricardo Feller, out of the car, and he went slightly over the wall mark. The car is running well. Dries Vanthoor has taken over the car. Timo Bernhard makes the pass, but Montoya isn't giving up. Kamui Kobayashi is 3.3 seconds ahead, and here comes Rubens Barrichello. The parity between the manufacturers is amazing. Geoff Carter and Simon Hodgson have done extremely well with the project. The BoP approach is changing to listen to the teams in person, and manufacturer's supplying data to teams. We have a Daytona specific BoP and it's working well.
If this action is going to be what we expect for the rest of the year, yours truly might have to take extra heartburn pills and some kind of beta blocker or heart medications to be able to stay healthy when the excitement ramps up! A new best lap for Felipe Nasr as he goes purple in sector one. IMSA, between the WeatherTech Championship and the Michelin Pilot Challenge, has 19 manufacturers. We have fireworks shooting into the sky at seven and a half hours into the race, as is the tradition here at the Rolex 24 and in other 24 hour races around the world. Kamui Kobayashi leads Timo Bernhard by 3.3 seconds followed by Juan Montoya and Jonathan Bomarito, and then, Rubens Barrichello.
Jon Bennett is sixth overall. Ricky Taylor has gone past Jon Bennett. In LMP2, DragonSpeed are still 1-2, #18 over #81. The GTLM cars are back together 12th-19th in the overall. Five makes in the top five. Maximilian Buhk is leading GT Daytona for the P1 Motorsports Mercedes. Ricardo Feller says that managing traffic at night is more of a challenge than it is in the daytime. The car is good all the time, but missing some top speed. We have run 213 laps, 758 miles so far. Juan Pablo Montoya pitted the #6 Acura, and he'll have a dirty windscreen to deal with.
Roberto Gonzalez leads Ben Hanley by 30 seconds in the LMP2 class. One of the JDC-Miller Cadillac's, and the sister Mazda are in the lane. A nose change, too for the Acura #7. Kamui Kobayashi is in the lead of the motor race, and here he comes to the lane, now. Kobayashi will stay at the wheel of it. They are fueling the car, checking the tire pressures. The #10 Cadillac does not have a drinks bottle system in it. Kobayashi gets a sip or two of water from a separate bottle. He will go down a place to second, and Felipe Nasr will take the lead of the race.
Olivier Pla has taken over the #55 Mazda from Jonathan Bomarito. The weather is likely to get ugly on Sunday according to the forecast. Bomarito says it is hard to race without getting into battles with GT cars. That's how sports car racing works. No question. Mazda #55 is sixth overall with Olivier Pla at the wheel. Felipe Nasr has taken the lead and has a margin of 13.2 second. Dear oh dear! The commentator's curse has struck. Drama for the #55 Mazda, look. Olivier Pla has gone onto the grass out of the International Horseshoe.
He is rejoining after having to recycle the electronics. No dramas down into turn one, but, he loses power in the car, look. There's no drive. New fast lap of the motor race! Felipe Nasr is cooking right now, at a 1:34.504! The Mazda is coasting on the apron of the race track and has stopped. This is the 50th anniversary of IMSA, and will be a special season. Now, Felipe Nasr hits the lane for fuel after his quick lap. Nicholas Boulle pits the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R in GT Daytona. No damage to the car that Boulle is sharing with Patrick Lindsey, Patrick Long, and Aussie Porsche star, Matt Campbell.
Mazda #55 has gone to the garage, and #77 is still out on track. Acura #57 pitted for fuel and tires only. The #31 Cadillac pitted far earlier than normal. Nasr is back into the motor race. Kamui Kobayashi goes back to the sharp end, but has just a three second lead over Acura and Mazda. The gap for Kobayashi is pretty steady. Now, Acura #6 is glued to the #77 Mazda. Pipo Derani has done 22, 24, and 25 lap stints, while Pipo Derani has done 17 laps in his most recent stint. We have a spin, for the #18 DragonSpeed LMP2 car, Roberto Gonzalez driving. This is in NASCAR turn two it looks like. I don't like the look of this. He's facing up the track with other cars whizzing by at top speed. This could be ugly.
He's found an opening and is back into the race. Oh no! It's heartbreak for Mazda! The #77 entry, the sister car to Olivier Pla, is stopped on the road, and it's on fire, look! Timo Bernhard escapes, but flames are burning the back of the automobile. This is also on the back straight. It's all happening ladies and gentleman in hour seven. It's an unlucky number tonight. Timo Bernhard is trying to do something with the car. He is trying to turn the motor off, and asking the crew, "what do I do with the car?" He throws his hands in the air, looking for a marshal.
The flames appear to be fuel fumes burning at the back of the car from the exhaust. Marshals are looking to fully extinguish the flames, and the #55 Mazda is in the garage. So, problems for both Mazda's within three laps of each other and the #77 is dropping down the order like a stone. The #18 car spun off and got collected by the sister DragonSpeed car. Roberto Gonzalez was sideswiped by Ben Hanley. It's all gone sour for Mazda. The car is coming back to the pits now. Oliver Jarvis is absolutely devastated. There was no warning whatsoever. Unreal. These cars are monitored by computers and sensors all over. #55 is rolling out from behind the wall. Olivier Pla back at the wheel of it.
#77 needs to be recovered, and it will be pretty grim for that car. We still have over 17 hours to go in this race. Barely over 1/4 distance. We are three hours into the night. There is more darkness here at Daytona than daylight and it is very similar to the Dubai 24 Hours which was covered here, last month, in the second weekend in January. Car #77 has been hooked up to the tow truck and will be brought back to the garage. Let's hope it isn't terminal. The current running order at the top of the tree sees Kamui Kobayashi, Juan Montoya, Rubens Barrichello, Ricky Taylor, and Felipe Nasr. Mazda fans won't have much to cheer about.
Porsche leads GT Le Mans with Nick Tandy, over BMW, the #25 car currently in the hands of Brazilian Augusto Farfus. Ferrari, Chevrolet, and Ford run behind. So, all five top brands are represented in GTLM. Acura #6 is pitting. This is a scheduled stop, from the lead. Fuel and tires only. Montoya stays in the car. The #54 Nissan is in the lane, and Rubens Barrichello will move up to second. Jon Bennett is driving the Nissan. Now, Olivier Pla has made it back to the pit lane. The GRT Grasser Lamborghini came to pit lane, but the lane is not yet open for GT cars. I wonder why they elected to come in, unless of course it was for emergency service.
Rik Breukers is driving, he came in for five seconds of fuel, and he will have to come back to the lane for a full service pit stop. Jon Bennett slots into fourth in the overall. Rubens Barrichello has inherited a spot. Now, GTLM and GTD will pit. Who is stopping? We watch the Mazda team at work. This is the #77. The GT cars have formed up in the crocodile behind the safety car. Nick Tandy does come to pit lane and so do most of the other GTLM cars. BMW #96 in GTD is in, too. IMSA has changed the headlight colors, as GTLM have white headlights and GTD have yellow/gold headlights. Dylan Machavern will take over the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3. Engineer James Stevens, is confident the team has speed and consistency in the car.
Corvette #4 in the lane for new tires with Oliver Gavin staying in. A.J. Allmendinger stays in the #86 Acura NSX for MSR getting tires and fuel. It's a bit of a log jam in the lane. We are looking for a restart, and the wave by will also be done. If the safety car is out, and you are trapped between the safety car and the class leader, you will be pointed by the safety car to catch up. Ian James leads the queue aboard the #88 WRT Speedstar Audi R8. Mazda is still looking for answers on the #77 and so are we. It is a turbo failure. Game over. A small fuel leak was on the #55 car. #77 is out after the turbo went bang.
The #44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini came in, but they were balked by the #88 Audi we just mentioned. The tires are being changed, but it's a bit of a pickle for Magnus Racing. #44 has slid down to 18th in class. Ian James was leading GTD. Nick Boulle leads GTD with Dries Vanthoor second in class. Third place is the #33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3, now being driven by Luca Stolz who took the car over from Felipe Fraga. Nick Boulle in the #73 Park Place Porsche has run extremely well thus far.
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