The Grasser Lamborghini needed a pit stop. Now, we've done seven hours, and the next hour of racing is now. We're nearing 9:40 P.M. Rastern Time on Saturday evening. Rain is scheduled for 5AM-6AM. We are back to green, and a killer getaway for Kamui Kobayashi. Rubens Barrichello is trying to keep the #85 JDC-Miller Cadillac as wide as possible! The "Banana Boat" will have to become a yacht if Barrichello doesn't want to get swallowed up! Juan Pablo Montoya pounces and leaves Rubens Barrichello wondering who or what snookered him there! Jeepers creepers! Brake discs on the DPi cars glowing cherry red. Montoya is right with Kobayashi on the banking now. It's super tight at the sharp end currently. The top six DPi cars are all on the same lap. Felipe Nasr didn't pit on that last yellow.
The GT cars are also going for it. Joao Barbosa is at the wheel of the beleaguered defending champion car in this race, the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac, completing 212 laps as the leaders have completed 227 laps. In terms of mileage, Kobayashi at 227 laps has now driven 808 miles, while Joao Barbosa and company have driven 755 miles. #5 is 36th overall, and behind half of the GTD cars. James Calado leads GT Le Mans for Risi Competizione Ferrari and has gone ahead of Nick Tandy in the factory Porsche 911 RSR with the retro Brumos Porsche livery on it. Sebastien Bourdais is moving up well in the #66 Ford GT as well, and the Ford was behind the BMW for a time earlier on.
Augusto Farfus has slipped down to fourth in class in GTLM. He is ahead of Oliver Gavin in the #4 Corvette, and Earl Bamber in the #912 Porsche, and Jan Magnussen in the #3 Corvette, they are both back on the lead lap. Seven GTLM cars are on the lead lap, and the #67 Ford GT, is two laps down to the rest of GTLM. Nick Boulle leads by a razor thin margin in GT Daytona over Luca Stolz, and Dries Vanthoor, followed by Dylan Machavern. Now, Luca Stolz and Mercedes have taken the class lead in GT Daytona, sweeping past Nick Boulle in the Park Place Porsche. The #77 Mazda is in it's garage on the high jacks, the jack stands. Again, the turbo went ka-blammo, and the trouble with changing a turbo is that the thing is red hot, and can severely burn the hands of mechanics trying to do the work.
Work is still going on for the #77 Mazda. The #66 Ford GT has a huge shark bite out of the rear right fender of the car and the right rear taillight is missing. Ricky Taylor and Felipe Nasr have both passed Rubens Barrichello. James Calado has set his best lap of the race at 1:43.149. Colton Herta set the pace very early in the race. An update on laps and mileage. 220 laps (783 miles), done so far in GTLM, and 230 laps (819 miles) completed by the overall race leaders. One of the Ford's was missing the wheel arch at Road Atlanta at Petit Le Mans last year, and still ended up winning in class. Kamui Kobayashi has 1.6 seconds in hand over the Acura's, which are closing in.
Luca Stolz leading GT Daytona also sets his fastest race lap, and his lead over Nick Boulle has ballooned to three seconds. Dries Vanthoor and A.J. Allmendinger are also running well;. Allmendinger passes Dries Vanthoor, and behind Vanthoor is Maximilian Buhk in the #71 P1 Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3, followed by the Lamborghini in the hands of Rik Breukers. Then comes Dylvan Machavern in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW. Olivier Pla does the best final sector lap at 19.0 for the #55 Mazda. Farfus and Bourdais are nose to tail for third in class in GTLM. The pace of this motor race is really fast, going down at an incredible clip thus far.
Kamui Kobayashi only has a slight lead now over the likes of Ricky Taylor, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Felipe Nasr. Neck and neck for the GT Le Mans lead. The Ferrari is overtaken by the Porsche. Nick Tandy gets a run, James Calado turns on his turn signal, and he was overtkane by Tandy. Milos Pavlovic has spun the #47 PPM Lamborghini in the infield, and on the banking, trouble for the #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3, as it has no right front Michelin tire, and is showering sparks on the apron of the track, grinding down the wheel.
James Calado, meanwhile, has indeed lost th GTLM lead. Augusto Farfus gets around James Calado for third in class in GT Le Mans. Oliver Gavin and Earl Bamber are next in line. Rubens Barrichello brings the sole remaining "banana boat" Cadillac #85 for JDC-Miller Motorsports, into the pit lane. Paul Dalla Lana has limped the #51 Ferrari around NASCAR turn four and is now into the pit lane, look. The car is being driven immediately back to the paddock area. The stewards are reviewing the possibility, that Paul Dalla Lana and Milos Pavlovic came together to cause the damage to both of their cars. Haven't connected the dots on how the two cars' situations could have been related.
Clearly, there was contact that removed the carcass of the Michelin tire leaving only the wheel. The wheel, hub, and suspension surely could have all been damaged. AF Corse/Spirit of Race will look at the car and make the necessary repairs. It seems the pace of the leaders is slowing just a shade. Kobayashi and Montoya had been running in the 1:35 bracket, but are now down to times of 1:38 and 1:41 respectively. Spirit of Race, from Switzerland has many Italians on the crew, too. It is unclear if they will return for round two, the 12 Hours of Sebring, as Paul Dalla Lana is already committed to the 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the FIA World Endurance Championship, on the Friday afternoon before the 12 Hours.
Sebastien Bourdais in the #66 Ford GT is dropping down the order in GTLM to sixth in class. Oliver Gavin and Earl Bamber have both passed him. To add insult to injury, Spirit of Race will be penalized by the IMSA marshals with an incident responsibility penalty. It will be a drive through penalty after they get back into the motor race. John Edwards in the #24 BMW M8 is ninth and last in GTLM. Edwards is five laps behind the class leaders who have run 227 laps (808 miles), while he is working 222 laps (790 miles). Juan Pablo Montoya is still chasing Kamui Kobayashi. Kobayashi is being told that there is zero risk. Don't fight Montoya.
We are near 10PM Eastern Time, and the battle for the lead rages on. Kobayashi is giving no quarter to Montoya, speeding through the gloom. The top four cars are nose to tail with nothing in it into the International Horseshoe. The leading LMP2 cars from DragonSpeed are ahead in LMP2 and Ryan Cullen is currently a lap up on Ben Hanley. So, it's an Irishman vs. a Brit in LMP2 for the same team more or less. Kyle Masson has the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports car in third place in class. Working lap 239. The Mazda #55 is back in the race. The sister #77 is still being worked on, and they aren't done yet it seems. It was thought it'd be game over with a blown turbo. But, the #77 Joest Mazda crew continues the thrash to get the car fixed.
The #46 Ebimotors Lamborghini is still having a litany of problems after it plowed backwards into the tire wall at the beginning of the motor race in the hands of Italian Emmanuelle Busnelli. The car was smoking into turn one on the road course, and that's not the sort of spot here at Daytona where you want very expensive smoke emanating from your race car. Kobayashi still leads Montoya and Taylor at the sharp end. You've missed nothing as we've been delving into some of the other runners.
Felipe Nasr and Jon Bennett bring up the middle to the rear of the Prototype field. Nick Tandy continues to lead GT Le Mans, running ahead of James Calado. Augusto Farfus has moved back up to third in class in GTLM ahead of both Oliver Gavin and Earl Bamber. It is now official. It's game over for Mazda #77 after the turbo went bang. Day done for Oliver Jarvis, Tristan Nunez, Timo Bernhard, and Rene Rast. They are down to one bullet in the gun, with the #55 of Jonathan Bomarito, Harry Tincknell, and Olivier Pla. Pla is driving, and turning some quick lap times right now.
Kamui Kobayashi on lap 241, leads Juan Pablo Montoya, Felipe Nasr, Ricky Taylor, and Jon Bennett, with Tristan Vautier in the #85 "Banana Boat" Cadillac. Next up are the LMP2 cars, Nick Tandy leading GT Le Mans ahead of James Calado and Augusto Farfus. Luca Stolz continues to lead in GT Daytona in the #33 retro Wynn's liveried Mercedes ahead of the #73 Park Place Porsche of Nick Boulle, and Rik Breukers at the keyboard of the #11 GRT Grasser Lamborghini. Pit stop time for Cadillac, and the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry is in the lane. There is a driver change. Kamui Kobayashi steps out, and now into the car is full-season driver, Dutchman Renger van der Zande. van der Zande is back on track.
The right front tire changer was going through the motions, and unstuck the air hose. Phew! Disaster averted, there, thank goodness. The #10 and #85 Cadillac's didn't dive for pit lane during the most recent caution. Acura #6 with Juan Pablo Montoya cycles to the lead of the motor race. Cadillac #31 is in the lane for tires. Felipe Nasr stays in the car for another stint, as the car is already showing dirt and clag on the car. It has warmed up a bit, as the wind has stopped blowing for the time being. The #31 crew botched the left rear tire change. Oh dear. They'll have to sort that out. The cloud cover is retaining some heat. This may be a precursor to the rain we will get in the morning, in another seven hours or so.
Seven and a half hours now done and dusted. Juan Pablo Montoya leads Ricky Taylor by 1/4 of a second. So, two Penske Acura's head the field at the present time. They should pit soon, as should the #54 retro liveried CORE Autosport Nissan in the blue and red NPTI colors of the IMSA Grand Touring Prototype era. Felipe Nasr will have to drive a cracking stint to make up time. Renger van der Zande is in his first stint in the #10 Cadillac. Jordan Taylor started it and did a double stint. Fernando Alonso did a quintuple stint, and Kamui Kobayashi did a triple. So, Renger van der Zande may have a triple or quadruple stint, perhaps.
Montoya pits the #6 Acura and hands the car to Dane Cameron. A clean stop for Cameron, but not so for Ricky Taylor who stalls the #7 Acura on his way out of the pit lane. Juan Montoya has some catching up to do. One or two errors coming into the pit stops. It might be fatigue setting in as we are nearly 1/3rd of the way into this race as far as time. Tristan Vautier is being harried by Renger van der Zande, in a Cadillac vs. Cadillac scrap for position on the road. Jon Bennett assumes the lead in the Nissan, 245 laps (872 miles), into the motor race. Bennett has a 30 second lead right now, and will need to stop for fuel. Dane Cameron and Ricky Taylor both need to heat up their stone cold Michelin tires.
Felipe Nasr is charging, having runa 1:38.4. Olivier Pla in the sole remaining Mazda, has to make up three laps. Ryan Cullen in the #18 DragonSpeed car takes the class lead with team mate James Allen second in class. Olivier Pla in the lane for Mazda with a standard pit stop and the 2.0 liter turbocharged Mazda screams away from pit lane. The #54 CORE Autosport Nissan is the new race leader, briefly, and Bennett is in the lane now. Bennett is out of the car, and it has now been taken over by Colin Braun, possibly. Nick Tandy is working to stretch out a gap in GT Le Mans over James Calado. It is Colin Braun in his first stint in the 2019 Rolex 24. 20 lead changes so far, among six cars.
Tristan Vautier is third, and is the first of three Cadillac's in third, fourth, and fifth spot. Dane Camron and Ricky Taylor are 1-2 as the pit stops have gone off sequence due to yellow flags. Kamui Kobayashi is very cool, chilled out, and professional. He ran a very good stint. Kobayashi and Alonso both have experience in Formula 1 and sports cars. Now, we are working lap 249, 886 miles run so far. In another twenty minutes, 1/3rd of the race will be over. Nick Tandy is leading James Calado in GT Le Mans, as Tristan Vautier is hanging right in there with the leaders. Felipe Nasr has closed up on Renger van der Zande.
Ricky Taylor, Tristan Vautier, Renger van der Zande and Felipe Nasr are the top four. We have had six yellow flags in the race thus far. Maybe five. There may have been a short yellow, but yours truly isn't sure. Amongst friends, we'll call it five. The Acura's are catching up to one another. Ricky Taylor is drawing up on his team mate and towing the #85 Cadillac with him. Has Colin Braun had a bit of a problem? No. He's fine. Late on the brakes, smack the curb, and down a gear. He is running pretty well but made contact on the third curb in the Bus Stop. Cadillac #10 checks up and Felipe Nasr nips him through speedway turn two. #10 was pinned behind a GTD Porsche, the Black Swan #540 car. That's the Tim Pappas, Marco Seefried, Matteo Cairoli, Dirk Werner car.
So, Pappas, the team owner, from the U.S.A. sharing with an Austrian, an Italian, and a German. The battle of the Acura's continues. Simona de Silvestro has just completed her stint in the #57 Acura NSX GT3. She has run IndyCar and has been a regular lately in Australian Supercars. De Silvestro is from Switzerland, and it's her first 24 hour race. Felipe Nasr goes around Tristan Vautier into corner number one. Nasr will pull ahead of Tristan Vautier. Mercedes #33 has pitted and we have GTLM pit stops now. James Calado, Oliver Gavin, and Sebastien Bourdais all pit. Tommy Milner is now in Corvette #4.
It'll be a drag race out of pit lane. Be single file onto the pit exit road. Acura #86 in the lane, and a new driver is into the car. Nick Tandy will pit the #911 Porsche 911 RSR from the GT Le Mans lead. Patrick Pilet gets into the car and there was a change for position. Now, the #73 Park Place Porsche 911 is in trouble on the circuit, look. He's just come out of the pit and poor old Matt Campbell is in trouble! Three wheels on my wagon, look. Corvette #3 is pitting now as well. Ben Keating has taken over the #33 Mercedes. Matt Campbell is at crawling speed out of the Bus Stop, sparks flying from the automobile.
Big damage, look, to the left rear hub and stub axle as it is being ground down while Campbell trundles back to pit lane. Matt Campbell has to get the car back quickly, to the lane, but also in a safe manner to avoid further damage. Laurens Vanthoor has taken over the #912 Porsche 911 RSR. He had a clean pit stop with the car. The #73 has finally mad it back to pit lane, still on three wheels. The team are going immediately to the left rear corner. Matt Campbell again, was at the wheel, having just taken the car over. The wheel fell off on his out lap. Not good. Cadillac #5 makes a pit stop as well. Matty Campbell was supposed to do a double stint. He is being monstered now by Renger van der Zande, look.
Cadillac #31 is now second. Dane Cameron in the #6 Acura leads, with Felipe Nasr second, Ricky Taylor third, and Renger van der Zande in fourth spot. Ricky Taylor is 1.8 seconds up the road. #7 stretching the gap. Dane Cameron leads the motor race by 14 seconds over Felipe Nasr as we are looking at another race hour being completed, the eighth hour coming to a close. We are doing more hours of darkness than daylight in the month of January. Dane Cameron makes his way through the Bus Stop as Felipe Nasr is chasing, whittling the lead down ASAP. Ricky Taylor is being caught by Renger van drr Zande as well.
Eight hours of this motor race are now done and dusted.
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