A black flag for GRT Grasser, requested by the team to IMSA to warn Rik Breukers of low fuel. Rolf Ineichen is now at the wheel of it after being serviced and fueled. Mario Farnbacher at the controls of the #86 MSR Acura. The Lamborghini has a broken rear view mirror. You have to use it as much as possible, although there is the rear view camera. Conditions are starting to get slippery again. Mario Farnbacher has lots of experience in the Acura. "Super Mario" is Mario Farnbacher's nickname. There's a reason for that. Filipe Albuquerque has a 21 second cushion over Jordan Taylor at the moment. Pipo Derani hit pit lane and has now dropped back somewhat. Pipo Derani is fourth in the overall and in DPi. A Full Course Yellow is something that would surely shake up the strategy and the running order.
The rain has let up once again. Eight and a half more pit stops, maybe nine, in that ballpark, can get the DPi cars to the end of the motor race. Scott Dixon is someone who just does what he's supposed to do as a racing driver, and is very, very consistent. Zach Robichon continues leading GT Daytona for the Pfaff Motorsports team. We have crossed the 200 lap mark. 748 miles. Under five hours to go on the clock. The possibility exists that we could get more rain. There's been a lot of misting. The #4 Corvette ended up busting an alternator and having drive train issues. They are still out there, but, the #3 Corvette is the car that is indeed competitive. Corvette Racing are the winningest team in IMSA history, going for their 12th class win here at Sebring.
Corvette are planning to build a mid/rear engine version of the car. There were spy shots and videos of the car testing, which can't make the brass at GM too happy. This isn't just about racing. It is about selling cars. It is the old adage, "win on Sunday, sell on Monday." Again, start back timing your race on fuel strategy if you are a team boss. Colin Braun runs ahead of Jordan Taylor after beating the #10 car out of pit lane. Braun is the last car on the lead lap. Jordan Taylor has a 24 second margin over Simon Trummer in the #84 "Banana Boat" Cadillac. Simon Trummer qualified in eighth place.
Pipo Derani is 28 seconds behind Jordan Taylor, third overall. Pipo Derani has done extremely well on long green flag runs. Jordan Taylor continues to lead and as we have seen, three Cadillac's in the top three overall. Corvette is battling Ford for GTLM honors. Race order at the sharp end hasn't changed except for the fact that Alexander Rossi does have the #7 Acura ARX-05 in fifth overall, behind the sea of leading Cadillac's. Felipe Nasr will be the next driver into the #31 car when they pit in short order. Turner Motorsport had a broken shock on their BMW M6 GT3. Dillon Machavern at the wheel of it, and Bill Auberlen was the man at the controls during the stint with the broken shock which was horrendous. The car's leaning on the spring, causing wheel spin, and the loaded brake is overheating.
This place is so hard on suspension and on the drivetrain of the car. Thr driveshafts get broken. No retirements and very few yellows. No big wrecks so far like we saw last year. This race has been very clean so far. Sunset will happen, but it will be hard to see through the cloud cover. Nissan and CORE Autosport want to see another Full Course Yellow, which we haven't had. Pipo Derani leads Filipe Albuquerque. Chris Miller is now at the wheel of the #84 car as #31 is in the lane as Felipe Nasr will be back in the car. Derani reported high speed understeer. So, Nasr will have to work the sway bar. They didn't fuel the car.
Endurance racing is not about preserving the car like it was in the '60s, '70s, '80s,and '90s. Now, everyone runs flat out because they have to. The #31 team has been able to put all the pieces together to this point in the motor race as Felipe Nasr sets fastest lap at 1:47.960. His team mate, Filipe Albuquerque only can muster a 1:50.5. Last year, Pipo Derani won for another team that beat Whelen AXR and now, he is driving for them. Oh dear. Chris Miller spins the #85 Cadillac. No damage. No flat spots on the Michelin tires. Ttaffic is still heavy with zero retirements to this point. Pit stop time it appears, for AXR #5, from the lead of the race.
No driver change, but there are tires and a full load of fuel. The #33 Mercedes is in the lane for a scheduled stop. They have been really strong. The Keating/Bleekemolen/Fraga team have been running extremely well as Misha Goikhberg takes over the #85 "Banana Boat" Cadillac. Goikhberg is sharing the #85 with Tristan Vautier, the Frenchman, and Juanh Piedrahita, the Colombian. The #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche, a.k.a. the Luimberjack car, is in the lane. Its serviced and sent. Touch wood, that the skies are clearning. Scott Dixon has been mega today in the Ford, Jan Magnussen chasing. The BMW had the match in the wet in WEC, but here in IMSA, they are holding their own in the dry.
Lars Kern is now at the whel of the #9 Porsche. Porsche #912 has made a pit stop. There is a battle for the lead, too, look. #31 of Nasr is trying to overtake the #10 of Matthieu Vaxiviere. Vaxiviere is being monstered by Nasr, look. Nasr goes to the lead. Richard Westbrook now takes over for Scott Dixon in the #67 Ford GT. Juan Pablo Montoya will be into the #6 Acura, but they are nine laps behind. Jesse Krohn makes a stop for BMW. Just over four hours to go. Corvette hits pit lane with the #3 car. Ditto for the GT Le Mans class leading Ford. The GTD Lexus RC F is also in the lane getting repairs to the rear wing and the deck lid. Lars Kern has resumed in the lead on GT Daytona. We have had only three yellow flags.
Lars Kern holds the lap record for a production car at the Nurburgring Nordschleife. He is a Porsche engineer and a race car driver. He set a lap record. They found the idea to put him in the race car, and boom, here he is leading at Sebring. Wow. He is an accountant and a Porsche engineer as well as a driver.
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