Chris Miller pits the #85 "Banana Boat". Matthieu Vaxiviere makes a pit stop for the #10 Cadillac, putting AXR back at the top of the tree. Nasr, Westbrook, and Kern, are your class leaders. Under four hours to go. 40 minutes per stint, and four hours remaining, means there are six more stints left for drivers to run before this motor race is done and dusted. Felipe Nasr just put in a pit stop for routine service, stationary for 32 seconds. Put down the welly, and bring it home. Richard Westbrook is in the #67 Ford GT right now. Night practice is critical because of this race beginning in daylight and ending in the darkness, with cooler track and ambient temperatures. THhe lack of yellows and the pace these cars have been running, is simply astonishing.
Jeroen Bleekemolen is steadily running in GT Daytona, Bleekemolen and company could podium in this race and maybe improve upon that. We don't know what will happen inm the final three hours and 50 minutes. The parity between these cars is incredible with the different engine placements and configurations. IMSA continues to grow this race, and they welcomed with open arms, the FIA World Endurance Championship, which is fantastic. Action Express' team motto is "Expect to Win", and they are trying hard to see if they can chalk up a win. But, there's more of this race still to come. The drivers and vehicles take a lot of abuse, boucing and bucking around on these old concrete runways. "The saying goes, something of the place is in the race. This is the world famous 12 Hours of Sebring. It's beginning's were modest, competing with shuffleboard games. The 5.2 mile track was the longest in the country. Florida had a sleepy kind of magic in those days as top drivers saw the race as a break from the dreary winter.
Stirling Moss and Juan Fangio, and Phil Hill, some of the greats. Ferrari won seven straight races before Jim Hall and Chapparal won. Porsche eclipsed Ferrari's record with 18. Tom Kristensen has six race wins, more than any driver. IMSA has sanctioned the race since 1973. The sand blows over the track, and the IMSA organization has sanctioned it for many years. A long dangerous afternoon, unfolds into a beautiful sunset. Sebring has a toughness to it, and if you want to win, you need the toughness of the place." These words, paraphrased, from the great race driver, writer, orator, and former broadcaster, Sam Posey.
Filipe Albuquerque continues leading this race. These Cadillac teams have dominated right from the get go. They have the compliance and the pace. Will we continue seeing dry track? We might. But it is so, so difficult to say. Konica Minolta WTR have really had to fight, but they are still in this. Cadillac's are the dominant cars. We want multiple carsn on the lead lap headed to the finish. We have had just one retirement. 37 cars still pounding around out there. That's mind blowing. Richard Westbrook has been flawless. That's for sure. The man is as cool as a cucumber at the moment. He's going for it. Scott Dixon did a triple stint, and Ryan Briscoe did a double. Briscoe will do another double before the end. Brendon Hartley is now at the controls of the #5 Cadillac. They can't afford a yellow.
Brendon Hartley is on a double stint at the moment. GTD sees four different brands represented. Porsche, leading with Zach Robichon at the wheel of it. Check that. Lars Kern is still driving. They had a horrendous time at the Rolex 24, but they hope to make amends for it by maybe finishing first here. Then again, like we saw with Mazda who eventually recovered from their kerfuffle, don't count those chickens until they hatch. Pit stop time, look, for the Cadillac, the "Banana Boat", at least one of them. It is time to dig deep. Felipe Nasr may take the car to the flag if they lead. Matthieu Vaxiviere will hand the car to his team mates. Hartley is doing a double, and then, the team has options for who will finish the race out.
Chris Miller is running well, and Stephen Simpson will finish. Kyle Masson, Andrew Evans, or Cameron Cassels will finish things out for the #38 LMP2 car, the only LMP2 car that factors in the race. Ford will have Scott Dixon finish his stint and have Ryan Briscoe finish. Corvette wants their 12th Sebring triumph, and Jan Magnussen will continue to go for it, going for his sixth win at Sebring. Jesse Krohn or John Edwards could finish for BMW in their lead car. Joey Hand and Sebastien Bourdais have been running really well, as he is in a stint at the moment. Dirk Mueller has also won this race in class.
Felipe Fraga and Jeroen Bleekemolen will finish the race out for the Riley Mercedes. Lars Kern is amazed by Sebring and how tough it is even though he is such a veteran of the Nurburgring Nordschleife. Cooper MacNeil, Jeff Westphal, and Toni Vilander are looking to better their result from Daytona when they crashed out at the Rolex 24. Jeff Westphal had a good result in the Michelin Pilot Challenge race yesterday. But, you will have to wait to hear the news of how that race went. There should be a race report on it, coming up in a couple weeks. Sunset coming in 15 minutes. Sebring delivers for sure. We've been under green for a long time.
The #31 Cadillac did a short run, and the #10 car could have stayed out longr. But they have a good spot on fuel. Both cars are quick and definitely in the game on strategy as Sebastien Bourdais dives inside the BMW M8. On board with two-time Le Mans winner Earl Bamber in the #912 Porsche 911 RSR. There's very little artificial lighting at Sebring. When it gets dark, it gets really dark. Earl Bamber has his chance to get through the race. Earl Bamber owns his own team and Bamber as a team boss of course, won the Bathurst 12 Hours. Timo Bernhard has done the same thing, owning his own team.
Earl Bamber is losing the aro on th front of the car as Matthieu Vaxiviere brings the #10 car in, and Renger van der Zande is into the car for his penultimate stint. Remgr vam der Zamde is signed with Honda to keep racing, in the Intercontinental GT Challenge. So, we look forward to seeing him in a GT3 car. The #33 Mercedes is in the lane. Felipe Fraga is next into the car, replacing Jeroen Bleekemolen. Pit stop time for one of the Porsche's. It is hard to tell which one, with the bonnet open. The fluidsare being topped up on the Pfaff car. Serviced and sent. Felipe Nasr will double stint with new tires and more fuel.
Colton Herta brings the #25 BMW into the lane for tires and fuel. Toni Vilander is in the #63 WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3. Toni Vilander is great pals with Kimi Raikkonen who is racing in the F1 season opener in Australia, early Sunday morning. Christina Nielsen, Ana Beatriz (Bea Figueredo), and Katherine Legge, for Heinricher Racing/MSR, they are running extremely well as Richard Westbrook hits pit lane in the #67 Ford GT. Ryan Briscoe will be in the car on the next stint to finish the race. Westbrook has one more stint. Westbrook stalls the car and now, he's away. That cost him some time.
You can't drive any more than seven hours total, and no more than four hours in a six hour window of time. Phillip Enhg will stay at the wheel of the #24 BMW M8 GT. The BMW's don't have the pace in the dry like the Ford GT's do. They do in the wet. The whole field are on Michelin tires, but the factory GT Le Mans cars have available different compounds to choose from. Antonio Garcia is into the #3 Corvette replacing Jan Magnussen, and Sebastien Bourdais will stay in the #66 Ford GT. The Corvette boys ran in the 1,000 Miles of Sebring for WEC yesterday. Patrick Pilet hands the #911 Porsche 911 RSR over to one of his team mates. Frederic Makowiecki is in the car now. Corvette $4 pits. The Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, Marcel Fassler car has not been in it all day, but their team mates surely have.
The GRT Grasser Lamborghini has also made a scheduled pit stop as darkness is descending on Sbring. Well, twilight anyway. Pit action for the #5 Cadillac. Will this be the overall winner? Maybe so. Brendon Hartley at the wheel of it, currently. Hartley stays in the car.
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