Hello, everyone, and welcome to Canada, eh. It is time to get back into sprint race mode. The IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship's annual trip to Canada. 2.4 miles, 10 corners, and a track that has been around since the 1960s. Moss corner in turn five, has been repaved and resealed. The downhill corners at turns one and two will be a major deal as well. An element of patience still has to be exercised. To finish first, first you have to finish, and watch for the traffic. It's easy to get caught out by traffic, so don't push the envelope. Fuel strategy will be a mega size issue today because most teams may not reach 30-35 minutes on a full on green fuel stint. Don't rush too early. Tires in GT Le Mans will be an issue. Look after your tires, chaps. Don't press too hard. Drive to a conservative pace, and then, go for it towards the end of the motor race.
Everyone is out on track, ready for a start. The #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini was damaged in Friday practice, and it's game over for them already. They will not start today's race. Acura and Mazda are on the front two rows. The best placed Cadillac is tne #31 Whelen Engineering car in the hands of Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr. Jonathan Bomarito will want to jump into the lead, but Helio Castroneves will push, hard. The Mazda's and Acura's are much more closely matched here at CTMP. We've got two hours and 40 minutes on the clock, and are set to go. Time to make Canada proud. It's time to go racing.
The whole lap here at CTMP (Mosport) is extremely fast. The BMW boys in GTLM focused entirely on qualifying and that has worked to their benefit. OK. The safety car has pulled off, and now, it's go time! Acura takes the lead. It's Helio Castroneves, flying, ahead of the Mazda and here comes Felipe Nasr, being monstered by Tristan Nunez. Nunez is pushing, and the second Acura runs ahead of Nasr, Juan Pablo Montoya at the wheel of it. The #50 Juncos Racing Cadillac goes off the road. Not a good start to the race for Will Owen, sharing with Brazilian driver Victor Franzoni this weekend.
Mazda took their first win since 2012 in the American Le Mans Series. Will Mazda repeat here in Canada? They've stated their intent. Through Moss corner and onto the Mario Andretti straightaway. Castroneves leads. In GTLM, Tom Blomqvist got elbowed back to fifth in class. The CORE Autosport Nissan should have had pole for this race, but due to a driver and tire change pre-race, they had to move to the back of the field. Jon Bennett moves past Will Owen. Tristan Nunez is still fourth as Jesse Krohn leads Ryan Briscoe. Porsche run third and fourth. Robby Foley in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 leads GT Daytona, ahead of the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3 with Trent Hindman at the controls.
Watch out for the Porsche's in GTD. Pfaff Motorsports, the local team from here in Canada, with the duo of Canadian drivers, Scott Hargrove and Zachary Robichon have been really quick, as has the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche of Patrick Lindsey and Patrick Long. It will be warm during the race and was cooler in morning warmup. Helio Castroneves sets a new IMSA lap record here at Mosport, 1:07.107, beating the old mark of his Acura Penske team mate Dane Cameron, at 1:07.2. Tristan Nunez brings the record down to 1:07.103. This is already a cracking motor race and we've run just five minutes. Castroneves is breaking the tow between himself and Jonathan Bomarito, cresting the hill at 180 miles an hour.
134+ miles an hour was the average speed during qualifying as the leaders are coming up on lapped cars already. Acura, Mazda, Acura, Mazda, the top four. Bomarito just can't get a tow to pull alongside Castroneves without the slipstream. How will tire degradation factor into this? Some argy bargy, and some lockup from Will Owen and Jon Bennett, look. This is into turn five, Moss corner. If you are going to pass a bloke here at Mosport, don't be tepid about it. Be decisive and make the move as early as possible. Gain the advantage. Has Ben Keating spun the #33 Wynn's Mercedes AMG GT3 off the road? He's dropping like a stone at the moment on timing and scoring.
Keating had a good qualifying effort, and there was almost a pass by Bomarito for the lead, in traffic! Cooper MacNeil had to move over, and here comes Felipe Nasr. The Mazda dives inside but no dice. He gets the door slammed in his face as Frankie Montecalvo and Richard Heistand in the AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus cars have already been lapped. Those two chaps run in GT Daytona of course. Was their contact between Keating and Heistand? Apparently so. The AVS squad is prepping a new tire. New leader as Jonathan Bomarito sails into the lead of this motor race, plunging down through turn two.
Mazda is using to their advantage, the smallest engine in DPi. A 2.0 liter turbo four cylinder that is high revving. Through Moss corner again, 15 minutes done and dusted. Oh boy! There's a crash in turn two, look, on the downhill. A coming together between the #50 Juncos Cadillac, and one of the GT Daytona Mercedes cars. That's the #74 Lone Star Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 in the hands of Gar Robinson and Lawson Aschenbach. A light touch and some synchronized spinning. No damage for either car but #50 was close to nudging the barrier. Mazda works their way through GT Le Mans traffic, it's the #55. He set a new fast lap. 1:07 dead. 1:07.015. Mazda has been a little cagey, playing their cards close to their chests after their dominance at the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen last week.
Tristan Nunez has gone around Juan Pablo Montoya. Felipe Nasr in the #31 Cadillac continues to keep a watching brief. No Audi's in the GT Daytona field. We'd expected to see the #19 Moorespeed Audi R8 here. But it was so damaged after it's practice wreck at Watkins Glen, there was no way the team could make the trip north of the border. The Starworks Audi has been withdrawn due to performance issues. Some argy bargy, look, between Trent Hindman and Robby Foley as the two combatants in GTD lean on each other up the hill on the Mario Andretti straightaway. Hindman wants a bite of the apple, but will it turn sour? He doesn't want it to. The stewards are investigating the earlier dust up between the Lone Star Mercedes and the Juncos Cadillac.
We've seen this week that the BMW is the fastest GTD car in a straight line here at Mosport. The Juncos Cadillac has nose damage, and from the spin, it's clear that Will Owen Fred Flintstoned his tires, so he had to get a new set of boots on that car. No new nose put onto the car. Mazda leads by 3.5 seconds over Helio Castroneves and Tristan Nunez who has passed Juan Montoya. In LMP2, Kyle Masson leads in the #38 Performance Tech car. Jesse Krohn leads Ryan Briscoe and Patrick Pilet in GTLM. BMW vs. Ford vs. Porsche. It's closer still, in GT Daytona. BMW and Acura running 1-2 in GT Daytona. Robby Foley running ahead now of Trent Hindman. Third, are the hometown heroes, Robichon and Hargrove, in the plaid Porsche. Ben Keating's spin was self induced.
Movement in pit lane as the #84 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac pits. Simon Trummer will continue in the car before Stephen Simpson takes over. If second drivers get in now, the first driver will have to get back in. 45 minutes is the maximum drive time. Helio Castroneves tries reeling in Jonathan Bomarito, and is trading tenths with the Mazda driver. 20 minutes into the race, and more pit stops will be coming soon. A very short lap here at Mosport. 1:05, 1:06 is the ballpark. Track position is critical. Misha Goikhberg in the second #85 JDC-Miller "Banana Boat" Cadillac, gets dinged by the stewards with a warning for "incident responsibility." Check that, it could be Trent Hindman in the #86 Acura NSX GT3. Filipe Albuquerque puts in his fastest lap of the motor race at the wheel of the #5 Action Express Racing Cadillac. 1:07.7 for the Portuguese driver.
It's rush hour on the Mario Andretti straight, and the leader is right in this scrum, look. GTLM and LMP2 cars are among the lapped traffic and one of them is the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports in the hands of Canadian driver Dalton Kellett, sharing with Matt McMurry this weekend. Cadillac #84 has gone one lap down to the Mazda, and a very close shave there between the Corvette and one of the JDC-Miller Cadillac's! Two yellow cars, could have had a wallop there! That was sketchy indeed! Jan Magnussen after that lurid moment, has fallen right into the clutches of Joey Hand at the wheel of the #66 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT.
Hand didn't Fred Flintstone his tires, but he surely did put a bunch of clag all over them. Jan Magnussen still runs ahead of the Ford, and the GTLM boys are having to look out for the DPi runners. Extraordinary stuff. A fan tweets in, "this is brilliant racing, it's like having the European Le Mans Series at Knockhill." That's a good analogy. Yours truly may cover some ELMS races during the off season. Knockhill is a great circuit in Fife, Scotland. Mosport is very much an uphill and down dale type track. This track has been the same as it was when it opened in 1961. The two Brumos Porsche tribute factory Porsche 911's are running liner stern, look. The second place scrap continues. Tristan Nunez wants a bite of the cherry and down the inside, Montoya gets balked by the Mazda. Bite the cherry, but whatever you do, you better spit out the pit.
This track is so so demanding on a physical and mental level. No rest for the weary here at Mosport. As the Mazda goes faster, the wheel is pressed into the fender. Jon Bennett was the other DPi car going past Jan Magnussen's Corvette. The tire flex, watching it, is absolutely fascinating. 3/4 of a inch at least, which is a lot of movement on a race car. Juan Montoya and Felipe Nasr are closing up on the lead battle. Nasr is pushing, but he seems to be losing a smidgen of time to Montoya. All the leaders are running similar lap times when they get clear track. Both Porsche's have passed Ford. Ryan Briscoe was the minnow, and it was a tag team effort by the sharks, in this case, Patrick Pilet and Laurens Vanthoor, to surround him and eat him up in one gulp.
It's closed up in LMP2 as well. Montoya has gonr around Nunez. We expect the Prototypes to reach the end of their fuel window and hit the lane soon. We've had wonderful weather today at CTMP. This is a fabulous day. DPi racing has been really, really competitive here in Canada. How did Mazda lose it's third place. #77 of Tristan Nunez does a little agricultural racing, allowing Juan Montoya to pass. Eleven seconds now between first and second, and the Castroneves, Montoya, and Nunez are next. Dalton Kellett is closing up on Kyle Masson in LMP2. Kellett is a 25 year old rookie, taking his first opportunity to drive a sports car.
Prototype pit stops imminent. Jesse Krohn leads Laurens Vanthoor and Patrick Pilet. Juan Montoya is the first to dive for the pit lane. You must execute in pit lane. Or, you will lose time. It seems that this stop i9s going fine for the Penske boys. Dane Cameron is into the car now. Cameron just barely goes a lap down. Now into the lane, the team cars. Montoya and Nunez are in. Oliver Jarvis into the #77 Mazda, and Ricky Taylor getting into Acura #7. Fuel and tires only for the #31. It was a slow stop, look, for the Whelen car. Race leader in the lane, coming in side by side with Misha Goikhberg in the JDC-Miller Cadillac. Bomarito stays in the #55 Mazda.
The #5 Cadillac is in the lane for new tires and fuel, and Filipe Albuquerque will stay in the car. Corvette #4 in the lane, and Oliver Gavin takes over from Marcel Fassler. Albuquerque is the leader right now and Jordan Taylor cycles to the lead now. That car dives for the pit lane as well. Bomarito has extended his lead or so it appears. Jordan Taylor out of the #10 Cadillac, and Renger van der Zande is into the car. Bomarito cuts the new fastest lap of this motor race at 1:06.9, reeling in Dane Cameron in Acura #6. He has moved ahead by 2.6 seconds, of Ricky Taylor, and now, Taylor scores the fastest lap. Fast lap is being volleyed around right now. Oliver Jarvis cuts a 1:06.9.
Full tanks and new tires, equals fast race laps. Oliver Gavin is now being harried by the two Porsche's. The class leading GT Le Mans BMW M8 GTE of Jesse Krohn, has yet to stop. Corvette could be splitting the race into sections to gain track position on the road. Jon Bennett pits, but will lose a lap. Filipe Albuquerque and Simon Trummer have both lowered their lap times. We shall wait ten minutes before the GT Daytona cars pit. Corvette #3, is in the lane for service and "the king of Spain" Antonio Garcia will take over. Let me reiterate, "King of Spain", not "King of Spin". Corvette in the lane, look. Traffic is cleared, too, by the leaders.
Filipe Albuquerque, the #5 Cadillac, is monstwering a rival as Antonio Garcia is set to go. Scrubbed Michelin tires on the car. Radio trouble for the #4 Corvette. After the first of three pit stops, Jonathan Bomarito leads Dane Cameron by 2.8 seconds. Oliver Jarvis passes Ricky Taylor. Dane Cameron is next in the order. Felipe Nasr is the top Cadillac. Dalton Kellett now leads in LMP2. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen car gets ahead of the #38 Performance Tech entry. In GTLM, we wait for more carsto pit, as Robby Foley leads Trent Hindman followed by Zachary Robichon, and Frankie Montecalvo.
Porsche #912 pits. Four tires and fuel, and Earl Bamber at the wheel. Fuel and tires and a driver change for the #66 Ford GT as well as Joey Hand hands the car to Dirk Mueller. Always something going awry on pit stops, at least sometimes, and this time, for Oliver Gavin, he has been plagued by radio issues just as the sister car was last weekend at Watkins Glen. Pit stop time for GT Daytona. Patrick Lindsey, Richard Heistand, and one of the Ferrari's, the #63 WeatherTech car. Richard Heistand tags the left rear of Patrick Lindsey. Patrick Long is into the #73. Toni Vilander is in the #63, and in the #14, Jack Hawksworth.
Despite cutting his best lap, Dane Cameron is soon going to have his hands full with Jonathan Bomarito. Jesse Krohn and BMW lead GT Le Mans, and BMW also leads GTD with Robby Foley as Trent Hindman and Zachary Robichon are having a ding dong battle at the moment. Frankie Montecalvo is in the lane in Lexus #12, and so is the #76 Compass Racing McLaren. Townsend Bell will take over the Lexus. Not sure who is driving the McLaren. It is either Paul Holton or Matt Plumb. Andy Lally takes over the #44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 from John Potter as well.
BMW is stretching their fuel mileage. Jesse Krohn has looked after his tires, and his lead over the Porsche has ballooned to nine seconds. Hindman and Robichon stay in as Robby Foley is in the lane, handing the car to Bill Auberlen. Ana Beatriz (Bea Figuredo), has been driving, and Katherine Legge will now take over. Side by side for second in GTD. Hindman stays ahead of Robichon this time. Ricky Taylor moves past the GTD battle. Check that, it was Dane Cameron, as Oliver Jarvis is flying. Tom Blomqvist and Ryan Briscoe came in and left together. Connor De Philippi has the wheel of the BMW, and now, Richard Westbrook is in Ford #67, wearing his pink, fuzzy slippers as always of course.
The top two GTLM runners are the only two in the class who have not stopped. Ricky Taylor is being monstered here, look, by Felipe Nasr through Moss corner. Katherine Legge and Toni Vilander have their own battle in GTD on the Andretti straight. Plaid Porsche in the pit lane as the Pfaff Motorsports car makes a scheduled stop. Renger van der Zande and Jordan Taylor are set on doing one fewer pit stops. They might have made a genius strategy call. We shall see. Trouble here, look, for the #9 Pfaff Porsche. Cold tires coming out of the lane? It could be. He's spun on the straightaway there, trying to reverse. Ooh. Be careful, sunshine. Ah. He's righted the car and is on his way. Ricky Taylor, meanwhile, has dialed in another fastest lap at 1:06.3. Scott Hargrove looped the car on his outlap, as Trent Hindman has pitted as well.
The #14 Lexus of Jack Hawksworth has been involved with Hargrove, and there's damage to the Lexus as it hits the lane for repairs. No dive planes on the left front. It will need a new bumper cover. The motor may be overheating, too. Put the bonnet back on the car. They may send the car behind the wall, and they do. Not good for AIM Vasser Sullivan, and not good for Pfaff Motorsports either, in their home event. Hargrove was totally off the road. He'll be dinged by the stewards for that one. The Lexus struggled with the balance on their car in the morning warmup.
Finally, BMW hits the pit lane from the lead in class in GTLM. John Edwards takes over the #24 car from Jesse Krohn, and Nick Tandy is into the #911 Porsche 911 RSR. The BMW is long gone however. Acura #7 is back into the lane, and both Action Express Cadillac's have passed. Filipe Albuquerque and Felipe Nasr, respectively. The #14 Lexus has a broken steering rack. Acura lost a wheel nut on the tire change, but a new one was found as we have 100 minutes left to run. In GTD, Bill Auberlen leads Mario Farnbacher and Townsend Bell. Scott Hargrove is now ninth in class, dropping like a stone.
Porsche leads GTLM as Earl Bamber is in P1 by nine seconds over the #24 BMW and the sister #25 BMW, followed by the two Ford's. Then, the second Porsche. Jonathan Bomarito leads Dane Cameron and in turn, Cameron is being harried by the sister Mazda with Oliver Jarvis at the wheel of it. Felipe Nasr runs fourth for Whelen Engineering Racing, and Filipe Albuquerque is three seconds back. Dalton Kellett continues to lead LMP2 over Kyle Masson. This race has been green all the way and the pace is cooking at the moment. Jonathan Bomarito leads Dane Cameron by 13 seconds. Oliver Jarvis tries to get a run on Dane Cameron, and Cameron says, "no way, sunshine." Porsche have won the last four GTLM races on the trot.
Ricky Taylor had a slow puncture on the #7 Acura, sharing with Helio Castroneves. Bill Auberlen still has nine seconds in hand, leading GT Daytona for Turner Motorsports. The BMW M4 could become a GT3 race car fairly soon. At the moment, the M4 is GT4, the M6 is GT3, and the M8 is GTLM. Jonathan Bomarito in the Mazda has clocked his fastest lap of the race so far at 1:06.5. Ricky Taylor ran the fastest lap on lap 34, and we are now 58 laps into the race. 58 laps, 143 miles. Bea Figuredo is running her first sprint race in IMSA.
She is running with Katherine Legge's setup on the car. 90 minutes left in this race as Jonathan Bomarito still leads. He is held up by the third place GTD Lexus of Townsend Bell. Bill Auberlen leads in class by nine seconds over Mario Farnbacher, followed by the aforementioned Townsend Bell. Kyle Masson is in the pit lane with the engine cover off the Oreca. Some argy bargy there, between the Acura and the #63 WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3 of Toni Vilander. Dane Cameron has some damage from that brush. Dane Cameron in pit lane. They will change the tirs, look. Pipo Derani is taking over the #31 Whelen Cadillac, and the sister Action Express #5 car will have Joao Barbosa finishing the motor race.
Mazda's run 1-2 now. How hard do you tell Bomarito to put Acura #7 a lap down? Not extremely. Bomarito can cruise at the moment. He has 15 seconds in hand over his team mate. Oliver Jarvis is set to put a lap on Pipo Derani. Jarvis passes the GTD BMW and Misha Goikhberg makes a regular pit stop in Cadillac #85, the second JDC-Miller "Banana Boat". The #38 Oreca LMP2 for Performance Tech has gone back out of pit lane, onto the track again. Cameron Cassels is now at the wheel of it, but Cassels is a couple laps down to the PR1/Mathiasen machine that leads LMP2. Bomarito pits from the lead and hands the car over to Harry Tincknell who will have new Michelin tires. Tincknell is getting fuel, and having a tear off taken off the windscreen.
Oliver Jarvis is going for scrubbed tires and a new windshield tearoff. Both Mazda's are back on track now. It was a long run for #77. Jarvis scorched the tires locking the brakes into the pit lane! Yikes! Did he slow down to the pit lane speed limit? He seems to have gotten down to the right speed before hitting the box. Eight cars are on the lead lap. Renger van der Zande has to make a stop yet and he's in the lane now after a brief stint in the lead. The two Acura's regain their places and Oliver Jarvis is down to fourth. Renger van der Zande is in the lane for fuel and sticker Michelin tires.
Cadillac #85 has it's best lap time of the day with Tristan Vautier at the wheel of it. Harry Tincknell leads Dane Cameron and Ricky Taylor. Then Oliver Jarvis in the second Mazda runs fourth. Both LMP2's are running now, with a two lap gap between #52 and #38. Earl Bamber leads GTLM for Porsche followed by both BMW's of John Edwards and Connor De Philippi. Richard Westbrook is next in Ford GT #67. Following him, it is the #911 Porsche 911 RSR of Nick Tandy. Bill Auberlen still leads Mario Farnbacher in GTD, by a margin of 13 seconds as Townsend Bell runs third in class. No yellow flags in this race so far. We've been clean and green the whole way.
HarryTincknell knocks down another fast lap at 1:06.402. It is a tenth away from Ricky Taylor's fastest lap of the motor race. Mazda is improving on getting their RT24P through traffic. They are stepping up their game with a small engine, the 2.0 liter turbo 4 cylinder. Oliver Jarvis turns a 1:06.9 lap time. The engine is now an evolution for the Mazda. It is optimization of settings and new electronics. More torque is what they wanted. They've made the car better. They won't have the torque of an Acura V6 or a Cadillac V8. But, they are improving steadily.
The #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus is back on track, and well, they are back in it after replacing a steering rack and putting some duct tape on some front end body damage. Bill Auberlen leads GT Daytona and the car started from pole. Earl Bamber and Porsche continue to lead GTLM as the Juncos Cadillac goes off the road in turn one. It is hot in Canada, but not as humid today as it was on the Friday and Saturday. 1:07 dead from the leader. The top four cars are all in the 1:07 range. Back behind the wall for the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. Earl Bamber is increasing his lead in GT Le Mans over the BMW.
Mosport is also relatable to the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, England. Harry Tincknell's lead has shrunk to 3.2 seconds. Ricky Taylor is now in pit lane. He is third overall with just over an hour remaining in the motor race. Victor Franzoni runs a 1:06.9 as fastest lap for the #50 Juncos Racing Cadillac, which is quicker than Joao Barbosa in the #5 AXR Cadillac. All the Cadillac's are pretty close on lap times at the moment. GT Le Mans pit stops are coming up very soon. Earl Bamber runs way wide at Moss corner, turn five. Yikes! He was way off the apex at Moss. His tires have got to be knackered by now. Colin Braun dials in his fastest lap of the race at 1:06.8. Matt McMurry dials in a 1:09.4 in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen LMP2 car.
Harry Tincknell leads Dane Cameron by some four seconds. Earl Bamber will be headed for the lane soon, but has 4.5 seconds in hand over his GT Le Mans rivals. Both BMW's are next, ten and 17 seconds away, with John Edwards, and Connor De Philippi behind the wheel. Fuel and tires will be crucial as we have just a shade over an hour to go and we've seen no yellow flags in this race whatsoever. We have some takers for pit stops, and one of them is Dane Cameron in the #6 Penske Acura. #7 had a slow tire puncture in the left rear tire. Cameron gets four scrubbed tires, and a load of petrol. Cameron ran a 25 lap stint, and the previous stint was 32 laps.
One of the AVS Lexus' in the lane as well. The #12 Towsend Bell and Frankie Montecalvo car. Connor De Philippi is in the #25 BMW for a stop. Joey Hand gets fuel and tires in the #66 Ford GT. Patrick Long brings in the #73 GTD Park Place Porsche 911 GT3. Bill Auberlen is in, and so is Mario Farnbacher, and Richard Westbrook. Oliver Gavin also made a pit stop in the #4 Corvette. The GTD and GTLM cars, all of them, could go fully to the end of the motor race and this has been their last pit stop. If there is a Full Course Yellow, the pit lane will be closed.
Nick Tandy got fuel and tires and likewise for Earl Bamber. Ford #67 is still wearing it's historic Gulf Oil livery clothing from Le Mans and Watkins Glen, where it was entered at Le Mans as car #69. Bamber and Westbrook got out ahead of Antonio Garcia as it will soon be pit stop time for the #31 Whelen Cadillac in DPi as well. BMW M8 #24 is in the lane for fuel and tires, and John Edwards is going to stay at the wheel. Fuel and new tires for Pipo Derani as well. Derani will need one more pit stop before the end of the race. They will need a short fill at the end of the race whereas the Mazda's will get ten more laps and do it on one more pit stop as well. The fuel situation is going to be real interesting into the last 55 minutes.
Cadillac #5 is in the pit lane for AXR and they too, will need to make one more pit call before the race ends, with oh, around 20 minutes left on the board. Some argy bargy here, look,l between the #77 Mazda and the #38 Performance Tech LMP2 car, Cameron Cassels at the wheel of it. Fuel, tires, and a driver change for Cadillac #5, and Filipe Albuquerque is now back at the wheel. It's physically and mentally draining around Mosport. Harry Tincknell has now run 93 laps, 229 miles. Colin Braun and Renger van der Zande have done only two pit stops, and they might just need to make one more stop to try and catch up for fourth or fifth place.
Ricky Taylor scorches the track at 1:06.291 for the fastest lap of the motor race in fourth. Dane Cameron goes 1:06.4 on the most recent lap as well. Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette has run a 1:15.1 in GTLM. So he is starting to get back on the boiler here. Garcia is slightly slower than Nick Tandy, as Earl Bamber leads John Edwards by 24 or so seconds. We have a car off the road and yes, you've guessed it. It's the star crossed #38 Performance Tech machine. Poor old Cameron Cassels is off the road and pitting from the lead, is Mazda #55.
Both Mazda's in fact, are in. Harry Tincknell and Oliver Jarvis are both in. Scrubbed tires for the sister car and Oliver Jarvis goes ahead of Harry Tincknell as the #55 crew had some tire issues. Both Acura's are now in the lane as well. Fuel and tires for Ricky Taylor, and no drink bottle. IMSA Race Control haven't called for a safety car. Now, they do. Pipo Derani hits the lane just in the nick of time as we are under yellow here at Mosport. So much for the idea of a caution free race. #38 is stopped dead stick and is going to need a flat tow. We've had nearly two hours of green flag motor racing.
Right now though, it is still advantage Mazda as there is some argy bargy between Filipe Albuquerque and one of the Acura's. Having a long fuel window has opened the strategy up. Most if not all of the GT Daytona contenders have now made their final pit stops as Bill Auberlen still leads Mario Farnbacher in a battle between BMW and Acura. Then comes the Lexus of Townsend Bell followed by Lawson Aschenbach in the Lone Star Racing Mercedes. The Oreca is running again, but it has damage. Cassels did slap the wall. The Lone Star Mercedes has to make another pit stop. Bamber, Edwards, Tandy is the top three, followed by BMW, two Ford's and two Corvette's, in GT Le Mans. Acura #7 gets a splash and a dash to run full rich. They are setting Ricky Taylor to stun. Now, there have also been pit stops for the #5 and #31 AXR Cadillac's and more.
Mazda #55 was dropped off the air jacks before the tires were changed and the refueling was also still going on. Acura #7 isn't going to save fuel. Stephen Simpson brings the #84 JDC-Miller "Banana Boat" Cadillac to pit lane, and no, he is not on the lead lap. Matt McMurry brings the leading LMP2 car to the lane as well. Eight cars are now on the lead lap including Colin Braun who put the #54 Nissan on pole. Last year, Braun came through to win this motor race for himself and Jon Bennett. We have some contenders in the top six as we get ready for the restart.
The green flag waves again, as we have eleven cars on the lead lap in GT Daytona, a class still led by Bill Auberlen. Oliver Jarvis gets a good restart, as Harry Tincknell is having the blowtorch applied by Dane Cameron. It's go time now. There will still be fuel saving required before the race is over though, so don't put the hammer down quite so hard, boys. Penalty for the #87 Lonestar Mercedes. They did not fulfill emergency service and will be held by the stewards in the lane in the penalty box. Great scrum in GTLM, look. It's Porsche vs. BMW. How often do you hear these words? Nick Tandy gets mugged on the restart. Well, it happened, and now he has to play catch up.
Tandy does make a move on one of the BMW's. The Ford GT's are in this fight as well. Bill Auberlen leads GTD and is scrapping with the GTLM boys. He is looking for his 59th all-time win in sports car racing, one win away from the record of 60 held by Scott Pruett. Nick Tandy went side by side and had some argy bargy with John Edwards. There's damage to the rear of John Edwards' BMW, and soemone has been buried in the tire wall at turn two. There's heavy skid marks in the runoff zone. The car is buried in the tires. It is the #50 Juncos Cadillac. Victor Franzoni is at the wheel of it.
Will he be OK? That looked to be a massive impact, although we have not seen any replays so far. This is a significant shunt. The safety workers are trying to pull the car out of the tire wall. The medical crews and corner workers are down there. This is going to be an extended yellow flag as we have just over a half hour to go. The car may have gone head on into the wall. The tire stack has done it's job to keep the car confined to the track and out of the woodland behind the circuit. Oliver Jarvis leads as we have 104 laps, 256 miles, on the board. Anyone who was worried about fuel, can now assuage their concerns, including all or most of the DPi cars.
Victor Franzoni, the Brazilian driver had run very well, and was running quicker than both JDC-Miller cars. Mazda 1-2, Acura 3-4, Cadillac 5-6, and seventh, Colin Braun in the Nissan. Earl Bamber, John Edwards, and Nick Tandy are the top three in GTLM. The Nissan is really quick in a straight line. It's not game over for Performance Tech. They are keeping the #38 machine out on track until we end this motor race in less than 25 minutes. The Juncos Cadillac is buried in the tires. Victor Franzoni seems to be OK, but it's hard to clear the car off it's side and out of the tire barrier. Franzoni did put the car on it's side when he crashed.
No change in GT Le Mans. A BMW is the meat in a Porsche sandwich. Matt McMurry leads LMP2. Mazda, Mazda, Acura Acura, Cadillac, Cadillac, Nissan, Cadillac, Cadillac, Cadillac. No fuel worries. It'll be a sprint to the finish. In GTLM, 100 laps, 245 miles now on the board, and in the overall, 108 laps, (265 miles). There is a crane down at the scene of the wreck, lifting the Cadillac, that rolled into the tires. He hit a bump off turn two, and rolled the car, and is being attended to by the medical staff and safety personnel.
Laurens Vanthoor says the Porsche has good pace as they are in the GTLM lead and we'll see how Earl Bamber does. We seem to be going to a red flag and stopping the race. The clock is still running and that Cadillac is junk in terms of the bodywork, but the frame has held up intact. The clock is being reset to 17 minutes and 13 seconds. With the red flag, the pit lane is in parc ferme conditions. The cars are not on the downhill, so they don't have to lock the transmissions or brakes on the hill.
The tire wall will be rebuilt and we'll be back to racing. Patrick Pilet set the GTLM lap record at Mosport in 2017 at 1:14.7, and was reset today. Tristan Vautier did the GTD record at 1:16.8 also in 2017. The Cadillac has lost it's rear wing and has damage, but it's structurally sound. Cold tires, and he got sideways down the hill, he scrubbed off a lot of speed. He'd been on the grass in the old days with zero runoff. Manfred Winkelhock died a few days after suffering a massive crash at Mosport at the wheel of a Porsche 962 Group C car in the Mosport 1,000 Kilometers back in 1985.
Anytime you flip, it's nasty, even in a production road car. Patrick Lindsey will help Patrick Long try to win the IMSA GTD championship after Lindsey has won the GTE Am championship in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The engines have re fired and we are ready to go back to racing under the Full Course Yellow with just over 15 minutes to go. Patrick Long will be eligible for the GTD Sprint Cup Championship, but not Patrick Lindsey.
Thank you once again to all the track marshals who work here at CTMP and around the world. We believe Victor Franzoni will be OK having been taken to the infield medical center. Stone cold tires on the restart, and the temperatures will come up fast. We're green, now, with 14 and a half minutes to go. Mazda #77 leads this motor race. Harry Tincknell is under pressure from the Acura. Mazda, Mazda, Acura, Acura, Cadillac, Cadillac. Earl Bamber leads John Edwards and Nick Tandy in GTLM.
Bill Auberlen runs ahead of Mario Farnbacher and Townsend Bell in GT Daytona. Great race in GTLM. Bamber is running well and Tandy is pulling his way up towards the BMW. The Corvette's are buried in a boatload of GTD cars at the moment. Jarvis and Tincknell run 1-2. Mazda have taken their first win, and now they are in the zone of going for two in a row. 1:06.903 is new fast lap. Marco Werner has the all-time record for sports cars at Mosport at 1:05.8 in one of the diesel Audi's before that program ended by Volkswagen Audi Group. BMW lead in GT Daytona as Bill Auberlen has pulled out 6/10ths of a second.
Paul Holton is moving his GTD McLaren into the top ten in GTD. Eight manufacturers in the top ten in the class. Earl Bamber has 6/10ths of a second in GTLM as Toni Vilander chases Jeroen Bleekemolen. Colin Braun is now sixth, having passed both Filipe Albuquerque, and Renger van der Zande. Colin Braun fights his way through traffic and her comes Pipo Derani, slicing past the Acura and goes through into fourth spot! Yikes! Braun is off the road, spinning in front of the GTD car and he's in the gravel trap. He gets reverse and drives out of the gravel trap, thank goodness! Derani made a whale of a pass on Ricky TRaylor! Braun got off on the grass, and he almost hits the Acura. There was a touch between Braun and the Acura.
Filipe Albuquerque is having trouble finding a gear, crawling down the front straight. Albuquerque has stopped, trying to find reverse. He's in a dangerous spot. He barely got across the start/finish line before stalling the car. He pulled to the left side of the road instead of the pit lane exit. Derani is trying to pass Cameronh through the twisty bits coming to the front straight. We have three laps left. The Mazda's have whistled off into the distance. Dane Cameron is seeing red, as the Cadillac is bearing down on him. The GTLM battle is just as hot and heavy, too. Harry Tincknell is being held up and here comes Derani!
Three or so minutes to go. Harry Tincknell is second and a second a ahlf up the road. Derani is booking it as we come to the end of this race. What a drive! Townsend Bell is under pressure from Patrick Long in GTD. Porsche could go 1-2 in GT Le Mans. Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell are again 1-2 and the Acura is being dragged along in third. Derani is slowing! Has his charge been stymied? White flag. One lap to go. Mazda is going to go back to back, and win two races in a week after not winning overall since 2012. Oliver Jarvis and Tristan Nunez are going to win here at CTMP. Ricky Taylor is closing on Derani. A second 1-2 for Mazda in a week.
Overall/DPi: #77 Jarvis/Nunez Mazda RT24P
GT Le Mans: #912 Vanthoor/Bamber Porsche 911 RSR
GT Daytona: #96 Auberlen/Foley BMW M6 GT3
The next event is next weekend. It is a Saturday afternoon race at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, for GT class cars only.
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