A 21 strong all GT field has assembled for the first of two GT only events of the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship season, at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, a legendary course, which has been raced on since 1957, affectionately known as "the bull ring" because of it's length at only a mile and a half. We are located a couple hours north of New York State. The actual distance of the course in it's current form is 1.47 miles. There is a straightaway on the front end of the course, the Sam Posey straightaway, named for the famous racing driver turned race broadcaster, Sam Posey. The chicane cutout will be used at turn five and diving through West Bend and the Diving Turn. The cars are on the track, and we are set to race.
There was a bizarre rain shower about 45 minutes to an hour before this race is scheduled to start. It poured with rain, but just for a few minutes. The track is perfectly dry right now as we're set to race. Fans, it's a scorcher. Find shade under the trees, and keep drinking water. This is a great circuit. This is a totally old school track, and Skip Barber, racing legend, is the bloke to thank for this track still maintaining it's character and it's charm. Eight GT Le Mans works cars are at the front, from Ford, Porsche, Corvette, and BMW. GT Daytona has quite the varied mix, a smorgasbord of manufacturers if you will, entered in the class.
Traffic and tire management, and track position, those will be big deals. You can't afford not to tick all the boxes. If you go a lap or two down, you're toast, essentially and fall right out of contention. Everyone is grumbling about the heat, and we can hope for green flag racing for the next two hours and 40 minutes. Race strategists, though, want yellows so they can toy with their strategies for running the cars. People say that 2 hour and 40 minutes is not proper endurance racing. Listen, chaps. Sprint racing is just as much a part of sports car racing as endurance racing is. So, don't worry, be happy, and enjoy this motor race. The safety car pulls off, and we're set. We've got a green flag, and we're underway here at Lime Rock!
The two factory Porsche's look, get a big head of steam as the Corvette's, Ford GT's, and BMW's file in behind, and in GT Daytona, we have the Acura NSX GT3 ahead. But, Laurens Vanthoor has jumped his way into the lead from the get go. Nick Tandy though, has to defend right from the off, from the first factory BMW in the hands of Connor De Philippi. John Edwards, his team mate, runs through the grass at the exit of Big Bend. Cooper MacNeil in the #63 WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3, for Scuderia Corsa, he's off the road briefly as well. Laurens Vanthoor may get dinged by the stewards. He very nearly jumped the start, and almost passed the safety car as it was headed for the pit lane before the flag dropped. Laurens, Laurens, tisk, tisk, sunshine.
Vanthoor screams past in the lead of this motor race already putting daylight between himself and Nick Tandy in the sister Porsche. The Porsche's are 3/4 of a second ahead of the first BMW as Acura holds onto the lead from pole in GT Daytona, with the #86 MSR entry being shared by Mario Farnbacher and Trent Hindman. Ben Keating, aboard his #33 Wynn's liveried Mercedes AMG GT3 also got a massive start, and he runs second in class, sharing with Dutchman, Jeroen Bleekemolen. Keating has had four front row starts. Good stuff for a non professional driver, who only does it as a hobby. Cory Lewis, too, has made his way by Frankie Montecalvo in a scrap between Lamborghini and Lexus as we get underway here at Lime Rock.
Montecalvo's Lexus was sent to the back of the grid after failing the ride height measurement in post qualifying tech inspection. We can see the cars running liner stern at the moment. Nobody is pulling away or gaining any kind of advantage in these opening laps. John Edwards in the second BMW M8 GT, is seventh overall after his off. He's got clag on his Michelin tires, but thankfully has stayed ahead of Trent Hindman. Acura, Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Porsche, Lexus... the top six in GTD. Edwards can still see the leader through the uphill, through West Bend, and down the downhill. Dirk Mueller is the higher placed Ford GT at the moment. Chaps, look after your tires.
Laurens Vanthoor sets fastest lap of the motor race so far at 51.291 seconds. Not even a minute to get around this place. So, the laps here are going to fly by quickly. The record is a 50.7 set by Antonio Garcia in the Corvette in 2017. 51 dead for Tandy is a new fast lap. 51.0 seconds. The Porsche and the Ford are also running very quickly right now as we continue to watch the GTD battle. Whoops. Lamborghini #48 goes off the road at Big Bend, Corey Lewis at the controls. But, he seems to be back on track now. Still, being out in the grass is going to put a load of junk on his Michelin tires. Did he go off under duress? Or did he make a mistake on his own? Ah. He locked it up himself.
Something was not working with the ABS. The anti lock brakes, locked. Porsche runs 1-2. Fuel only for the Lamborghini. He's gone a lap down to the race leaders. Can he stay on the lead lap in class? Ooh. Trent Hindman has not beaten Lewis out and he's right ahead of Hindman in the Acura. Lewis has more fuel than everyone else, but he has to stay ahead of his class leader. Vanthoor and Tandy are still 1-2. #912 has won three races. #911 has won two. 51.18 and 51.16, and 51.04, are the consistent times of the Porsche over the past few laps. Connor De Philippi is keeping a watching brief. John Edwards has dropped off the back of the train in GTLM.
We've got two and a half hours. This will be a smashing race. Grab a beer and join us as the race continues. We've seen the new edition of the 911 RSR, as we have seen that car racing already in the FIA World Endurance Championship Prologue which leads into a season that will start in just over two weeks, and will be like a soccer season or a school year as it runs from fall 2019 to summer 2020. So, stay tuned, right here, for more FIA WEC coverage as well as IMSA. As we look at the track map, we continue to see John Edwards in the BMW falling behind ever so slightly. Edwards might be on a fuel saving strategy.
We look at the key places at Lime Rock, on the track map. Turn one and turn five are particularly important. We also watch a replay of a big wreck that happened in last year's event. Turn seven is another hot spot and we've seen action there in the past, too. The #24 BMW is indeed extending it's fuel window as the Porsche's still lead the motor race over BMW, Ford GT, Corvette's, (both of them), and well, we'll see who else is down there, as they fly through the diving turn in turn seven. Lime Rock Park is very physical, and the tire clag, the marbles, are starting to build up. Driving on the marbles on a greasy, hot track is just like driving on ice.
The Michelin Pilot Challenge race ran before this one. Now, stay tuned for that one. We will cover it, here on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog. Michelin Pilot racing driver, Dylan Murry has joined the IMSA Radio broadcast team, as we watch Corey Lewis, and Corey Lewis is in danger of going a lap down to Trent Hindman. This is a car that was a championship winner. Tire degradation is horrendous, here at Lime Rock. Conserve your tires, and don't thrash and ruin your tires, or you will be in a world of hurt. Laurens Vanthoor has dropped into the 51.6 second range, and all GTLM cars are in nose to tail formation as we speak.
Practice and qualifying happened on the morning of the race. That happened quite frequently in the old days, in the '70s, '80s, and '90s. This race took place, on July 20th, the day of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing as we see the Apollo 11 Lamborghini, which is painted like a Saturn 5 rocket. That's the #11 Magnus Lamborghini with the Saturn 5 decals and their crewmen are dressed up like astronauts. The gap is growing between the Porsche's and the BMW of Connor De Philippi. The Porsche's are really beginning to extend their margin. Two hours and 20 minutes still to go. The race is getting into a rhythm as we continue to watch.
The tires are a big deal. The engineers will look at both tire wear and fuel numbers. The fuel strategy is going to be tight. Conserve fuel. That's a key deal around this place. Look after your tires, too. GTLM cars took 4-6 laps to turn it on in qualifying, and they scrubbed in a few sets to get the shiny release agent off the tires. Be careful on the first lap of the next tire stint. Porsche continues to run 1-2. The rest of the field are within 7.8 seconds of the Porsche as BMW #24 is dropping further down. He's a second and a half slower than everyone else. John Edwards is in extreme fuel saving mode. We've stayed green for a good while. No new tires, and no second drivers getting suited and booted just yet.
Jesse Krohn will be the second driver, sharing with John Edwards. The pits are open, and Marco Seefried is ready to come to the lane in the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 he is sharing with Patrick Long. Fuel is ready, and so are the tires. Left side tires only, it appears, for Park Place. Acura and Trent Hindman lead over Ben Keating in GT Daytona right now. Then comes the #96 BMW M6 GT3, the Turner Motorsports car of Bill Auberlen and the man who is currently at the controls, Robby Foley. Zach Robichon, the Canadian, is next, in the plaid colored Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3, car #9. Robichon is sharing that car this weekend, with Porsche Young Professional driver Dennis Olsen from Norway.
Olsen seems to be applying the blowtorch to Robby Foley in this GTD scrap. Marco Seefried is next, followed by Cooper MacNeil in the Ferrari. Check that. In fifth, is the first of the two AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3's, Richard Heistand at the wheel of it. The GTLM battle also continues. Porsche, BMW, Ford, Chevrolet. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing might be playing it cagey at the moment. But, something is off song with the #24 entry. Dear me. The leading Porsche's work their way past the GTD runners. It's not so different between the WeatherTech cars and the Michelin Pilot Challenge cars which are GT4 spec machines of course, compared to GTLM and GT3 cars in WeatherTech.
GT3 cars are really quick in a straight line, and Lime Rock is a course where you are turning always. You just don't have anyplace to rest here. Be patient. Keep digging. We have not seen any yellows yet, thank goodness. It's physically tiring because of the heat, but the mental fatigue is big. Lime Rock is slower than Mosport. But, mentally, you are fogged up. Fuel and four tires for Marco Seefried on his pit stop. He is in his first race at Lime Rock. Oh boy! Some argy bargy, look, in GTLM between Ford and BMW. That was a bit of hip and shoulder. Side by side for third and the Ford beats the BMW into the corner. Dirk Mueller positiioned himself around the outside at Big Bend, turn one, and he goes right by Connor De Philippi. That's a bold move, mate! A bold move!
The Porsche's are off the leash at the front of the field, and their gap over the Ford we are watching now, has ballooned to over nine seconds. RLL is having real problems. John Edwards is headed for the lane for four tires and fuel and it does not appear Jesse Krohn is going to get into the car. The leaders have now lapped the BMW. Laurens Vanthoor gets by, but Nick Tandy has to deal with Mr. Edwards slamming the door very nearly in his face! Edwards is in the lane, and he'll drop another lap down as it's a regular stop. Two tires and now, Krohn will be in the car. Ryan Briscoe also came in in the #67 Ford GT. The #67 car has won every time the top brass from Chip Ganassi Racing have not been here. Well, guess what, blokes... the top brass from CGR are at other races, this weekend, so, could it happen again?
The #63 Scuderia Corsa WeatherTech Ferrari is in the lane for service, but Cooper MacNeil is too early. He has to finish his required drive time before handing the automobile over to Flying Finn, Toni Vilander. The crew is plugging in a new data stick to the car. They are downloading information from the computer. Uh oh. The car is being shut off. Could this be game over for the WeatherTech boys? This won't be a quick stop by any stretch. But, with the BMW, they are on the back foot. BMW ran the final practice session on one set of tires, doing race simulation in the 52 and 53 second bracket.
Porsche's have now lapped Ryan Briscoe in the #67 Ford GT. My gosh. Oliver Gavin in the #4 Corvette is in the lane. Marcel Fassler gets into the car. They may do two driver changes. Gavin has won four races here at Lime Rock Park in his career. BMW #25 is also in the lane for fuel and tires. Tom Blomqvist will get into the car for his first racing laps at Lime Rock. These are fresh Michelin slicks that haven't been scrubbed in, with three compounds to choose from. John Edwards says that the car was understeering with the tire degradation. Edwards says he and the BMW boys were lapped by the rest of the field. Meanwhile, speaking of putting a lap on another car, for good reason, Ryan Briscoe is giving Nick Tandy fits at the moment. "No, I don't want to go a lap down! I will push the bye bye button, and drive away from you, sucker!" he is probably saying inside his helmet.
Briscoe defends, and is pressing to get his lap back. Briscoe made a stop already. He needs track position. Turn on the tires, and go get 'em. Antonio Garcia in the lane for the #3 Corvette. Fuel, tires, and a driver change planned. Jan Magnussen will be getting behind the wheel. The car stalls briefly and Magnussen is down and away. Wow. Ryan Briscoe is indeed back on the tail end of the lead lap, look. Tire wear is the key here, ladies and gentlemen. Porsche may be freaked out by tire wear. It depends on their strategy. They might believe they can make it on one less stop than the chaps at Ford. Antonio Garcia leads his team mate, and Tom Blomqvist, he is the meat in a Porsche sandwich at the moment. He is the bratwurst, in between the Corvette's, which are the two buns, and of course, being yellow, those cars could represent extra mustard.
OK. OK. Let's not go there! Yours truly is getting hungry. Corvette has just barely squeaked past the BMW after the stops. More argy bargy, look, between Ford and Porsche. This is getting tasty, speaking of food. Tandy drifts wide 'round Big Bend, and well, that's all the incentive for Westbrook, his fellow Englishman, to say, "cheerio", and "farewell", as he sails right by. Cory Lewis is in the lane from 11th in GT Daytona. Pit stop time for the #48 Paul Miller Lamborghini, and for the #76 Compass Racing McLaren 720S GT3. It appears Bryan Sellers is now at the wheel of the Lamborghini, as Matt Plumb gets a new drink bottle as well as tires and fuel. He is not set to hand over to co-driver Paul Holton, just yet.
Laurens Vanthoor is in the lane from the race lead, for full service and a driver change, as Earl Bamber will take over the car. Four new, shiny tires, and a boatload of fuel for the #912. Problems it appears, look, for the #12 Lexus RC F GT3, the AIM Vasser Sullivan entry in the hands of Frank Montecalvo and Townsend Bell. The McLaren and the Porsche are now clear to go, both back on track. Bamber is a lucky bloke as he gets out ahead of the Ford! Good strategy call from CORE Autosport and the Porsche boys. Porsche have timed their stop perfectly! Nick Tandy is in the lane, handing the car over to Patrick Pilet.
The Ford has taken over the race lead. The Ford is down the front straight, and Pilet beats the Ford! Tandy did a scorching inlap, and this gives Porsche the lead! Wow. That's a brilliant stroke of strategy! Well done, Porsche. Look out! Don't take your team mate out! Pilet is defending. He takes the lead away from Nick Tandy. Ryan Briscoe might be able to catch him here. Porsche has better tires than the Ford GT at the moment, and the Ford has the straight line speed, too. Ford GT #66 is in the lane as well as Dylan Murry finishes his stint in the broadcast booth with IMSA Radio. Poor old Townsend Bell has transmission issues with the #12 Lexus. Bill Auberlen has taken over the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 from Robby Foley, and he too, was the meat in a Lexus sandwich on the stop.
Wright Motorsports has also brought their #91 Henry Rifles sponsored Porsche 911 GT3R into the lane. This is a team we usually see, in another championship, in Blancpain GT World Challenge America. But, they are here in IMSA at Lime Rock as well. Matty Campbell, the rapid Australian Porsche racer takes over the car from Anthony Imperato. The rocket, has landed, as the #11 Apollo 11 themed Magnus Racing Lamborghini is in the lane. Andy Lally is taking over the rocket ship from John Potter. IMSA Radio is now joined by driver Owen Trinkler, from the Michelin Pilot Challenge. Again, when yours truly has time, there will be more coverage coming of Michelin Pilot Challenge races. Good handling and good pace will allow you to extend your lead. Keep the rhythm going.
Rhythm is a big deal because of the short distance here at Lime Rock. GTD championship news as the #12 Lexus is back in the garage after it wouldn't start. It is actually coming back from the pit lane to the paddock. This is devastating news from AIM Vasser Sullivan! Frank Montecalvo and Townsend Bell have had a bear of a weekend. The balance of the car is fine, but the speed isn't there. The Lexus is pretty heavy and not suited to LRP. Jesse Krohn is about to be lapped by Bamber and Pilet. Bamber will go to the end with a double stint and so will Patrick Pilet as they dive through turrn seven with shade provided by the mature trees lining the track, headed back to start another lap. The Porsche is getting aero push, and will get tire wear because of it.
The BMW is obviously bigger in size than is the Porsche. Trent Hindman is still running really well in GT Daytona even though he is a lap down on scoring to the overall leaders with just over an hour and 45 minutes on the board yet. Acura #86 is still on the lead lap. Trent Hindman has actually gotten back on the lead lap, and he's run 54 minutes on fuel. Jeroen Bleekemolen is coming, fast, on fresh tires. He's going to fly! There's no question of that. Hindman is a lap up on the field. But, Bleekemolen is a second or so faster. A 52.5 for Bleekemolen, and a 53.8 for Hindman. Both are on the Sam Posey straight, together. Bleekemolen could unlap himself. What does MSR do? Do they come in now? Do they leave Trent Hindman in for another stint?
Bleekemolen has new Michelin tires. But, Hindman, or Mario Farnbacher, if he gets in, will have new and better tires. The leader peels into the lane, and bang, Bleekemolen scores his lap back. It is "Super Mario" time. Cue the Official Super Mario Brothers theme music!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnipB_8Br8U
Fuel and scrubbed Michelin tires for Mario Farnbacher. Can't tell if they are worn or just lightly scrubbed. They are not the shiny new tires. Farnbacher is now exiting the lane after a long fuel stop. He's lost time. He's lost two places at least. No dice on that strategy for "Super Mario". Back time the race. That's how this all works out. It'll take five or six laps to get a new heat cycle on the tires. It's about half that, and it's maybe two or three laps in the race. Mario Farnbacher can go for it indeed. But they get heat into them fast, and be careful too, because the tire pressures aren't up. Frankie Montecalvo's car is fixed. The Lexus is back on track, now with Townsend Bell at the wheel of it.
Toni Vilander has fallen down the order it seems. Townsend Bell is back in the pit lane, rumbling through. There's a gearbox issue for the Lexus as Bell is stuck in second gear and maybe he had a drive through penalty. Jeroen Bleekemolen leads Marco Seefried in GTD by five seconds. Then comes "Super Mario" Farnbacher. Dennis Olsen is next in the plaid Pfaff car. Fifth place for Bill Auberlen, a true veteran of the sports car racing scene. Keep in mind, Turner Motorsports uses the same pit crew for both their GT3 spec WeatherTech Championship machine, and for their GT4 spec M4 GT4 in Michelin Pilot Challenge, again, a race you will hear about, right here, when yours truly has time to write about it.
Jack Hawksworth is sixth in class in the second Lexus. That's car #14. Both of the Porsche's still lead overall as Ryan Briscoe is right there. The battle is turned up again. The wick is turned up. Tom Blomqvist is still in it and Jan Magnussen, Joey Hand, and Marcel Fassler, all three wide! Yikes! This is so close! The top three cars are pulling a gap on Tom Blomqvist in BMW #25 running in fourth spot. The Ford GT is surely a momentum car on a momentum track. It looks after it's tires well, and that was the key to their success in the 2018 edition of this race. Cooper MacNeil couldn't upshift on the pit stop, and a new steering wheel is working for Toni Vilander. Vilander is pushing, and he's coming in a hurry.
The two Corvette's are together, balled up in traffic, as is the BMW. But, with new tires, the Ford's have had a spark lit within them. Porsche, Porsche, Ford, BMW, Ford, Corvette, Corvette, is currently the top seven in the running order. Joey Hand does the over under on the inside through No Name Straight. Tom Blomqvist is next up and the two Corvette's are working their way past Dennis Olsen and Mario Farnbacher. In practice, Marcel Fassler had a major crunch into the tire barriers and the #4 Corvette C-7-R- underwent repairs to be fixed for the race. He missed the chicane entirely and didn't see the tire barrier, destroying the front end of the car.
Fassler is subbing for Tommy Milner. Milner is recuperating from his hand injury at Watkins Glen. Tom Blomqvist is being harried by Joey Hand in the Ford GT. The Ford driver is setting up a move on the BMW. Hand used to drive for BMW before moving to the Ford program when it came about in 2016. Ryan Briscoe it is, in the #67 Ford, who has gone by Tom Blomqvist. We have about an hour and a half left in this race. Bob Riley, father of Bill Riley, who built race cars and competed in IMSA as a team owner, was originally part of the team at NASA that built the Saturn V rocket. Marco Seefried is being harried by Bill Auberlen. Jeroen Bleekemolen ekes out more of his lead.
We welcome Hugh Plumb to the IMSA Radio broadcast booth after his stint in the McLaren. He says his stint was extremely taxing. It's hard to be speedy and conserve fuel. Another big move, Ford on BMW for fourth in the overall. Side by side stuff through the only left hand corner on this track, at turn three. Two Porsche's lead two Ford's, a BMW, two Corvette's, and another BMW. Track conditions are pretty good, with rubber buildup offline in turn five. Jesse Krohn could be lapped again. Ryan Briscoe is not long to be replaced by Richard Westbrook. Patrick Long will get into the #73 Park Place Porsche 911 GT3R in GT Daytona.
Patrick Long is looking for a win here at Lime Rock Park. Still under green flag, as the segment on IMSA Radio with Hugh Plumb is concluded, we are coming to half distance in this motor race. Ford seems to be splitting this race in half. 1.3-1.4 seconds between Ford and Porsche in GTLM, a constant gap. In GTD, the gap is shrinking from 9.4 way down to 5.2 seconds between Dennis Olsen and the leader, Jeroen Bleekemolen. Patrick Long is going to step into the Park Place car soon as Marcel Fassler has done a single stint and he is going to stay in the car it appears. New tires on the car as well. Fassler stays in for one more stint, for maybe 40 minutes, before Oliver Gavin gets back into the car.
Fassler is right in front of the #66 Ford GT and the Ford is going to do the squeeze play here, look. Joey Hand gets through. Porsche has not given up any track position and they are going long on their fuel stints. Ford #67 is in the pit lane, now. Tires, fuel, and a driver change. Brand new tires for Richard Westbrook. Westbrook was the birthday boy, recently. Westbrook is clear and not a Porsche in sight. He's going for it. Traffic is a big deal. Ryan Briscoe is damp but fresh. The two leading Porsche's work on lapping the #24 BMW. Can Patrick Pilet draft by his team mate?: Three cars where there's only space for one, look. Joey Hand can smell blood in the water. He's coming, and fast.
Joey Hand cuts another 51 second lap. Marcel Fassler in one of the Corvette's is also in the 51 second bracket, and the Porsche's are 2.5 seconds down, at 53.5 being trapped behind the BMW. Stay out just a while longer. The GTD lead battle is hot and heavy as Jeroen Bleekemolen is being hounded by Mario Farnbacher and Dennis Olsen, as right now, Bleekemolen is determined to put a lap on the #76 Compass Racing McLaren driven at the moment by Matt Plumb, and the #57 MSR Heinricher Racing Acura NSX GT3, Katherine Legge at the keyboard right now. These cars are on the tail end of the lead lap. Porsche can breathe a big sigh of relief as Jesse Krohn brings the BMW to the lane. Lots of dust was just kicked up as Dennis Olsen moves the plaid Pfaff Porsche into second, car #9. Olsen was caught behind Mario Farnbacher who ran wide into the dust.
Poor old Bleekemolen is having handling troubles. Dennis Olsen and Mario Farnbacher are both flying right now. Marco Seefried, Bill Auberlen, and Matt Campbell are all in a battle of their own as well. Porsche #73 vs. BMW #96 vs. Porsche #91. Porsche's lap times are down and they are stuck behind the Lexus, the #14 AVS machine. Jack Hawksworth is seventh in GT Daytona. The Ford GT is 14 and a half second behind as we've now run 100 laps, 147 miles. The top GTD cars are running together, with just over an hour and ten minutes left. Westbrook has cut the fastest lap for Ford #67, 51 dead. Porsche's are running at 52.5, 53 dead. If the Porsche's were to pit, Westbrook would steam right past them.
Track and ambient temperatures are still hot, but they are coming down. BMW ran well in the cooler conditions in the morning during practice and qualifying. Jeroen Bleekemolen passes the Caterpillar Acura. Dennis Olsen had to go around the outside of a swerving Katherine Legge. The gap for fourth spot has come down, look. Westbrook is the first car to have done two pit stops, and Porsche wants to do two stops, and two stops only. They may need a splash and dash at the at end as Tom Blomqvist is in the pit lane. He is in very soon and Connor De Philippi will take over. Corvette #3 is going to come in and Antonio "The King of Spain" Garcia will get back into the car. Nick Tandy dials in the fastest lap of the race at 50.867 seconds.
Marco Seefried is the next target for the factory Porsche's and here comes Matt Campbell and Bill Auberlen. 20 seconds now, Westbrook has closed the gap to the leaders. Ford #67 will need a splash and a dash. Marco Seefried is in the lane changing over to Patrick Long. Bill Auberlen, too, is now back into the #96 BMW M6 GT3. Jan Magnussen is in the pits for fuel, tires, and a driver change back to Antonio Garcia as Jack Hawksworth pits for fuel and sticker tires. Paul Holton is now in McLaren #76, and a pit stop for the #48 Lamborghini. Katherine Legge and Townsend Bell have hit each other. Legge has suspension damage, and no real damage it appears, to the yellow and black AVS Lexus.
Patrick Pilet has gone off the road at Big Bend and damaged the left front corner of the car! Yikes! Porsche could be throiwing this race away, giving a win opportunity to Ford. Split the strategy at Porsche as the #9 Pfaff Porsche goes ahead of the #33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes. The Porsche #911 got caught off guard by Marcel Fassler, and the #76 McLaren was there, but did nothing wrong. It looks like the chances of the #911 Porsche to win this race have gone out the window as we watch in replay, the pass of the #33 Mercedes by the #9 Porsche. That was earlier. My apologies. Fuel and tires for Joey Hand in the #66 Ford GT, who was the winner here, last year.
Patrick Pilet in the lane for new Michelin tires and they don't have any bodywork to repair the damage that just happened to the car. Less than an hour to go now. Porsche has run 63 laps (almost 93 miles), on a tank of petrol. 92.61 miles, to be exact. No one else comes close to that on a stint. Porsche #912 is ahead of the #66 Ford. BMW #25 is in the battle as well as Earl Bamber stays out and here comes Richard Westbrook! Westbrook goes inside and is on the wrong side of the road at turn four. He goes through and Ford leads this motor race. Bamber is a sitting duck. He's hung out to dry, look.
Westbrook only took 21 seconds of fuel. He has to put the welly down. No fluffy pink slippers for Westbrook. Bamber is in the lanew for fuel and slightly scrubbed in new Michelin tires. Four tires and fuel. The car is released from the air jacks, Earl revs the motor, and Bamber is back on track. He will have his hands full, with Joey Hand, no pun intended. Wowzers. Porsche has to have made their final pit stops. Fassler in the Corvette will need another stop ands o will one of the Ford's. The interval is now 42 seconds between Patrick Pilet in the Porsche and Richard Westbrook in the Ford.
Patrick Pilet nearly gets a new lap record, turning a time of 50.757. It is a lap record by 0.023 seconds if it holds to the end of the race. Richard Westbrook needs one more set of new tires. 51.7 seconds last time around for Westbrook, 27 laps into his fuel stint. At this moment in GT Daytona, Mario Farnbacher holds the edge over Dennis Olsen. Olsen is down by a second and a half, and then comes the Mercedes and the Turner Motorsports BMW, followed by the Matt Campbell driven Wright Motorsports Porsche, as Patrick Long is set on full stun mode in the #73 Park Place Porsche in sixth in class. Marcel Fassler is in the GTLM fight, but he needs one more stop. Corvette #4 won't contend for the win.
Patrick Pilet is ahead of Earl Bamber putting on new tires. Many GTD battles are clumped together and the GTLM cars will be caught. Earl Bamber has dialed in his fastest lap and fastest lap in GTLM. Dennis Olsen is now right with Mario Farnbacher. 50 minutes left now. Richard Westbrook has now run 125 laps (183 and 3/4, let's call it 184 miles). He last made a pit stop on lap 92. Marcel Fassler last pitted on lap 90, 37 seconds behind the leader. Patrick Pilet pitted on lap 113 and can go to the end. Seven second back is Earl Bamber who pitted on lap 117. Joey Hand is 1.2 seconds in-arrears. Joey Hand pitted on lap 112. We still have 48 minutes left. We've got quite a few laps, probably about 50 laps to run yet.
Patrick Pilet will want to pass the Corvette ASAP. The gap between Corvette #4 and Ford #67 is constant. Marcel Fassler has run very well this weekend in a stand-in role. The top five is within 46-47 seconds, and someone went right off the road into the dust. Jesse Krohn may have been that car. There are GTD cars that are also in the way. Patrick Long is catching Matty Campbell, who are racing against each other as opposed to being team mates. Mario Farnbacher and Dennis Olsen are practically glued together as well. Toni Vilander has made a pit stop as with 45 minutes to go, Richard Westbrook has extended his lead. Marcel Fassler and Corvette are searching for their 100th win in North America.
Richard Westbrook needs time to pit for his last stop, while Joey Hand is closing in on the two Porsche's hand over fist. Take a deep breath, just relax, but this race is still a great game of chess. CGR is in the window. Richard Westbrook will be into the pits for fuel and tires within five laps. Westbrook peels into the lane. He has to have a quick pit stop and get the fuel calculations right. They have time to do all four tires. Oh dear. The fuel nozzle came out and the tire change was slow. He'll still have the lead? No! Fassler, Pilet, and Bamber have gone through and Westbrook is now fourth!
Pilet has been snookered, too! The right front tire that came off the car fell back into the wheel arch on the Ford GT. The fueling was perfect, absolutely spot on. Now, Westbrook will have to dig deep and the Porsche's are now 1-2. Corvette has to stop one more time. Westbrook and the Porsche's don't have to pit, but Joey Hand in the #66 might. Marcel Fassler has slidoff the road at West Bend. New tires needed. Oliver Gavin will finish the race in the last 40 minutes. The tires are knackered after Fassler fell off the road. Marcel Fassler is in the lane for a new set of tires, and to hand over to Oliver Gavin. Gavin is down and away.
Richard Westbrook is now chasing Earl Bamber. Westbrook has newer tires. He will press the Porsche's who have older tires by some 20 laps. Earl Bamber will be forcing Westbrook to trash his tires. 141 laps (207 miles) now complete. Pilet is not getting away and Westbrook is in the catbird seat with fresher tires. Joey Hand is a short ways behind the lead battle but could be short on fuel. Dennis Olsen is only a half a second away from Mario Farnbacher in GT Daytona in a hammer and tongs battle. Bill Auberlen is four seconds further back. Patrick Long and Matt Campbell are also in there. Joey Hand said that the car is good on it's tires, and it was the key for them to win here last year.
They are on a different construction of Michelin tire this year. Patrick Pilet went off the road and back on at the end of Big Bend, and the two Porsche's do stay together in their overall places. Pilet overcooked the run into turn seven. The top four are separated by just two and a half seconds with half an hour to go. Pilet has lost the lead to Bamber. Pilet has to fend off Westbrook. There was a touch between the team mates out of the downhill turn. Richard Westbrook had a ringside seat there. Oh my. Pilet and Tandy want their third win of the 2019 season. They allowed Bamber to go through for sure. Joey Hand in the Ford might need a splash and a dash. #66 will go to the end of this race.
Two Porsche's vs. two Ford's as Connor De Philippi is the best of the BMW's and then come the Corvette's of Antonio Garcia and Oliver Gavin. Nothing has really changed in the battle for GT Daytona honors and the top three in class are within a second or so of each other. Porsche #911 had all four wheels off the road. Patrick Pilet has no left front dive plane and he has diffuser damage on the back. Dennis Olsen has been running really well and Mario Farnbacher leads OIsen. We will finish this race before 6PM local time.
Bamber's most recent lap was 51.7 and Pilet ran 52.2, holding up Westbrook. Westbrook puts a wheel off and the two Ford boys are tussling with each other. Oh boy! We'll need an ice bath and a nap in a darkened room after this motor race. It's been absolutely stupendous. We will have another all GT event at Virginia International Raceway, and this weekend, we'll be at Road America, which hopefully will be able to be covered soon. Pilet gains back the half a second he had lost. No waiting. Go for it, and go, right now. Pilet gets balked in the uphill, and Westbrook sees the opportunity and takes it! He pulls the inside. He's covered by Pilet and Katherine Legge brushes another car right in front of the lead battle!
Legge is off the road with a puncture, and Matt Campbell runs wide, too! Pilet might have some daylight here, but no. He's dropped back and Bamber was in the distance as the Ford's have gone through. Yikes! Bamber got pushed off the road by the aero. Antonio Garcia gets a lap back. Yikes! This has been a sizzling motor race. #911 is just not having good luck even with two endurance race wins at Sebring and at Watkins Glen. Richard Westbrook ran a 51.3 second lap as 160 laps (235 miles) are in the bag. 51.8 for Bamber, and a 51.4 for Westbrook. Oliver Gavin is now racing the #66 Ford, but not for position.
#73 has moved past #91 in GTD. Mario Farnbacher leads the class. Paul Holton in the McLaren has passed Katherine Legge, followed by Toni Vilander and Townsend Bell. Bamber goes 52.1 and Westbrook is faster at 51.4! Westbrook is pulling in tenth after tenth lap after lap. Phew! About fifteen minutes left to run and this race has been a barn burner all the way.
The next IMSA event is this weekend, at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, with all three classes. Dennis Olsen is told to let the leader by. Bamber can't get by and the Ford is still there, but caught by the Pfaff Porsche out of Big Bend. Farnbacher is all over the place when gets on the power with less than 13 minutes to go. The GTD cars do indeed cause aero wash. Andy Lally is the next target for the leading Porsche in the Apollo 11 Lamborghini. Bamber still leads this motor race, but the gap is disappearing as Bamber cannot get by Andy Lally no matter how hard he tries. Into West Bend, the Lamborghini makes the pass on the GTLM cars.
The gap is now down to half a second, look, as Westbrook is chasing Bamber. Bill Auberlen is right on top of Jeroen Bleekemolen in GTD and Matty Campbell is in the fight, too. No holding back. Lay the cards on the table with ten and a half minutes to go. Here comes Westbrook. The Ford is better on the brakesn and he switches through turn three. He still can't quite make it. But he knows, (Westbrook that is), that Ford can win this. All the time of sitting behind the Corvette, might have hurt the Porsche boys. Argy bargy between Westbrook and Pilet! Yikes! Let's hope this doesn't end in tears ladies and gentlemen.
The Corvette could be the fly in the ointment for the Ford and the Porsche. He is one lap away from the lead duo. Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe, both of them are former Corvette drivers. Now, another biff and barge match here between the Porsche and the Ford. Bamber hangs on. No outside move for Westbrook as #912 trips over the curb. This is getting serrious. No bump and run that time. Jeroen Bleekemolen has spun the #33 Mercedes AMG GT3! Bleekemolen is off the road and now back on again. Calamity Corner, the exit of Big Bend as Westbrook has passed the Porsche and they now have both BMW M8 GT's to contend with.
Bamber thinking championship, has given up the fight. Ford are going to win this race as Porsche will score second and fourth. Five minutes to go. Ford are going to win at Lime Rock for the #67 in the Gulf Oil heritage paint scheme. In GTD, Auberlen, Long, and Campbell remain nose to tail. Meanwhile in GTD, the battle isn't through yet as Olsen in the Porsche leads Farnbacher in the Acura. Pfaff Motorsports could be on top of the podium in GTD. Olsen raced with Pfaff at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Westbrook can cruise now. Bleekemolen in the lane with #33 to change a left rear tire. We have two laps maximum with a minute and a half to go.
Ford could go 1-2. Katherine Legge pits the Acura #57. Dennis Olsen in his second IMSA race could win in class. Antonio Garcia puts a lap on Connor De Philippi. It's one second between the Porsche and the Ford for second place. Ford are going to win here at Lime Rock Park! In GT Daytona, Dennis Olsen is going to beat Mario Farnbacher as Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe win the Northeast Grand Prix, and in GT Daytona, it is Porsche! Dennis Olsen and Zacharie Robichon just barely beat Mario Farnbacher and Trent Hindman!
Overall/GT Le Mans: #67 Westbrook/Briscoe Ford GT
GT Daytona: #9 Olson/Robichon Porsche 911 GT3R
Dennis Olsen scores the win in his second start. The next race in IMSA is actually, this weekend. It will see Prototype, GT Le Mans, and GT Daytona, racing together again, at the fabled 4 mile ribbon of asphalt, the speed palace, known as Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
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