The battle remains hot and heavy here in GT Daytona. Bea Figeuredo is one of the drivers involved in it. But, Bill Auberlen, Marco Seefried, Lars Kern, Felipe Fraga, and Trent Hindman, that's the top five in GTD. The race has gone perfectly for Whelen Engineering Racing, but they passed the pit road entry. They are going for the overall and are off sequence. Can we make to four hours? They will have to give up the lead if they pit under green. Pipo Derani may lose some time and now, Mike Conway is leading. Poor old Lars Kern, has gone off the road, look, between turns two and three, and he's loaded the radiator full of grass. GTLM has a battle between Ford and Ferrari, in the final race of the factory Ganassi Ford program. Balance of Performance is a key issue. It's a true chess match for how fast the drivers and teams go, without getting penalized. It is something that the teams and drivers don't like, but it has to be there. You want to be fast, but not too fast. The Ford blokes likely won't be back here next year.
Pit stop time for the #63 WeatherTech Ferrari for fuel and a fix on the right front corner. They have put Bear Bond on the right front fender of the car. Don't lose time by changing the entire nose. There's a long, long way to go yet, mate. Playing this different strategy, the Whelen car has to claw their way back to the front of the motor race. His pace is falling just a shade. But, he is running quicker than team mate Mike Conway in the #5 car. Toni Vilander has gone off the road, and did he get an assist from the #33 Mercedes, Felipe Fraga at the wheel of it. No real damage on the Mercedes. There was some argy bargy, a hip check.
Chief Steward, Beaux Barfield is OK with door to door contact, but not nose to tail. Mechanical trouble for the #55 Mazda, that's Olivier Pla, driving. The battle for second in GTLM sees Dirk Mueller ahead of everyone else, including James Calado in the #62 Ferrari. Now, Pipo Derani wants by Matthieu Vaxiviere. He wants it. Get a good exit, set up the pass. Derani clears the WTR Cadillac. The #50 Juncos Racing Cadillac, Will Owen at the controls, pulls off the road at turn ten. Mike Conway is in the pit lane for fuel and tires. The #31 goes by the sister car. Tristan Nunez off sequence now leads in the #77 Joest Mazda.
The #911 Coca Cola factory Porsche has made a stop, now with Nick Tandy aboard. Acura #6, Simon Pagenaud is into the pit lane now. Pagenaud is back on track again, with an under 30 second pit stop. The #33 Mercedes has been dinged with a drive through penalty. Tristan Nunez will stay in the car as the #77 Mazda is in the lane. Fuel and tires, and back into the motor race for Tristan Nunez. Pipo Derani is now back in the lead of the motor race. Derani needs more time in his gap over team mate Mike Conway. Derani has to back out of the gas, and causes the #10 Cadillac to get ahead even though the #10 of Matthieu Vaxiviere is seventh in DPi. Derani gets balked by the Ford GT, the #66, and now, Mike Conway in the sister car is closing in.
The #50 Juncos Racing Cadillac heads for the garage. They had that massive accident at Mosport in Canada earlier in the year. Now, Pipo Derani is in the pits again, and is off sequence. A driver change is going on, and now, the new driver will be Felipe Nasr. Eric Curran has not gotten into the car just yet. Go easy on cold tires. The Michelin tires need a lap and a half or two laps to get up to working temperature. Marco Seefried and Trent Hindman battle for position in GTD. In this sixth hour, we have seen a mega batgtle in GTD between Toni Vilander in the Ferrari and Felipe Fraga in the Mercedes. Fraga has fresher tires. Meanwhile, We saw Mike Conway lead in the #5 Cadillac, and now, he has gotten out and Joao Barbosa is back in the car.
It is an Action Express 1-2 once more, as the #7 Acura has made their pit stop. Action Express is 1-2 again after the #31 car was down the order and off sequence. Now, they are back on sequence and back into the lead. It looks as though the #31 has taken over the points lead in the Michelin Endurance Cup. Porsche #911 is in the lane as well. This is an ultra quick driver change and this would be the #011 entry, having the brake pads studied. They might be able to change the front brakes on the Porsche which would give these blokes a performance advantage.
Some fender to fender battles in GTD still.
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