For Wright Motorsports to help out the Black Swan team, they couldn't just change the paint scheme and car numbers. The two crews had to work on transferring the salvageable bits off the crashed Black Swan Porsche, and bolting them onto the new chassis, the donor chassis that Wright Motorsports had. The car looks great now, and looks just like it rolled off the truck. The team worked all night changing the parts onto the new car. Just amazing. Hotly pursuing the rebuilt Black Swan Porsche is the #74 Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3. Colin Braun says that he is running very well with DragonSpeed at the moment and they've bounced back to lead LMP2. DragonSpeed won LMP2 here at the Rolex 24, last year. Colin Braun is only doing the Rolex 24. Ben Hanley and Henrik Hedman shall run the full season, and they need a Silver rated driver for the other three endurance races at Sebring, Watkins Glen, and Road Atlanta.
Braun is not a Silver rated driver, but he is doing his part here in the Rolex 24 for DragonSpeed. Let's hope he can get a drive in IMSA for the balance of the season. This is an old school endurance event. The reliability is amazing, and we've had very few yellows. It's a proper motor race. With a smaller field, the good part is that there are few slow cars to get in the way. Attrition comes as a surprise, rather than in the old days when you knew people were going to have their cars break and the attrition rate would take it's toll. Not anymore. We've had two Full Course Yellows for merely 12 laps, or 40 minutes of race time. The margin is close in GTLM, all of the cars are within 20 seconds of each other, except for the #25 BMW M8 GTE which suffered an oil leak, and of course, both of the Aston Martin's are now out. A fastest lap for Daniel Morad in the #88 car as Zacharie Robichon in the #9 Pfaff Porsche leapfrogs the #48 Paul Miller Lamborghini, Madison Snow at the wheel of it. Daniel Morad is next in line in the Audi followed by Frankie Montecalvo in the #12 Lexus and Jeff Westphal aboard the #63 Scuderia Corsa WeatherTech Ferrari.
Ben Keating is in the #74 Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 right now and he is driving two cars in two classes, which is a real old school way of doing things. That was done in this race quite frequently in the old days when the fields were much larger. As an individual driver, Ben Keating, no matter if he drives the LMP2 or the GTD car, he has to drive at least four hours in any six hour window and a total of no more than 13 or 14 of the 24 hours. Scott Dixon turns a fast lap of 1:36 dead, 1:36.0 and so he is within the record time he set of 1:35.2 earlier on. Dane Cameron pits the #6 Acura for a scheduled and standard stop at Acura Team Penske.
The GT Le Mans lead swaps another time as the #24 BMW M8 GTE goes around the #912 Porsche 911 RSR-19. A scheduled pit stop for the #81 DragonSpeed Oreca in LMP2 as Porsche is starting 2020 after coming off a banner 2019 season in IMSA. A couple fastest laps to take note of in GTLM as Alessandro Pier Guidi clocks in a 1:43.1 for the Risi Competizione Ferrari, car #62, while Jordan Taylor sets a 1:43.2 for the #3 yellow Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. All six GTLM cars are within 20 seconds of each other as we watch the #55 Mazda pit from third overall and third in DPi. 2020 for Porsche has their new cars here, and have had a lot of success in the FIA World Endurance Championship as well.
The #10 leading Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac is in the lane and there is a driver change along with fuel and tires. Another stop as well for the #31 Whelen Cadillac from Actiopn Express. Porsche had so many different cars in their parade before the beginning of the race. So, the top three Cadillac's of Scott Dixon, Felipe Nasr, and Sebastien Bourdais have all hit the lane as has the aforementioned Mazda. Jonathan Bomarito is in the #55 after taking over from Harry Tincknell who ran a triple stint. Harry Tincknell says the nose change they had to make on the car has worked out. Scott Dixon says managing traffic is tough despite the fact the field this year is so small. The #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac has been running well according to Dixon and he has enjoyed being back in a prototype. Dixon says managing the fuel mileage in a sports car is quite different than it is in an IndyCar.
Dixon says it is a lot of lifting and coasting. Roll into the corner. For aspiring racing drivers, you heard it here first. A full tank of petrol, and a lot of lifting and coasting, that's the key to racing well in any kind of racing, but especially in endurance sports car competition. It has been 50 years since the first 24 hour race victory for the Porsche 917. That was in 1970, here at the Rolex 24. Ferdinand Piech made a huge investment in the 917 program. If it didn't work, it would have killed Porsche as a company and their racing endeavors. But, thankfully, everything was successful, and they took on a separate chairperson, away from the Piech and Porsche families.
Dr. Porsche said that the motorsport was the advertising for Porsche back in the early days. You cannot split Porsche from racing. Dr. Porsche, everything he did had to do with motorsports. Everything, including the first Porsche 356 that was built and sold in 1948. We have a tip from the lane, and that is the #4 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, the predominantly silver one with yellow trim, is going behind the wall. That is the Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, Marcel Fassler driven C8.R. The first hybrid electric vehicle was a car developed, by Porsche, and now they are coming back to that, with their Taycan model. Have a look at the Lohner-Porsche.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohner-Porsche
It was the first hybrid gasoline/electric car and the gas engine was a generator connected to the wheels. We've seen the Taycan, the Porsche 919 Hybrid and it's new lap records, and more. The fireworks are going off over the speedway right now and surely it is a beautiful display. Porsche are looking at internal combustion, plug in hybrid, and fully electric power. The next IMSA race is "Super Sebring", with IMSA and WEC running together, with the two Porsche teams from IMSA and the FIA WEC. Porsche are surely looking forward to good racing. Porsche's Dave Engelman is very optimistic. Porsche's cars from their museum do run and they are able to race.
The GTLM battle is broke up briefly. BMW leads with Augusto Farfus, as the #912 Porsche is in the pit lane. No driver change. Clean the car, put fuel in the tank, change the tires, and it's back on track. Right on schedule, the #911 Porsche 911 RSR-19 makes it's pit stop. Matt Campbell is now at the wheel of Porsche #911 and Matthieu Jaminet is still in the #912. Augusto Farfus is pitting the #24 BMW M8 GTE. The battle for the lead in the classes, it's like a championship prize fight boxing match right now. The prediction is 833 laps will be run in total by the time 24 hours are expired and we declare a race winner.
The #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini pitted, and so did the #88 WRT Speedstar Audi. Madison Snow is still at the wheel of the PMR Lamborghini and no driver change for the #88 machine either. Daytona International Speedway is looking fabulous all lit up. The infield is full and much of the grandstand is full. From the experience of yours truly, it is hard to see down on the infield. Through a corner like the International Horseshoe, which is a legendary corner here, there is a wire fence down there, so it is much more difficult to get a good view of the cars than I previously thought. At this time of the motor race, I was back at the hotel, watching it on TV, trying to get some shuteye. The place to be, is up on the observation deck which overlooks the back straightaway even though it is standing room only up there. I was camped out at the observation deck for a good while during the opening number of hours, and sometimes down at the fan zone as well watching on the jumbo tron.
Zacharie Robichon still leads GT Daytona as Matt McMurry takes second place in the class from Frankie Montecalvo, followed by the #96 Turner Motorsports Liqui Moly liveried BMW M6 GT3, Dillon Machavern at the controls. In GT Le Mans, Jordan Taylor leads in class in the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. He will move to second, and John Edwards now at the wheel of the #24 BMW M8 GTE will retake the lead, with Matthieu Jaminet aboard the #912 Porsche 911 RSR-19 in third spot. Matt Campbell is next up in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR-19 and fifth place, the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE with James Calado at the controls.
Calado has said the Ferrari just does not have the oomph, the power to hang tough with the BMW's, Porsche's and Corvette's. In LMP2, Ben Hanley leads aboard the #81 DragonSpeed U.S.A. Oreca that leads in class from the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Oreca in the hands of Simon Trummer. Hanley is leading Trummer now by 15 seconds. Ryan Lewis is third in class at the wheel of the #18 Era Motorsports Oreca. Now we move to take a look at the running order in DPi. Cadillac runs 1-2. Ryan Briscoe and WTR with the #10 Cadillac are at the top of the shop, leading Felipe Nasr at the wheel of the #31 Action Express Whelen Cadillac.
Third place is the #55 Mazda RT24P of Jonathan Bomarito, ten seconds adrift of both Briscoe and Nasr. Sebastien Bourdais runs fourth in DPi in the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac. In the pit lane, the Corvette is having the rear end worked on. The #4 Corvette C8.R is in the garage at the present time. This is not planned maintenance for the Corvette boys, so the drivers have every right to have a very concerned expression on their faces at this moment. The transmission and driveshaft area are what is being examined at the moment. The John Edwards BMW leads and has had the slowest fast lap, but is very consistent, and the #24 BMW has not really been consistently fast, shockingly. Edwards' lead over Matthieu Jaminet in the Porsche, has ballooned to four seconds. Matt Campbell is catching Matthieu Jaminet. It's the Matty and Matty show as they chase down John Edwards.
Essential fluids are leaking from an orifice on the #4 Corvette. There's a whole tray of engine oil that has been drained out of the motor. There's clearly an engine problem with the dry sump. There's something going on in the engine's oil filter. Meanwhile, Ryan Briscoe has lowered the best lap of the #10 Cadillac to 1:35.157. The gap Briscoe has over the #31 Cadillac of Felipe Nasr has now ballooned to 21.5 seconds. The gap has opened up in a substantial way and maybe the #31 did not change tires on it's most recent stop, although Nasr is pulling ahead of the Jonathan Bomarito, and Sebastien Bourdais remains fourth in the #5 Cadillac. Briscoe cuts a best lap of 1:35.1. Felipe Nasr, in his last stint of 23 laps, his best lap was 1:35.4 and his average was 1:36.6. 1:37.4 in Nasr's new average lap time, so, he is losing time.
Second place in GT Daytona is the #19 GEAR Racing Lamborghini, the all female driver squad. Tatiana Calderon is at the wheel right now. We are also seeing other GTD cars in the lane. Ben Keating was in for a stop in the #74 car. The #9 Pfaff Porsche has been in and so has the #44 GRT Magnus Lamborghini. No driver changes there or in the #19. The #9 car leads GTD still. New Michelin tires, more fuel, and no driver change. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports car just pitted and Simon Trummer has just finished a stint. He says he couldn't get the balance of the car to work on his last triple stint. He is not sure how things happened in his most recent stint.
Trent Hindman runs ninth in class in GT Daytona aboard the #57 MSR Acura NSX GT3. Porsche, Lamborghini, Audi, Lexus, Ferrari, Acura, BMW in the top seven places. The two Aston Martin's as we've documented are out of the motor race. Mike Hedlund, former driver, is describing Ben Keating as the best Bronze rated driver in the world right now. Keating has definitely proven himself to be a fantastic driver. People may argue Keating should be a Platinum. He is a car dealer by profession, and is a talented Bronze level driver. He's done a very good job and his car is the best of the Mercedes AMG GT3's in GT Daytona. We have not seen much out of the Mercedes boys this weekend.
That is thr only Mercedes in the race this year and it is a lap off the lead, but that's OK. The leader is in the pit lane, Ryan Briscoe in the #10 Cadillac. It's a standard stop with no driver change. Fuel and tires for the most part. Briscoe did a 22 lap stint. Briscoe actually ran 23 laps. They are getting great fuel mileage compared to everyone else in the race right now, honestly. People are asking about McLaren and their GT3 car, the 720S. It is unclear if the car will be at Sebring and it is obviously not here at Daytona. It may be doing the sprint races only, and of course, the 570S, the GT4 car raced in Michelin Pilot Challenge action on Friday. That's a race yours truly saw and hopes to write about at some stage of the game, so stay tuned for full coverage on that event as well.
Five minutes before the end of the next hour. Ryan Briscoe spins on cold tires. No worries. He will continue. But of course, that is the thing that every sports car driver dreads, spinning like a top right after you've exited the lane on stone cold tires. That was in the Bus Stop. Motorsports photographer David Lister is in the IMSA Radio booth. Now, Briscoe's loop de loop was in turn six coming back onto the banking. Mr. Lister is doing a project called Faces From The Races. He has worked with BMW on the sports car program and also in World Touring Car Championship competition. Lister is now searching for new projects and he actually found a way to take pictures of people, race fans. Not just drivers and team managers.
https://www.motorsportimages.com/photos/?photographer_id=2387
https://www.flickr.com/people/listerphoto/
Lister says the reality is, being around people you can get involved with it. He says that he's in a different frame of mind taking pictures of people. You are much more insular if you are taking pictures of the racing cars themselves. Yours truly did experiment with photos and videos while attending this motor race and yes, I do hope to share that. But, Mr. Lister makes a very valid point. You see things from a very remote space. See what is happening. You can tune out what's going on. There's no escape from being within the race. You cannot do that taking pictures of people and you have to be connected to the subject and connect with the person you take the picture of.
This is building itself into a gallery for Mr. Lister as you will see if you look at some of the links provided above. Lister took some great pictures at Petit Le Mans.
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