Tristan Nunez still leads the motor race, as we continue hearing from David Lister. Nothing that happens with racing cars, happens without people. That is so true. Sports car racing is alive. Go to Lister |Photographer| on Facebook as well. The quote "a picture is worth a thousand words", makes total sense. Tristan Nunez leads Ryan Briscoe right now and so th order has not changed. Pipo Derani is third followed by Jonathan Bomarito and Loic Duval. We are following in picture, the #31 Whelen Cadillac at the moment as David Lister continues telling his story. A quick check of other class leaders, as we approach the witching hour, has Colin Braun in the DragonSpeed car leading LMP2, John Edwards in the black BMW M8 GTE leading GT Le Mans, and Zacharie Robichon at the top of the tree in GT Daytona at the wheel of the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche.
In photography, interact with the person, or interact with the race car. Don't interrupt what people are doing, but interact with them. Now, we have a spot of bother for the #19 GEAR Lamborghini. It's on the far side of the circuit. It cannot decide if it wants to go slow or fast. Is there a business model for racing photography? Lister says that he and some friends are funding his work as well as a publicity agency. If the motorsport community likes it, Lister and company want some financial support to build his archive. He wants to keep it going, but, he needs some support. A chap by the name of John Thorley. He was a Floridian, and he supported photographers. He used to take photos of the racing drivers for the sake of social interaction on Leica cameras. He passed away in October, 2018.
David Lister is continuing John Thorley's work. It could continue, but if it doesn't, they'll have a great archive. Lister|Photographer on Facebook. Check it out. We're under our third Full Course Yellow in this Rolex 24 because of the stopped Lamborghini. The safety crews are there to snatch the car. This yellow is perfect for the #77 Mazda. The car ran a 21 lap fuel stint, stopping on lap 351 (at the marker of 1,249 and a half miles. Tristan Nunez is right back in the hunt now. You can't have fresh tires for every stint. Run the tires for a stint and a half, if you can't do two.
The GEAR Lamborghini is being towed into the paddock and right into the garage area. Work is still being carried out on the #4 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, the silver and yellow machine of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, and Marcel Fassler. The all female team in the Lamborghini has Christina Nielsen, Tatiana Calderon, Rahel Frey, and Katherine Legge, on the driver's strength. The lights are on on the car, so there must be a little electrical power. Everyone is bunching up behind the safety car. It'll be pit stop time for prototypes. The #10 Cadillac leads them in, and we first look at the stop for Mazda #55. There is no info the team has for the #19 car and they've had to go back to the paddock to find out what is going on.
Tatiana Calderon was at the wheel. As far the #31 Whelen Cadillac, they are in the lane and now, they are undergoing a front brake change, both pads and discs presumably. This is the time of the race when that's a good task to get out of the way. The #10 car is in the lane as well and like the Whelen car, they are changing full brakes, the discs and the pads, both, with the quick change dry brake system. You have todo both sides of the car in unison on the fronts or the rears. There's a couple retaining bolts that can be spun off and spun back on again with the air impact wrench, used for the tires. So, there is no need for a separate set of socket wrenches to do that job and clutter everything.
It is a good time, since the yellow flag is out, for the teams to do their brake changes. The rotors and calipers are smoking hot at 1,000 degrees. Not for the faint of heart. The tires are changeds and the car is down and away. New brakes for the #10 Cadillac and the engineer will be telling Ryan Briscoe, "new brakes and cold tires. Be careful." This is our 43rd lead change according to Mr. Shaw's chart, and Pipo Derani will be second in line in the Whelen Cadillac. Remember, that is the car, yours truly is keeping a close eye on as I have told the story about it. Mazda #77 will inherit the lead of the motor race.
The pits are now open on this lap, for the GT class cars, both GTLM and GTD. There are many takers for stops in the production car ranks. Porsche GT Team are in, with the #911. Nick Tandy gets into the car, and will have fuel and fresh tires. Hard to tell if the sister car, #912, will have a driver change. BMW is in the lane with #24 by the look of it. There's some confusion on the tires for the #911. They're changing front brakes. The GTD cars are in as well and everyone is down and away safely. The #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche has pitted, not sure who is driving. Also, the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini has had a pad change and it is unclear who is driving that automobile next as well.
Madison Snow, Bryan Sellers, Andrea Caldarelli, and Corey Lewis of course are the four drivers in the #48 Lamborghini. Brake changes also happning for the #57 MSR Acura NSX GT3. Change brakes under Full Course Yellow to lose less time. The #19 GEAR Racing Lamborghini has had a fuel pump problem and so that can be changed. But, you'd hope the fuel pump is easily accessible. Was it the low pressure pump in the tank? Was it the high pressure pump on the fuel rail? We don't know. It could be something electrical.
Before the yellow, there was a ding dong battle in LMP2 between the two cars in that class we've been following all race long. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen car and the #81 DragonSpeed entry. Gabriel Aubry at the wheel of #52, and Henrik Hedman in the #81 possibly. Hedman just got in the car on the most recent pit stop for DragonSpeed. Matt Campbell says the car was tough to drive in the first couple stints he had, but he is now happy with the car's handling at this point. He's confident in his team and he's going for it. It's still very early in the race. Pit stop time as well for the #74 Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG for fuel only. Ben Keating remains at the wheel.
In the meantime, the #14 AVS Lexus RC F GT3 has made it's pit stop and NASCAR champion Kyle Busch is back into the car for another stint. Busch is giving the car some welly, wriggling it through the warm up lane to put heat in the tires. Busch is surely used to driving at night with night races in NASCAR and, on the short tracks. But this is indeed his first sports car race. He's got to be enjoying it. We are back to green flag racing and a good restart by Mazda #77 headed for turn one. Tristan Nunez has a gap and theGT cars stack up two by two. The #10 Cadillac is fourth overall with Ryan Briscoe at the wheel of it.
What are Wayne Taylor's thoughts on FIA WEC and IMSA convergence? Taylor says "we were all waiting for this to happen and work between IMSA and the ACO. However, I believe the real time to get excited is when the rules and regulations come out at Sebring. Nobody will make a commitment until they understand what is going on. My only negative is talking about car manufacturers. Teams like I have, we are not a factory racing program, and we have to see about how we can take a financial step. Hopefully GM wants to do this and I want to take my team to Le Mans. Overall, I am positive, but we need to see about costs and what the rules look like."
"If we were status quo with the budget, we'd figure out how to get to Le Mans, but, we're not sure about other events on the schedule. This will be a chess game, because if the rules work out the way manufacturer's want it, and manufacturer's talk to teams, you've got to play the card close to your chest." Taylor, is right. The convergence idea is going to take a while to get the whole thing put together and figured out. Tristan Nunez aboard the #77 Mazda is in the lane to serve a penalty. This is a drive through penalty, 11 and a half hours into the motor race. This is the worst possible time to take a drive through penalty because everyone has just been bunched together in a wad behind the safety car.
Jonathan Bomarito has lost spots, after passing under yellow. That's a small mistake you can't afford because of the pace and because of the smaller field of 38 cars. Jonathan Bomarito has overtaken Loic Duval although Duval has now redressed the balance, look, and the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac, the JDC-Miller car, is in P1. Yes. 'Tis so true... maybe. The scrap for the lead of this motor race continues as the #55 has led it's first lap of the motor race and seven out of the eight DPi cars have led except for the #7 Acura before it had it's woes earlier on./ Jonathan Bomarito lines up Loic Duval for the long way around and no dice this time in the double apex. Ryan Briscoe is coming. These two blokes are having tons of fun at the International Horseshoe.
The DPi cars work their way past the #11 GRT Grasser Lamborghini. To review, sharing the driving chores in that car, Richard Heistand, Steijn Schothorst, Albert Costa, and Franck Perera. The other chap who could join in this DPi scrum at the front, is Pipo Derani in the #31 Whelen Cadillac. He's coming, and fast. Dane Cameron in the #6 Acura is fifth, and about 2.2 seconds down the road. Camron and company are biding their time at this stage of the motor race. Tristan Nunez aboard the #77 Mazda is on the lead lap and the only car a lap down in DPi is the sister JDC-Miller Cadillac, the #85 "Banana Boat". Tristan Nunez has sunk to sixth spot, half a minute behind the top five. He'll have to book it to get back to the sharp end and he's got to be fired up and ready to rumble. It is now just after midnight, the witching hour.
Although, the real witching hour will be halfway through the motor race. Just wait another hour and a half or so. Work continues in the garage or the pit lane on the #4 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. They've been working on an oiling issue on that particular automobile. The #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE is second in GT Le Mans competition. James Calado is right in behind John Edwards. Recall, at the beginning of the motor race he said, "we can't compete because we've got to bring some more power and we've not got enough." Uh, James. I think you have indeed brought more power, sunshine, if you blokes are currently in the second spot. Laurens Vanthoor is third in the #912 Porsche followed by Jordan Taylor in the #3 Corvette C8.R, and then the #911 Porsche. The second Corvette and second BMW will both have to see about getting back into contention after both have dealt with a litany of aforementioned problems.
Maybe the cooler temperatures are helping the turbocharged Ferrari. The car is becoming more competitive to be sure. The GTLM cars are running in flying formation right now. Maybe the cooler temperatures are assisting the turbocharged Ferrari. They just ran consistent laps between 1:42.9 and 1:43.4. Right on the money. Bryan Sellers is the GT Daytona leader over Zacharie Robichon and Mirko Bortolotti, followed by Alessandro Balzan, and then the BMW M6 GT3. Bryan Sellers was fourth at the restart and has moved now to the lead in class in GTD. The #9 Pfaff Porsche is second followed by the #88 WRT Speedstar Audi with Mirko Bortolotti in the car, and then comes the #63 Scuderia Corsa WeatherTech Ferrari in the hands of Alessandro Balzan. Kyle Busch, meanwhile, in the #14 AVS Lexus is gaining on the #57 MSR Acura NSX GT3 in the hands of Trent Hindman. However, Hindman is not on the lead lap, so this scrap is not for position in any way.
Kyle Busch is just half a minute or so away from the leader in class. Kyle Busch continues to pursue Trent Hindman. Tristan Nunez, sixth in DPi and sixth overall, passes the GTD contenders. Kyle Busch has picked up time over the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Jules Gounon at the controls, presently. Leading the LMP2 class, the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca with Gabriel Aubry at the wheel of it. It should be noted on the Acura #86, Jules Gounon, the Frenchman, is sharing with Shinya Michimi of Japan, American Matt McMurry, and German driver Mario Farnbacher. Henrik Hedman is still second in class in LMP2 at the wheel of the #81 Dragonspeed car. Loic Duval, meanwhile, is cutting some tremendous laps in the lead of the motor race.
Duval turned a 1:35.818. The best lap turned by the #5 car so far in the race is 1:35.649. Not sure which of the drivers turned that particular lap time. Duval has five seconds in hand over Jonathan Bomarito. Laurens Vanthoor in the #912 Porsche 911 RSR-19, he is chasing James Calado for position, for second. Calado is flying towards the leader, the #24 BMW M8 GTE which is a rocketship fast racing car. The GTLM battle is scintillating right now, and in DPi, th battle for second is between Ryan Briscoe and Jonathan Bomarito while Loic Duval is whistling off into th distance. Duval is now navigating his way past the GTLM scrap we've been talking about.
He has gone by Corvette #3 and is making his way past the #912 Porsche, the #62 Ferrari, and the #24 BMW. The Ferrari is catching the BMW. Loic Duval clears these cars. The battle rages though between Ryan Briscoe and Jonathan Bomarito as Gabriel Aubry and Bryan Sellers lead LMP2 and GTD respectively. Mirko Bortolotti in the #88 WRT Speedstar Audi R8 is in the hunt and so is the #63 WeatherTech Scuderia Corsa Ferrari, Alessandro Balzan at the controls. Patrick Long, Aaron Telitz, and Jens Klingman are still in this scrap in GTD and so is Andy Lally. There's a five car train for fourth spot in GTD. So, that's the Wright Motorsports Porsche, the second AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus (car #12), and the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 in Liqui Moly colors.
The #88 WRT Speedstar Audi of Mirko Bortolotti is battling with Zacharie Robichon in the #9 Pfaff Porsche. It's a short run from turn five to turn six as they scream up onto the banking. But according to Mr. Hindhaugh, the run between turns five and six is longer than we see it on television. Well, as Blues Traveler said in one of their songs, "it's a long way to fall". No falling here, thankfully. Just racing. Now, we have a serious scrap into the braking zone for the chicane on the backstretch. It's still the Pfaff Porsche and the Speedstar Audi. Who will the last of the late brakers here? Mirko Bortolotti goes through and takes second in GT Daytona, through the Bus Stop. Wowzers. Smashing motor racing here in the darkness at Daytona International Speedway!
The draft is working for sure. Will the side draft,the side slipstream work for GTD cars? Jonathan Bomarito, meanwhile, has lost second spot to Ryan Briscoe. We see a Cadillac 1-2 and Pipo Derani is closing up on Jonathan Bomarito. Mirko Bortolotti cannot break away from Zacharie Robichon. Meanwhile, the hot and heavy battle between Corvette and Porsche continus as Jordan Taylor has gone around Laurens Vanthoor. Taylor is third in GTLM and now, Nick Tandy is catching up to Laurens Vanthoor, closing on the rest of the pack.
Loic Duval leads Ryan Briscoe now by six seconds. Gabriel Aubry has lapped Henrik Hedman. Aubry is ten laps down to Loic Duval in the overall race lead. He has completed 363 laps (1,292 miles), while Loic Duval in the #5 Cadillac has run 373 laps (1,328 miles). Henrik Hedman is a lap down and four laps behind is Era Motorsport in the #18 LMP2 car. BMW continues to lead Ferrari in GT Le Mans. The BMW has the grunt in a straight line despite the fact that the dimensions of the car are pretty big. The car is trimmed out for speed. It does not have the pace in the road course section on the infield, and in that part of the track, the Porsche's and the Ferrari are able to catch up. Tristan Nunez has brought the #77 Mazda into the pit lane for service.
New Michelin tires, more fuel. Will there be a driver changr? Yes. Olivier Pla is now in the car. The Ferrari creeps up on the BMW. He just can't quite make the move inside into the Bus Stop. He's got to strategize a wayu to get past the car. Pit stop time now, too for the #55 Mazda, and for the #31 Action Express Cadillac, the Whelen car. No driver change. Just standard service (fuel, tires, clean the windscreen). There will be a lot of dirt, a lot of clag on the windscreen this time of night. Pipo Derani may still be in the #31 car. Ryan Hunter-Reay is driving the #55 Mazda as Mirko Bortolotti has an off course excursion aboard the #88 Audi.
Borotlotti is running second in GTD. The GTLM leaders are together once again, and they are being sliced around by the #8 Tower Motorsports by Starworks LMP2 car. Ryan Dalziel at the wheel of it, and he should have gone around the top instead of doing all that slicing and dicing. Dane Cameron enters the lane in the #6 Team Penske Acura. A driver change, and Simon Pagenaud perhaps is now at the controls. Mirko Bortolotti has used the Audi R8 as the world's most powerful lawn mower, coming across the grass in the Bus Stop and back onto the road, chasing after the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche.
In the meantime, another pit stop, for the #5 JDC-Miller Mustang Sampling Cadillac. Loic Duval is in the lane from the race lead and will stay in the car. Fuel and tires only for the #5. The sister JDC-Miller Cadillac #85, "the banana boat", will also come in for service. Phew! In replay, we see Mirko Bortolotti had his hands full, skating across the grass. #85 is conserving their tires. The length of time to refuel the car, gives plenty of time for changing tires, but conserve your tires as you've got only 38 sets to work with. There has been some argy bargy between the #11 GRT Grasser Lamborghini and also tghe leading GTLM car, the #24 BMW as we reach another hour of this motor race very, very soon.
No damage in that skirmish at the International Horseshoe. Doesn't time fly when you are enjoying a motor race. We are an hour away from half distance here at the 58th Rolex 24 at Daytona. Loic Duval leads with Pipo Derani four seconds or so behind. The #5 car stays ahead of the #10 on the pit stop exchange as we are ready for another racing hour to commence.
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