Oliver Jarvis has reset another fast lap at 1:35.652. So, he has the wick turned up right now. Felipe Nasr is 2.1 seconds in-arrears, and 4.3 seconds further back, is third place man Juan Pablo Montoya. Ben Hanley has turned the best lap in LMP2 at 1:37.585. Pedro Lamy has run a 1:46.443 in the #98 Aston Martin, chasing down Frankie Montecalvo in the #12 AVS Lexus RC F GT3. A little camber steers the car around the turn as Phillip Eng has been flying ahead of the two Chevrolet Corvette C8.R's, chasing down Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor in the two factory Porsche 911 RSR-19's. Laurens Vanthoor has just turned his best lap so far in this stint. Nick Tandy responds with his best lap at 1:43.667.
Ben Hanley is catching Ben Keating in LMP2. The gap had ballooned to 42 seconds but is now down to 34 seconds or so. At the sharp end, Felipe Nasr has caught Oliver Jarvis, trying to lap past Cameron Cassels, third in the LMP2 division, and that car spun and flipped into the tires in FP4 with Don Yount at the wheel on Friday. Ryan Briscoe has gone by Ricky Taylor and into the lane, the #31 Cadillac of Felipe Nasr. He's run 18 laps in this stint compared to 21 in the previous one. Full service for Action Express and sticker Michelin tires? Could be. Great stop from AXR and Whelen Engineering.
In GT Daytona, Zachary Robichon leadsa but only just over Trent Hindman at the moment. Both Mazda's are in the lane. #77 and #55 into the lane. Ryan Hunter-Reay will take over from Jonathan Bomarito. No driver change in the #77 car. It shouldn't take longer to put a driver into the car. Maybe 20-28 seconds for the fuel and the driver change should take 20 seconds or so and #77 has gone shorter on a fuel stint. Juan Pablo Montoya brings the #6 Penske Acura into the lane. Montoya is staying in the car, and fuel added as well as tires changed. The windscreen is cleaned. It's a tad early to accumulate clag on your windscreen.
Juan Pablo Montoya is doing a triple stint and we've only got an hour and ten minutes on the board. Antonio Garcia has lost a few positions, losing time someplace. Laurens Vanthoor is about 4/10ths of a second behind Nick Tandy. Phillip Eng is running very well in the #25 BMW M8 GTE. Ryan Briscoe leads the motor race and has not taken his second pit stop just yet. We should see the car into the lane on this lap. WTR won this race last year in 2019. They are looking to repeat. Briscoe has done a 24 lap stint. No driver change, just fuel and tires it seems. The new race leader is the #77 Mazda of Oliver Jarvis, with Felipe Nasr second in the #31 Whelen Cadillac.
In LMP2, Ben Keating has stopped and stayed in the car. Ben Hanley and John Farano are next up, followed by Cameron Cassels while Dwight Merriman is still in the wars, farther down in LMP2. No worries. John Farano, the Canadian is at the wheel of the #8 Tower Motorsports by Starworks LMP2 car that he shares with Scotsman Ryan Dalziel, David Heinemeier Hansson from Denmark, and experienced Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre. Antonio Garcia runs fourth in GT Le Mans right now. The gap between the Corvette and BMW is 4.3 seconds. No change in the lead in GT Daytona although Zachary Robichon just has 1.6 seconds over Trent Hindman in the #57 Acura NSX GT3.
We've had five different leaders and seven lead changes within the first 47 laps, 167 miles. Oliver Jarvis sets a most recent lap at 1:36.2, Mazda, Cadillac, Acura. The top running DPi cars have all their starting drivers except for the #55 Mazda. The Tower Motorsports/Starworks car has been into the lane. John Farano is very happy about his opening double stint. He says that the balance of the car was good on full tanks. Farano is back in IMSA for the first time in about three years. He has run very well in Michelin Pilot Challenge over the years.
More LMP2 cars are expected in the WeatherTech Championship from the next race at Sebring, onward. The #88 WRT Speedstar Audi R8 is going through traffic. Rolf Ineichen is chasing after Cooper MacNeil and MacNeil is passed by the Audi. Madison Snow is the next car on Ineichen's shopping list, in the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini. Oliver Jarvis has a three second lead over Felipe Nasr. Ryan Briscoe is the bloke to look out for though. He's 1.3 seconds in-arrears of Ricky Taylor in the #7 Acura. 15 seconds is now the gap between Ben Keating and Ben Hanley in LMP2 as Ryan Briscoe resets fastest lap of the motor race at 1:35.5.
A good scrap in GTD as the Lamborghini moves past the Ferrari. Madison Snow moves by Cooper MacNeil for fifth in class. Snow seems to be struggling to turn the car. Snow has run 19 laps and MacNeil has run 22. Steijn Schothorst has run a longer stint in the GRT Grasser Lamborghini. Cooper MacNeil won one of the Ferrari Challenge races here at Daytona as well. Ooh. Ben Keating locks the right front, briefly, maybe being distracted by the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 with the Liqui Moly livery on it. Into the lane comes the #62 Ferrari 488 GTE. James Calado out, and one of the other drivers into the car along with tires and fuel.
Alessandro Pier Guidi, and Davide Rigon, the two Italians, are sharing with James Calado from England and Daniel Serra from Brazil. Davide Rigon says the car is balanced very well. Ferrari does not have the speed of Porsche, BMW, or Corvette, but they are in the thick of it at this point. Ryan Briscoe has put in another nmew fast lap of the motor race and he did pass Ricky Taylor. James Calado ran the second stint for Risi Competizione. Calado says the Ferrari has no power compared to the Porsche's, BMW's, and Corvette's. Lots of dirt and sand has been getting into the cars, blocking the air filters of the cars, robbing them of power.
Helio Castroneves is prepping for his first stint in Acura #7, suited and booted and set to get into the race. The race leading Mazda swoops around two GTD cars and the DragonSpeed LMP2 machine. The whole 38 car field are on other parts of the track with clear straightaways for Oliver Jarvis. The race leader has lapped again, the #52 PR1/Mathiasen LMP2 car, trying to lap the #38 Cameron Cassels driven Performance Tech Motorsports car. All of the LMP2 cars are Oreca Gibson's. Dallara, Multimatic, Oreca, and Ligier all participated in the announcement of the new cars coming in 2021-2022.
Pit stop time, too, look, for Scuderia Corsa. Cooper MacNeil will stay in the car. We also see the BMW #24 and the #48 Lamborghini in, and the #4 Corvette C8.R. Oliver Gavin has taken over the Corvette from Tommy Milner. The sister Corvette is now in the lane and so is the #25 BMW. Now, one of the mechanics is having issues with a rattle gun on the right front tire. They are having issues as well with the left rear. There's trouble with the wheel nut. It may be cross threaded. Deary me! This isn't good. Finally, it's off the pegs. No panic for losing time, but that was a bugaboo and a half. A spare lug nut on the mechanic's belt. All these cars use center locking wheel nuts. Now, Porsche #911 has also pitted and both Porsche's are in and out at exactly the same moment.
The two team mates very nearly changed positions coming off the lane. A slightly higher pitch to the Porsche flat six. Not as loud and piercing, but definitely a different engine note than the old 4 liter engine with rear mounted exhausts. The exhausts on the new car are on the side. Ben Hanley and Ben Keating battle in LMP2. Hanley is quicker in some spots and Keating quicker in others. Keating will also drive the #74 Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 which just pitted for fuel and tires, and Lawson Aschenbach is still in the car.
Acura #7 is in the lane now for scheduled service. Four tires, refueling, cleaning the windscreen, and a driver change, as Ricky Taylor exits the car. Not sure if it will be Alexander Rossi or Helio Castroneves getting into the car. We watch a battle forming in GTLM now between the #3 yellow Corvette C8.R and the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE. Antonio Garcia vs. a car we don't know the driver of right now. Pier Guidi and Calado have already been into the car. It's got to be either Davide Rigon or Daniel Serra. Probably Rigon, and he's caught the Corvette. The Porsche's in traffic, getting a draft from the #23 Aston Martin. Laurens Vanthoor tries to catch Nick Tandy. He can't quite make it.
Tandy made a fabulous run in qualifying. Porsche is building a lead of 12 seconds on their GTLM rivals as the #55 Mazda is carving it's way through traffic. The #54 Black Swan Porsche is in the pit lane. The #31 Whelen Cadillac is slow. Felipe Nasr is not having a good race right now. Action Express is ready for a pit stop for Nasr. Nasr has been on track for just three laps and something was needed on the car. Was there a penalty? The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports car is in the lane for a full service. Ben Keating out, and Simon Trummer into the car.
Pit stop time, too for the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R. Not sure who is at the wheel of it at the moment. That's the car of Sebastien Bourdais, Loic Duval, and Joao Barbosa. Cadillac #10 is in the lane for pit service as well. The BMW Junior Team is now being revived, bringing junior drivers to the fore for BMW Motorsport and legendary BMW man Jochen Neerpasch. Now, the situation with the #31 car, it came back due to rubbish being sucked into the engine intake on top of the car.
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