Rolex 24: Hour 3

The #31 Cadillac had a piece of the sunstrip on the windscreen sucked into the air intake.  BMW junior driver Neil Verhagen will be doing a two year program in sports cars after being in open wheel competition.  He will race a BMW M2 after getting his Nurburgring permit, moving ahead to the M4 GT4, the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring in the M4 GT4, and more.  The BMW Junior Team has been revived after 40 years.  Verhagen likes Silverstone and the full circuit at Brands Hatch.  New fastest lap from Ryan Briscoe on lap 71.  253 miles done and dusted.  Ryan Briscoe is third, ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay in Mazda #55.  Max Hesse has been racing German TCR, winning the championship.  They are front wheel drive cars but in a sprint format.  He is headed for true TCR cars once again and maybe endurance races.

The BMW they will run is the BMW M2 CS Racing.  Dan Harper, the Irishman, is the third member of the revived BMW Junior Team which last appeared way back in 1977.  There has been a training camp going on called Formula Medicine to help young drivers with their health and fitness.  These blokes are 18-19 years old.  Some drivers just don't always go through single seater/open wheel racing.  Dan Harper, is from Ireland.  In the meantime, we are three hours and eight minutes into this motor race as it stands.  The two Porsche's run 1-2 in GTLM, still, with a gap of 11 seconds over the #24 BMW M8 GTE with Chaz Mostert, the Australian, at the controls.

Ryan Briscoe has taken second place away from Dane Cameron.  So the #10 WTR Cadillac moves around the #6 Team Penske Acura.  Briscoe lays down a 1:35.450.  This is his new best lap.  Mazda, Cadillac, Acura, 1-2-3.  Ryan Hunter-Reay and Helio Castroneves are next, followed by Sebastien Bourdais.  Great to see Jochen Neerpasch back managing the BMW Junior Team as he did back in the 1970s.  Go research BMW Junior Team and find out more if you are not aware of it.

John Hindhaugh, and Jeremy Shaw, two of the IMSA Radio commentators, race cars themselves, when they are not broadcasting.  Now, the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari is pitting for service and a driver change.  Maybe he will do a quadruple stint.  The team is still working on the car, as we look at sunset coming to Daytona very soon and the drivers will have a hard time seeing.  In the rules, there is official daytime and nighttime.  Night starts at 8:25 P.M. and daytime begins at 6:50 A.M.  It's always a battle between the Dubai and Daytona 24 hour races for which race has the most darkness and both have equal amounts.

Le Mans in June has just only five or six hours of darkness, maybe seven.  We've covered Le Mans many, many times.  Close racing here, look, between the #5 Cadillac, the #81 DragonSpeed LMP2 car, and the two factory Porsche's.  The #10 Cadillac, of Kamui Kobayashi, he is flying at the moment after he took over the car from Ryan Briscoe.  The Risi Ferrari had a rear puncture.  Tristan Nunez is leading the motor race, and the gap is half of what it was as the #10 is chasing.  The #6 Acura is followed by the #55 Mazda and the #7 Acura.  Pipo Derani is making up lost ground over the #85 JDC-Miller car.

Corvette C8.R #3 is behind one of the BMW's and the #24 BMW is behind due to the troubles with the wheel.  Jordan Taylor is piloting the #3 car and Oliver Gavin in the #4.  We are coming towards 4PM local time in Daytona.  Acura #6 is making another pit stop earlier than expected.  Richard Heistand has Aaron Telitz for company battling for eighth and ninth in GT Daytona.  Heistand used to drive for AVS Lexus.  He is now at the wheel of the #11 GRT Grasser Racing Lamborghini.  The American, sharing with Dutchman Steijn Schothorst, Spaniard Albert Costa, and Frenchman, Franck Perera.

Aaron Telitz, meanwhile, is in the first of the AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC-F GT3's, sharing with Townsend Bell, Frankie Montecalvo, and the Australian, Shane van Gisbergen, who has been very successful in Australian Supercars, and also in endurance sports car racing of the GT variety.  The Risi Ferrari did have a punctured right rear tire, but no mention of contact.  BMW's had issues in the Michelin Pilot Challenge race on Friday which you will hear about in the not too distant future.  Now then, the #55 Mazda is in pit lane for service and a driver change.  Harry Tincknell is into the car there was too much time taken after the fueling because of the driver change.

No team is really looking at now.  They are looking towards the end of the race, but just putting in laps.  Young blokes have quiet, and yet assertive confidence in what they are doing, and they are driving at 95% but putting in qualifying laps!  It's incredible.  Some of the starting drivers have already done their first double and triple stints.  Ryan Hunter-Reay says that he had a good stint and began saving fuel.  Take care of the equipment, keep the car on the road.  Be adaptable to any changes.  Have a plan if things change.  That's how endurance sports car racing works.  The important thing is being there at the end.

We see a mega battle in GT Daytona for the lead as the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche is in the lead, with Dennis Olsen, the Norwegian Porsche factory ace at the controls.  However, Olsen is being monstered by the veteran Bill Auberlen, and yes indeed ladies and gentlemen, Auberlen is very much applying the blowtorch.  The sun is right in the driver's eyes onto the backstretch on the west end of the track coming out of turn six.  Fred Makowiecki and Earl Bamber are the next drivers in the Porsche factory cars.  Fred Makowiecki is a full-time driver in IMSA.  Patrick Pilet is who he takes over for as Pilet is on loan to other Porsche teams this year.  Pilet is in the Pfaff car, part of their team.

Davide Rigon wants to be close to the Porsche's, but poor old Davide is a lap down.  He is having to play catch up after the right rear puncture he had.  The #85 JDC-Miller Cadillac is in the lane for a pit stop.  Did the car stall?  It did so, briefly.  Not sure who is driving at the moment.  The tires were done bfore the fuel hose came out of the tank.  The LMP2 leader is in the lane?  Simon Trummer at the wheel of it.  He is in pit lane.  It is early.  The #81 DragonSpeed car was under pressure from David Heinemier-Hanson in the #8 Tower Motorsports entry.

Juan Piedrahita is aboard the #85 car, the "Banana Boat".  Sebastien Bourdais will stay in the #5 JDC-Miller Cadillac.  This is the car that used to be a part of Action Express but in a cooperative effort is now being run by JDC-Miller.  Chaz Mostert may have lost a little time, and he is actually in the pit lane and so is the #3 Corvette, Jordan Taylor at the wheel of it.  Kamui Kobayashi pits as well.  He has done a good stint and he won't do much night driving.  Sebastien Bourdais smokes the tires on the way out of the lane.  The Aston Martin is monstering one of the Acura NSX GT3's.  It's Misha Goikhberg vs. Ross Gunn, who is a factory Aston Martin pilot.

Goikhberg wants it, and Ross Gunn holds his nerve.  Goikhberg wasn't giving anything up, but he was still very fair in his driving.  Gunn is familiar with endurance racing.  We are just two hours and 35 minutes into the race, so about the length of a standard WeatherTech sprint race and we've got a long way to go.  Rolf Ineichen and Jules Gounon are next in order.  No driver change as the #911 Porsche is in the lane.  The sunlight is very strong even with a clean windscreen.  The wrap on the front valance is being pulled away, revealing the carbon fiber bodywork.

A slow pit stop for the #88 WRT Speedstar Audi with the Canadian maple leaf emblazoned on it.  Not sure which driver is in it.  The #912 Porsche is also in the lane.  Clean the windscreen, new tires, and more fuel in the tank.  Rolf Ineichen was in Audi #88 and he handed the car over to Daniel Morad, the Canadian driver.  Aaron Telitz holds second in the #12 Lexus RC F GT3 in GTD.  Also just exiting the lane is the #57 MSR Acura.  Maybe there was a driver change in that car.  Can't tell at the moment.  Tristan Nunez leads the motor race overall, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi.  Dane Cameron is third overall in Acura #6.

We have not seen any Full Course Yellow's yet.  The pit strategy will be broken up and this is how endurance racing is supposed to work.  Helio Castroneves just turned his best lap of the race so far, but Harry Tincknell is coming on strong, fast.  Connor De Philippi is monstering Aaron Telitz and so is Harrison Newey.  Newey is at the wheel of the #81 DragonSpeed Oreca LMP2 car.  The #85 and #31 Cadillac's battle each other.  Pipo Derani is just 4/10ths of a second behind Juan Piedrahita.  Helio Castroneves runs ahead of Harry Tincknell.  He almost wipes out a Lamborghini!  Yikes!

Castroneves is indeed pushing, and I don't have to tell you, hard.  AVS Lexus #12 in the lane.  We are working lap 98.  So, almost 100 laps into the race as we see Pipo Derani trying to make a move on Juan Piedrahita.  But, Piedrahita declares, "no you don't, sunshine."  The battle is hot and heavy in GT Daytona as well as Ross Gunn is going after Misha Goikhberg with a vengeance.  Gunn wriggles around Goikhberg and makes the pass!  Yikes!  Alessandro Balzan says, "grazie mille" to Goikhberg and wriggles his through that same open door.

Goikhberg deciding discretion is indeed the better part of valor here, look.  Misha Goikhberg is running his first proper race stint in a GT car.  The #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche will likely be the last car in this cycle for GTD machines to make it's scheduled pit stop.  Lamborghini #11 has made a scheduled pit stop, as we look to the west horseshoe and a scrap developing between Helio Castroneves and Harry Tincknell.  The battle is on, without a doubt, between Acura Team Penske and Mazda Team Joest in one of the final races in which Joest will run the Mazda team before it is taken in-house again after the next race of the championship at Sebring for the 12 Hours in March.

Tincknell is ushered to the outside by Castroneves.  This is an incredible battle and the Pfaff Porsche still leads GT Daytona as Dennis Olsen is in the lane.  The Norwegian is a top driver, and he stays in the car.  New tires go onto the car.  Fueling still going on, and the windscreen is cleaned.  Don't stay parked too long or the car will overheat.  You don't have to stall the engine in the lane.  The cooling breather had a lot of steam spewing out of it.  We have a battle for the overall lead through NASCAR turns three and four.  Tristan Nunez is being harried by Kamui Kobayashi and Kobayashi makes the pass on Nunez on the inside for the lead!

That was a wild pass indeed!  He left poor old Nunez completely hung out to dry!  That was an amazing pass!  The line into turn one is wide but its a normal line.  Kobayashi lost ground, but his late braking gave him the advantage and that sneak attack had to take Nunez entirely by surprise.  Jeepers creepers!  Remain calm.  Be patient.  Nothing can be won right now.  You can only lose the race at this point in time.  Get through the night and be there on Sunday towards the end of the motor race.  Kobayashi is pushing, pushing, pushing.  The pressure cooker is turned on under this constant green flag racing.  It's been hard, clean, and yet respectful racing.

Sports car racing purists have probably been like, "sigh.  Only 38 cars in the motor race.  This will be boring."  Not so, lads.  Chins up.  This is cracking racing we are seeing at the moment!  Traffic is a bear indeed.  Here's a spot of bother for Kobayashi.  He's got three GT cars, three wide coming to the tri oval in turn four on the speedway!  Kobayashi knows how to deal with this lot.  Squeeze right up against the wall, hit the bye bye button, and whistle off into the distance. I'd love to see what Kobayashi was like when he's fired up and wanting to pass.  He locks up again through the International Horseshoe.  Don't lock up too much as you could flat spot a tire.

Dane Cameron may pit from third place in the next couple laps as we have 103 laps on the board.  Simon Trummer leads by a minute in LMP2 over David Heinemeier Hanson.  Heinemeier Hanson is a gentleman driver, but he is very quick.  Kobayashi is a very consistent driver.  He used to be in Formula 1 and now is an endurance driver.  All of his laps recently have been consistently in the 1:36 bracket.  What is your stint average?  Delete outlaps and yellow flags.  Traffic is not an excuse.  Deal with the traffic and Kamui Kobayashi is flying.  Don't ease off too much.

Narrow the potential for extending the lap by half a second and lower your average lap time across a astint.  Acura #6 pits on lap 105 and Dane Cameron will stay in the car for another stint, with brand new, glossy Michelin tires.  The sun is rapidly dropping in the sky and the drivers will deal with the setting sun for a wee while longer, headed toward the western hairpin.  Earl Bamber leads Fred Makowiecki in both Porsche's in GT Le Mans as Chaz Mostert is closing up on the Porsche's.  Mostert has passed one of the Corvette C8.R's on the pit stop exchange.

The battle between #7 and #55 continues.  Pipo Derani has edged ahead of Juan Piedrahita, but he is a minute behind the leader.  The Corvette's may have been losing time on their pit stops.  The fuel nozzle has been changed on the #3 yellow Corvette as Jonathan Bomarito pits the #55 Mazda and is right behind the #7 Acura.  Fuel and tires for both.  Another hour of racing is now in the bag.  We only have 21 hours remaining.  So, hang tight, chaps.  Settle in, and enjoy.