Six hours done and dusted at Daytona, and now, we begin hour seven. One of the Lamborghini's is in the pit lane, and that must be the GEAR Racing team, the all female driving squad. It is. Katherine Legge is at the controls right now. We're starting the seventh hour of this Rolex 24. In the GTLM battle things are heating up. Porsche vs. BMW still, and the Porsche, runs wide off the road in turn one. We have indeed had points awarded for the endurance cup. Now, the #24 BMW flew past the Porsche and the Porsche outbraked itself into turn one. That was a wild moment. The BMW has prodigious straight line speed. It was the #911 Porsche that had that lurid moment into the turn as we watch from the sister car's onboard camera. Nick Tandy, he was trying to go inside the BMW and the BMW slowed up more and poor old Nick Tandy was caught off guard.
Again, the six hour mark is where the Michelin Endurance Cup points are awarded. Keep in mind, these points are for a season within a season, with the four major IMSA endurance events, which include this race at Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring coming up in March, the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen in late June/early July, and the curtain closer on the season, the ten hour Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta coming up in October. The Porsche gets shuffled out of line by both an LMP2 car and one of the GT Daytona class Ferrari's. That is the #63 WeatherTech Ferrari for Scuderia Corsa. Not sure which LMP2 it was but it looked to be the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca, the gray and blue car, being shared by Kyle Tilley, Nic Minassian, Dwight Merriman, and Ryan Lewis.
This has been a humdinger of a motor race so far. Seven of the eight DPi cars entered in the race are on the lead lap right now, excluding the #7 Penske Acura which we saw in all sorts of strife during the opening daylight hours earlier. The #10 Cadillac continues to lead, setting the fastest lap of the motor race on lap 199. Renger van der Zande leads the motor race by seven and a half seconds over the second place #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac, Filipe Albuquerque at the controls right now. More action in LMP2. This is spicy. The #8 Tower Motorsports by Starworks entry vs. the #81 DragonSpeed car.
It's Nicolas Lapierre vs. Harrison Newey. Newey is the son of a legend in Formula 1, Adrian Newey, who has designed countless championship winning Formula 1 cars for Williams, McLaren and possibly others. These two cars are a lap behind the class leading #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca. Ben Keating, Simon Trummer, Nick Boulle, and Gabriel Aubry are the drivers sharing that car. Now, it's pit stop time for the race leader. Renger van der Zande and also, Filipe Albuquerque are in the lane, as we welcome Jonny Palmer to the IMSA Radio broadcast booth, giving our pal John Hindhaugh a bit of a rest.
Clean stop for the #10, and also, a clean stop for the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac. Be advised, if you are in the pit lane reporting on the motor race, you will be coughing and sputtering if you are standing around with all the brake dust and tire smoke around. Mazda #55 has Ryan Hunter-Reay at the wheel of it running fourth overall. We have a couple of new leaders as Simon Pagenaud has taken the sole remaining Penske Acura, car #6 to the top of the tree at the moment, and just about a half a second behind the Frenchman, is Oliver Jarvis aboard the sister #77 Mazda. The #10 car has had another early pit stop.
Surprisingly, the #10 Cadillac stayed out for just a 16 lap stint, last pitting on lap 195 (694 miles). It is now lap 211, (751 miles). In the meantime, the #31 Whelen car (this is the car yours truly is keeping an eye on), was one of the first cars to pit in the latest sequence, a lap before the #10, on lap 194 (691 miles). Action Express only got a 17 lap fuel stint. Both the #10 and #31 came in earlier than many thought they would. Nico Lapierre has made a pass on Harrison Newey in LMP2. In the meantime, Oliver Jarvis is pressing the Acura for position. This is a battle of the two Japanese giant manufacturers who have a stake in DPi racing here in IMSA. Juan Pablo Montoya is kitted up, ready to get into the #6 car at their next pit stop.
Mazda #77 moves to the high side of the speedway as these two cars hit traffic, with the #38 Performance Tech LMP2 car, and the #9 Pfaff Porsche in GT Daytona with Patrick Pilet currently driving, running tenth in class in GTD. Marco Mapelli, the Italian, leads GT Daytona for GRT Magnus Racing in the #44 Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Ironically, this car didn't even qualify on Thursday when yours truly was at the speedway observing the session. I should say, I did not see the GTD session as I was down in the garages, speaking to the mechanics at Action Express. You would have seen the video, however, from IMSA TV, of qualifying, here on the blog.
Spencer Pumpelly was the driver to start the Magnus Lamborghini and set early fast laps. We continue to observe thius battle as Oliver Jarvis is shadowing Simon Pagenaud. The Mazda is catrching the Acura on the high banks. It's a side byu side drag race to the chicane, and he can brake later. Oliver Jarvis is back to the lead for the time being. Pit stop time now, for Simon Pagenaud for a scheduled pit stop, and there is a driver change as Juan Pablo Montoya will get into the car. A clean stop at Acura Team Penske.
The #6 is pitted at pit out, and #7 is right at pit in. There was no driver change in the #7, just fuel and tires, and they will push flat out in recovery. Daniel Morad says his race is going well, although the team at WRT Speedstar has had to stretch their tire life and he says there's no damage to the car even though he got caught out with a couple of other cars, the Aston Martin, and one of the LMP2 cars. The pace is frantic, as we've had just one yellow so far in this motor race. Pit stop time, for the #55 Mazda. Morad hasn't eaten since before he got in the car. Dan, sunshine, go get something to eat and get some rest, lad. There's a long way to go.
Cadillac #5, the JDC-Miller Mustang Sampling entry, is in the lane. In and out after a quick, scheduled stop. Joao Barbosa at the wheel of the #5. Mazda #77 is soon to head for the lane and we saw both the #10 and #31 cars in the lane. Oliver Jarvis also dives for the lane, from the lead, 218 laps in, 776 miles. Cars are splattered with bugs and with tire debris all over. Six hours and fifteen minutes into the motor race. Renger van der Zande is up to second and is now the leader of the motor race once more, followed by the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac, driven by Chris Miller. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport car is holding sway in the LMP2 class lead.
There are just five LMP2 cars in the field, but the class is really competitive. No one wants to make a rash, erratic decision. High percentage moves are the big deal here. Every overtake must be weighed in the racer's minds. Play it smart. We see a pass as the #55 of Ryan Hunter-Reay leaps ahead of Joao Barbosa aboard the #5 Cadillac, the Mustang Sampling car. Hunter-Reay also passes the heavily delayed #25 BMW M8 GTE, Bruno Spengler at the wheel of it. The cars take on a completely different complexion with all the lights, in the darkness. The floodlights out there make it seem as if it is still daylight. Two Lamborghini Huracan GT3 "raging bulls" are at the top of the tree in GTD at the moment.
Marco Mapelli is the leading car in the #44 GRT Magnus machine, followed by Andrea Caldarelli in the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini. Townsend Bell holds third in the #12 AVS Lexus, followed by the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari, Cooper MacNeil driving, and in fifth spot, the #57 Heinricher Racing/MSR with Curb Agajanian Acura NSX GT3, A.J. Allmendinger, currently at the controls. Cooper MacNeil is battling with A.J. Allmendinger, and then, with the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, currently in the hands of Klaus Bachler. The pro drivers in the prototype class are easier to follow than the GTD class. Marco Mapelli leads GTD for the simple reason that he pitted out of sequence to the rest of those in the class.
The battle in GTD is hot and heavy and Patrick Pilet runs tenth in the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche. Pilet took the wave by, and realized he'd done so improperly and then he had to regain the correct place on the road. The precious metal rating system of drivers for IMSA and the ACO, gold, bronze, silver, it changes every year or so, or during the season. A late race caution reset could spice up GT Daytona. This means that green flag racing is the ideal situation. We continue to watch the GT Le Mans leading BMW, the #24 machine. BMW Team RLL President Piers Philips says that it is unfortunate there have been issues for BMW, but they are coming back into contention right now.
Philips says they'll try to pull in their deficit to the rest of the GTLM field. The Rolex 24 is everything to everybody, and BMW Team RLL won GT Le Mans last year, in the 2019 edition. The #24 machine looks very solid. Is it fine tuned on pit stops? Is the design working out well? That's pretty obvious. The race is being run in cooler conditions now, and through tomorrow, than we saw at the start of the motor race. It is very hazy outside too, and we hope we don't see fog. It will be cool on Sunday as well. There's low hanging cloud and some sea mist coming off the Atlantic ocean. Some races here at Daytona have gone to Full Course Yellow due to fog. Break out the fog meter? Maybe.
Porsche #912 continues to chase the #24 and we also see Ryan Hunter-Reay racing against Joao Barbosa and Barbosa still has the Mazda driver in his sites. We spoke of the #44 Magnus Racing Flex Box Lamborghini and that car is now in pit lane for scheduled service. The #44 was leading before it's stop and now Andrea Caldarelli has taken over the class lead ahead of Townsend Bell and Klaus Bachler. Spencer Pumpelly is not at the wheel of the #44. Aston Martin #23 and #98, as well as Lamborghini's #11 and #47 are not in contention any longer, but everyone else in the class is right in the battle. Andrea Caldarelli's lead over Townsend Bell in the Lexus, has ballooned to 7.4 seconds.
Parker Chase now at the wheel of the sister #14 AVS Lexus RC F GT3. It is chopping and changing depending on who is driving. Jesse Krohn leads GT Le Mans over the Porsche's and the #4 Corvette C8.R, Tommy Milner currently driving. Where do you make the changes to the car? Do you make it supersonic at night, or, do you set it up for the warmer weather coming on Sunday? We watch the #3 Corvette C8.R which is playing catch up, and is sixth in class in GT Le Mans, but only 20 seconds behind the class leader. Renger van der Zande is still leading overall. You've missed nothing at the front. But, he is currently trying to put a lap on the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports "Banana Boat" Cadillac, Chris Miller at the keyboard right now.
The car has yo-yoed between being on and off the lead lap. Renger van der Zande is running oh, a minute or so off his fastest lap set so far. 1:36.3 is his current time, and his fastest is 1:35.2. PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport continues to lead in LMP2 with Nick Boulle currently driving the car. Boulle has run 222 laps, 790 miles, to this point. Nicolas Lapierre is second in LMP2, a minute away in the #8 Tower Motorsports by Starworks car. Renger van der Zande has gone around Chris Miller who is now a lap down. Renger van der Zande has pulled out a gap on second place man, Mike Conway, now at the controls of the #31 Whelen Cadillac.
#10 and #31 are still the leaders, but they are running shorter stints, and they came in most recently on lap 211. Scott Dixon will take over in the #10 Cadillac on their next stop. The #10 did have a shorter stint. The #31 Cadillac is still having some fuel mileage concerns or so it appears. We see the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE, slow, below the yellow line, on the apron of the tri oval, and it's headed for the lane, now. Something could've been dragging on the Ferrari, maybe. Davide Rigon is at the wheel of the #62 right now. The team is doing routine service, and there's a driver change. No worries about the Ferrari.
There was a puncture, a delaminated right rear Michelin tire. The rear wheel drive cars will load their tires on an anticlockwise track like Daytona. They did a full service, and Daniel Serra is now at the wheel. Corvette, 4-5, Porsche 2-3, and BMW is in the class lead in GT Le Mans, currently. BMW Team RLL have put their eggs all in one basket with the maladies of the #25. The white car has had all the troubles and they are in the garage, and the black car, #24, is running better at the present moment. Laurens Vanthoor is just 7/10ths of a second behind the BMW. Nick Tandy overcooked the turn, and swerved to the right, of course, a little earlier on, and he is still third in class. Tommy Milner and Antonio Garcia are next in line in the new C8.R Corvette's.
We are working lap 234 (833 miles), and should see more pit action for the leaders, soon. Robby Foley is currently driving the #96 Liqui Moly Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3, running fifth in class in GT Daytona, heading off NASCAR turn two and down the long backstretch here at Daytona International Speedway. Renger van der Zande has stayed out on track now for 24 laps and the #31 Cadillac is in the lane for fuel and tires only. #31 has run for 22 laps at a time, actually 23 laps. They are picking back up on their fuel mileage as the #10 Cadillac for WTR is the only car so far in DPi that can eke out a 24 lap fuel stint. Meanwhile, the #4 Corvette C8.R hits the lane, in GTLM.
Oliver Gavin is now in the #4 car. Now, we see the #10 Konica Minolta WTR Cadillac, back in the pit lane. Renger van der Zande jumps out, and Scott Dixon takes over. Again, WTR is getting great fuel mileage, having done a 24 lap stint. Renger van der Zande will be fuel saving but he surely doesn't look like it. The behavior of the car is a tad edgy. Porsche #912 has also made a pit stop and Laurens Vanthoor is at the wheel, as he's just pitted. Jesse Krohn still hasn't come to pit lane, to the attention of the BMW mechanics, as we watch pit action also for the #74 Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3.
Jesse Krohn and Nick Tandy are separated still by about two seconds. However, the meat in the sandwich was Laurens Vanthoor who has been relieved in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR-19 by Earl Bamber, the Kiwi. We also have just seen another scheduled stop for the #6 Team Penske Acura ARX-05. Juan Pablo Montoya was able to run 21 laps on his stint. In the lane, too, the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3, the Liqui Moly car. The #24 BMW M8 GTE is also in the lane. The #10 Cadillac has been running very economically throughout the race. No issues for the #10 car. BMW #24 is back on track, having been in the lead in GTLM. Two abreast in the pit lane? Strange. You can run side by side in the lane but the car coming out of the pit box, it has to cede to the car that is in the fast lane.
Renger van der Zande says the car did have a burnt out brake light for a short space of time. He is very happy with the car and with the traffic flow with less cars on the road. Renger van der Zande is surely becoming a fan of the Rolex 24. Dan Binks, team manager from Corvette Racing explains how the braking system has changed on the car and how the mechanics are getting used to it. Cadillac #10 made an early pit stop, was due to the fact, the stop before, they short fueled the car to leapfrog past their rivals to be leading at six hours for the points in the Michelin Endurance Cup. Again, it's this race, Sebring, Watkins Glen, and Petit Le Mans. Sebring, the next race on the calendar, is a week later than normal, and we will run another "Super Sebring" alongside the FIA World Endurance Championship.
So, stay tuned for that event, ladies and gentlemen. We have also seen convergence between IMSA and the ACO. The same cars can be used in the WEC and in IMSA. This will start, with the WEC, in 2021. The #24 BMW is bounding over the curbs, and now has the rapid Brazilian Augusto Farfus at the controls, as Earl Bamber, the New Zealander, and former Le Mans 24 Hours winner for Porsche, takes over the #912 machine. Fred Makowiecki is in the sister #911 car, with a 17 second cushion over Oliver Gavin and Daniel Serra. Scott Dixon has an 8.8 second lead over Mike Conway with Oliver Jarvis in third spot in the #77 Mazda.
Scott Dixon, in his first stint in the #10 car, leads by some eight seconds over Mike Conway at the wheel of the #31 Whelen Action Express Racing Cadillac, having completed 241 laps, 858 miles. Oliver Jarvis is pressing Mike Conway for second spot and they were indeed side by side. Porsche running the high line out of turn six, close to the SAFER barrier on the high banks. The turn six apex is a real tough one, in traffic, two abreast. The factory Porsche laps past the #16 Wright Motorsports GT Daytona Porsche 911 GT3R, being piloted by Klaus Bachler at the moment, the Austrian driver.
Andrea Caldarelli is next in line. Lamborghini's are 1-2-3, well, maybe 1-2. Katherine Legge has to make a pit stop for GRT Grasser/GEAR Racing, the team from Graz, Austria, racing full-time in the IMSA WeatherTech championship in 2020. On lap 241, we will see our 31st lead change and Scott Dixon is edging ahead of Oliver Jarvis in the #77 Mazda. Oliver Jarvis has gone around Mike Conway for second in the #31 Cadillac. The #912 Porsche was at risk of maybe getting in the way of Chris Miller aboard the #85 JDC-Miller Cadillac as "the banana boat" has just come out of the pit lane, on stone cold Michelin tires.
Nicolas Lapierre passes Nick Boulle in LMP2 and the Nick and Nick show, sees Lapierre running fastest lap in the class so far. Every car in the class in LMP2 is identical. The French built Oreca chassis, with the 4.2 liter Gibson Technologies V8 engine, built in England. Lapierre runs a best lap of 1:38 dead. 1:38.081. He is a minute ahead of the rest of the LMP2 field, currently running eighth in the overall as Scott Dixon leads by ten seconds over Oliver Jarvis in the overall and in DPi. Rahel Frey is a relatively late signing for that all female driver team. Christina Nielsen is actually now in the car. She is running tenth in class behind the #86 Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3, with Mario Farnbacher currently driving.
Lapierre motors away, but not for long as he is now in the lane. The #52 and #81 cars have also made their regular pit stops in LMP2 as Christina Nielsen is back on track and the Pfaff Motorsport Porsche is working it's way back to the sharp end of GT Daytona, but he is being hotly pursued by Bill Auberlen, the BMW veteran, at the wheel of the #96 Turner Motorsports Liqui Moly BMW M6 GT3. That car is easy to spot as it had a white bonnet at the start of the race but has needed a replacement bonnet which is black, indicative of it being in bare carbon fiber. The DPi field, the leaders, are now overtaking this clutch of GTD cars.
Juan Pablo Montoya runs in third overall aboard the #6 Penske Racing Acura and he is 3.2 seconds in-arrears of Mike Conway, driving the #31 Action Express Cadillac.
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