After spending 40 or so minutes in the pit lane, the #7 Acura is now going to be in the hands of Alexander Rossi, running 33rd, make that 34th, in the overall, out of 38 starters. Of those 38 cars that started the race, 36 are still circulating as we are seeing what has to be the smallest field in the history of the Rolex 24 at Daytona in this year's race. Penske are still 22 laps down. Nothing lost and nothing gained. They will score eighth position points after this race is over. There is not a minimum amount of distance or drive time to be covered by the car to earn points, it is all about what the driver's can do as we are 20 minutes before 10PM local time here in Daytona Beach, Florida, at Daytona International Speedway.
We are under just our second Full Course Yellow and we will be going back to green in just a few seconds. 276 laps, 982 and a half miles, completed. We are back to green flag racing and Oliver Jarvis leads over Scott Dixon. Juan Montoya, Felipe Nasr, Sebastien Bourdais, Harry Tincknell, Tristan Vautier, and more. That's a top notch set of drivers indeed, although something has gone awry and we see a Penske Acura off the road in turn one. Once again, the #7 Acura is in strife, Ricky Taylor at the wheel of it. He has climbed to 19th place in the overall. He is still 22 laps down. We are watching a battle for the lead. Scott Dixon is chasing Oliver Jarvis. Dixon is a real plug and play kind of driver. No pass through the Bus Stop.
Bill Auberlen is a true legend, and the face of BMW racing in the U.S. Auberlen says they will just run the race. Double stints for Robby Foley and Dillon Machavern, and then, double stints for himself and for Jens Klingman. Calm down. There's a long way to go. Keep the car running, be calm, cool, and collected, as the Acura #7 was in the lane to change flatspotted Michelin tires on the car. Ricky Taylor did indeed make a mistake and spun out going into turn one on the infield road course. All four wheels locked up as he dove into turn one way too quickly, slewing sideways. Ricky Taylor, if he were to keep the tires on the car, it would've rattled his fillings loose in three or so laps. So, it's best for him to hit the lane for a new set of boots.
Harry Tincknell is still scrapping with Sebastien Bourdais and Bourdais is on the receiving end of a pass from the Mazda driver. Bourdais has gotten back on the lead lap on the pit stop exchange between his team and also what the Mazda boys have been doing. We've only had two Full Course Yellows in this race so far. A new best lap of the race for Oliver Jarvis, but not the fastest lap. Oliver Jarvis, in the lead of the motor race in Mazda #77 has uncorked a 1:35.599 which is not quite as fast as Renger van der Zande's earlier lap record of 1:35.2.
New IMSA President, John Doonan is in the broadcast booth with IMSA Radio and he's amazed with how this year's Rolex has gone. Record crowd, and great weather. Exotic cars galore in the car parks. Doonan is very happy and very proud to be the new President of IMSA. Of course, a convergence of the top class of sports car racing, and worldwide, has been announced. John Doonan says, "pinch me, I must be dreaming, being involved in something so historic" with the new LMDh category announcement that will connect IMSA and the FIA/ACO and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We are also very thankful that Daytona International Speedway has invited the teams, drivers, and fans, to another fabulous Rolex 24.
We have Dr. Don Panoz to thank for this. Somewhere Don is there, looking down on us, amazed at what is going on, as he too, was a true visionary, and so was Scott Atherton. Don't forget the France family including Bill France Sr., who put sports car racing at Daytona on the map, back in 1962. We also have the support of Pierre Fillon and Gerard Neveu from the FIA/ACO as well. Remember, the video version of that press conference was linked to the blog. So, if you haven't seen it, go back through the archive and watch the announcement press conference. Definitely check it out if you have not seen it yet.
We will know the technical details at "Super Sebring" in March. This new sports car racing vision and idea is 100% real, right now. Dallara, Ligier, Multimatic, and Oreca, all four chassis companies, have all agreed on this as well, with IMSA and the ACO, and everyone is there saying, "we have to, we must do this." The automakers, the chassis constructors, the journalists, and the fans have all asked for this and it is soon to be delivered. Meanwhile, back to the racing, and we've got action right here, right now in GT Le Mans! Side by side stuff between Porsche and BMW going into turn six and head up onto the banking here at Daytona International Speedway! Now you know, from seeing this kind of action, why sports car racing is thriving and it will into the future.
We've got this GTLM battle and we also have in the lane, the overall leader of the motor race, that being the #77 Mazda RT24P. Scott Dixon aboard Cadillac #10 will assume the race lead again. Porsche #912 leads GT Le Mans. Laurens Vanthoor it seems has lost some time and a couple places. Harry Tincknell aboard Mazda #55 has passed both Felipe Nasr and Juan Pablo Montoya. Tincknell is up to second and Montoya has lost ten seconds and two places, as the #77 Mazda is having issues with cold tires and Tristan Nunez is being passed by GT Le Mans cars, somehow or other. The reason it didn't come in undr yellow, was due to the ned for double stinting tires so they don't run out of tires on single stints.
They have indeed changed tires. Augusto Farfus has retaken the lead of GTLM. BMW, Porsche, and then, Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, the top three in GT Le Mans. With the new LMDh formula, for a car that will be allowed to race in FIA WEC and in IMSA. Plus, we could see a Hypercar in this race, maybe, if the BoP works. Toyota? Aston Martin? Glickenhaus? We'll see. We are not sure we'll see hypercars in IMSA just yet. It's a bit of a wait and see approach. Global and regional championships, both need funding to have teams and also brands, break out of national and regional championships, and head for the world stage. Companies decentralize their motorsports programs, and thus, they can now race everywhere, racing in IMSA, or in the FIA WEC.
Jim France says "the manufacturers will speak", and that's true. IMSA has 17 manufacturers right now and the relationship with those brands is strong. A brand may decide that IMSA is the best idea for their marketing, but now, they can run all around the world. Now, 38 cars is not what we want. The depth and the quality is great, but the quantity needs to be more. We want to have more cars, upwards of 50. We'll see about this same number of cars for IMSA during the rest of the season. We've gained LMP2's, lost a couple DPi cars, but we still have a healthy field. This is what we shall see for the rest of 2020. Looking ahead to "Super Sebring" in March.
Scott Dixon is putting another lap on the #7 Penske Acura. The IMSA staff is very efficient with setting up the track, pits, and garages and they do a fantastic job. IMSA President John Doonan, he was at the Roar Before the Rolex 24, as President, and he was assisting with the paddock area and the duties in it. He's very serious about the racing and how things are going to go. With manufacturers, when 2022 rolls around, the convergence idea is very positive. We cannot say what the manufacturers are going to specifically do, yet, but whatever it is, it shall work out in a fantastic way. Fans of IMSA and the FIA WEC are in for a treat. We await the surprises. Strap in. We're going to be in with a good one.
Pit stop time now for the #81 DragonSpeed Oreca LMP2 car. The past three laps, the #81 car has lowered fastest lap in the category. Now, we also see another routine pit stop for the race leading #10 Cadillac. With the #10 car in the lane, the lead of the motor race has been taken over by the #31 Whelen Cadillac, with Felipe Nasr at the wheel of it. A new drink bottle for Scott Dixon. He will do a double stint, and there are slightly scrubbed in Michelin tires on the car. He's back on the track, now. They were deciding to put Ryan Briscoe in the car, but not now. Acura #6 pitted and had four new tires and fuel, and Dane Cameron, behind the wheel. Scott Dixon ran 25 laps on fuel this most recent stint. Acura has eked out 21 laps on a fuel load recently. Mazda runs somewhere between 21-22 laps.
Scott Dixon makes fuel, or makes fuel mileage. Now the #31 Whelen Cadillac is in the lane and so is the #5 Mustang Sampling JDC-Miller Cadillac. We have now run in this race, 300 laps, 1,068 miles. The #4 Corvette C8.R is in the lane, and we see Marcel Fassler is getting into the car, with assistance of a driver assistant crewman rather than a co-driver. The #8 Starworks LMP2 car is also in the lane. The #31 Cadillac is now ahead of the #5 car. Again, I shall emphasize, both of these cars used to be run by Action Express Racing, and my friend Bob Johnson, and now, while AXR has the #31 car, JDC-Miller Motorsports and team boss John Church, from Minneapolis, Minnesota (in my home state), those chaps run the #5 car on an agreement with AXR to do so.
They were battling for the lead as they came in and now, the #55 Mazda has gone through. Car #31 ran 24 laps compared to 25 for the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac. Sebastien Bourdais is at the controls of #5. The #8 Tower Motorsports Oreca has had to have water added to the radiator and speaking of LMP2, we still have some issues to look into for the #38 Performance Tech Oreca that was the cause of our most recent Full Course Yellow in this motor race. It was an uneventful stop for the #38 but it nearly made a pig's breakfast out of the pit stop for the #88 WRT Speedstar Audi R8 with Daniel Morad at the wheel. Morad is the new driver, as Rolf Ineichen missed his mark entering the lane. This little delay cost the Audi boys three seconds, and precious seconds count even in a daylong race like the Rolex 24.
Speeding in the lane, is measured by a series of timing loops in the pit lane. Kamui Kobayashi had stalled and shifted from 1st to 2nd gear, cancelling the pit lane speed limiter. That's what happened during the daylight hours that we saw earlier. Pit stop time now for GTLM runners and the first to dive for the lane are the factory Porsche's, and the #912 car specifically. New boots on the car. Earl Bamber is out of the car, and yours truly wonders who is in the car. We've got radar guns, heat temperature guns, and heat detecting guns, but no guns of the type that shoot bullets. Anyhow, when it's nighttime and your tires are warmer than they need to be, that's a little bit of a head scratching deal, compared to the daytime.
Now then, Earl Bamber seems to have gotten a tad sideways as he moves back onto the speedway. Matthieu Jaminet has now taken over the #912 Porsche as the #911 car, the sister car, pits. So does the #24 BMW. Fuel and tires, and a driver change in #911. Matt Campbell will be at the wheel. Campbell will race for Porsche in the factory car for the full 2020 IMSA season. Augusto Farfus stays in the #24 BMW. He is defending GTLM champion here at the Rolex 24. Ben Hanley is extending his lead in LMP2 to 7.2 seconds, and Hanley is setting down fast laps consistently. The #8 car is in strife, perhaps. Ah. They have gone back to the garage.
They've had to remove the rear bodywork on the car, twice, to add buckets of water to it. The cap of the jug had fallen off. That stings! It really hurts. Now, we watch Jack Hawksworth aboard the #14 AVS Lexus RC F GT3. Pit stop time now, too, for the #48 Lamborghini from Paul Miller Racing. The sister #12 AVS Lexus is now in the lane, too. Drivers are being told they are on cold tires. Watch out for the kink out of pit lane and don't hit the wall. We'll see an overnight temperature of 5 degrees Celsius, 41 degrees Fahrenheit. That's January in Daytona Beach, Florida for you. Daytona Beach, is probably the coldest place in Florida.
Surviving until the morning is the biggest deal. Madison Snow gets four new Michelin tires. The Pfaff Porsche, car #9 of Zacharie Robichon, will pit and get tires. They are scrubbed. The #74 Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3, will be getting new tires and there will be a new driver as Gar Robinson is expected to finish his stint. As we continue the pit stop rotation, the bright yellow #3 Corvette C8.R is now in the lane as well. Antonio Garcia has finished another stint. He's done a lot of driving today so far and will stay in the car with a new drink bottle being installed. The new mid engine Corvette is back in action. The team has surely put a new data stick into the car.
I should mention, the #3 Corvette does have a new driver. Jordan Taylor is now in the car. Tristan Nunez leads by five seconds over Scott Dixon right now. Pit stop time now for the #9 Pfaff Porsche which was leading in GT Daytona. Matt McMurry will take over the class lead aboard the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3. The teams find time while the fuel is filling, to service the car, clean out the radiator duct, clean the windscreen. The Porsche was perilously close to the pit wall! Remember, Ross Gunn did hit the wall earlier and that's what put the kibosh on the race for the #98 factory Aston Martin GTD car and of course as you are well aware, there are no Aston Martin's left in this motor race.
There are no tire warmers allowed in IMSA. We watch the Pfaff Porsche and he's skating all over the road on cold tires just as I speak of the aforementioned rule banning tire warmers! Holy smokes! #9 is all over the shop here, look. It doesn't want to turn, and doesn't want to put the power down. He's Canadian, so he's used to driving in snow, but cold tires are like driving on ice. You cannot preheat these tires. If the tires are not up to pressure, the sidewalls will be down, and the probability of a puncture is high until the pressures of tires come up. The ambient and track temps will get colder as the night progresses. Earlier, the air temperature was 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit), to 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit). We are now down to 13 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit), ambient temp, and 14 degrees Celsius (57 degrees Fahrenheit), track temp.
The humidity has increased to about 58%. Cool air that is dry and dense is good for the engines, but a little dampness will rob the motors of horsepwoer. The Ferris wheel is illuminated, and we continue this race deep into the night. We are projecting a lap record distance. 808 is the current record. The prediction is 832 laps to smash the new record. We have seen our 38th lead change as Scott Dixon retakes the lead. The #77 Mazda is now in the lane for service. Tristan Nunez at the wheel of it. 21-22 laps for the Acura's and Mazda's while the Cadillac's can run 23-24 laps on a full stint, a full fuel tank. More fast lap times are coming in for DPi, LMP2, and GTLM. The pace is really steaming along. The fastest laps of the GT Le Mans cars are within 4/10ths of a second of each other.
Scott Dixon goes purple with a 1:35.216, fastest of all. Dixon can race IndyCars, GT cars, prototypes. He could race a shopping trolley around the Publix grocery store. A spin here, look, at the International Horseshoe for the #54 Black Swan Porsche 911 GT3R. That's cold tires on an out lap. Michelin has a new tire compound they are working with and only the GT Le Mans cars have a compound choice. DPi and LMP2 are on the medium compound from Michelin and GT Daytona are on th customer Michelin S8M tire. It was hotter during the day, but it is going to be chilly at the track tonight. Make sure you are bundled up if you are watching the race live. I have gone back to the hotel to get some sleep before the finish but will be looking in on the race on NBC Sports Network during the overnight hours.
Black Swan had a heavy crash for that Porsche in Thursday's Free Practice 4, the final practice session. The car was a write off. But, the team managed to fix it, thankfully, otherwise we would have indeed had 37 cars instead of 38 in the race. They worked an all nigthers and the car just clobbered the wall. He lost the car in a gyrating spin. Thank goodness for a spare car donated by Wright Motorsports to the Black Swan folks so they could stay in the motor race.
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