The 6 hour Nurburgring Langstrecke racce, preceding the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring. Enjoy the coverage, right here, right now. We join the commentary duo of John Hindhaugh and Peter Snowden from Radio Show Limited, with the race call.
Saturday, August 29, 2020
Monday, August 24, 2020
Michelin IMSA Insider: State of Change
The latest Michelin IMSA Insider.
Michelin IMSA Insider: State of Change
Michelin to Serve as Title Sponsor for 6H Road Atlanta
Michelin Endurance Challenge weekend set for Sept. 4-6...
https://sportscar365.com/imsa/impc/michelin-to-serve-as-title-sponsor-for-road-atlanta-6h-event/
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
FIA WEC news after Spa Francorchamps (continued)
Continuing with the news headlines after the 6 Hours of Spa last Saturday.
Dry Pace Key to Porsche Duo's First GTE-Pro Win of Season
Eurasia Confirms Le Mans LMP2 Lineup
CarGuy, Luzich Firm Up Le Mans Plans
Phil Hanson's latest column.
HANSON: Two Wins in the Space of Six Days
Aiming for a few less races for WEC in 2021.
WEC Aiming for Reduced Six-Round 2021 Calendar
Panis Racing Confirms All-French LMP2 Lineup For Le Mans
The latest Double Stint Podcast, recapping all the action from the 6 Hours of Spa.
Double Stint: Spa WEC Recap; News Roundup (8-18-20)
Monday, August 17, 2020
16H Hockenheim to Replace Canceled 24H Barcelona
Creventic to hold first-ever race in Germany in unique double eight-hour format...
https://sportscar365.com/other-series/24hseries/16h-hockenheim-to-replace-canceled-24h-barcelona/
post-race news after the 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps
All of the post-race stories after the 6 Hours of Spa.
Race Recap:
Toyota Takes Lead from Rebellion in Opening Hour
Toyota's Switch Around as Kobayashi Leads at Halfway
No. 7 Toyota Overcomes Largest Handicap to Win 6H Spa
Post-race news:
Join FIA WEC lead commentator, Martin Haven, for the race highlights from Spa.
Nato: Rebellion Had "No Grip" in Changeable Spa Conditions
'Protection Mode' Issue Put No. 8 Toyota "A Bit Out of Touch"
Spa Post-Race Notebook
Sunday, August 16, 2020
Winner & Highlights of the 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps
Part of this intro, can be credited, to commentators Brian Kreisky and Richard Nichols, from Videovision Broadcast International, and their narrations of some of the great races of the past, from the heyday of the 1980s Group C prototype era, here at Spa Francorchamps, having accessed those races for viewing enjoyment via the Motorsport TV website. Thank you, Brian, and thank you, Richard, for the inspiration.
Spa Francorchamps, in Belgium. Here in the pines of the Ardennes forest, lies the most beautiful rendezvous of the FIA World Endurance Championship, twisting, climbing, diving, in a spectacle of speed. It's a combination of long straights, and neck wrenching corners, sheer speed, tossing the cars of the FIA World Endurance Championship around the turns of the circuit with such well known, famous names. La Source, Eau Rouge, Raidillon, Blanchimont, Pouhon, Stavelot, The Bus Stop. South of Liege, in the aforementioned pines of the Ardennes, Spa boasts natural springs, and people. have come to Spa to take the water, since the 16th century. It gave it's name to health farms the world over. The town has a clean, gentile air of existence. The race track bearing it's name, is the centerpiece, the jewel in the crown. Folks, our journey to this town is far more than just finding the famous, purest mineral water possible. Drink to your health, ladies and gentlemen, but also, enjoy some world class sports car racing.
Come with me, now, as we are about to find out about the latest epic chapter in the odyssey that is the 2019-2020 FIA World Endurance Championship season, in the first race back for the championship in nearly six months after the season, was put on hold due to the worldwide COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. After two straight weeks of sweltering heat in the Spa Francorchamps area, will start in an absolute deluge. It's raining cats and dogs as we prepare to go racing. This is the first 2020 WEC event where the wet weather Michelin tires will be pressed into service.
This race will begin in formation behind the safety car. Rebellion has claimed pole position for this motor race, as they were the fastest car in dry weather running during qualifying. We can see that the field takes a few laps to acclimatize itself, to the conditions. The drivers must be extremely cautious, driving in the wet. Finally, it's time to officially go racing. The drivers have sussed out where the water, the rivers, and the puddles are on the road. It's red lights out, for the rolling start, and away we go! The 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps is underway!
Rebellion leads the sway, but only briefly, as diving into Eau Rouge for the first time, the 4 wheel drive, turbocharging, and hybrid power, equipping the two factory Toyota TS050 Hybrids, kicks in, and the Japanese cars,find their feet here, at Spa, in the wet. Car #7 in the hands of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jose Maria Lopez, and the sister #8 machine, being shared by Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Kazuki Nakajima. Rebellion and ByKolles give chase in LMP1. It's Gustavo Menezes, Norman Nato, and Bruno Senna sharing the #1 Rebellion R13 Gibson. Aboard the #4 ByKolles LMP1 car, we have Oliver Webb of England, who will share the car, in this race, and at the forthcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Tom Dillman of France, and Canadian Bruno Spengler, who was actually born in Alsace.
Rebellion have made a snafu and have fudged their tire selection. So, they've dropped back and are now caboose on the field in the LMP1 class. In the LMP2 class, it's United Autosports leading, with their ubiquitous blue #22 Oreca 07, in the hands of Filipe Albuquerque, Paul di Resta, and Phil Hanson. Giedo van der Garde, the Dutchman, is working his way through the LMP2 field after starting at the back, aboard the #29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca 07 he shares with countrymen Frits van Eerd and Nyck de Vries. Meanwhile, in LM GTE Pro, it is indeed a three way battle for the top spot between the three factory marques in the championship.
At first, it was a battle between Porsche and Aston Martin, and then, Ferrari quickly appears on the scene to spoil the party, look. The #95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim, and new recruit for this race, and Le Mans, Englishman Richard Westbrook, is quickly overhauled by the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 GTE shared by James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi, the Briton and the Italian, joined by third driver, Daniel Serra, from Brazil, for this race and for the Le Mans 24 Hours. Again, in case you did not know, Daniel Serra, is the son of former Formula 1 driver, Chico Serra. Pier Guidi would go on to race nearly four hours of this event, without a break, without relief from Serra or from Calado.
He is bringing the Ferrari through the field and challenging against one of the Porsche's on the downhill run to Eau Rouge. That is indeed the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 he is flashing by in the wet, the car shared by Michael Christensen of Denmark, Kevin Estre of France, and Belgian Laurens Vanthoor, in his home race. Trouble for Aston Martin and a spin into the gravel for Paul Dalla Lana after he changes to slick tires. Dalla Lana, the Canadian, sharing with Englishman Ross Gunn, and new Aston Martin recruit, Brazilian Augusto Farfus, a familiar name, as he is a former factory driver in DTM and FIA WEC for BMW, who has also spent some time in LMP2 prototypes this season if memory serves me right.
After this spin for Dalla Lana, the safety car is deployed, cuing another round of pit stops for the leaders, specifically for both Toyota's. Rain is not far from anyone's thoughts at this stage in the motor race. However, we are rapt, transfixed by the scrum in LMP2 between United Autosport and Racing Team Nederland. Giedo van der Garde had started this motor race shotgun on the field, and he sneaks through to make a move on the favorite United Autosport #22 car, the Albuquerque/Hanson/di Resta machine. Pit stop time, look for AF Corse and the #51 car. Alessandro Pier Guidi cannot be persuaded to hand it over yet, even though the team must be thinking, "look, Alessandro, your drive time is nearly up, let your co-drivers have stints, too."
As the weather begins to improve, we can see Aston Martin making inroads in GTE Pro and perhaps in GTE Am as well. Meantime, there's more tussling for position among the LMP2 cars and this time, it's United Autosport vs. Signatech Alpine. The trio of Pierre Ragues of France, Thomas Laurent, of France, and Brazilian Andre Negrao, are moving to the fore in the smaller, lighter prototype category. Thomas Laurent does move past Paul di Resta after he was installed into the #22 on the most recent pit stop. di Resta proves he is a danger man, retaking second in class in LMP2 from the French car. But soon after, there's calamity, catastrophe, and disaster, for Signatech! Trying to take third spot away in the downhill section of the course, Thomas Laurent loses control and flips the car on it's side!
Drama, drama, drama! Thomas Laurent is one lucky bloke to walk away from that shunt, unhurt. Laurent is fine. The car, is written off, and will have to be rebuilt before the 24 Hours of Le Mans next month. Something the Alpine team is surely capable of. In the meantime, more ding dong scrapping in LMP2, look. The battle is on up the hill on the Kemmel straightaway, between Frits van Eerd for Racing Team Nederland, and Nicolas Lapierre for Cool Racing, as he is sharing their #42 Oreca 07 with Swiss drivers (for a Swiss team), Antonin Borga, and Alexandre Coigny. Frits van Eerd is hanging on well to a podium place in LMP2 as this race is closing in on the finish.
A spot of bother entering La Source, for Aston Martin Vantage #97. He loses a place to the Porsche and loses the LM GTE Pro class lead to Porsche, inside the final hour of the motor race. Pit stop time for the Aston to sort out any maladies caused by that off course excursion. It's a splash and a dash for the #97, dropping it down behind the team car, the #95. The team of Alex Lynn, Maxime Martin, and Harry Tincknell (new recruit for this race and Le Mans) is placed behind the sister car, the aforementioned #95 Sorensen/Thiim/Westbrook car.
The race is now coming to it's conclusion. We've not seen the Toyota's all day because they've run and hid as they usually do, motoring off into a lead they'd never relinquish. In the LM GTE Am class, AF Corse wins with their #83 Ferrari 488 GTE driven by French endurance racing veteran Emmanuel Collard, sharing with countryman Francois Perrodo, and Dane Nicklas Nielsen. GTE Pro honors go the way of the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre, and Laurens Vanthoor. United Autosports takes the LMP2 class win for Filipe Albuquerque, Paul di Resta, and Phil Hanson. In the overall and LMP1, it is Toyota winning, and it is the #7 of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jose Maria Lopez, scoring their first ever win at Spa Francorchamps.
They have bested their sister car, #8, which comes home second, with Kazuki Nakajima, Brendon Hartley, and Sebastien Buemi.
Overall/LMP1: #7 Conway/Kobayashi/Lopez Toyota TS050 Hybrid
LMP2: #22 Albuquerque/di Resta/Hanson Oreca 07
LM GTE Pro: #92 Christensen/Estre/Vanthoor Porsche 911 RSR-19
LM GTE Am: #83 Collard/Perrodo/Nielsen Ferrari 488 GTE
The 6 Hours of Spa is now done and dusted, and we look ahead, to the penultimate race of the 2019-2020 FIA World Endurance Championship, the 88th renewal of the greatest sports car race on earth, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which of course has been moved to September, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, which also means, for the first time in the race's history, it shall be run behind closed doors with no fans in the tribunes at Le Mans, when we are usually used to seeing 200,000+ people there to cheer on the competitors, of course, due to the pandemic. Le Mans is coming up, in a month or so. See you then. Looking forward to bringing you wall to wall coverage of the world's greatest sports car race again, this year.
So long, from the Ardennes forest and Circuit de Spa Francorchamps, everybody. Take care.
Saturday, August 15, 2020
pre-race stories from Spa Francorchamps
Some quick pre-race bits and bobs before we get the 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps underway on this Saturday morning.
Webb: ByKolles Using Spa for Le Mans Preparation
Estre, Christensen Porsche's GTE-Pro Pole Reinstated
Stay tuned for the race, and a full report. It's live, and it's next!
Onboard camera footage from Spa Francorchamps
Go for a lap around the magnificent Spa Francorchamps circuit with a number of the cool cars that race in the FIA WEC. Toyota, Alpine, Porsche, and Aston Martin provide the platforms for you to take in this awesome track. The included cars are Rebellion #1, Porsche #91, Alpine #36, Toyota #8, and Toyota #7.
Friday, August 14, 2020
more pre-race news from Spa
Continuing with pre-race headlines from Spa on Friday, before we go racing, coming up on Saturday. Here is everything and anything you need to know before the 6 hours gets underway, tomorrow. Stay tuned for a race report.
Gabriel Aubry tests positive for the COVID-19 Coronavirus ahead of the 6 Hours of Spa. It's doubtful he will race.
Aubry Tests "Suspected Positive" for COVID-19
Rebellion Opts for High-Downforce Aero at Spa
Rebellion's high downforce setup must be working, as they lead FP1 at Spa ahead of the two Toyota hybrid LMP1 cars.
Nato Paces Spa FP1 for Rebellion as Non-Hybrids Lead
Check out the highlights of opening Free Practice for the 6 Hours of Spa, and a quick snippet of FP2.
Spa Thursday Notebook
Algarve Pro, Aubry to Miss Spa after Positive COVID-19 Tests
Rebellion Quickest Again in Spa Second Practice
Rebellion Leads Red Flag-Shortened Spa Third Practice
Drivers Look to Prospect of "Strange" Le Mans Without Fans
Goddard Had Doubts of Eurasia Crew Making it To Spa
Rebellion are on pole for the 6 Hours of Spa.
Rebellion Takes 6H Spa Pole by Eight-Tenths
Video of qualifying highlights from Spa. They will be recapped in the race report, so stay tuned to read more. Martin Haven has the qualifying highlights commentary.
Spa Qualifying Highlights.
Spa Friday Notebook
Toyota Focused on Race Strategy in Spa Qualifying
Thursday, August 13, 2020
FIA WEC news headed for Spa Francorchamps this weekend
News headed to Spa Francorchamps this weekend for the Spa 6 Hours, the final major FIA WEC race before heading for the 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans, next month.
WeatherTech Moves Entry to GTE-Pro; Confirms Lineup
24H Le Mans to Run Without Spectators
Foster Replaces Gaunt in Eurasia's Spa Lineup
Matt McMurry is the third driver for Algarve Pro at the 24 Hours of Le Mans next month, joining Simon Trummer and John Falb who run with the team in the European Le Mans Series.
McMurry Completes Algarve Pro Lineup
MR Racing Ferrari Withdrawn From 6H Spa
Davidson: Jota "More Prepared" for 6H Spa After ELMS Cameo
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
20 Entries for Michelin GT Challenge at VIR
Entry list released for first of two GT-only rounds on IMSA season...
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Doonan Proud of IMSA Paddock ‘Embracing’ COVID-19 Protocols
IMSA President John Doonan on racing amid coronavirus pandemic; teams' COVID-19 testing, reporting responsibility.
https://sportscar365.com/imsa/doonan-proud-of-imsa-paddock-embracing-covid-19-protocols/
Double Stint: Road America Recap; News Roundup (8-4-20)
Catching up on the Double Stint Podcast. This is the one reviewing the IMSA Road America race.
https://sportscar365.com/podcasts/double-stint-road-america-recap-news-roundup/
Monday, August 10, 2020
post-race news after Road America
All the post-race news after the IMSA WeatherTech race at Road America.
Castroneves, Taylor Win Road America in Wild, Wet Finish
We join NBC Sports and race commentators Leigh Diffey, Calvin Fish, and A.J. Allmendinger for the race highlights package from Road America. Here's the link on YouTube.
GTD Winner Bell Crashed on Cool Down Lap
Mazda, Acura Would Have Been "Tooth and Nail" in Dry Finish
Action Express Put Derani "Back in the Game" After Crash
Garcia: Corvette C8.R "Survived" The Kink "Better Than the Rest"
Sunoco Challenge Put on Hold for 2020
Road America Post-Race Notebook
Sunday, August 9, 2020
Winner & Highlights of the IMSA Sports Car Weekend at Road America
Welcome to America's National Park of Speed, Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Since 1955, this 4 mile speed palace has hosted races, and it is one of the highlights on the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship calendar. This is round four of the championship for 2020. The IMSA road racing special, at a classic track, is about to get underway. 640 acres for fans to enjoy. Have a picnic. Do some outdoor leisure sports. Or, the best option, watch some world class sports car racing. Grab a bratwurst and an ice cream cone. We're ready to race at Road America.
We are located halfway between Milwaukee and Green Bay. The action spots are at turn one, downhill to turn five, downhill again to turn eight, through the Carousel, flying through the kink and into Canada corner. The cars are on their pace laps. It's a gorgeous day to go racing. Qualifying was dominated by Acura Team Penske. Behind them, the two Mazda's, and then come some of the Cadillac's from Wayne Taylor Racing, Action Express, and JDC-Miller's two cars. We have 30 cars on the grid. The #23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin wanted to race this weekend, but the car had a fuel leak and they couldn't fix it entirely.
They pulled their entry and they want to be back at the end of August. We will not see drivers Ian James and Roman De Angelis, racing today. The schedule has had to be changed of course because of the virus pandemic. Now, the Acura's have found pace here at Road America. Penske has the front row for the second year in a row. They really feel their car is working well, and they have more fuel they can use than the Mazda's and the Cadillac's. Reminder, this is a 4 mile track. You can't have low fuel for the uphill run to the pit lane. Save your tires as we have a low grip circuit. DPi cars are expected to make about four pit stops.
There are good overtaking places on this circuit, and there will be some weather before this race is done and dusted. The field is formed up, making the run up the hill towards the green flag. We've got a green, and we're underway! It's Acura and Mazda early on, scrapping for the lead. Ricky Taylor gets a great jump on his team mate, Dane Cameron, and the deep red Mazda RT24P, car #55 in the hands of Harry Tincknell, also wants a piece of the action.
Tincknell and Mazda won here last year, but Dane Cameron is the one to watch, as he muscles his way 'round the outside! It's too early, blokes, to be doing that slamming and banging, argy bargy, dodge 'em cars stuff. Simmer down. Tincknell, though, just won't give up. He wants to go side by side, look. Down the hill to turn five, Cameron is drafting Tincknell. It's Mazda vs. Acura so far as the Cadillac boys have not had a look in yet. Tincknell is a scrapper. He's going to try to outbrake Cameron into turn five, while these Michelin tires are still stone cold. They've not come up to temperature yet. Gently, boys. Don't do anything silly that you might regret.
Dane Cameron runs right 'round the outside and clears Tincknell while getting a bit loose and wriggling that Acura DPi all over the place! Holy smokes! There's some ral paint trading there, ladies and gentlemen. A statement of intent from Harry Tincknell. He was the meat in an Acura sandwich. They gave each other room, which is a good idea. The cars seem fairly equal down the back straight. The Acura's have been given some more power in the Balance of Performance. Felipe Nasr is catching Joao Barbosa, and Felipe Nasr makes his move. Remember now, these two cars used to be run by the same team. Not anymore.
The red and white Whelen Cadillac, is Action Express Racing, and as you may know, yours truly, is friends with team owner Bob Johnson, and the whole team, having seen them race in person earlier this year at the Rolex 24. The #5 gray Mustang Sampling Cadillac used to be under the Action Express banner, and is now in the hands of JDC-Miller Motorsports, with Joao Barbosa and Sebastien Bourdais. Felipe Nasr moves by for the pass. No DRS on these prototypes. Taylor leads Cameron, Tincknell, and Nunez.
Ryan Briscoe is fifth. Felipe Nasr and Joao Barbosa, next up, and Chris Miller in the #85 Cadillac. In LMP2 it is Henrik Hedman vs. Patrick Kelly. DragonSpeed vs. PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports. Kelly leads in class by 2.5 seconds. Jordan Taylor leads GTLM. It's Corvette, Porsche, BMW, BMW, Corvette, Porsche. Laurens Vanthoor and Bruno Spengler, among others, are battling. Aaron Telitz leads GT Daytona from pole over Frankie Montecalvo and Robby Foley, followed by the Compass Racing McLaren, the Keating Motorsports Merfcedes, and the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari. Patrick Kelly is bish bash boshing it right now in LMP2. He was euphoric after winning the LMP2 pole.
Corvette has won two in a row with both of their cars at Daytona and Sebring. The Lexus cars are really improving and they lead over Robby Foley in the Turner Motorsports BMW. He had a horrid wreck in qualifying, with debris in a brake line, and he lost braking force and crashed into the wall, hard. The team fixed and repaired the car in pristine fashion. There's a 1.3 second separation now, between the two Acura's at the sharp end of the field right now.
This race has opened in a clean fashion. No argy bargy just yet, thank goodness. Now, the Acura's are pulling away from the Mazda's and the Cadillac's are farther behind, but it's early yet. Be careful, fans. Don't read too much into what is happening, because it can all change. Yours truly has mistakenly predicted certain things, and predicting in racing is not a good idea, whether you follow a favorite team/driver lineup, or not. Corey Fergus is following Robby Foley. A high grip circuit means you don't scrub the tires off too much. A low grip circuit, the car slides around and you can go into a flat drift, and understeer at the front or oversteer at the back. The tire is sliding sideways, taking the tire surface off.
That is why you get what I like to call "clag" coming off the tires. That is also why, and thanks for the explanation, Mr. John Hindhaugh at IMSA Radio, you get more tire wear at a low grip circuit, compared to a high grip circuit. You can mitigate that by your driving style. Double stinting tires is not the best idea at least in the IMSA championship. The thing is, every championship is different, and every championship, uses a different tire supplier. It used to be in sports car racing, teams could pick and choose which companies to go with. But now, to make things more uniform and to keep costs manageable, one tire company supplies a whole series, Michelin, in the case of IMSA of course.
There are long, flowing right hand corners that put loads on the left side tires here at Road America, like the kink and Canada Corner. At the green flag, you cannot overtake before reaching the start/finish line. Did this happen between Acura and Mazda? We don't know yet. The stewards are going to be looking at this. There are two schools of thought with track limits. Some want to take a laissez faire approach, while others, are the sheriffs and will penalize you for going out of bounds on track limits, with a visit to the sin bin. No different, really, than if you are on the highway and the policeman pulls you over and says, "sir or madam, you were doing X speed in an Y speed zone", (i.e. you were running at 80 miles an hour in a 60 mile an hour speed limit zone, and 20 over is kind of fast.)
Turns one and 14 are big for track limits and so is turn eight at the bottom of Hurry Downs. The marshals are eagle eyed. A race track is built to race on, and use the runoff if you need it. Some people don't like paved runoff areas even though they are the norm today. The flat curbs are for motorcycles. If you follow my motorcycle racing blog called 2 Wheelin', you will know about that. Meantime, drivers are finding out where their competition is strong vs their cars. Corey Fergus and Gar Robinson are going for it in GTD. In GTLM, Bruno Spengler leads Jesse Krohn, Oliver Gavin, and Fred Makowiecki. BMW's are much more competitive than they've been in the past. We watch the battle brewing in GT Le Mans, and also see a quick spin for the #18 LMP2 machine. This is the Dwight Merriman driven Oreca that he shares with Kyle Tilley for Era Motorsport. Merriman spins it in turn eight just before the Carousel. He continues.
Merriman is challenging Henrik Hedman in LMP2 for second in class. Kyle Tilley is indeed his co-driver for this race as he has been the whole season to date. Cars are beginning to be lapped by the leaders as Harry Tincknell is gaining on Cameron and Taylor in both Acura's. If you are chasing, get as close to the leaders as you can, to see if you can make a pass if there's a shemozzle with the leaders up ahead. Again, Merriman looped his LMP2 car as he mashed the gas pedal too hard. The Mazda's are in the hunt, while the Cadillac's are working on catching up as Felipe Nasr reels in Ryan Briscoe. Cadillac teams say that they just haven't got the pace to keep up with the Acura's and the Mazda's. The Mazda's lap times have been ebbing and flowing between 1:51 and 1:55 between traffic.
Ricky Taylor is leading by a second and a half. Patrick Kelly leads LMP2 and his margin has now ballooned to 13 seconds. 1:55.1 was the best lap Mazda set here in 2019 at Road America when they won the race. Taylor is a second and a half ahead of Dane Cameron for Acura Team Penske. Don't take too much curb into turn one because it's such a high speed corner. The middle of the course between turns three and five is pretty incredible. Squeeze over the top of the brow into turn six, through seven, and into eight.
Don't run too wide onto the grass. Balance the car with the throttle and steering through The Carousel. Ricky Taylor is about to put a lap on his brother Jordan in the GTLM leading Corvette C8.R. It's a busy race track even though it is big. This is a great entry list with 30 cars. Harry Tincknell continues to maintain the advantage over his Mazda team mate, Tristan Nunez. Harry Tincknell tries to make the move around Dane Cameron, however, the #25 factory BMW M8 GTE of Bruno Spengler is in the way. He is running third in GT Le Mans right now. No sense in fighting for the Mazda boys. Nunez passes Tincknell. We watch the two AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3's running liner stern in GTD.
Also, the #81 DragonSpeed LMP2 prototype is moving ahead of the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 in GTD. There is a split strategy for Corvette or so it appears. The Corvette's used this same strategy at the sprint race at Daytona. The #3 is the rabbit. The #4 is the tortoise. At Porsche, Laurens Vanthoor in the #912 is the hare and #911 Fred Makowiecki is the tortoise, eking out more fuel mileage. We want to see this race run without the intervention of the safety car, for the next two hours and 15 minutes. Now, will that happen? Maybe. But don't count ye olde chickens before they hatch.
If you have two bullets in the gun, you can surely split the strategy. We have a battle continuing between Acura and Mazda and the Mazda has a windscreen with quite a lot of crud on it. Corvette #4 has an electronic bug in the traction control system that they need to fix. Oliver Gavin has to just drive around the issue, but he is also trying to fix it with the buttons on the steering wheel and the dash.
Are the Cadillac's getting into their stride? Patrick Kelly continues to lead in LMP2. We are looking at a four stop race, half an hour into the race. #55 Mazda, in the lane. Aaron Telitz and Frankie Montecalvo have both Lexus cars in the lead of GTD. Mazda will now take a very early driver change? Maybe not. Jonathan Bomarito is changing the drink bottle. So, Tincknell will continue aboard the Mazda. Meanwhile, the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Mustang Sampling Cadillac is pitting too. Joao Barbosa may be done with his first stint and it looks as if he's handing the car over to Sebastien Bourdais.
Check that. No driver change. Barbosa stays in the car. Barbosa is back on track. That's half an hour for the Mazda boys. You do use fuel here at Road America in a major rate. There's a lead change in the GT Le Mans class, as Laurens Vanthoor has gone to the top of the tree for Porsche, moving around the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R with Jordan Taylor at the wheel of it. Through the Carousel, Vanthoor moved around the Corvette. Taylor and the boys at Corvette elected to run a harder compound Michelin tire for the start of this race, and maybe for the duration, and right now it isn't paying the dividends they'd hoped. Taylor could have easily locked up the rear tires, opening the door, and bish, bash, bosh, Vanthoor is through and says, so long, mate, I'm outta here, and he whistles off into the distance.
Pit stop time for the #7 Team Penske Acura and the undercut seems to work for Ricky Taylor. Both Acura's pit followed by the #77 Mazda as Oliver Jarvis assists on the pit stops. Chris Miller and Tristan Vautier were also in the lane in the #85 JDC-Miller "Banana Boat" Cadillac. Ryan Briscoe leads now with Felipe Nasr second. Mazda #77 has gone around the sister car. Check that, it's the #55.
Oh boy. We have on our hands, round two of Cameron vs. Tincknell! Now, you'd think, this isn't a motor race. It's a ten round heavyweight boxing match between these two blokes. They touch again on the uphill with Cameron chopping across Tincknell's nose! You play with fire, you suffer the consequences. Right front damage to Tincknell and left rear damage to Cameron. Deary me. The Penske and Mazdaspeed crews are going to both be pulling their hair out after this little kerfuffle.
Cameron playing defense. Tincknell playing offense. Now, you two best stop this, or someone is going to give you both a red card here. Cameron pays the penalty for that smashing and bashing as NBC's Leigh Diffey calls it, and he's got a flat left rear tire. Poor old Dane Cameron has half the distance of the track here at Road America (two miles) to go before he's home and hosed here. Now then, Cadillac's into the pit lane for scheduled service. Wayne Taylor Racing with the #10 Konica Minolta car, and the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac are both on identical strategies it appears. Fuel, tires and a wing adjustment for AXR and fuel and tires only for Ryan Briscoe, who is doing a double stint.
Poor old Cameron continues to limp around on the flat left rear tire on his Acura. Now then, turn five, and Acura vs. Mazda round three? Oh my. This is going to be a wild one, look. Cameron on stone cold Michelin tires tries to protect his line, and Harry Tincknell sees an opening but it's a mirage, and... clunk, the two make contact, again. Check that. This is a replay of the earlier dramas, but in breaking all this down into bite size pieces, now we see that the Acura boys are going to have to serve a penalty. The marshals have directed them to the sin bin. Ricky Taylor has made a scheduled pit stop, and I believe we've covered that one already.
Just over 40 minutes into the action, we see the difference in performance between an LMP2 and a GTLM production car. Jordan Taylor also falls behind Bruno Spengler. Ditto for the sister car of Oliver Gavin. Jesse Krohn is hot on Taylor's heels as the tire degradation is going up in GTLM, with 45 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit), which is starting to cause the tires to chunk. The strategy for GTLM will have to be redrawn once more. The Corvette's did longer runs in qualifying yesterday than did the Porsche's or the BMW's.
Acura vs. Mazda continues. The battle is still on as they weave between the LMP2 and GTD traffic as we come down to two hours to go. Acura holds sway but just by half a second or so ahead of the Mazda's while the #3 Corvette pits. Jordan Taylor out, and Antonio Garcia is strapped in for his stint. Neither of them have won here at Road America. But, Corvette Racing fudges this pit stop. The fueling probe is out of the filler cap long before the tires are on the car. Aye yaye yaye. This isn't good and is going to put them down the order in GTLM.
Porsche #911 moves around the #24 BMW in Canada Corner. Fred Makowiecki takes Jesse Krohn by surprise going for third in GTLM. That was an odd one. That pass was a piece of cake, like taking candy from a baby. I don't know if Krohn even saw him. Meanwhile Acura #6 is in the lane, again. More woes for Dane Cameron and Acura Team Penske, at least for now. It's a drive through penalty. Meanwhile, our old buddy, Dwight Merriman is becoming the unintentional stunt driver here. Now, he's already been on the whirligig once, but he's now doing a little grass track racing, and is somewhere between a race car and a speedy lawnmower. Things are going from bad to worse for Merriman as he's off the road and into the kitty litter at turn five. Merriman then half rotates the LMP2 car onto the grass.
All this action happened between the moraine sweep and the turn five braking zone. Merriman gets a love tap from the BMW and scruffy tires didn't help. It was the #57 MSR Acura NSX he was passing, Misha Goikhberg at the controls. He wouldn't have had that automobile stopped in a month of Sunday's. Early pit stops for Corvette, and that's the #3 Garcia automobile, or the one with the Spaniard at the wheel as we see some very light rain beginning to fall as the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac of Tristan Vautier is dinged for speeding in the pit lane with a drive through.
The #3 Corvette was dealing with higher tire degradation than they expected. Jordan Taylor just couldn't drive the car. However, Jordan Taylor is going to have a bit of a fight on his hands still, as will everyone else. We are going to see a pop up shower and have rain here at Elkhart Lake before the end of this racing hour. The storm cells are right smack dab over Sheboygan and Elkhart Lake which are in the vicinity of each other. The race leading Acura #7, Ricky Taylor, sets a new lap record at 1:51.38. Initially, Tristan Nunez could've broken that record at 1:51.29. Harry Tinkcnell is catching up.
Ryan Briscoe is also edging away from Felipe Nasr as we have GT Daytona pit stops up now. The #96 Turner Motorsports Liqui Moly BMW M6 GT3, in the lane. Yesterday in qualifying, Robby Foley crashed hard in turn five after losing brake pressure after debris flapping around inside the wheel, cut one of the brake lines off the car and fluid escaped. Robby Foley is limping. He used to be a football player, and injured his leg playing football. His dad told him, "son, if you recover from this injury, you can start racing."
The wallop yesterday has once again dislocated Robby Foley's bad knee. He's OK to drive, but has a bear of a time trying to walk. Bill Auberlen is into the car as the #74 Mercedes AMG GT3 for Riley Technologies pitted and Gar Robinson takes the car over from Lawson Aschenbach. More GTD pit action and we will update you in a moment as once again we see the #85 JDC-Miller Cadillac off the road and back on. The #57 and #86 Acura's both pitted for Meyer Shank Racing. So, driver changes occurred, and saw Alvaro Parente stepping into the #57 and I think Matt McMurry replacing Mario Farnbacher in #86, or it could be the other way 'round.
Ryan Hardwick will also hand the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R to Patrick Long. We have light rain at Canada Corner. Tristan Vautier did do some rallycrossing out of turn seven. Acura #7 leads Harry Tincknell. These are the lead cars. Pit stop time for the GTD leading Lexus #12 as we have under two hours to go. Quite the opening stanza we've seen already. Ricky Taylor is running well at the sharp end but must be cautious and sensible in traffic and Harry Tincknell is moving in. He's closer. It's a cat and mouse game.
Robby Foley has to be plahying hurt as we saw him limping awasy from the car after the driver change. Ouch. His throttle leg has to hurt. The sister AVS Lexus is in the lane and Bill Auberlen wants a signficant record in the win column. Townsend Bell is now taking over the Lexus from Frankie Montecalvo. Check that. Aaron Telitz just pitted. Bell has been out there on hot tires,
Now then, a battle between the AVS Lexus team mates in GT Daytona. It's Townsend Bell vs. Jack Hawksworth. We've seen this before. This is not for the class lead. Cory Fergus is inh the GT Daytona lead aboard the Compass Racing McLaren, car #76. Porsche #912 is in pit lane for service, and wow, Townsend Bell dives inside his team mate into turn five! Bell knew right then, on entry to turn five, "this is my chance!", and he bish bash boshed it. Hawksworth was probably thinking, "oh great. My team mate just snookered me!" To quote Leigh Diffey again, "that was decisive, and very effective." It was indeed. Fred Makowiecki has taken over second in GTLM as Earl Bamber is into the Porsche.
Earl Bamber almost collides with the #4 Corvette C8.R as Tommy Milner takes over from Oliver Gavin. They've had an electrical issue, however, the car seems to be OK for the timke beingas we are nearly an hour into this race, we will be in 14 minutes or so. The scrap continues between the two AVS Lexus RC F's. They are four and a half seconds ahead of their competition in class, which has closed up at a huge rate, and Bill Auberlen is steaming along, moving into striking distance as Paul Holton is passed.
The #18 LMP2 car continues to have issues as Acura and Mazda continue in the lead. Ricky Taylor has pulled out to a 1.2 second advantage over Ricky Taylor with the second Mazda of Tristan Nunez not far away. Be smart, and circumspect through traffic, although that's a rarity. No LMP2 pit stops have happened yet but we may be seeing driver changes in LMP2. Patrick Kelly at the wheel of the #52 PR1/Mathiasen car and Cameron Cassels in the #38 Performance Tech entry. Cassels actually started that car, while Ben Hanley has taken over the #81 Dragonspeed car from Henrik Hedman. #52 is in the lane. Oliver Gavin got too close to the pit wall and this blocked the tire changer, slowing the pit stop down.
Again, Patrick Kelly is in the lane and Simon Trummer will be getting into the car. He has not driven this car since Daytona, and I mean, the Rolex 24, the race yours truly attended in person. It was not the race at Daytona on Independence Day, to avoid any confusion. Patrick Kelly has just done a stonking opening stint. Harry Tincknell is closing up on Ricky Taylor as the dark clouds are bubbling up. We are near a real lake of course, Elkhart Lake. So, on the lake, they'll know the storm clouds are there as we have been racing for a full hour. Townsend Bell leads Jack Hawksworth in the two Lexus' for AIM Vasser Sullivan. Bill Auberlen is a few tenths behind in the #96 Liqui Moly Turner Motorsports BMW followed by Lawson Aschenbach and Paul Holton, followed by Mario Farnbacher, "Super Mario".
He is a second ahead of team mate Alvaro Parente, followed by Toni Vilander, Patrick Long, and Marc Miller who has taken over from Till Bechtolsheimer in the #22 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3. Earl Bamber, meanwhile has an 11 second cushion on Antonio Garcia in GTLM. Connor De Philippi is next up and he ran wide at turn five and had an electrical issue, not in the race but in qualifying. Nick Tandy, John Edwards, and Tommy Milner complete the top six places.
Patrick Kelly has a substantial margin on both Ben Hanley and James French, who has just pitted. Ricky Taylor leads Harry Tincknell by 2.8 seconds. The order in DPi stands as Ricky Taylor leading over Harry Tincknell, Tristan Nunez, Ryan Briscoe, Felipe Nasr, and Joao Barbosa. We've covered the order in the GT classes. Simon Trummer, again, leads over Ben Hanley, James French, and Kyle Tilley. The Mazda's are fighting each other for second overall, look. The Cameron/Montoya Acura is a lap down after the earlier dramas with Cameron in the car.
Earl Bamber leads Jordan Taylor and his margin is growing. The lake effect is from Lake Michigan, 15 miles east of Road America as we see dark clouds. Dry conditions at the moment, but the skies could open. We shall see. The leaders are right together working through traffic. LMP2 teams wanted to take and put their top drivers into the cars. Pit stop time now for the #7 Acura and the #55 Mazda. Helio Castroneves takes over the #7car and Jonathan Bomarito will get into the #55 Mazda. Acura beats Mazda out of the pit lane.
18 laps on fuel for Ricky Taylor for both stints. That's another 36 laps out of two stints and if we stay green we'll have about 49 laps to run before the clock runs out. Harry Tincknell actually stays in the Mazda #55. Pit stop time for Mazda #77. Tristan Nunez at the controls, is going to have a major time trying to stay ahead of Helio Castroneves and Harry Tincknell as he exits the pit lane. GTD traffic on the front straight, too, look. Nunez got lucky! He leapfrogged his way to the lead of the race. As you can see, he's well ahead of Castroneves and Tincknell. Wow. That was a lucky break. Oliver Jarvis takes over the #77 Mazda and, as Mr. Diffey points out, "he's been thrown into the frying pan." Well, he sure has. Now, he's got heat from his team mate, and from the Penske Acura. Can he extend his margin? Jonathan Bomarito is now at the controls of the sister #55 Mazda, and he wants by Helio Castroneves, and I mean, right now.
Tincknell wants to pin Castroneves in behind Jarvis, Castroneves decisively ducks, and says, "no way, sunshine", winding up for the entry into turn five and onto the uphill. Now the Mazda boys are fighting for position as Tincknell is on the outside of Jarvis. Jarvis is having a tough old time finding grip in his tires. What a move by the three time Indianapolis 500 winner. Castroneves bish bash boshes his way up the order. Superb, opportunistic driving there, from Castroneves! He is back to the lead oncethe leading Cadillac's of Ryan Briscoe and Felipe Nasr make their pit stops.
The two Cadillac's can run one lap more than everyone else. They came in a lap after the Acura's. Castroneves leads over Tincknell. Then comes Oliver Jarvis, as well as the two cars of Ryan Briscoe and Pipo Derani in the two Cadillac's. Castroneves and Tincknell though, are definitive leaders here at Road America. Great move as Castroneves just slices and dices his way by as Tincknell uses his team mate Jarvis as a screen. He had to go diagonally and all of that maneuvering was on the brakes! Absolutely incredible!
The move is perfectly squeaky clean as well. He is flooring it on the outlaps right now on cold tires. He could do that in IndyCar as well. The two Mazda's are split by the #4 Corvette. Cadillac seems to have better fuel mileage but at this stage they don't have the pace of the turbo cars. Simon Trummer and Ben Hanley have been volleying fast lap in LMP2 and Trummer has it right now having run a 1:54 dead. 1:54.0. Trummer leads Hanley in LMP2 by 40 seconds while James French and Kyle Tilley are further behind. Nick Tandy chases John Edwards in GTLM. We have about 44 laps left in the race if we keep on this pace.
The leaders are getting 18-19 laps out of a tank of fuel which does not divide into equal stints. We might have something happen if rain comes or if there's a safety car. Acura #6 is in the lane. Just over an hour and 20 minutes on the board yet. It'll be tight to do two more pit stops. Juan Pablo Montoya will do a double stint aboard the #6. Simon Trummer resets fastest lap in LMP2, going purple at 1:53.492. The fastest DPi lap time is 1:51 dead, 1:51.034 from Acura #6. Dane Cameron set that new lap record. Oliver Jarvis had the old record at 1:51.133. GTLM sees a fastest lap record of 2:02.6, beating out Nick Tandy at 2:02.7. Laurens Vanthoor actually set that time, as he leads the Corvette by some 14 seconds.
Acura vs. Mazda in DPi right now at the front of the field. Harry Tincknell is quickest through the twisty bits, between turn six and Canada Corner. Simon Trummer has of course reset the lap record in LMP2 as he heads to turn eight in the navy blue, white, and silver PR1/Mathiasen car. John Edwards is still holding out over Nick Tandy, but Tandy wants it as the lead battle is still simmering. Jarvis is closing in on the top two. Tincknell balances the throttle before the corner exit coming up to the kink and into Canada Corner. He was on the throttle not even 3/4 of the way 'round the Carousel.
Whoops! Nick Tandy picks up an advertising billboard, a Henry Rifles advertising billboard. The DPi cars are not too far off (insofar as lap time) what we saw years ago in the LMP1 days of the American Le Mans Series, with cars that are quite similar to the current crop of machines in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Nick Tandy has gotten rid of the billboard off the front of his Porsche as the leaders work their way 'round the #63 WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3, Toni Vilander at the controls. The lap times today are a couple seconds away from the Audi diesels that had two tons of downforce and close to 1,000 horsepower.
But, the DPi cars are indeed proper racing cars that are much less expensive. The interest of manufacturers in this formula is still there, but, the pandemic has put pay to that at least for the foreseeable future. We will have to see, years down the road, which automakers are still keen on this great formula that IMSA have come up with. Marco Werner set the lap record 'round Road America in the halcyon days of the Audi diesel's with the R10 TDI open cockpit spyder, back in 2008, in the glory years of the American Le Mans Series.
1:48.7 was Werner's race lap record. Fastest lap today has been in the 1:51 range. 1:46.9 was the lap record set by Lucas Luhr in 2008 in the Audi diesel. In those days, you could crank up the turbo boost in qualifying, no different than in the days of the Porsche 962s etc. in the GTP era back in the 1980s. That's not possible now with the current regs. These cars are just not the same, but they can be run as privateer cars. Will DPi 2.0 or LMDh come online in time? We'll find out before the 2020 season is done and dusted. These cars in DPi use any one of four chassis makes for their designs according to the current FIA WEC LMP2 specifications.
The DPi cars get leeway in terms of engines and transmissions, suspension, and aerodynamics, which the LMP2 cars here in IMSA and in the World Endurance Championship, don't get. Now, it's pit stop time too, look, for the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. We have an hour and 15 minutes on the board. The wheel guns are not working for Corvette. They had to change the gun from the rear tire to the front. Antonio Garcia got better life out of new tires than did Jordan Taylor. Thei sister car got more mileage and so did Fred Makowiecki in the Porsche.
Corvette is equalizing their stints it seems. Helio Castroneves trades some paint, some argy bargy with Bill Auberlen in the Liqui Moly BMW M6 GT3. Castroneves had to squeeze by the BMW, but Bill Auberlen was driving just as he should have been. No harm no foul. Ambient temperature is cooling. 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit), and we are at 75 degrees Fahrenheit, ambient. The three lead cars are pretty much glued together. Renger van der Zande aboard the #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac is fourth. He is just 13.5 seconds away from the leaders, and better off on fuel by a couple laps.
The Cadillac's have gone a lap longer on petrol which could make a big difference. It's not a concern about having enough fuel in the tank, but, it does mean that you are tight enough on fuel, that you have to trim your lap time down, and your lead is going evaporate before the race is over. It's going to be a massive hour and ten minutes. The teams are better off now with doing calculations than they were at the beginning as the #81 DragonSpeed LMP2 car does a third pit stop and they have one more to make. The deficit was 40 seconds to Simon Trummer. Kyle Tilley, though, is closing up on James French. Bill Auberlen is closing in on Jack Hawksworth in GT Daytona as Auberlen is within a second of Jack Hawksworth in the second Lexus. Earl Bamber leads Connor De Philippi, John Edwards, and Nick Tandy, in GTLM. Porsche, BMW, BMW, Porsche.
Helio Castroneves' pace is slightly slower than that of Ricky Taylor. Now, the skies are darkening over Road America, with just about an hour left on the board. A little over an hour. 67 minutes. There were reports of sprinkles in the area. Rain is coming, and if so, that'll put the cat among the pigeons. There's rain in Canada corner, and on a track this big, it can be bone dry on one end, and raining cats and dogs on the other end. There's a 50% chance of rain and thunderstorms in the final hour of this motor race which will soon be upon us. The pace with Acura has eased just a shade. Now, the Mazda boys are scrapping again. Oliver Jarvis goes side by side with Harry Tincknell. The two Brits are giving each other all they can handle through turn one.
Tincknell holds his position through traffic, as he was making a move on Andy Lally in the #44 GRT Magnus Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in GT Daytona. The Mazda twins have dropped away for just a wee moment. Antonio Garcia cuts a 2:02.664, the fastest lap in GTLM which is a race lap record, beating out Nick Tandy's 2019 lap record and Laurens Vanthoor's earlier record today. The Corvette's qualified on softer tires compared to other GTLM teams on harder tires as Bill Auberlen is passing Jack Hawksworth. The #25 BMW M8 GTLM of Connor De Philippi also mugs the first Lexus.
Auberlen is gaining, Hawksworth is losing. Hawksworth is chasing team mate Townsend Bell. Bill Auberlen wants that 61st win that would take him to the top of the pile of the all-time wins in IMSA. The Lexus cars have reversed their positions compared to where they were at Sebring last time out. The leaders will hit the lane soon for their penultimate stops. The Mazda's are keeping the Acura's honest at the moment. Acura has not been able to just whistle off into the distance. Now, Castroneves is in the lane and so is Oliver Jarvis.
Will Mazda leapfrog Acura in the pit lane? The headlights are off on the #77 car. Fuel and tires for both Acura and Mazda as Simon Trummer is in the lane from the LMP2 lead. Assuming we go green to the end, we still have 30 laps left with just over an hour on the board. Harry Tincknell is in the lane now. This could be a driver change as Jonathan Bomatiro will take over the car. Bomarito is suited and booted and ready to roll. James French takes fuel and tires for the #38 Performance Tech LMP2 car. Bomarito is back out on track ahead, and into the lead? Not sure. He is being taken over by LMP2 cars.
They will have to keep their eyes pealed. Here comes the #5 JDC-Miller Cadillac. That casr has to make a pit stop yet. The Cadillac's have gone to the front. Renger van der Zande in the #10 Konica Minolta Wayne Taylor Racing entry leads Pipo Derani in the #31 Whelen Action Express car. Meantime, the scrum for third is hot and heavy. Oliver Jarvis is once again applying the blowtorch to Helio Castroneves, and they're side by side! This is actually a battle for the lead, and Jarvis takes it. The Cadillac's had to pit. Timing and scoring hasn't refreshed. Now, Helio Castroneves has to respond, and there's the aforementioned Lamborghini in the way. That's going to be the pass for the lead as in the background, look, we can see the Action Express Cadillac pitting. Will the Mazda have the power from it's 2.0 liter turbo four cylinder to outgun the Acura and the 3.5 liter turbo V6 in the back of it?
Oliver Jarvis is now the effective leader. van der Zande must pit. There maybe was a problem on the pit stop for the #55. van der Zande is on his 18th lap. He's got a lap of fuel in the tank yet, but again, will need to pit. 16-17 laps for both Pipo Derani and Oliver Jarvis. Now then, Renger van der Zande has taken over the lead, with 55 minutes on the board, and once again, rain will be a factor. It might rain on one end of the track, and be stone cold dry on the other side. Rain is pelting down at turn one under the Briggs & Stratton sign. So, yes indeed, the forecast weather has arrived. Oh dear! Pipo Derani has been caught out on slick tires as the rain is falling, and has nosed it into the safety tire barrier. On slick, hot tires, he was a passenger, and couldn't stop that Cadillac. Now, he's in recovery mode. Get the car to pit lane, fix any damage, and get back after it.
Renger van drr Zande is in the lane for wet tires. It has to be wet tires. The #44 GRT Magnus Lamborghini is ready for wet tires. We are seeing a flurry of pit stops. Everyone is in the lane to change. We don't have an intermediate tire. Oliver Jarvis has stayed on the track in awful conditions. The rain is here. Hot, slick tires can give you grip, but with no water on the road. Intermediate tires don't exist in IMSA competition. Michelin makes dry and wet tires only.
Kyle Tilley has put the #18 Era Motorsports LMP2 car on the whirligig, again. Same trouble. Slick tires on a wet track, as the rain is tipping down. Pipo Derani gets back on track, making his way to the pit lane. The rain has intensified. It's like driving on ice. Pipo Derani is recovering, making his way to pit lane and to the attention of the Action Express team so they can fix the car.
The rain is getting worse. Minimize the damage. The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac is tied for the points lead coming into this round of the championship. Oh dear! One of the factory Porsche's in GTLM dips his wheels off the road on the grass! He's out of control! He's spinning! Earl Bamber, the GTLM leader, careers across the gravel trap, and just kisses the tire barrier. Thank God at that high rate of speed, he didn't make a severe impact with the wall! The trouble is, he's beached. He can't get traction to get out of the gravel trap and will need to be rescued.
He's beached. He's got nothing but wheel spin. He's gunning the engine, vroom, vroom, vroom, but not getting anyplace. Now, more trouble in turn two as the #57 Heinricher MSR Acura NSX GT3 has just clobbered the wall! Big damage to that car! That's Alvaro Parente, and he's got a crunched race car. That one might be headed for the scrapyard. Understandably, we have a Full Course Yellow as the Action Express Cadillac pits again.
Things here at Road America are getting wackier and wackier. It's like the cartoon "Wacky Races", and Penelope Pitstop vs. Dastardly and Muttley. Will the Slag Brothers and the Boulder Mobile show up? The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe? The Ant Hill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb? Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug? Or, perhaps we'll see Peter Perfect at the wheel of the Turbo Terrific or Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth the beaver in the Buzz Wagon before this whole thing is done and dusted.
Seriously though, there's strong winds and hale around the course. You can hear the rain falling as the Porsche is being rescued. Renger van der Zande is scored second, and Oliver Jarvis has gone to the lead and he can't bring the Mazda to the lane. Renger van der Zande will be the leader. Everyone behind him is going to need tires. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen LMP2 car has picked up the on track signage, and has clobbered and Velcroed one of the WeatherTech billboards onto the front of the car. Simon Trummer at the controls might as well be driving a bulldozer and not a sports car at the moment. Trummer would like to stop, but he can't. He'd lose a lap by going to the pit lane because he is just barely ahead of the safety car.
Ben Hanley has dropped off the lead lap in LMP2. Look at the rain. 2020 has been about bad weather and rain. We've seen rain at Dubai and at Monza in the Creventic championship for GT and TCR cars. This is undrivable. It's deluge conditions. There was so much water under the old banking at Monza for the Creventic race, that the safety car couldn't even trundle 'round. The Cadillac alreadyhas wet tires on it. Pipo Derani spun on his out lap earlier on. The pit lane is closed. Acura #6, Juan Montoya had a moment, and has continued. There's damage to the back of the #6 car. He's had a bad off course excursion.
Mother Nature is playing havoc with sports car racing, again. 45 minutes left on the board. Whatever happens from here, van der Zande will stay out and he will assume the lead of this motor race. Penske in the lane to repair the damage on the #6. They will take a penalty for working on the car in closed pit lane and he gets full wet tires and needs a new tail. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen car will also need a new nose having shedded that WeatherTech banner.
There's a big storm over the track here at Road American, moving to the south, headed from Elkhart Lake towards Plymouth. Pits not open. Hopefully those at the track have brough their weatherproofs, their raincoats. Juan Montoya is going to have to sit around here for a while in the lane. This is passing weather system, and we might have a chance for full on racing. The pits remain closed. Race Control hasn't produced a new message for ten minutes, but now, it is too wet, and at 42 minutes left, there's no chance for the Wacky Races bunch to show up, because now we are under a red flag. The clock will continue to tick as we wait out this torrential rain. The clock keeps ticking.
Oliver Jarvis has the lead of the motor race and there's big damage to the #31 Whelen Cadillac. He damaged that on his outlap out of the pit lane. They've changed the tires and they need to change the nose. Knowing the boys at Action Express, as I do, they will find a way to get that damage fixed and get him out there, however, it is parc ferme conditions and they need permission to fix that car under emergency service. The pits have not been open for tactical pit stops. Down at the bottom end of the track, the rain is easing up.
There's still standing water on the road, but the best way to get that cleared up is the race rcars running on their Michelin wet tires. Pit lane is closed but the cars are queing up in the lane for the parc ferme conditions. It's a bingo card's worth of cars that have been penalized. The cars are going to be covered, drivers can get out, and they have permission to use a jump start battery as we are under red flag conditions. Oliver Jarvis leads Renger van der Zande, Helio Castroneves, Jonathan Bomarito, Sebastien Bourdais, Pipo Derani (with damage), Juan Pablo Montoya, Tristan Vautier, and then the tifrst two LMP2 cars, Simon Trummer (with damage), and Ben Hanley, both on the same lap.
Nick Tandy leads GT Le Mans on the same lap with Connor De Philippi. Tommy Milner and John Edwards are next, followed by Antonio Garcia and Earl Bamber, who did resume after being stuck in the gravel trap. Townsend Bell leads Jack Hawksworth, Lawson Aschenbach, Bill Auberlen, and Toni Vilander in GTD, with Paul Holton and Patrick Long next up in the GTD class running order. Now, we have an alert, for those fans at the track at Road America. The weather is at a severe point, and you must take shelter, now. Stay safe, everyone. Please, take shelter, now, wherever you can.
The damage to Montoya's Acura came from being rear ended by Simon Trummer in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen LMP2 car. It is starting to clear up at Canada Corner. Maybe it is starting to dry up just a shade. 21 degrees Celsius, 70 degrees Fahrenheit, track temperature. Was there lightning 12-20 miles in the vicinity of the track? Take cover if there was, and we have a 30 minute window before we go back to green flag racing. Nothing about lightning from Race Control, and so we don't need to worry. Marc Miller in the #22 Acura NSX GT3 for Gradient Racing, was also dinged for entering a closed pit along with the PR1 LMP2 and the #6 Penske Acura
Should we not get back to green flag, there will be a time penalty assessed in the official results sheet. Half an hour to go. The teams are not allowed to work on their cars in red flag, parc ferme conditions. Car covers and jump batteries are allowed. No damage repair, no tire changes, no servicing. Connor De Philippi, Tommy Milner, and John Edwards stopped for fuel before this red flag. The pits remain closed. Earl Bamber entered the lane for emergency service. The race clock has been stopped with 30 minutes remaining. We are on hold. Porsche, BMW, and Corvette pitted, one of the Porsche's. Tandy will have to do a splash and dash when we go back to green. In GT Daytona, most drivers came in before the yellow. Townsend Bell, Jack Hawksworth, Toni Vilander, Lawson Aschenbach, and Paul Holton all made stops before the yellow. Mazda #55 also made a stop. The only car that didn't stop is the #77 Mazda. It's raining again, and so, we are in another holding pattern.
Drivers have been called back to their cars. So, we are going to get a restart. It takes 5-10 minutes for the warmup procedures to get the cars started and running again. Inthe pit lane, the #6 Acura has not had any work done on it. It still needs to be repaired. The same is true for the #52 LMP2 car. They are only going to penalized for working in a closed pit. According to John Dagys from Sportscar365, the only two cars still on slick tires are the #77 Mazda and the #911 Porsche. Tandy and De Phillipi are the only two GTLM cars are on the lead lap. So, the scoring will revert to the last green flag lap completed by the overall leader, before the Full Course Yellow, would score this race if we need to end it prematurely.
We're back under yellow, and the clock has begun running. We are not under red flag conditions. The track is now at Full Course Yellow but no cars moving and we are on network TV, which is a consideration in addition to safety. Cars are still under their covers in the pit lane. The drivers were called back expecting a 1:35 P.M. local restart time. The rain continues to fall. This was a Stage 3 weather warning, but with no lightning. There was a 30 minuten hold. We did see lightning, so there are conflicting stories here. We don't know which is true and which is false. Rain is falling, drivers back into their cars.
The red flag has been removed. We are under Full Course Yellow. Rain is falling once more. The #6 Penske Acura, the #52 PR1 LMP2 car, and the #22 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 are going to be penalized. Race cars are not meant to be watertight. So, some water may drizzle into the car as long as it doesn't fowl the electronics. Nick Tandy will need fuel. Emergency Service can't count towards wet tires, and fuel. The Porsche squad is in a real pickle. We still have 25 minutes on the board. But there are rain squalls around. No thunderclaps have been heard. Cars are on track, rolling. No tire changes took place in the pit lane.
The cars we thought were on dry tires, still are. It has to be just the only two cars on the lead lap are the top two in GTLM. Tommy Milner is ahead of the two class leaders. He, as well as Antonio Garcia and John Edwards are on the tail end of the lead lap. The cars that are trapped behind the leaders and the safety car are being pointed by the safety car, as Antonio Garcia slides straight on at turn five and he must be onj slick tires. He has the pass around from the safety car. Normally inside the last half hour we'd have a quick yellow.
But given the rain, we are doing things differently with twenty minutes to go. Pit lane remains closed. We have just over 20 minutes to go with the debris on the road. Bill Auberlen in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 is also on slicks. The #912 has lost it's left hand door mirror. That was a massive crash. Earl Bamber was aquaplaning at pit exit. Sheesh. Shut your eyes, take your hands off the wheel, hold on for the ride, and pray. Pit lane is open for prototypes. Mazda #77 leads. Do you pit for wets, or roll the dice? He stays out. Pipo Derani will pit to repair damage on the car, the #31 Whelen Cadillac.
He will get a new nose and a new set of wet weather boots, treaded boots. Nick Tandy is coasting, saving fuel. There's a puddle on the front straight. This is legal service and annjose and suspension change for the #31. Bish, bash, bosh. That was a quick fix for the #31 crew. Meantime, the #912 Porsche did not pit. He has managed to get back in line someplace. Oh dear. A wheel is loosening on the #25 BMW M8 GTE. Deary me. Connor De Philippi will need to pit. The rain has eased off at the Carousel. Will we run out the clock? Will we go back to green?
If we go back to green, Oliver Jarvis will get eaten up. But if we don't, automatic win for the Mazda boys. Never say anything too soon. #31 is sixth overall and sixth in DPi. The three closed pit infractions when we go back to green for the Penske Acura, the PR1/Mathiasen Oreca, and the #22 Gradient Racing Acura, will be penmalized, but it is a moot point for the PR1 machine. Pit stop time for GTLM, with 12 minutes on the board before the end. We have pit takers.
#96 and another we don't know the number of. Ah. It's the #74 Riley Mercedes and the #76 Compass McLaren, both cars taking service. They got caught out on the wrong tires, and the top GTLM runners have also hit the lane. A pass in the pit lane, and who is it? It's the #74 on the #96. Tandy needs fuel and tires and he is now back in business. He's retained the GTLM lead. Everyone in GTLM has come into the pits. #24 and #3 actually stayed out putting them 1-2 in class. Check that. A couple cars were on slicks, struggling 'round in the wet, and they could pass.
OK. We are about to go back to green, with just eight minutes on the board before this race ends. Oliver Jarvis is going to pit for a splash and a dash of fuel before the end, right as the green flag comes back out, leaving clear sailing for the #10 Cadillac, Renger van der Zande at the keyboard to finish, and the lapped #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac, will also be right there. "The Banana Boat" will perhaps be a bit of an obstacle, for the leaders. It's not all sunshine, champagne, and podiums and trophies in racing. There are days like we have at Road America where you've got to earn the success, and cannot buy it.
Renger van der Zande leads the motor race as we get a green flag for the restart. Pipo Derani moves around the #55 Mazda, and he was in the tire barrier at turn two, a bit earlier on of course. Derani was crunched into the barrier, the team swiftly fixed the car, and now, he could be in the frame for a podium or perhaps a win. Less than seven minutes left to run. He has a run on Helio Castroneves, through the spray. Right now, you cannot see a thing. The drivers are flying blind towards the end of this one. Castroneves is closing in on Renger van der Zande.
Helio Castroneves is pressing hard for the win. He tries the outside on van der Zande and they hit at Canada corner! You can't see a thing through the rear view camera or mirror, because of the massive spray, the massive rooster tails coming from behind the car you are following. It's no different than the wake from a boat. Just over five minutes left to race as Renger van der Zande is off the road! He skitters through the final corner at turn 14 and hits the curbs!
Castroneves takes the lead! van der Zande tried running the rain line, getting outside of the pavement, and it just didn't wok. He took a bite of the cherry and ended up spitting out the pit. Three minutes left on the clock, in the rain, and the battle for the win in GT Daytona is on. The #12 Lexus of Townsend Bell vs. the #86 Acura of Mario Farnbacher. Farnbacher has a run on Townsend Bell and they're side by side! How deep can you dig? How bad do you want it? Farnbacher clears Bell for the class lead in GT Daytona! "Super Mario" makes the move in Canada corner. Castroneves has gapped Renger van der Zande, with one lap left. The white flag is out. It'll be Acura Team Penske's day at Road America.
Oh dear! The #911 Porsche is off the road. Both Nick Tandy, and the #24 BMW M8 GTE of John Edwards for BMW Team Rahal Letterman Lanigan, have gone off the road and hit the barrier. Did they make contact? Did they spin off at the same point on the race track? That is at the Kink. Now, Edwards is moving, back across the track, and Tandy is still sitting there. This is first and third in GT Le Mans who have either crashed or spun out. The #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Antonio Garcia, sharing with Jordan Taylor is in the pound seats to take the class win here at Road America.
Full Course Yellow. That's it. Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor cruise to the win, for their first victory in IMSA since Mid Ohio 2018.
Overall/DPi: #7 Taylor/Castroneves Acura ARX-05 DPi
LMP2: #81 Hanley/Hedman Oreca 07
GT Le Mans: #3 Garcia/Taylor Chevrolet Corvette C8.R
GT Daytona: #12 Bell/Montecalvo Lexus RC F GT3
So, a wet and wild race at Road America is done and dusted! What an event! The next one on the schedule is only for the GT cars, only for the GTLM and GTD machines, at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia, in two weeks.
Saturday, August 8, 2020
pre-race news from Road America
Pre-race headlines from Road America.
Wayne Taylor: "No Firm Deal" on 2021 DPi Manufacturer
Cameron Leads Second Practice at Road America
Taylor Claims Pole in Penske Acura Front Row Sweep
Road America Qualifying Replay
Watkins Glen, Lime Rock Replaced in Revised Schedule
Road America Saturday Notebook
A Lap of Road America with van der Zande, Briscoe
Friday, August 7, 2020
IMSA Prototype Challenge: Sebring
For the first time in six months, since before the start of the pandemic, IMSA Prototype Challenge holds a race. This time it is round two at Sebring International Raceway.
Spoiler Alert:
Brian Till, Jeremy Shaw, and Shea Adam are calling the action on NBC Sports Network and IMSA Radio.
Thursday, August 6, 2020
FIA WEC news before the season resumes
In just over a week, the FIA World Endurance Championship is set to resume it's season, after a break of nearly six months caused by the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic, and are set to resume the championship season with the 6 Hours of Spa at Circuit de Spa Francorchamps in Belgium. Headed into that particular race, here are the stories being followed.
The virus is the exact reason the LNT Ginetta team will not be at Spa.
Tomlinson: COVID Shutdown Drove LNT Ginetta's to Miss Spa
This was mentioned in an IMSA update a while ago. But, DragonSpeed are focused entirely on their effort for the 24 Hours of Le Mans happening next month.
DragonSpeed Scales Back IMSA Program to Focus on Le Mans
Eurasia Overcomes "Not Normal" Preparations for Spa Cameo
Webb Completes ByKolles Lineup for Spa, Le Mans
6H Spa LMP1 Success Handicaps Defined
Peugeot Boss Tavares Turns Laps in Mission H24 Prototype
Merhi Completes Eurasia's LMP2 Lineup for Spa
Rally Champion Ogier Drives Toyota's LMP1 Simulator
New Lineup for Dempsey Proton's No. 88 Porsche at Spa
Algarve Pro Finalizes 6H Spa Driving Crew
The latest WEC Talk podcast.
WEC Talk: Maxime Martin, Gerard Neveu and More
Blomqvist Completes HubAuto's Le Mans Lineup
Risi Unveils Special Le Mans Livery
Porsche Testing Different Exhaust Layout for 911 RSR-19
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