Welcome to round two of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup, and round five of the overall 2020 IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. We are in the red clay hills of northern Georgia, just outside of Atlanta, the Peach State capital, for the Michelin Grand Prix of Road Atlanta for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. In GT Daytona and GT Le Mans, some teams were in the garage as early as 7AM this morning to get the ball rolling for the race today. We are going live, for a 6 hour race at Road Atlanta, starting... now!
It's a gorgeous day at Road Atlanta, as we are doing a six hour race for the first time in IMSA at Road Atlanta since 1974 when Porsche's, Corvette's and other GT cars raced. It was won by Elliott Forbes-Robinson who is our clerk of the course, sharing with Al Holbert. What a great stat! We reprise that history today as the cars are lined up. We've just been told "gentlemen, start your engines" and are ready to roll. Bright sunshine, six hours, and points for the Michelin Endurance Cup at the three hour mark. BMW and Porsche are separated by a razor thin line in points. One or two people made strategic changes and a major contender has a mechanical problem.
We've had six cars start on fresh tires. A few of the GTLM cars, have new tires. A new engine for Mazda #77. The cars are incredibly close, especially in GTLM. The competition is going to be hot. Hello, all, around the world. Nice to be here for the 6 Hours of Road Atlanta as we are on the second formation lap. Green flag! Helio Castroneves leads, and an LMP2 has spun! #52 is off, and how everyone missed it, I don't know., It's the #18 that's off the road as well on cold tires out of turn 12. Yikes! Kyle Tilley is off the road, sharing with Dwight Merriman and Colin Braun. The suspension's busted. Not good for Mattheus Leist in the #85 Cadillac, and Dane Cameron in Acura #6 looped it after getting squeezed onto the curb, by Felipe Nasr in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac.
#18 was tagged by the #85 Cadillac. Those two blokes were unwitting participants in this melee. So, drama early here and the JDC-Miller #85 Cadillac has extensive suspension damage. The safety car is on track. Will there be penalties applied for this wreck? Sebastien Bourdais at the wheel of the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac managed to avoid the shemozzle. Cadillac #85 has a bent top wishbone and will need to be repaired. We're not losing too much time and now, everyone will be bish bash boshing their calculators on fuel. What will the stewards have to say about this scrum?
Nick Tandy aboard the #911 Porsche 911 RSR-19 rocketed out of the starting blocks and he is eighth overall. Poor old Dwight Merriman can't turn his car. The driveshaft maybe fell out of the thing. Jeepers creepers! Mattheus Leist and Stephen Simpson were to share the #85. Lights out on the safety car and Helio Castroneves guns it down through turn 12. Felipe Nasr and Harry Tincknell follow along with Renger van der Zande and Tristan Nunez. Into the lane comes Dane Cameron in the #6 Acura. Four new Michelin tires and a splash of fuel in the tank. Cameron started the race on qualifying tires, just like everyone else. The strategy software has crashed. Fire up another computer.
Dane Cameron does remain on the lead lap sharing with Juan Pablo Montoya. In GT Daytona before the yellow, we find Madison Snow leading in class in the #48 Lamborghini, Frankie Montecalvo in Lexus #12, and then followed by Jan Heylen, Shinya Michimi, and Misha Goikhberg. Nick Tandy, Antonio Garcia, and Jordan Taylor as Nick Tandy is whistling off into the distance right now.Castroneves leads Nasr and Tincknell, with van der Zande in tow. The top six are in one long train. Madison Snow won this morning in Lamborghini Super Trofeo and is now leading GTD.
The #18 Era Motorsports LMP2 car is changing an entire right rear corner. Dwight Merriman and Kyle Tilley are headed for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in two weeks. Now, that race, here's a note. Stay tuned, because we will have wall to wall coverage of that race coming up as well. Lots of IMSA interest in that race as 16 drivers will be headed to France for the 24 hours. It will be run behind closed doors. Check it out Thursday through Sunday on Radio Le Mans and on the Motor Trend channel. So, we are settling into a rhythm in this race already.
Dane Cameron is fastest on track. He just cut a 1:10.178, fastest lap so far. The race lap record is 1:08.8 set by Felipe Nasr in the Whelen Cadillac last year. He will be given a drive through penalty by the stewards, in which he'll lose spots. He will be able to make the time up. Take your medicine, and then get going again. Cameron resets fast lap and he is working through GTLM after cutting a 1:09.774. Helio Castroneves turns a 1:13.8. 51 seconds is the delta between Helio Castroneves and Dane Cameron. Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette is the fastest GTLM car, but don't forget, traffic giveth and traffic taketh away, as Felipe Nasr takes his penalty after starting second.
He pinched Dane Cameron in turn 12, and you must give a car's width to anyone up the inside. You must leave racing room for your competitors. Antonio Garcia, meanwhile, is pressing Connor De Philippi. It's for fourth and fifth in GTLM between Corvette and BMW. The whole field is spread by five seconds in GTLM. Through for another lap it's Tandy, Milner, and Krohn in GT Le Mans. Madison Snow leads GTD over Frankie Montecalvo and Jan Heylen. Then, a gap to Shinya Michimi and Misha Goikhberg in the two MSR Acura's and then comes Robby Foley in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3.
Foley has a second and a half on either side. He's just biding his time. Lamborghini, Lexus, Porsche, Acura, Ferrari, and Mercedes Benz are in it in GTD. 1:09.708 for Dane Cameron in Acura #6. Harry Tincknell is being monstered by Renger van der Zande as both are scribbling through ttaffic and oh dear, BMW #25, the red M8 GTE has lost a door mirror. That's the De Philippi/Spengler car. Renger van der Zande, the Dutchman, continues to monster Harry Tincknell in the red Mazda. Serenely, Dane Cameron's lead has ballooned to five seconds. We have another Full Course Yellow. Ugh. It's for the door mirror with the glass in it, falling off the BMW. Debris caution or so it seems. An intrepid marshal will retrieve it.
Tristan Nunez and Antonio Garcia just missed the mirror. That's Connor De Philippi and he has passed Antonio Garcia. Dane Cameron has an easy time of it at the moment. Felipe Nasr has set his best lap at 1:09.8 but he is at the tail end of the DPi field. Helio Castroneves is now out front. He was ecstatic, dancing and cheering after earning pole yesterday in qualifying. He's got an effervescent personality as most racing drivers do when they're not in serious mood. Castroneves was over the moon. 25 minutes in and everyone at the front is pitting. Dane Cameron is one of them. The fuel window should allow 40-45 minutes with nine stops over the six hours. Fuel and tires for Mazda #55 and Acura #6. Tristan Nunez, Renger van der Zande, and Joao Barbosa all take tires and clean windscreens. Felipe Nasr is back on track as well.
JDC-Miller Motorsports is fixing the left rear corner of the #85, Stephen Simpson at the wheel of it. Ricky Taylor apologizes, saying that Helio's enthusiasm screwed up his pole interview yesterday. But, no. That's Helio, celebrating. No need to apologize. Castroneves has been told he will have drive through penalty for speeding in the lane! Oh my gosh! He's not a happy camper now like he was yesterday. Goodness gracious! GT cars in for service in the lane. The two GRT Lamborghini's stay out but everyone else comes in. Fuel and tires for Corvette and BMW and fuel only for the #48 Paul Miller Lamborghini. Both BMW's are dropping down the order due to taking tires.
Felipe Nasr will be saved because of this yellow after his drive through penalty. Helio Castroneves will also be able to make up time. Castroneves can't serve the penalty under yellow and has to wait 'til we go back to green as we go through the class split between the prototypes and the production cars. John Potter is in the lane, and still needs to do all his drive time. He has to drive an hour and a half. Half an hour on the board now, so he needs another full stint as Acura has now run a red light at the end of the lane! Good gravy! Penske is having trouble early. He's blown the red light at the end of the pit lane not waiting for everyone else to queue past the pit lane exit. Yikes! So now it is a double sin bin visit for Castroneves and you can't take two penalties at the same time.
Felipe Nasr was already in the lane and he's back to square one now. Back to where he was before. However, Penske gets dinged, twice! Egad! The whole pit stop was somewhat "sub optimal" as former McLaren Formula 1 team boss Ron Dennis used to say. Helio Castroneves is taking the drive through penalty first and then he'll have to return for the second one. That'll be a one minute penalty. Such a shame for Castroneves and he didn't expect that. You have to learn things in sports car racing, the hard way. Meantime, Steijn Schothorst and Jeff Westphal battle for the lead in the GT Daytona class. The #63 WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GTE is passed by the #11 GRT Grasser Lamborghini Huracan GT3 as Helio Castroneves takes his time penalty. A one minute penalty, administered by Richard, one of the IMSA marshals.
He backs the car into the box echelon style before he can leave. But he will go a lap down. We have the #96 BMW M6 GT3 spun. He's lost the decal. Robby Foley has spun. He might be tracking straight as Helio Castroneves is back on track. Robby Foley got nailed by the #57 MSR Acura NSX GT3, Misha Goikhberg at the wheel of it. Has everyone forgotten how to race? This is ridiculous. Goikhberg sharing with Alvaro Parente and Trent Hindman. Tommy Milner, meanwhile, has pulled out a gap on most of the other GTLM cars. Renger van der Zande has clear track and sets his best lap at 1:10.290. Misha Goikhberg has spun the #57 Acura NSX GT3 through turn three at the top of the hill and Robby Foley is playing chase. Now, another penalty and it's Laurens Vanthoor running over pit equipment at Porsche! This will be a drive through penalty.
40 minutes on the board. Renger van der Zande leads Dane Cameron who was spun at the start of the race. Felipe Nasr has recovered to third spot. Sebastien Bourdais is next. Now we see a replay of Misha Goikhberg. No. That's no replay. Misha has been for two rides on the whirligig. Felipe Nasr is pressing on, making his recovery. He's right behind Dane Cameron. The Cadillac might just have the top speed advantage on the Acura, look. The Cadillac's have been put on a 15 kilogram diet. Last year, they won. But now, Cadillac, Acura, and Mazda are all fairly equal at this stage. More side by side hip and shoulder in GTLM too. Wow. Misha Goikhberg and Robby Foley will have no further action taken for their little kerfuffle.
I would never be a race steward and you just don't second guess those blokes. You just don't. van der Zande leads Cameron and then Felipe Nasr and Sebastien Bourdais. Eight seconds out is Tristan Nunez as Tommy Milner leads Nick Tandy in GT Le Mans followed by Antonio Garcia, Connor De Philippi, Jesse Krohn, and Laurens Vanthoor who has made his drive through penalty stop. Steijn Schothorst leads GT Daytona over Madison Snow and Jeff Westphal. Snow may pass the Dutchman as Schothorst still needs to pit. Laurens Vanthoor has to play catch up. 18 laps, 46 miles as we continue for six hours in this race with sticky humidity in the air right now in Georgia, but it's not 100%.
If it's 100% humidity its raining, or I'm in a steam bath in the shower cleaning the clay off my helmet visor. Nyuk nyuk nyuk. Thirteen minutes before we start a new racing hour. Dane Cameron is holding sway over Renger van der Zande and Felipe Nasr is recovering slowly yet steadily while Sebastien Bourdais is clear but might have lapped traffic to deal with. Bourdais has moved by the Mazda's who have also swapped places. Tristan Nunez has fallen behind Harry Tincknell. 11 hours of racing in the first 40 minutes? You don't say. Well, it seems to be that way dang it. Dane Cameron is the shark while Renger van der Zande is the minnow, but a V8 powered minnow, passing the Frankie Montecalvo driven Lexus and the Shinya Michimi driven Acura NSX, car #86.
Sebastien Bourdais is right on top of Felipe Nasr. The Mazda's are sliding down the order just a tad. Harry Tincknell is running eight seconds behind the Cadillac's right now. The #63 Ferrari still needs to pit, the Jeff Westphal, Toni Vilander, Cooper MacNeil car. Pit stops are to come in the next five to ten minutes for cars that haven't pitted yet. The Ferrari might make it 50-55 minutes. They lost most of Free Practice 1 due to a turbo overboost problem. Cooper MacNeil has had zero laps this weekend as we are coming up to the end of hour one here at Road Atlanta. The top four all run together, #10 Cadillac, #6 Acura, #31 Cadillac, and #5 Cadillac.
Clouds gather in the sky. Nothing to worry about right now. Nice to see fans here at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on the Labor Day holiday weekend as Tristan Nunez is dropping like a stone over Harry Tincknell. Keep in mind that Mazda #77 did have to change an engine yesterday. Patrick Kelly is only one of two LMP2 cars and he is seventh in the overall, knocking down his personal best lap in the class. The other car is the #18 Era Motorsports car, the gray and blue one. #18 is back on track, the Dwight Merriman, Kyle Tilley, Colin Braun car. The #85 "Banana Boat" Cadillac is still in the pit lane. Mattheus Leist brought it in and then Stephen Simpson will bring the car back out again. We are coming towards the end of hour one.
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