The GTLM battle is heating up. Ryan Briscoe leads by 6.5 seconds over Juan Montoya followed by Filipe Albuquerque in the #31 Whelen Cadillac. Oliver Jarvis is fourth followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay and Joao Barbosa. 35 seconds away from the lead of the motor race is Ricky Taylor in the #7 Acura. Whoops, out of turn two, Gar Robinson spins the #74 Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3, sharing the car with Lawson Aschenbach and Ben Keating. He was under pressure from Michael de Quesada in the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 but that didn't cause the spin. No harm, no foul. PR1 Mathiasen leads LMP2 running eighth in the overall right now. The #96 Turner Motorsports BMW is still being serviced for it's brake issues.
In GTLM, currently we have Antonio Garcia, Fred Makowiecki, and Bruno Spengler 1-2-3 as the sister Porsche has passed the sister BMW. Earl Bamber is scrapping with Bruno Spengler and John Edwards. In GTD, Bryan Sellers continues to lead over Shinya Michimi and Frankie Montecalvo, with team mate Michael de Quesada followed by Ian James and the GRT Grasser Lamborghini #11. Pit stop time for the #63 Scuderia Corsa WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3. Toni Vilander is into the car. He has spent time in Florida, so the humid Georgia weather won't bug him. But he's got a little trouble with his HANS device and seat belt. Ryan Hardwick has finished his minimum drive time. Jan Heylen and Patrick Long will continue. Trouble for the #911 Porsche! The left hand hood release has unlatched itself. Fred Makowiecki will need to pit to fix this problem.
They don't use the hood pins. They are an aero catch device now. How did that thing pop up? That's strange. It's a big piece of bodywork and Porsche North America has brought him to the pit lane. They did the tires and taped the bonnet down. How long will that racer's tape hold out? Maybe the damage was caused by Misha Goikhberg's hood exploding and smashing the bonnet of the #57 Acura. Some passing between Lexus and Lamborghini as well as Acura. Shinya Michimi moves past Michael de Quesada. Paul Miller Racing wants the Michelin Endurance Cup points. Corey Lewis takes over from Bryan Sellers. Michimi has met his drive time and now it should be Mario Farnbacher taking over the car along with Matt McMurry.
Michimi is still in the #86 car? Let's wait and see if this is correct. Richard Westbrook is now at the controls of Lamborghini #11. Ryan Briscoe battles with Filipe Albuquerque. For sixth and seventh it is hot and heavy between Joao Barbosa and Ricky Taylor. 28 cars started this event, a full ten fewer cars than we had at the Rolex 24 in another time and another place, back in January. #911 has Nick Tandy back in the car and he's pressing the black BMW #24 which is holding it's own against the Porsche right now, look, as they scream downhill to the final turn and into another racing lap.
Daniel Morad and Michael de Quesada, two Canadians driving for a Canadian team and Morad takes over the car, both of them, sharing with GT Daytona championship leader Jack Hawksworth. The sister #12 car is in the lane. Frankie Montecalvo is done driving for the day, and Aaron Telitz, former driver of the #14 machine, is now into that car. Fuel and tires done and dusted. Bruno Spengler hadns the #25 BMW M8 GTE back to Connor De Philippi. No third drivers in GT Le Mans. Michael de Quesada is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States. Corvette #3 pits as well.
Porsche #912 is in the lane as well. Some damage to the Corvette, a small shark bite out of the left front of the car. Antonio Garcia has been in the car for an iron man stint since the start, and Jordan Taylor is now into the car for his first stint. Oliver Gavin is still trying to get back on the lead lap, he makes a move on Jordan Taylor so that is done and dusted. Pit stop time again for the #10 leading DPi car. They've run a 30 lap stint but are looking for those endurance championship points at the three hour mark coming up very, very soon. Ryan Briscoe gets fuel and tires. They will pit next, the lap after the three hour mark on the clock elapses.
We have 43 minutes on the board until the three hour mark. Juan Montoya cycles back to the lead of the motor race aboard the #6 Team Penske Acura. Porsche #912 is in the lane and Earl Bamber is out of the car in his Hutchins Device, which is a webbed rope that attaches to the helmet as opposed to a HANS device collar. Matt McMurry is now in the #86 MSR Acura NSX in GT Daytona. Three hours and 40 minutes on the board. If this were a standard length race, we'd have only ten minutes left on the board. It's been an entertaining motor race. I'll drink to that. But I won't get a beer until after this race is over, mate.
Meanwhile, the #911 Porsche leads GTLM due to the fact they got the undercut on the pit stops in GTLM. Yikes. That's peculiar. Porsche #911 has spent four seconds less in the lane than some of the GTLM competition. We've had a lot of UV light and little shade here in Atlanta today. Ooh. A bit of bish bash bosh for Filipe Albuquerque getting caught by the Lamborghini of Richard Westbrook in the #11 car. That was a close shave. It doesn't appear there's damage to the car. Pit stop time as well for the #6 Acura.
Filipe Albuquerque in the lane, and next up will be Pipo Derani. Ricky Taylor in the lane, too. We've seen stops for the Mazda's both #55 and #77. Helio Castroneves gets back into the #7 Acura and then, the Mazda's have also been in. Olivier Pla is in the #77 machine and into the #55, it is Jonathan Bomarito. The #5 Mustang Sampling JDC-Miller Cadillac is in the lane and now, Tristan Vautier replaces Joao Barbosa in the car. Vautier has been driving the sister #85, the "Banana Boat" for most of the year. Half an hour before we award interim points.
The #96 Turner Motorsports BMW is back on track and Stephen Simpson is back in the race in the #85 "Banana Boat" Cadillac after the suspension has been rebuilt. Acura #7 passed Joao Barbosa before pitting and now, there's more than ten seconds between Helio Castroneves over Tristan Vautier who has taken over from Joao Barbosa. Saving fuel is not the best thing to do just yet. Filipe Albuqerque has gone off the road at turn seven. He keeps on trucking, but is losing time after spinning in turn six. He was battling and had contact with the #77 Mazda of Olivier Pla.
Everyone is pushing today. Mechanical woes never happen these days. They are super reliable and fast. It's not like 30-40 years ago where you babied a car in an enduro and just rode around, say, back in the GT and GTP days in the days of cars like the Porsche 935 and Porsche 962. Ryan Briscoe has run a fast time in the 1:10 bracket. That's the fastest lap of the race and the stint for the #10 car. He's not running Harry Flatters all the way through the lap, but he's still going for it. Everyone who has stopped more recently are easily going to go through the hour on fuel. All of the other DPi cars are running 34-36 laps and we've not seen a safety car in a while. 22 minutes to go in this hour. Ryan Briscoe has been on track for 19 minutes.
19 and 22 is too far. It's 41, not 35. Olivier Pla turns his best lap at 1:09.729, two hundredths outside the fastest lap of this motor race, making inroads on the #6 Acura. Ryan Briscoe uncorked a 1:12 the last time 'round and now he lowers that time to a 1:11.6. He's been on the road for 23 minutes, nowhere near the expected time. You can't count on safety cars. You just can't make that work. OK. We watch the gap and Juan Montoya is seven laps better on fuel, shrinking the gap down now to a second and a half. Olivier Pla is moving in on Montoya. We've got a 1.6 second gap between the leaders. 123 laps, 312 miles. So we've passed the 500 kilometer mark in this race.
The DPi cars are working their way past the GTLM field, or most of it. These races are like reading a book you can't put down, but you can't skip to the end because it hasn't been written yet. Keep reading to find out what's happening. Snow, Vilander, and Telitz are running together in GTD. A spicy battle too between Juan Montoya and Olivier Pla. Ooh! Juan Montoya moves in response to Pla and he shall be warned by the stewards. Race Director Beau Barfield won't appreciate that. Defend early and stay on your line. Never move in reaction to what another driver does. We have ten minutes or so before the three hour mark.
Corey Lewis continues to lead in GT Daytona in the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini. We have eight minuts or so before the points are ready to roll. Never underestimate the restorative power of a good cup of tea, but use iced tea in this heat, not hot tea. Ryan Briscoe has dropped from first to third and he's run 30 laps for 35 and a half minutes. Montoya is in good shape right now as he's got some time. Pit stop time for both these blokes it appears. Yes. Well, a stop for the #10. Renger van der Zande returns to the cockpit of the #10 Cadillac. Bish, bash, bosh, they've timed it right on the money but don't do the dance yet.
We see the #74 Mercedes of Ben Keating off the road, losing the back end and fishtailing. He settles the car down and has clag on the tires. You don't want to spin out in the esses. Keating is fine and he continues on his merry way. He's eighth in class, four seconds behind Richard Westbrook and has also dropped back behind Roman De Angelis in the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Renger van der Zande has dropped to seventh spot in the overall and he was previously a minute and ten seconds behind the leader. Porsche still leads in GT Le Mans. Nick Tandy leads the BMW of Connor De Philippi by five seconds. Third is Jesse Krohn in the sister BMW with Jordan Taylor in the #3 Corvette next up.
A couple minutes to go before half distance and then we will start the next blog entry for the next hour of the motor race once the points for the Michelin Endurance Cup are tabulated.
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