One hour to go. Don't go anyplace. The final hour starts right now, here at Road Atlanta. Acura are 1-2 and they are 14 seconds apart. We're not done and dusted, home and hosed just yet. It's the final pit stop for the leader in GT Daytona. The #86 Acura NSX GT3 is in the lane. New tires and fuel, timed to perfection. The #63 Ferrari is in the lane as well and Toni Vilander will finish the motor race. Bryan Sellers will take the #48 Lamborghini to the end and Patrick Long in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche. Jan Heylen has stayed out and takes the GT Daytona lead. Does he run another 5-7 laps before hitting the lane and handing the car over to the American driver? Meanwhile, at Paul Miller Racing, the driver change is done and the fuel and tires are being applied.
The #12 AVS Lexus will have Townsend Bell go to the end of sticker tires repairing the radio connection and replacing the drinks bottle. Connor De Philippi will end the race in the #25 BMW M8 GTE. Jordan Taylor brings the #3 Corvette C8.R in and Antonio Garcia will finish. Nick Tandy will take over the #911 Porsche 911 RSR-19. Tommy Milner and John Edwards remain on the road in BMW #24 and Corvette #4. Get the popcorn. This will be a whale of a finish. #911 has 43-44 laps left and they are the only car in GTLM that can make it that far before this race is over.
Fred Makowiecki ran some great stints in the #911 car. Tommy Milner stays out a lap longer than anyone else. Can he eke out more for fuel and tires? The #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche is in the lane from the GT Daytona lead and Jan Heylen just ran a 1:21.2 which is slightly slower than his best. But it is a good lap he has just uncorked. The Corvette's are stopping with a couple laps difference of fuel. They did this at the summer race at Daytona on Independence Day if you remember. By no means is this race done and dusted just yet. Harry Tincknell has moved around Juan Montoya and moved ahead by 1.7 seconds. Ryan Briscoe is coming for Montoya as Montoya's pace is slowing.
GTLM leader in the lane. This is Tommy Milner's final stop and he's saved fuel. He is the last GTLM factory car to pit. BMW #25 has come out ahead of Porsche #911 and the sister car #24 is right behind. Townsend Bell has been warned by the stewards for blocking although he's been fighting challenges on his rear flank. Richard Westbrook is going to bring the #11 GRT Grasser Lamborghini home. The battle for the win is Mario Farnbacher vs. Bryan Sellers. Then, Sellers has his hands full with both Patrick Long and Toni Vilander. Connor De Philippi has passed Nick Tandy for the GTLM lead and Tandy is third in class after his pit stop. Corvette not out of the running for yet another victory. They're on a streak.
You want to know what happened in the all GT race at VIR? Rewind back through the blog to find out. Meantime, the #55 Mazda is pushing, pushing, pushing and he's left Juan Montoya for dead. Ryan Briscoe is pushing as well. Ooh. A mistake by the race leader, Ricky Taylor, letting the GTLM cars through and now, the Mazda is catching the Acura. Ricky Taylor has made a mistake and Harry Tincknell sees the red mist. He is going to go for it. Jesse Krohn passes Nick Tandy for third in GTLM. Is Porsche playing the long game, and saving their tires? Harry Tincknell has now hit traffic. So this race is not over.
GT Daytona battle resumes, and it's Bryan Sellers vs. Jan Heylen. Check that. It's Patrick Long. Mario Farnbacher leads in class and he has a handy lead that has been trimmed from 12 to 9.5 seconds. Five hours and 15 minutes on the board, with 45 minutes remaining. Mike Shank Racing didn't want to lose spots in the pit lane. Mario Farnbacher is being reeled in. Toni Vilander is also closing in. The pace of the GTD cars is amazingly close from the different brands. Acura, Porsche, Lamborghini, Lexus, Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Mercedes. All of them are in there.
Tommy Milner has just uncorked the fastest lap in GTLM at 1:17.3. We're moving down to the money laps, the nitty gritty. The #31 Cadillac will pit now. He's done 30 laps and no Cadillac has done more than 30 laps on fuel stints. Felipe Nasr could run short on fuel before the end of the race. Tommy Milner is closing in on Connor De Philippi. There are only two tracks where Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin have not won as a duo. This is one of them. Felipe Nasr pits and adds every drop of fuel they can get. He has to do another 38 minute stint for fuel. 32 laps for the most recent stint which is two laps longer than he's gone all day although some of the pace has gone, but he's still pressing hard.
Harry Tincknell is going for the undercut with a brand new set of tires. He needs the performance potential of new tires. This is Mazda #55 and they will need a full tank of gas as well so they don't run out before the end. 35 minutes left on the board. They've run 36 minutes on full tanks under green. Acura #7 is next in the lane. Will #6 and #10 pit? Ricky Taylor out of the car and Helio Castroneves into the car. 27 laps left approximately. The Mazda will be fine. Montoya has stayed on track. We have had four DPi races in 2020, and the #10 won Daytona, #55 in the second race at Daytona, the #31 at Sebring, and #7 at Road America. Juan Montoya has damage on the back of the #6 Acura.
The #10 was right behind him and has biffed him. Damage on the nose of the #10. Tincknell is going to lead, or will it be #7? It's #7. There have been 21 lead changes. 250 laps complete, 635 miles. That was a mistake though for Ryan Briscoe. That was a wallop for the #10. Castroneves vs. Tincknell at thew sharp end. Tincknell is pushing as we're under half an hour to go at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Drive through penalty for the #10. This will put them on the wrong end of the eight ball in Michelin Endurance Cup points. The #5 car will get more of an advantage with Joao Barbosa and Sebastien Bourdais going into the second half of the endurance cup with Petit Le Mans here at Road Atlanta next month, and the 12 Hours of Sebring in November to close the season out.
Simon Trummer will win LMP2 easily for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport having scorched the fastest lap at 1:10.870, just over a second off the fastest DPi time at 1:09.6. The gap is closing to 5.6 seconds. Cue the "Jaws" music. Castroneves might be playing the long game on fuel. 27 minutes on the board. Briscoe is out of the fight as he pits. Tristan Vautier will be up to third spot and on the podium. Montoya goes to fourth and Ryan Briscoe is out behind Felipe Nasr who goes up another place, catching up (or trying to), with Juan Montoya.
Sebastien Bourdais has the fastest lap for the #5 car today at 1:10 dead. The gap has remained even Steven between Castroneves and Tincknell. Castroneves is slightly faster, but the two of them are both pushing very, very hard. Felipe Nasr is gaining, or not. He's gaining on Montoya. Tristan Vautier is actually ahead of Juan Montoya. Connor De Philippi has hung on in there in GTLM. Jesse Krohn follows and behind him, Nick Tandy. The track temp is dropping and so the Porsche's pace has fallen off a tad. Garcia is close behind Tandy and Tommy Milner puts in the fastest first sector of anyone in GTLM and Milner has been pressing Connor De Philippi up at the front of the pack in GTLM.
Final pit stop, for the PR1/Mathiasen car. Good gesture from those boys and so, Patrick Kelly will get to finish this motor race and get a win in LMP2. He will win by 32 laps and earn the points lead in LMP2. It was Patrick Kelly's birthday yesterday, so this will be a good gift for him. BMW #25 is on fumes and he'll have to do a splash and a dash to get home. We have #5, #6, and #31 glued together for position with traffic ahead. Porsche ahead, and it is Nick Tandy in GTLM. He is running his own race.
Felipe Nasr is going to get a good draft, maybe. The Cadillac's are quick. He jinks to the right and passes the BMW, being closed up on by the Porsche and Corvette #3 needed a quick pit stop for a deflating tire. This is so tight right now. In GT Daytona, 7.6 seconds separate Farnbacher, Sellers, and Long. Side by side stuff, look, and this is a battle between Nasr, Montoya, and Vautier. Nasr gets caught in traffic. Montoya has been hit by Toni Vilander in a crash! Vautier got touched and Felipe Nasr is third. Tincknell is second behind Castroneves with ten minutes to go. Nasr up to third and just ten minutes left on the board. Vilander just drove off the road? No. He had to be assisted or had a mechanical issue.
In replay, it is thought Tristan Vautier tagged the Acura. Is that true? I think there could have been a tap on the back of the Ferrari, #63. Montoya sees Vautier being held up by the Ferrari and sees a hole. There's a touch, and this can't be Vautier's fault. This might be a racing incident. It's hard to be certain who did what. Video evidence is not necessary like it is in say a NASCAR race. The DPi class split is happening under the safety car. All the cars in DPi are going to move ahead of the GT cars back behind the leaders. Three laps of racing to end this thing.
We might still get a couple laps after the Ferrari is cleared away? We might get a green/white/checker. This is going to be ugly. No one will hold back. Harry Tincknell, Felipe Nasr, Tristan Vautier... take your pick. Connor De Philippi, Tommy Milner, Jesse Krohn in GTLM. Sellers, Farnbacher, Long, Aschenbach in GTD. Pits are closed. We are going to green for a two lap dash. Green flag. Castroneves goes for it and so does Tincknell. White flag next time by. Who will win? Not a bad start by Tincknell. Castroneves does well. Acura wiggles, look. Tincknell is going to push. Nasr as well. White flag next time by.
Castroneves has leapt clear of Tincknell. Castroneves is nearly home and dry. Felipe Nasr will finish third. Ryan Briscoe is trying to make up places. Two and a half miles left. One lap. What an unbelievable race this has been. GTLM has Connor De Philippi clearing out in GTLM. Farnbacher leads Sellers and Long in GTD. In front, no mistakes from Castroneves. Mazda will come up short as Tincknell pushes hard. Two corners to go. Acura Team Penske win an endurance race, finally. Acura 1st, Mazda 2nd, Cadillac 3rd!
Penske, Mazda, Motorsports, Action Express. That's your top three. Still have to sort out all the winners. Stay tuned. There will be a post race report. But this race has been so intense, yours truly needs a rest! See you in a few hours with full on class winner results.
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