Colin Braun and George Kurtz win the GTWCA segment of this race, but the motor race is far from over. We have five hours to go. Martin Fuentes will be able to say he has clinched a championship at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. How about that?! Some close action there, look, between the two DXDT Merceds AMG GT3's. Running off line, you don't want to catch clag on your tires. Martin Fuentes does a winners' shimmy since he can't stop now and do donuts. Save the donuts for if you win this race later today as at the end of this hour we'll be halfway home. Nick Yelloly has five and a half seconds to Connor De Phillippi and the BMW's lead margin has ballooned tremendously to the Acura of Mario Farnbacher, running a 1:20 dead. We may have just seen a turning point in this motor race.
Robin Liddell pits the GMG Racing Porsche Cayman from the GT4 lead. Jason Bell is now getting into the car. They've changed over from their Sprint to their SprintX car, I think. Anyway, this is the team's spare car. The GT4 pit stops are 170 seconds, very lengthy. compared to the stops for the GT3 machines. Spencer Pumpelly in the #31 Hardpoint WRT Audi, sixth overall. Mirko Bortolotti is a star of GT racing and he has yet to get into this #31 machine. He says their race is not going to plan, unfortunately, and of course they did have that puncture that we saw in the previous hour.
Whoops. We have a spin for Trevor Baek in the #6 Vital Speed Ferrari 488 GT3. Mirko Bortolotti will finish this race with a triple stint after Markus Winkelhock. David Askew has a close moment and Trevor Baek is not on the inside of turn ten after the esses. Maybe they have a drive line problem in that car. We have a safety car on the road for another time period today. Mario Farnbacher is still a lap down to the BMW's. During this yellow, both BMW's have pitted from the Walkenhorst camp. Samantha Tan is back on track in that Van Gogh painted BMW M4 GT4. Elias Sabo leads GT4 and he will actually be climbing into the GMG Racing, 5.11 Tactical Audi, replacing James Sofronas who has run in the World Challenge Championship for 27 years.
We have also seen the #26 Classic BMW BMW M4 GT4 run well in the hands of Toby Grahovec, sharing with Stevan McAleer and Phil Bloom. Shelby Blackstock and company have been definitely stymied by their tire woes although Trent Hindman was really fast in practice. The track performance backed down between qualifying and the pole shootout because of yesterday's IndyCar race and the Firestone tires they use compared to the Pirelli's on the GT3 and GT4 cars. David Pittard has worked his way through the British GT Championship and he was recongized by BMW and their people in Munich. K-PAX team boss Darren Law says that the team is fixing the car.
Jordan Pepper has been running really well. He and his team mates are factory drivers, the best in the world. A win is off the table for Bentley, but they will keep going. They still need points, heading for the next race at Spa. The wave around has happened and we are back to green with David Pittard leading Connor De Phillippi followed by Samantha Tan, the GT4 leader and a touch between Ben Keating and Elias Sabo! Sabo tags the Mercedes. It seems there is no damage to either car. Now, it appears the #7 Bentley may be coming out on track once again.
The car is in pit lane. Jules Gounon will take the car back out there and try to score points. It's a tough one, mate, when you are so far behind. But, you are paid to deliver as a professional driver. Kenny Habul works his way through traffic and a close moment there, look, for Jules Gounon, who is now chasing the Audi, the Hardpoint Audi. Derek DeBoer sweeps past Samantha Tan in GT4 and Chandler Hull wants the lead over Samantha Tan. It's two BMW M4 GT4's as Samantha Tan gets stymied and allows Chandler Hull by. That's the Hull/Auberlen/Clay car.
Hull is monstering Derek DeBoer in the #17 The Racer's Group Porsche Cayman which is down a lap to the leaders. We don't anticipate any more rain, but my job as a weatherman has been cancelled, mate. Phil Bloom is being eaten up, look, by Chandler Hull. He is a very quick driver, but is also a risk taker. Patrick Gallagher in the #33 Notlad Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 is also wickedly fast. Bloom moves inside the Porsche but Derek DeBoer is hanging tough, still going for it, and Patrick Gallagher is closing up, fast on these other three blokes.
Bloom gives DeBoer a little love tap. Gallagher is monstering DeBoer side by side, look, and Hull tries but decides discretion is the better part of valor. This is a spicy, feisty battle. Hull and Gallagher are both scrapping. Gallagher is going to have the run onto the front straight or so it appears. Hull is not close enough to Bloom, and Gallagher wants to go for it but just doesn't quite have it. This GT4 battle onto Hulman Boulevard is fabulous. Less than four and a half hours on the board, but that's still a long, long way to go.
Chandler Hull slams the door in Phil Bloom's face and Patrick Gallagher goes by the Classic BMW driver as the leader is flashing his lights. Connor De Philippi has moved around David Pittard. Mario Farnbacher has just cut a 1:23.5 which is 3 to 4 tenths quicker than the BMW boys. Traffic ahead as Connor De Philippi is held up somewhat by the GT4 scrum and here comes David Pittard. Some mega racing through the twisty bits, look. Derek DeBoer now leads GT4 but Patrick Gallagher is really applying the blowtorch.
The Porsche might just have the legs. That is really tight stuff, look. Wow. These boys are cooking in GHT4 at the moment and now Gallagher leads in class. Hull in second, DeBoer third, and now, he might be falling into the clutches of some of the faster GT3 Acura's. Mario Farnbacher moves around the GT4 boys but Shelby Blackstock is closing, and fast. Farnbacher will have to hit the lane for fuel before the BMW's. He can now live up to his nickname "Super Mario". That paint scheme on the Aston Martin is painted much like Eddie Van Halen's Fender Stratocaster guitar.
Pit stop time for Audi, for the Hardpoint team. A driver change, as Spencer Pumpelly is out after his couple of stints and handing the car over to Markus Winkelhock once again as Mirko Bortolotti will get back into the car towards the end. If Markus Winkelhock does another stint, it'll be tight to the end since you can't do more than three continuous hours behind the wheel. They have a three stop strategy to the end, but they can't do a triple stint, that'll be outside the three hour limit of the rules, depending on how you slice the pie.
Matt Dalton in that Aston Martin GT4 is bish bash boshing it right now and he did bish bash bosh it during the rain shower. He's really running well today. Connor De Philippi, factory BMW driver, leads his team mate, David Pittard, and Mario Farnbacher in third, is pressing hard to cut down the deficit little by little. He is somewhat off strategy on fuel. With the Bentley running into trouble, no one returned from the opener at Bathurst. This Acura team will do the other races. So, the points deficit headed to round three at Spa is going to be big and then we have the finale at Kyalami in South Africa at the end of the year in a couple months, in December. The tires are late in their stint, and they are loaded into the corners on the oval, the speedway itself.
Ben Keating runs fourth in the #04 Mercedes AMG GT3. After the three hour mark, the third driver can now do his driving stints now that the points paying part of thre GTWC America series has come to an end. Keating is a Bronze level driver as is George Kurtz. He has experience with these Mercedes GT3 cars in other championships and has also run in Europe in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Acura #30 is in the lane and Renger van der Zande is into the car. They need three more 65 minute stints and four more stops.
Fresh tires and full tanks for Mario Farnbacher. Connor De Philippi continues to work traffic. Check, it's Renger van der Zande in the Acura, and he has to claw his way back, because of losing a lap in the pit lane. David Pittard's pace has been great. He is keeping it together and is keeping up with the team cars, coming up through the ranks in British GT in the small bore Ginetta cars that we've seen race in these enduros in IGTC before. Troublke for HKenny Habul who is off the road on wet grass and he might be able to get back on track. He ran wide into the corner and spun.
Smart to release the brake and track the wheels to stay out of the guardrail. He'll have loads of slime on those tires, but he will get things back together. Patrick Gallagher continues to lead GT4 and he is the meat in a BMW sandwich. He's a very quick driver though. Renger van der Zande meantime is running really well, in third, in the Acura, but a lap down to the two BMW's. The Acura boys would love to see a yellow. Renger van der Zande continues to thrash through the field. Meantime, Connor De Phillippi is still leading over his team mate, Pittard.
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