Robert Meginnis is a student at Fordham University, from New York City, and he was a fencer. Meantime, Markus Winkelhock is still applying the blowtorch to Ben Keating and Winkelhock, deep on the brakes bish bash boshes the pass on Mr. Keating there. The stewards may look at that for track limits. He was right at track limits on the blue and white curb as the #63 Mercedes AMG GT3 of Ryan Dalziel is beached in the gravel trap! Oh my! Mark Issa in the #1 Ferrari is in the pit lane for service. They almost put a used tire back on the car and a crewman noticed, "don't use that old tire!" Ryan Dalziel was second in Pro Am. Dalziel was just into the corner a tad too hot and he is buried in the gravel trap. Meanwhile, Connor De Philippi is in the lane and they can stay current on fuel, or could, but by stopping now, they need two more stops with just two hours and 55 minutes left on the board.
BMW #35 also in pit lane and we will go to a safety car, I think. That's what the sign on timing and scoring says. Audi #31 in the lane, too. The top lead cars are the BMW and the first of the Acura's. Hardpoint did the short stop with Winkelhock. Mirko Bortolotti, it looks like, is going to be behind the wheel to the end of the motor race, but they are a couple laps down. Dane Cameron runs third overall. Cameron leads this motor race, behind the safety car, and he is catching up to the BMW's even though he is on a different sequence. Big damage on that #63 Mercedes. That is a loose whell and the wheel nut is unlocked from the wheel and not on the stub axle at all.
That has to be some form of mechanical trouble. Not a good end to the season for David Askew, Ryan Dalziel, and Richard Heistand. Chandler Hull pits from the lead in GT4 and so, there is a driver change here. Not sure who is going back in. Now, Dane Cameron has been stymied and the BMW boys, again, will be in the pound seats when we go back to green. James Clay or Bill Auberlen is now into the car. There was a rear suspension failure on the #63 DXDT Mercedes. The stub axle looks like it is in place. A very odd incident. Mercedes #04 is in the lane in fourth overall, leading Pro Am. George Kurtz, the CEO of Crowdstrike, who is an avid racer, is into the car.
The evo kit has done well with the Mercedes-AMG folks in IGTC. The car is quicker and less turbulent to drive. Dane Cameron is making up time and is ahead of the safety car, catching up to the crocodile. He will catch the tail end of the field and he'll be able to cut through the field. We have a secondary wave around for the GT4 machines and now, Dane Cameron has indeed caught up with the crocodile. But now that we are under yellow, BMW are going to be behind the eight ball. The Acura went off sequence as well, a few short hours ago. They knew they'd be able to come back, and well, it seems like it might just come back to them for now.
It will be a scrum between Dane Cameron and Mirko Bortolotti who is three laps in-arrears. Dane Cameron will now have to catch up and the BMW's weave back and forth to get tire temperature. The carsd that have been delayed are fighting. It's Racer's Edge and Robert Megennis, moving around both the struggling Bentley and the Wright Motorsports Porsche as George Kurtz has spun. He has a lap lead in pro Am and he lkost traction into the corner. They might have a setup that is not conducive to the track conditions. Someone is hanging a pit board for someone who may have radio issues, and it's the Notlad Racing Aston Martin for Jonathan Taylor, car #33, leading GT4.
Robert Megennis pits and is back out on track. They have clinched the teams' and manufacturers' championship in GTWC America. Dane Cameron is trying to pass Mirko Bortolotti. Nicky Catsburg and Dane Cameron are flying. How hard do you fight if you are Mirko Bortolotti? He's worried about getting a lap back and moving up. He does not care what other teams are doing. Wowzers. 1:23.975 for Catsburg and Cameron! Yikes! Aston Martin #33 is in the lane, with Jonathan Taylor. Taylor would have had to have a cup of coffee thrown at him if he'd ignored the stop.
Taylor stays in the car. Fuel going into the car from the dump can. Mirko Bortolotti is pressing Martin Tomczyk. The race between Audi and BMW is not for position. Just over two and a half hours left on the board as Mirko Bortolotti has his hands full. Big time battle here, look, threading the needle in GT4 traffic between the Hublot Ferrari and the SunEnergy1 Mercedes. Andy Lally, James Clay, and Elias Sabo are battling for GT4 honors. Lally ran with The Racer's Group and Kevin Buckler in the past, and now, they are reunited. James Sofronas is in the lane for service. He has taken over from Elias Sabo. The #33 Aston Martin will be penalized for having the engine running during refueling.
Nicky Catsburg uncorks his fastest lap of the race. We are really looking forward to the Total 24 Hours of Spa in a couple more weeks. Andy Lally has moved ahead of James Clay and pushed the bye bye button. George Kurtz, too, is hanging on for dear life over Robert Megennis. Kurtz is being a gentleman and Lally, too, letting the GT3 lads go. Jordan Pepper was told by the driver who crashed into him. "I just lost track of where I was on the road. I apologize." Nicky Catsburg leads Martin Tomczyk by 4.5 seconds. Mirko Bortolotti and Dane Cameron continue to battle and Cameron moves ahead.
Finding lines on the road here at "The Brickyard", the drivers are finding the secret sauce. Two more stops are looking like what the strategy will entail. In ten minutes the Acura's could do the undercut pitting early, but then, the BMW's could also go extremely fast. It seems we might have more rain in our future. It does not look like rain, but it sure is cloudy, as Jules Gounon has reeled in Dane Cameron and Mirko Bortolotti. Gounon is laps down. Nicky Catsburg passes Nick Wittmer in the BMW M4 GT4. Catsburg almost runs out to the grass. That is a tricky spot. With Ryan Dalziel, the wheel fell off the car.
#63, game over. All their focus now is on the #04 Kurtz/Braun/Keating car. James Clay continues to battle in GT4 and Bill Auberlen may take over the #82 BMW M4 GT4 before the end, and Andrew Davis and Nick Wittmer run second and third in class. Wittmer moves past Davis for second in GT4. Actually, Nick Wittmer is now leading the class. This is a chess match between the Porsche Cayman and the BMW M4. Davis tries to make a move and Wittmer doesn't slow down and barges right into the back of the Cayman! The stewards are going to look at that. There's a bent front corner, but not the splitter. He has to get his head down.
Andrew Davis' car was not damaged either, hopefully and he will have continue to beetle around. Andrew Davis is third in GT4. Andrew Davis has told the team at GMG, that the car is OK. GMG and ST Racing are right next to each other in the pits. Interesting. #30 needs new tires and can get them hen he is in the window. That will put the Acura in the pound seats. Dane Cameron will have to pit earlier than his GT3 competition. Dylan Murry is now at the wheel of the #69 BGB Porsche 718 Cayman GT4. Dylan is the son of David Murry, a great sports car racer in his own right. James Clay has a comfortable lead in GT4 at the moment. Everyone in GT4 will make it to the end of the motor race on two stops.
Wittmer has given the spot for second in class back to Davis. Tit for tat. Maybe on pit stops you can still use the three jokers that are available. You are allowed to be one second underneath the minimum, three times in the race. You can't use every joker cumulatively either. Mirko Bortolotti is a decisivie driver on overtakes, a lot like James Weaver was when he was driving. Cameron stuffs it inside past the GT4 cars and he's trying to catch Nicky Catsburg. Bortolotti moves past, a change for overall position. We have two stops remaining, so do you do the overcut or undercut on the next stop or the last one? We are closing in on two hours to go.
We did not know what to expect with the GT cars at Indianapolis, but it seems this track is really a good one for the GT3 cars. The #33 Notlad Racing Aston Martin is in. Jonathan Taylor, out, and into the car, Patrick Gallagher. Dane Cameron is doing the undercut while BMW might split their strategy. Mario Farnbacher is getting back into the Acura. "Super Mario" is going to go out. Two hours and change left. Mario Farnbacher will do a double stint to finish this race. A wing adjustment for the SunEnergy1 Mercedes on the rear wing, and the Acura has stalled! Oh no! Here comes Walkenhorst to the lane. The Acura is not in neutral. It's stuck in gear.
Walkenhorst has been perfect all day. Both Walkenhorst cars in the lane, and JAS's race is being turned pear shaped. There's going to have to be a reset from neutral on the gearbox.
No comments:
Post a Comment