Welcome, to Braselton, Georgia, just north of Atlanta in Georgia's red clay hills. This is the 22nd annual running of one of the most alluring endurance races on the schedule. The best of the best drivers come, and everyone wants to win this race. This has truly become one of the classics of endurance sports car racing. Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta is one of those classic venues and this year, celebrates it's 50th anniversary. On the pole for today's race is Acura Team Penske. In fact, they lock out the front row of the grid as they are just three or so races away from concluding their tenure in the WeatherTech Championship. As you well know, the Acura program will change over from a factory operation, to running with two customer teams in 2021.
Juan Pablo Montoya, Dane Cameron, and Simon Pagenaud in car #6, as well as their team mates in the #7, Ricky Taylor, Helio Castroneves, and Alexander Rossi, will want to make a statement today. Also, making a statement, will be Action Express Racing, Whelen Engineering Racing. The #31 Cadillac is the defending champion car, while Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr, and Eric Curran, are the defending champions of this race. Eric Curran is now retired from racing, and of course, Filipe Albuquerque is the new endurance driver for AXR. Throughout the day, we will look at their progress, as well as everyone else, the runners and riders of this field. The fireworks are going on in the background though you can't see them in the daylight.
Over a third of this race will take place after sunset. It's very cool today. It will be in the mid 60s for the temperatures. We should celebrate the fact that this race is taking place at all, because of the global pandemic. We have 31 cars starting this race. The cars are rolling out on their formation lap before we get started. We saw cars in the Michelin Pilot race yesterday, tripping over each other. We'll get to Michelin Pilot racing later on. Stay tuned for a race report on that one. Acura are in good shape in DPi but they don't have a good racing history with the NSX GT3.
How will Shinya Michimi, Mario Farnbacher, and Matt McMurry do? Porsche in GT Le Mans are also looking forna good performance today. Green flag! Dane Cameron and Ricky Taylor go into the lead and they were four wide with Felipe Nasr third in the #31 Cadillac with Harry Tincknell pressing on in the #55 Mazda. Ryan Briscoe and Tristan Nunez are moving up. The LMP2 battle has just four cars in it but it will also be a good one. Tristan Nunez is making up places under clear blue skies. Cameron, Taylor, Nasr, the two Mazda's, and the #10 WTR Cadillac are the top six. Trouble for the #8 LMP2 car which has continued on in the motor race. John Farano is bottled up in the middle of the GTD pack.
Farano is sharing with Mikel Jensen and Job van Uitert. The Canadian, the Dane, and the Dutchman. Dane Cameron, meanwhile, is clearing away from the rest of the pack. Farano lost the LMP2 car ahead of Connor De Philippi in the #24 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE. That's the Edwards/Krohn/Farfus car. We watch the #30 Hardpoint Audi R8 of Rob Ferriol, Spencer Pumpelly, and Markus Winkelhock. In 2021, Hardpoint will collaborate with Earl Bamber Motorsports, run by Earl Bamber and his brother, Will Bamber. Five minutes on the board and Dane Cameron leads this motor race by 2.2 seconds. Everyone is away cleanly.
John Farano started on fresh tires. Team manager Peter Baron gave Farano instructions to be careful. The driver's will be cautious for now. The red mist might come down in the last two hours. Save fuel, as we look at a replay of something. Of course we will see multiple pit stops, but saving fuel is crucial in these endurance events. We've seen that at Daytona, at Le Mans. It's no different here at Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. We will have the most darkness running ever at Petit Le Mans, this year. Three hours and 43 minutes of darkness. Look at the Michelin Endurance Cup. We will take a look at that as this race progresses.
Minimum drive times are 45 minutes for DPi and GTLM, and maximum for everyone is six hours, four hours in any six hour period. 2 hours minimum stint time in LMP2 and GT Daytona. The days of this being a 1,000 mile race, are long gone. It is a ten hour event, no more, no less. Felipe Nasr third, as the Acura's lead. Harry Tincknell, 1:10.1 is the fastest lap runner so far. He locked the brakes trying to get by Gar Robinson in the #74 Mercedes AMG GT3. Some slight contact between the #31 Whelen Cadillac and the #44 GRT Magnus Lamborghini. Also contact with a couple more GTD cars. It looks like the #31 Whelen Cadillac got into some contact with the #44 GRT Magnus Lamborghini.
This race is a mentally tough test. All six GT Le Mans cars are liner stern as Harry Tincknell slides onto the grass, locking the brakes up. The flatspotted tires are causing an issue for the #55 Mazda. They are checkinhg the front tires. The crew was not prepared. They are trying to decide and have decided to put a new tire on. The Mazda team is very casual as the car drops off the air jacks and gets back on track. I wonder if he was having steering issues because he drove the car through the pit boxes in the lane. He very nearly ran into another Prototype, either an LMP2 car or one of the Acura's. They have rolled the car into the garage.
There may be braking trouble, an exploded brake disc on that car. That's carbon smoke and something wrong with maybe a severed brake line. He was chasing Felipe Nasr and also, John Farano. Thank goodness Tincknell didn't flip that car. Ricky Taylor is reeling in his team mate, while both Acura's are now running five seconds ahead of Felipe Nasr, who has set fastest lap at 1:09.98. Patrick Kelly is growing his lead over Rob Hodes in LMP2. His lead has ballooned to 16 seconds. All of the GTLM cars have gone by the LMP2 car #38, Jim McGuire at the wheel of the Pefromance Tech Oreca. Mazda are changing their brake discs and headed back on track soon. Harry Tincknell driving now, sharing with Jonathan Bomarito and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
You change brakes as a whole set. Not just one disc and one pad at a time. The brake rotor on the Mazda failed. You'd have thought they'd be replaced and bedded in during the morning warmup. Good turnaround, but very costly for Mazda #55. Dane Cameron still leads. GTLM are in lockstep. BMW, BMW, Porsche, Corvette, Porsche, Corvette. This is the first appearance for the Corvette C8.R at Petit Le Mans but of course did race the six hour event at Road Atlanta, here, last month. The BMW's are bringing in their tire temps. Antonio Garcia was dominant in qualifying, but he has given way to Connor De Philippi and John Edwards so far.
Pit stop time for the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Fuel only for Madison Snow sharing with Bryan Sellers and Corey Lewis. Points are for the Michelin Endurance Cup and the overall championship. We have had events after the Petit Le Mans in past years. Oh dear. Gabriel Aubry is off the road aboard the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac, running into the tires. It's a Full Course Yellow. The engine is running but Aubry is having an issue with finding reverse. Aubry sharing with Chris Miller and Mattheus Leist. Aubry is back on the racing line but with bodywork damage to the left front. He's going to have the marshals assist him by ripping out a piece of bodywork with wiring for the headlights in it.
We are under Full Course Yellow. Fuel and tires for all the leading DPi cars on their pit stops and InterEuropol has pitted. Austin McCusker, Rob Hodes, and Jakub Smiechowski sharing the car. They race in Europe, full time. Driver change for the #63 WeatherTech Ferrari, a splash and dash for the #48 Lamborghini, tires and fuel as well, for Meyer Shank's Acura and the Pfaff Porsche. Lars Kern is in the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche. If you don't know who Lars Kern is, he is the Porsche test driver for production cars at the Nurburgring as well as being a racing driver, and he is fast! He is also extremely knowledgeable about the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
Leaves and debris in the grills of the cars already. We do have some spectators here at Road Atlanta, but of course, a reduced number. Rob Ferriol has taken over the #30 Hardpoint Audi from Andrew Davis. The #96 BMW M6 GT3 has pitted and Dillon Machavern is now into the car, sharing with Robby Foley and Bill Auberlen. The Scuderia Corsa Ferrari has dropped down the GTD order and now, we have the #8 Tower Motorsports by Starworks LMP2 car in the pit lane. Green flag. Sebastien Bourdais and Ryan Briscoe are catching up with the leaders.
The laps click off really quickly here at Road Atlanta. Let's hope we have few incidents other than blokes throwing their cars into the scenery. We could have a record running distance. 465 laps, 1,181 miles for the Action Express team when they won last year. The battle is on in GTLM as Connor De Philippi is chasing Nick Tandy. Antonio Garcia actually leads GT Le Mans right now and Tommy Milner has moved his way up to third in GTLM as well. The BMW/Porsche battle continues down the back straight. Nick Tandy has the better of Connor De Philippi. Jakub Smiechowski is running very well in LMP2 for Inter Europol and PR1/Mathiasen.
We look ahead to LMP3 cars being introduced to the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, for 2021. CORE Autosport is coming, and United Autosport, coming to the Rolex 24 in January next year. Andretti Autosport and others will also be there. Let's hope it doesn't dilute things between WeatherTech and Prototype Challenge. We'll have to find out, obviously. Mazda are scrapping for third. Tristan Nunez is trying to pass Felipe Nasr for third spot. They dive through the esses and past the Meyer Shank Racing Acura, Shinya Michimi at the wheel of it, with Madison Snow ahead in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini.
Things can really change quickly around the track here at Road Atlanta. Tommy Milner has John Farano ahead, but Antonio Garcia, Laurens Vanthoor, and Tommy Milner are 1-2-3 in GTLM. The Acura's move by. 34 laps, 86 miles completed. Settle in and let's see if we can get the race in order as the prototypes lap the GT cars. Fastest laps are 1:09.8 for Dane Cameron. Jakub Smiechowski has the fastest LMP2 lap at 1:12 and change. 1:20.537 for Cooper MacNeil in GTD and fastest lap in GTLM also, for one of the Porsche's as we have about ten or eleven minutes left in the opening hour.
Misha Goikhberg snags the Lexus. We nearly have an hour's worth of racing in the bag. Now then, a good scrap, look as Tristan Nunez wants by Felipe Nasr. Nasr is held up right now through the narrow section at turn five, playing follow my leader or, follow the leader as it is. You have the Mazda with the 2.0 liter turbo four cylinder, the Acura with the 3.5 liter V6 turbo, and the Cadillac with the normally aspirated 5.5 liter V8. The championship points table is really tight between Wayne Taylor Racing, Action Express, and Team Penske. 56 minutes on the board as we are getting close to the end of the first hour of the motor race.
Felipe Nasr is catching Ricky Taylor at the moment. Good battling continues between Nick Tandy and John Edwards, Porsche vs. BMW. Connor De Philippi is still back there as well in the sister #25 BMW. The prototype drivers just have to bide their time and convince themselves that other drivers are trying to do the exact same thing. New fast lap of the race for Dane Cameron at 1:09.770. Pipo Derani's best lap has been beaten. Felipe Nasr had the lap record last year at 1:08.8. Olivier Pla set fastest lap at 1:09.6 last month for the Michelin Grand Prix six hour race we saw here last month. Acura Team Penske run 1-2 with #6 Cameron and #7 Taylor, followed by Felipe Nasr in third, Tristan Nunez fourth, and in fifth, Sebastien Bourdais in the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac, and behind him, the #10 Ryan Briscoe driven WTR Cadillac.
Patrick Kelly leads John Farano and Jakub Smiechowski, as well as Jim McGuire, in LMP2. Antonio Garcia leads Laurens Vanthoor and Tommy Milner in GTLM, and then comes John Edwards in BMW #24 and the #911 Porsche of Nick Tandy, followed by Connor De Philippi in the #25 BMW. Madison Snow leads GT Daytona in the #48 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for Paul Miller Racing. In second place in the class, Shinya Michimi, third is Lars Kern, fourth, Cooper MacNeil, and fifth, Frankie Montecalvo, followed by the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW.
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