Saturday, October 17, 2020

Petit Le Mans: Hour 4

Olivier Pla is headed for the pit lane.  Ditto for the two Acura's, #6 and #7.  Cadillac #31 has just made a pit stop.  Tires and fuel, and no driver change.  Filipe Albuquerque will start the second part of his double stint.  Good battle here, loook, between Mario Farnbacher and Corey Lewis.  This is the battle being shown on the road at the moment and now we go back to the #12 AVS Lexus, with Kyle Kirkwood at the wheel of it.  The battle is raging now between Olivier Pla chasing, and Filipe Albuquerque defending.  The glare of the sun is becoming an issue.  Again, Olivier Pla continues chasing Filipe Albuquerque.  Scott Dixon, as an IndyCar driver, is switching back to the sports car.  In the IndyCar, you have loads of downforce.  But you cannot put enough force through the brake pedal.  You lean on the brakes.  Heavier weight and less downforce in a sports car.  You have to be very deliberate.

Simon Pagenaud now leads Filipe Albuquerque by four some odd seconds.  Simon Trummer leads LMP2.  The #52 PR1/Mathiasen car won LMP2 at the six hours of Road Atlanta.  They want to win again.  Mario Farnbacher in the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3, has the class lead in GT Daytona.  The #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini is in the picture.  Speaking of in the picture, the #31 Cadillac is catching the #6 Acura.  Filipe Albuquerque smells blood.  He is the shark while Simon Pagenaud is the minnow.  The #55 Mazda is back on track but they had a brake problem right from the off of the motor race.  Is something wrong with the #10 Cadillac?  They have had a stall.  Something is wrong with the car, turning it off and turning it back on again, doing a power cycle on the ECU (the Engine Control Unit).

Yes.  They have to recycle the car.  Stay on the lead lap, hit a yellow, and you are right back in the picture.  There's a long way to go here at Petit Le Mans.  The race is still young.  In the next hour, we will hit the halfway mark.  Pit stop time in GTLM for the Porsche #912.  They had a longer stop last time with a stuck seatbelt.  Earl Bamber, Laurens Vanthoor, and Matthieu Jaminet, are having to play catch up.,  They have fixed the seat belt now.  Corvette #3 is in the lane from the GTLM lead.  Nicky Catsburg is now into the car, taking over from Jordan Taylor.  Big oversteer for Catsburg at pit exit.  He is on cold tires.  The #12 AVS Lexus is in the lane.  Townsend Bell takes over from Kyle Kirkwood.  For Kyle Kirkwood, he has dealt with traffic, and he has to deal with two faster classes, plus, he has so many adjustments on this automobile compared to an open wheel racer.

The outlaps are so incredibly crucial.  Turn up the ABS.  Turn up the Traction Control, until you get to turn seven or so, on the road, turning it down a shade, and re-routing the traction control again for the next lap.  We have Corvette #4 pitting, and we have the #86 Acura cycling back to the GTD class lead.  Lexus #14 is in the lane for scheduled service with Aaron Telitz taking over the car.  He shares with Jack Hawksworth and Michael de Quesada.  Mazda #77 in the lane for service as Olivier Pla stays in the car.  Check that.  Tristan Nunez is now in the #77 car.

Cadillac #31 has already pitted and they have moved back to the lead, Felipe Nasr at the wheel of it.  A new battery may be needed for the leading #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.  They are having telemetry issues on that automobile as Renger van der Zande hits the pit lane.  Felipe Nasr leads now.  Tristan Nunez is now at the controls of the #77 car.  He is chasing Simon Pagenaud while Felipe Nasr leads this motor race by 2.5 seconds as we get close to the end of the fourth hour here at Road Atlanta.  More woe for the #55 Mazda meantime.  Augusto Farfus is now driving the #24 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE.

They are the main car that is in contention in GT Le Mans for Bavarian Motorwerks.  Simon Trummer is confidence for how the rest of his and PR1/Mathiasen's race will work out.  Nasr, Pagenaud, and Nuenez are right in range of each other.  This is the battle for the top three.  Nasr gets balked in traffic by the Riley Motorsports Mercedes, the #74 car. 

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