Helio Castroneves, as a driver, is even helping the Penske team fix the car. John Farano had debris come off his #8 LMP2 car. We'll have the details in a moment as it is pit stop time for the leading #6 Acura, Dane Cameron at the wheel of it. They have four scuffed tires. Sebastien Bourdais will stay in the #5 Cadillac after his stop. Mazda #77, Cadillac, #10, and the sister JDC-Miller #85 Cadillac all in the lane. The #5 had a slow stop with a loose left rear tire. Pipo Derani stayed out. Action Express are very focused. They want the championship and/or the Michelin Endurance Cup. Ricky Taylor will get back out, but he will be nine laps behind.
Now, earlier, we saw troubles for the #8 Tower Motorsports by Starworks LMP2 Oreca. Canadian John Farano, sharing with Danish drivers David Heinemeier Hansson and Mikkel Jensen, who we have seen in a different championship, the FIA World Endurance Championship. They have their own finale in Bahrain going on as we speak. But, yours truly will write about that event later. Stay tuned for a future post all about it. Penske are back on track now with a repaired intercooler. Unless another car has a huge issue, Penske could be in the championship hunt. #31 and #10 are also in the fight.
There are a number of permutations for the championship. Any one of three cars could win it. We remain under yellow. But we will go back to green soon. Pipo Derani in the lead of the motor race. Punch it, again! We're back to racing. Pipo Derani being chasded by Ryan Hunter-Reay and Dane Cameron who passes "Captain America". Cameron has fresher tires than Derani does right now. Sebastien Bourdais is being monstered by Olivier Pla, and in turn, Ricky Taylor is bashing his way by the Mazda as well, look. Taylor is playing catch up, in maximum attack mode. In the old days, 11 laps was a long way, but now, drivers can make up time much easier.
Castroneves is chasing Bourdais right now. We have a battle in GT Daytona, Lamborghini #48 and Acura #57. Bryan Sellers sharing with Madison Snow and Corey Lewis. #57 shared by Trent Hindman, Misha Goikhberg, and Joey Hand. The drivers are getting their minimum drive times in now and there will be loads more darkness than usual as this race goes on. Kyle Kirkwood is chasing Steijn Schothorst, and it is AVS Lexus vs GRT Grasser Lamborghini. Ryan Hardwick leads the GT Daytona class in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. Hardwick is a businessman, and runs a company called Mountain Motorsports. He ran jet ski racing and has been in Lamborghini Super Trofeo and the Super Trofeo World Finals.
Hardwick was a championship favorite in jet skiing, in 2001, lost the title, and in 2002, came back, and won the jet ski world championship. Nick Tandy started the race for Porsche and now, he believes the car is running well. Earl Bamber is now driving in a double stint to free up time for Nick Tandy and their third driver, Fred Makowiecki. Action Express leads the motor race by 2.4 seconds, Pipo Derani at the wheel of the #31 Cadillac. Porsche are strategizing for a hat trick at Sebring in their last motor race. Tomorrow morning, it will dawn on them that they've run their final race for the time being.
Where will Nick Tandy go next year? Earl Bamber will race with Hardpoint in GT Daytona. Who replaces Oliver Gavin at Corvette Racing? Nicky Catsburg has been mentioned and so has Nick Tandy, but we shall see. Meantime, Rob Ferriol is pushing Ryan Hardwick and Ferriol moves to the lead in GT Daytona. Know your opponent. Meantime, Steijn Schothorst, Kyle Kirkwood, and Ian James, all are pressing on, hard. Schothorst, the Dutchman, sharing the GRT Grasser #11 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 with American Richard Heistand and Frenchman Franck Perera.
Rob Ferriol is sharing the Hardpoint Audi with Andrew Davis and Pierre Kaffer. Pit stop time and a driver change for Action Express. We have to see who is next into the Cadillac. The pit stop is done and dusted and back on track. Gabby Chaves is in the car now, after Pipo Derani's amazing opening stint. Rob Ferriol is pushing and Steijn Schothorst moves past the Audi. Both the Audi and the Lamborghini have the same motor. The 5.2 liter V10. Lamborghini have had a great run here at Sebring over the last few years. The multi class racing is amazing as the Daytona Prototype International cars weave their way through the GT Daytona traffic.
Ricky Taylor makes his way through The Tower Turn. Gar Robinson is giving the #74 Mercedes a good ride for Riley Motorsports. Robinson sharing with Lawson Aschenbach and Marc Miller. Shinya Michimi, from Japan, in the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3 is struggling. It's been a fraught motor race for those boys so far. Michimi sharing with Matt McMurry and Mario Farnbacher. MSR did not run the sprint race at Sebring back in July. But they did test at Sebring before the virus hit. #31 will have a chance to win the race and the title. The GT Daytona battle is still hot and heavy as Gabby Chaves is working his way through traffic.
We watch a battle between Cadillac's #10 and #5 and one of the Acura's. Dane Cameron leads the motor race at this moment. Olivier Pla has the #77 Mazda right now. He will be in the Meyer Shank Acura next year. Now, also in the top five is Mattheus Leist in the #85 JDC-Miller "Banana Boat" Cadillac. Leist sharing with Stephen Simpson, the South African, and Australian Scott Andrews. Simon Trummer leads LMP2. We hope to see more LMP2 cars next year but we will also see many LMP3 cars. Trummer, for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, sharing with Patrick Kelly and Scott Huffaker. Tommy Milner in the #4 Corvette C8.R, is about to hand over to Oliver Gavin. It is amazing to think, because he has 202 starts, 51 race wins, 25 poles, five championships, and five Le Mans wins, with Corvette.
He is going to get into the car soon. He told the team in an emotional, tearful speech, "you are my family." Pit stop time for the #7 Acura and the #10 Cadillac. Ryan Briscoe is into the #10 Cadillac. He wants a championship as well. He has won the Rolex 24 and the Petit Le Mans this year. Dane Cameron is flying. He leads the motor race. Traffic is constant, as we watch the DPi cars work their way through the GT Daytona field. Olivier Pla is a man on a mission right now. He is pushing. Again,. he will be driving with A.J. Allmendinger and company at the Rolex 24 in January. Joey Hand and Dillon Machavern in GTD have been feeling the wrath of the prototypes.
Renger van der Zande says he has to see the replay of his incident and knows he had a penalty. He knows he moved too early, but, he also knows he too, wants to go for the championship. This is van der Zande's last race with Wayne Taylor Racing. We are coming to the end of the second hour in about eleven minutes. Acura #6 is in the lane with Dane Cameron handing the car to Juan Pablo Montoya in the lead. This is Juan Pablo Montoya's farewell to full-time driving in IMSA for Roger Penske. He cannot defend the DPi championship. What will today hold for Montoya and Dane Cameron?
Juan Pablo Montoya might race in Europe next year. We will find out in due time. Montoya is slicing his way through traffic. The Corvette mechanics are still sleepy. They still need to catch a catnap in this 12 hour grind of a motor race that is Sebring. Mazda #55 is also pushing as we can see from the pictures during the NBC Sports commercial break. This is the Tincknell/Bomarito/Hunter-Reay machine. We are close to two hours into this race. We have made a change in the NBC Sports booth and in pit lane. We join Kevin Lee, Brian Till, and Calvin Fish, along with pit reporters Dillon Welch and Parker Kligerman. Welcome, chaps.
Acura #7 is 11 laps down. They need a lot of yellow flags to get the wave around, but it will be a long ten hours. They can go flat out and hold nothing back. Acura #6 is really quick. The #10 car has to finish outside the top four and the #31 Cadillac, has to win the race, if they want the title, otherwise, Penske are champs. So, lots of teams want that gold cup. Gabby Chaves at the wheel of the #31 Cadillac are in the catbird seat at the moment. They have to win. That is what they must do. In GTD, the battle for the cup is also fierce. Lexus #14 leads in class, and they are the ones who want that title. They are leading both the #86 Acura and the languishing #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche.
The weather is gorgeous today. Championships on the line in DPi and GTD.
No comments:
Post a Comment