Other GT cars are also taking routine srervice. It is hard to tell who with the darkness and the headlights piercing the gloom. We are 2/3rds of the way home here at the 68th 12 Hours of Sebring as the #63 GT Daytona class leading Ferrari pits. Jeff Westphal is in the car and takes over from Alessandro Balzan. Alexander Rossi is in the #7 car. They are still in the championship fight. Corvette #3 into the pit lane and Jordan Taylor will take over from Antonio Garcia. Night is much harder here at Sebring because it is harder to see. There is more space at Sebring than at Road Atlanta. Both are really tough. The Porsche and BMW battle in GTLM has been amazing today. The #48 Lamborghini is in pit lane.
They have clinched the Michelin Endurance Cup in GT Daytona. Everything in this motor race is still in play. Cadillac #85 is in the pit lane, the Leist/Simpson/Andrews car. It is a routine stop for fuel and tires and no driver change. We also watch the beleaguered #4 Chevrolet Corvette continuing to hang in there. You just never give up in one of these endurance races. Again, it is the end of an era for Corvette as Oliver Gavin steps away from full-time driving. Gavin is not sure he will be back even for the endurance races next year.
He is back in the car, maybe for his final stints as a top driver. Alexander Rossi brings the #7 Acura into the pit lane and he is back on track. Cadillac #10 is in the pit lane, for service, five laps down. They are still in the fight for the championship along with Penske and Action Express. With three hours and 45 minutes on the board, still, anything can happen. Penske Acura #6 in the lane for service and Simon Pagenaud will stay in the car for the time being. Tommy Milner is appreciative of his team mate and will let Oliver Gavin have a good time. It is about Oliver and letting him have a good time in his final driving stint.
Porsche #911 pits. Mario Andretti is one of the great drivers, the Grand Marshal, who won three overall races and once in class. Sebring has the darkest lap in all of racing. 50 years ago, Peter Revson, co-driving with Steve McQueen, battled hard with Mario Andretti, as Mario broke down with two hours to go. Mario's car was not in good shape. Revson took the lead with half an hour to go. In a last ditch effort, Mario was put into the surviving Ferrari after his car broke. Revson looked to hold on, but Mario absolutely flew to victory. He took motivation from hearing Steve McQueen's name on the P.A., winning, (Mario), by 23 seconds.
He drove out of his skin, 50 years ago. Meantime, yellow number eight and poor Oliver Gavin has slammed the wall in turn 17 at Sunset Bend. He spun and it seems like there was a suspension failure on the car. The rear end of the car is cattywampus and he will need a flat tow. It is game over for a legend. Again, we are under Full Course Yellow. The pits will open for prototypes as we are in the eighth Full Course Yellow. The #5 Cadillac is still leading, Tristan Vautier at the controls. The DPi leaders are all in the lane. Tristan Vautier will stay in the #5 car. We also see pit work for the #31 Whelen Cadillac. Pipo Derani takes over from Felipe Nasr.
The #4 Corvettre is being taken off the rollback and is in the garage. Again, we are under Full Course Yellow, headlights, piercing the gloom here at Sebring in the pitch darkness of a sweltering, steamy, central Florida Saturday evening. The GTLM and GTD cars will hit the pit lane in a moment. BMW leads in GTLM while Mercedes does so in GTD. Augusto Farfus leads GTLM and Lawson Aschenbach pits from the lead in GTD. Aschenbach out and itn looks like another driver into the car. No driver changes for either of the BMW's.
Simon Pagenaud wins the race off pit lane with Pipo Derani second. The Corvette team is still moving their #4 entry into the garage. Now, it is going to be a barn burner to the end as we are going to see a battle between the #6 Acura and the #31 Cadillac. We are back to green flag racing. Simon Pagenaud leads the race. The #5 Cadillac of Tristan Vautier is still in the fight as well. It is a sea of bright white lights. The fuel burning on downshifts turn the flame blue as the cars wriggle their way through the esses, that flame, is on the sole remaining Corvette C8.R in this motor race.
Game over for the #4 Corvette C8.R. Gavin says that the car wasn't quite right and he was getting up to speed, the car wiggled at Sunset Bend, and lost the rear end of the car and it swapped ends. The left rear suspension failed and the mechanics are fixing it. Never give up. That's the whole deal. In GT Daytona, Andrew Davis is leading the motor race in class for the #30 Hardpoint Audi team. Intense battles continue in the GT Daytona class. For the first time, Sebring is the championship decider. Again, it is Acura Team Penske, Action Express, and Wayne Taylor Racing, who are pushing hard for the championship.
Simon Pagenaud is still leading, and is the fly in the ointment for Pipo Derani at the moment. Corvette and BMW still battle in GTLM and in GT Daytona, the #86 Acura might be in the pound seats to win back-to-back championships. We have just a shade over three hours left on the board here at Sebring and in the 2020 IMSA season. The battle in GT Daytona remains red hot. It's GRT Grasser and their Lamborghini vs. Wright Motorsports and their Porsche with the MSR Acura at the head of that queue. Simon Pagenaud continues to lead the motor race, and has gapped Pipo Derani by two seconds. The gap is extending right now.
Loic Duval, Sebastien Bourdais, and Tristan Vautier are third right now in thr gray #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac. Laurens Vanthoor makes contact with Corvette #3. Bang. Thatnis damage for the Porsche, although Vanthoor has lost a fender. They are designed to snap on and snap off with clips on the inside. The team has asked Laurens Vanthoor to stay out to put them in their fuel window. The battle in GTLM is intense. Porsche runs fourth and fivfth behind BMW and the leading, sole remaining Corvette.
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