Renger van der Zande now leads the motor race with A.J. Allmendinger now second and then the two Action Express Cadillac's. This is a one-off for the #48, but they could be back later in the year if sponsorship and scheduling allows. Kobayashi is going to try Renger van der Zande again. Kobayashi and Conway, in separate cars at Action Express, are team mates at Toyota in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Kamui Kobayashi has spun the #48! He was way to aggressive trying to pass Renger van der Zande. Don't let the energy of the moment make you think this race is anywhere close to over. Kobayashi pushes, but don't push too hard!
Kamui Kobayashi assumed the door was open, but Kobayashi had the door slammed in his face. James Calado is now trying to move around Tommy Milner. But Connor De Philippi is leading GTLM in a BMW M8 GTE at the moment. The rosy orange glow of dawn is beginning to paint it's tapestry across the Florida sky. The GTLM battle remains hot and heavy. Pipo Derani is getting ready to go back into the #31 Whelen Cadillac as the GTLM battle continues. Antonio Garcia chasing Connor De Philippi. The #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R is still fighting in GTD. Ellis, Marciello, and Cressoni are the top three in GTD. Mercedes, Mercedes, and Ferrari.
Phillip Ellis is really pushing, and Raffaele Marciello is an AMG Mercedes factory driver, one of the fastest GT drivers globally. Kenny Habul won the Intercontinental GT Challenge Pro Am honors at the California 8 Hours a few years ago. Habul bought property on Conrod straight at Mount Panorama Bathurst. Renger van der Zande leads DPi. Now, the GTD battle is harem scarem stuff. Pace wise, the #31 is running well, but there could be a cracked exhaust. Hopefully that is not the case. It could be big trouble with the performance and the reliability of the car. Good battles going on in the LMP2 class right now as the sun continues to climb higher into the sky at Daytona.
It is just past 7:00 A.M. Eastern Time. The works Porsche team a few years back put the Brumos livery on their car and they also had a Coca Cola livery on that car. David MacNeil, the owner of WeatherTech has a few of those cars in his collection. Cooper MacNeil's dad. Now, we are watching Matteo Cressoni being hounded by Philip Ellis. Mike Conway is making headway on A.J. Allmendinger. No real worries about the cracked header. However, the grip of the tires is something that is a spot of bother for all the DPi drivers.
Ferrari racing Mercedes in GTD. Now, Pipo Derani is expected to get into the #31 car on their next pit stop. Pit stop time indeed for #31. Tires, fuel, and a driver change as Pipo Derani is getting into the car. #48 is also into the pit lane for service. The sunlight coming to the track is very special. You are getting a second wind, reaching ro another gear. Now, in the lead of the motor race it is still Renger van der Zande. Castroneves is second followed by Dane Cameron and Pipo Derani. Connor De Philippi is running in front in GTLM over Antonio Garcia and Tommy Milner in the Corvette's. The BMW's are committed to the four endurance races.
GTLM cars are bespoke while the GT3 cars are global and have a dozen manufacturers involved. Audi and Porsche no longer have an official prototype factory program but they will be there for LMDh and so will Acura. Works and customer programs are expected and there will be GT convergence as well. Coming off the pandemic year, we are amazingly racing with 49 cars in this particular motor race we are witnessing now. The Acura's also have a fuel advantage, at least over the Cadillac's. Sun is rising at Daytona and so, daylight will be here soon.
The battles are fierce. IMSA is looking to electric vehicles and one of these is a Hyundai electric race car. The Hyundai ETCR. 500 kilowatts of power. There is instant power with four electric engines and no conventional transmission. This falls in line with the green racing initiative for IMSA. Hopes are to see electric cars racing with petrol powered cars. Chevrolet and Cadillac will be electric fully by 2035. Electric race cars could very well be in our future if the cars can run on a charge. There are many electric car manufacturers. We could get an electric class going for IMSA and maybe for the World Endurance Championship as well.
Corvette and BMW in the lane, after battling for the GTLM lead. Pipo Derani is in a major dust up with Dane Cameron. Tommy Milner has leapfrogged Connor De Philippi. Also, the #3 Corvette is in the pit lane. A clean stop for the most part except for a slight kerfuffle with a tire. Kenny Habul goes off and in the #75, as maybe the left rear tire is down or something. Hard to tell if Kenny Habul got in deep or if it was on the out lap. An ugly scene on the banking between two GTD cars as the #64 TGM Porsche runs on from the Bus Stop and the #97 Aston Martin spins in avoidance. Meanwhile, BMW has caught the Corvette's after Tommy Milner has moved around Antonio Garcia. Ted Giovanis gets inside of Ben Keating and how those two came together, I don't know.
Giovanis was late on the brakes and he will be pinged by the marshals with a penalty. Did he run in deep? Maybe so. He has been in racing for 30 years, but is 75 years old.
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