The Mercedes AMG/Ferrari battle continues as Maro Engel and Daniel Serra are flying right now. Potentially, drivers like Mirko Bortolotti, Daniel Serra, and Maro Engel could be in the new GTD Pro formula. Dane Cameron is now being chased by the #01 Cadillac of Kevin Magnussen. Pipo Derani runs fourth behind Magnussen. Engel was driving way too aggressively on Serra. That was not a good idea on his part. When will it be time to attack with strategy? Five DPi cars are within 27 seconds of one another on the lead lap. There's plenty of time left in the motor race yet. The GTD battle is still hot and heavy as well. It is the Engel and Serra show. These two are really motoring and scrapping with one another. Serra wants it but can't grab it. He has more downforce yet noses over into the turn, look.
Serra tries another move on Engel and Engel washes him out wide. This is fascinating. Trent Hindman is now stepping back into the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche, and the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R is in the pit box and back into the motor race with Antonio Garcia at the keyboard right now. Mercedes #57 is in the lane for service. Fuel and tires at the very least for the Winward boys. Same for the Ferrari. This is a fair fight. The #91 Riley Motorsports LMP3 car has also made a scheduled pit stop. Just a shade over six and a half hours now left to run in the 59th Rolex 24 at Daytona. Hard to believe next year in 2022 will be the 60th anniversary of this race.
Pipo Derani going after the #60 Acura of Dane Cameron. Ah. #88 is off and on, the Earl Bamber Motorsports Porsche, for Hardpoint/EBM. Rob Ferriol, team co-owner at the wheel of it. Pipo Deranu and Jimmie Johnson are still in this fight. The Cadillac's are on the verge of unbreakable at this point in time. What a great car it is, winning the opening five races of 2017 with Wayne Taylor Racing. Now, after 28 years with GM, Wayne Taylor Racing has switched over to Acura. Wayne Taylor's arrival with GM was during the 1990s with the Chevrolet Intrepid program. Soon, WTR Acura will pit and therefore, Alexander Rossi will be ready to take over from Helio Castroneves.
Pit stop time for the #31 Whelen Cadillac. Chip Ganassi Racing had a 60% win rate between 2006 and 2015. In the pits, the #60 Acura DPi in for Meyer Shank Racing. Olivier Pla will take over the car for the next stint. A familiar automobile for Dane Cameron. Simon Pagenaud has now been installed into the #48 car. Alexander Rossi is now into the #10 Acura on the pit stop exchange. Kevin Magnussen in the lane for fuel and four tires as well. Kevin Magnussen is in the car I believe. Magnussen leads Rossi, Nasr, and Pla. Now, in LMP2, Kyle Tilley is the new class leader in the Era Motorsports car with it's special livery drawn by six year old youngster Owen, from Canada, his dad and grandpa, huge race fans. His design won the competition, and his drawing is on their car.
We continue to follow the #18 on the track briefly and now are focusing in on LMP3 and the leader in class, the #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier in the hands of Oliver Askew. Whoops! We have a spin, and it is another LMP3 car, the #38 Performance Tech entry. The last time Felipe Nasr and Kevin Magnussen saw each other in the same race was in Formula 1 and they also drove in British Formula 3 for the same team. Yikes. Dane Cameron is another driver who has wanted a Rolex 24 win even though he is a three-time IMSA champion with different teams.
Jimmie Johnson ran his morning stint and he really did well and has had fun. Jimmie says he had a great stint and was caught in traffic. Catching a yellow would be a great way for them to catch up. Matthieu Vaxiviere is still leading LMP2. We have a very special visitor coming up as nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen will check in and say hello. Maro Engel is chasing down Mikael Grenier. Tom Kristensen was Grand Marshal at Daytona but never raced at the Rolex 24. Kristensen is looking at the five Danish drivers in the race this weekend. Sports car racer Marco Sorensen is with Tom Kristensen doing some simulator work. Kristensen has an Audi eTron Quattro and a Bentley supercharged road racer.
Calvin Fish, Ayrton Senna, Martin Brundle, Cor Euser, and more, raced together in Formula 3 back in the day in Europe. Audi of course are going to be back in LMDh and Tom Kristensen thinks the team he drove for will do well when they put their new program online. LMDh will be a great formula when it happens between the ACO, FIA, and IMSA. Tom Kristensen has had an incredible career. Meanwhile, back to racing at the Rolex 24. We go onboard with the BMW M8 GTE, car #25. Then onboard with the leading Acura. A number of gaggles of cars around the speedway right now as the race continues in earnest. It seems Acura are the ones who are in the pound seats right now as we are just past the 18th hour.
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