Felipe Nasr says the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac is good enough to come up through the field. The sister #81 DragonSpeed Oreca is out. Rob Hodes, Rinus Veekay, Garrett Grist, and Ben Hanley, are the first retirement from this motor race after the team won the LMP2 class at the Rolex 24 in 2020. But their #82 sister car is still running with Eric Lux, Devlin DeFrancesco, Fabian Schiller, and Christopher Mies. In GTLM, Nick Tandy leads Jordan Taylor and Jesse Krohn. Indy Dontje, the Dutchman, is driving the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3, moving the team up from Michelin Pilot Challenge and GT4 racing. Dontje is monstering Darren Turner in the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage. Dontje goes to the inside and it appears he is really moving and the two of the se cars are scrapping in a huge way right now.
This is what the Rolex 24 is all about. Lexus, Mercedes, BMW, and more. Chase Elliott in his maiden stint for AXR, he is seventh overall, but finding his feet. Get into your rhythm. He has not had a Full Course Yellow yet. He is in the lane for service now. Simon Pagenaud will pit the #48 sister Action Express car as well. The track temperatures have dropped now. Be careful. Whoa! We have the #91 Riley Motorsports LMP3 of Jim Cox looping it in the Bus Stop. He continues with no worries. The #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac is in the lane and so is the #48 Ally Bank AXR Cadillac for Simon Pagenaud. Now, Jim Cox spun on the entry to the Bus Stop chicane. He ran very wide nowhere near the apex of the turn.
Townsend Bell pits the Lexus RC F GT3, the #12 car. Robert Megennis, behind the wheel. Pit stop time as well for the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05. The pit stops have been frantic, hot, and heavy in the last number of minutes as full darkness has descended over the Daytona International Speedway. The #8 Tower Motorsports LMP2 car is also into the pit lane. We can see the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 and the #97 TF Sport Aston Martin battling each other. #97 has Max Root, Ben Keating, Charlie Eastwood, and Richard Westbrook on the driver's strength.
Bill Auberlen is running well in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3. Auberlen sharing with Robby Foley, Colton Herta, and Australian driver, Aidan Read. We check in on class leaders. Kyle Kirkwood and Nick Tandy still hold the respective class leads in the GTLM and GTD classes for Corvette and Lexus while LMP3 is led by Wayne Boyd, Kyle Tilley leads LMP2, and Tristan Vautier is back in front in DPi. Wayne Boyd is at the wheel of the #33 Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier Nissan sharing with Joao Barbosa, the Portuguese sports car veteran, veteran French LMP2 driver Yann Clairay, and Dr. Lance Willsey.
LMP2 is being led now by the #18 Era Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson of Kyle Tilley, Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel, and Paul Loup Chatin, the Frenchman. Dalziel is a veteran, the Scotsman, of sports car racing. Four and a half hours into the race, and Tristan Vautier still leads the motor race ahead of Kevin Magnussen, Ricky Taylor, and Simon Pagenaud in the overall. Trent Hindman at the wheel of the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R is now in hot pursuit of the #23 Aston Martin Vantage currently in the hands of Darren Turner. The Porsche is drawing a bead on the Aston Martin into the banking out of the Bus Stop chicane. That chicane of course is named for the old Bus Stop chicane at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium which used to be a bus stop in daily life.
Corvette Racing in the lane as well as Jordan Taylor pits the #3 car, the yellow car, and pit stop time now too for the #16 Porsche 911 GT3R. There could be a pending penaltu for the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3. Bill Auberlen got out of the car and there was a fuel spill as Aidan Read isn int the car and the fuel sprays right into his face! Oh my word! Hopefully he will be OK. You have to plan for and expect the unexpected. At the sharp end we still see Tristan Vautier leading Kevin Magnussen, Ricky Taylor, and Simon Pagenaud. Chase Elliott brings the #31 Whelen Cadillac in for scheduled service and a driver change.
It appears Mike Conway is now into the car after the team fuels it and changes the tires. We have been racing under green for a full hour. Chase Elliott had his hands full, and he was suffering from a lack of front grip. Elliott just did a double stint and now it is Mike Conway in the #31 car. Bill Auberlen is OK. But his racing suit is drenched in fuel. He will have a couple of spares should he need one. There was a crewman who got spattered in the face with fuel as well. Jeepers! We are racing into the dark of night right now and Tristan Vautier continues to lead the motor race by eight and a half seconds over Kevin Magnussen.
Tristan Nunez has now taken the lead in LMP2 driving the #11 WIN Autosport Oreca. Nunez shares with American co-drivers Stephen Thomas and Thomas Merrill along with Englishman Matt Bell. Nunez was of course formerly a Mazda factory driver. In LMP2, WIN Autosport is indeed up front. In LMP2, Dr. Lance Willsey is in the #33 car for his second stint. Wayne Boyd who raced in the European Le Mans Series, has also run well in this car and they have Joao Barbosa as a fellow driver. Kevin Magnussen, in his debut at the Rolex 24 is now leading the motor race ahead of Tristan Vautier in second spot, Ricky Taylor third, and Simon Pagenaud fourth.
Cadillac #5 pits for regular service and is now back on track. It seems #5 and #01 have been battling each other quite a bit through this race. Mike Rockenfeller is now in the #48 Cadillac as we see a car off the road. #01 is back on track. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen car is in the pit lane for service in LMP2. Olivier Pla has moved past Mike Rockenfeller for fourth place overall. Also in the lane, the #24 BMW M8 GTE. Jesse Krohn is getting a drive through penalty for an incident with Lance Willsey and Krohn absolutely dumped poor old Willsey off the road.
Bill Auberlen is OK after the fuel spill. He will be fine. So, Tristan Vautier still leads ahead of Magnussen, Taylor, and Rockenfeller. #21 is running well in the AF Corse Ferrari, moving up nine spots in GTD. The driving team on this car is a good one. Danish driver Nicklas Nielsen, Britain's Simon Mann, and Ferrari veterans Daniel Serra of Brazil and Matteo Cressoni of Italy, on the driver's strength. Kyle Kirkwood leads GT Daytona for the Vasser Sullivan team in the #14 Lexus RC F GT3. meantime, Indy Dontje is bearing down on him and Dontje takes the class lead!
Another racing hour is coming to a close.
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