Jonathan Bomarito brought the #55 Mazda into the lane. They've had radio, transmission, and telemetry issues thtoughout the race. Cadillac #48 is in the lane as well. Mike Rockenfeller is going to stay in the car. Kamui Kobayashi was ready to get in but Rockenfeller will do a double stint. Scott Dixon has cycled to the race lead. Andrea Caldarelli leads GT Daytona as Scott Dixon is into the lane for service. Andrea Caldarelli, Klaus Bachler, and Matteo Cressoni are in the top three in GT Daytona. The pit exit is diabolical here at Daytona. Meyer Shank Racing pits the #60 Acura ARX 05. Juan Pablo Montoya is driving the car and A.J. Allmenddinger will take over soon. Also, the #10 Acura is in the lane, with Helio Castroneves at the controls.
The Acura's seem to have a fuel advantage over the Cadillac's which is something that was not expected so far. Cadillac's seemed to have an advantage on fuel in past years, historically. Something is wrong with the #10 Acura and an obstinate, recalcitrant rear tire. The keepers on the wheel nut to try and keep the wheel on but they are stubborn when the tire changer applies the rattle gun. The wheel comes off fine, but trying to put thr enew one onn, the wheel won't seat and the lug nut will not find its place on the stub axle.
Zach Veach in the #12 Lexus RC F GT3 goes behind the wall. It is being driven back to the garage. No engine or drivetrain issues. Something else is going on. Matteo Cressoni has gone by Klaus Bachler in GT Daytona as Oliver Gavin is pressurizing Luca Stolz. Gavin is chasing Stolz in the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3. Stolz, the German, is sharing with Mikael Grenier from Canada, Kenny Habul from Australia, the car owner, and also, Switzerland's Raffaele Marciello, a Swiss Italian. Nick Tandy says he is still learning about how to drive the Corvette C8.R. He and Alexander Sims of course are the new boys on the team. But Tandy has just led his whole stint. Alexander Sims is now at the controls.
We have a slow Lamborghini, the #19 GRT Grasser Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Albert Costa, the Spaniard at the wheel, is out of gas. Costa is sharing with Misha Goikhberg, the Canadian, Franck Perera of France and Tim Zimmermann of Germany. The #1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini is going for a driver change and fuel as well. Madison Snow sharing with Bryan Sellers, Corey Lewis, and Andrea Caldarelli. Now, the #12 Lexus is in the garage taking repairs due to overheating. The battle is on indeed between the prototypes and the GT cars. Matteo Cressoni leads GT Daytona right now over Klaus Bachler and Charlie Eastwood. Jules Gounon is third in GTLM in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari right now.
Gounon sharing with Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Davide Rigon. There are minimum full fuel filling times in Pro classes being 34 seconds 40 seconds for LMP2, LMP3, and GTD. G, S, P, B, are the driver ratings. All the drivers are rated based on experience, age, and so forth. Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. The #4 Corvette C8.R is off the road and back on, and now, Tristan Nunez is running well in the LMP2 class. This is the Thomas/Nunez/Bell/Merrill automobile. Maybe the race is now beginning to settle down just a shade. These first five and a half hours have been very wild.
Alexander Sims did go off the road, and I think he did so again. He was being monstered by the #25 BMW M8 GTE. Not sure who is driving the BMW right now and the #4 car did come to pit lane. No harm, no foul. Put these tiny little incidents out of your mind and keep going. There's a long, long way to go. GTLM does not have antilock brakes, and the GT Daytona cars do. The GTD cars are universal GT3 cars around the world, based more so on a production car than the GT Le Mans cars. The manufacturers can take more liberties to take the production car and turn it into a race car. The GTLM car is much more expensive to build, run, and operate. In 2022, GT Daytona will be the main class for GTD Pro with professional drivers, and then, a Pro and Pro Am driver in GT3. Will Balance of Performance be used for pro teams?
Will the performance be the same throughout? We shall find out. This is the last season of the GTLM cars that have existed since 2014. GTLM cars are amazing automobiles. They really are. The #21 AF Corse Ferrari pitted. Matteo Cressoni out, and Simon Mann in. Mann, the British driver, is eighth in class. Klaus Bachler in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R is leading in GT Daytona currently. Mazda #55 in the pit lane. Jonathan Bomarito hands over the car to Oliver Jarvis. We have not seen the speed out of the Mazda in this motor race somehow. They are struggling with the car compared to the Cadillac's.
Oliver Gavin makes a pit stop in the #14 Lexus. The front end grille was cleaned. Now, Scott Dixon is also in the pit lane. They have sticker Michelin tires it seems, going onto the car. "The Ice Man" will have to be as cool as a cucumber. The pit exit here at Daytona is so incredibly narrow. A right rear puncture for Oliver Gavin. That is why he made a pit stop. There was a penalty for late pit in entry, although it seems they've called the penalty and taken care of it. The #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura just pitted and Juan Montoya is doing a triple stint. A big step up for MSR from GTD and they've been in prototype competition. They won the 50th anniversary race in 2012.
Scott Dixon meanwhile is cutting through traffic like the proverbial hot knife through butter. Now then, the drive through penalty for Oliver Gavin, and it won't cost too much time. Acura have also announced an LMDh car for 2023. Audi, Porsche, and Acura are the three brands that have so far committed to LMDh. This motor race has been green for three hours straight as it is now 9:30 P.M. Eastern Time, 8:30 P.M. Central Time. Green since just after sunset. It will be a long night and also a long segment of daylight on Sunday.
So many great drivers from NASCAR, IndyCar, and Formula 1, entered in this race. It is amazing. There is not time really to highlight all of them. However, it is really interesting. A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti used to do it all the time. But, drivers become legends, they can jump in any kind of a car and go ahead and race it. It made no difference whether it's an open wheel car, a stock car, a sports car, or whatever. A.J. Foyt is now 86 years young. A man who has won the Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500, 24 Hours of Daytona, 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Sebastien Bourdais continues to lead this race. The all French lineup has run together in the #5 car particularly, has run for the last three years or so, together, in this race. Bourdais gets balked by an LMP2 or LMP3 car. Could not tell which one it was. Let's see. That's the #7 car. He faked that he was letting him go and then he tried to get out of the way but caused a problem. Trenton Estepp in the #7 Forty7 Motorsports Duqueine Nissan. Trenton Estepp sharing with Mark Kvamme, Ryan Norman, and Gabby Chaves.
The weather is great this year and there are a few fans at Daytona, but not the amount we would like to see because of the pandemic. These cars today are very solid and very strong and the drivers are the best in the business. You want to lead as many laps as possible and you want to be smart at the same time. The dynamics are fascinating to watch. The performance of the Cadillac's have been amazing. Be careful of the curbing in the Bus Stop. The curbs in the Bus Stop will bite you if you try to shortcut them.
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