The Kobayashi/Dixon battle continues as Scott Dixon clears the LMP2 car of Devlin DeFrancesco, the #82 DragonSpeed Oreca. Scott Dixon is now in lapped traffic with the GT Daytona traffic. Tommy Milner leads GTLM and Patrick Long leads GTD. Oliver Gavin says the Vasser Sullivan team is coming back after there was a flat tire on the #14 with Gavin at the wheel. He says it is refreshing to be in a front engine GT car again. Townsend Bell is driving the #12 sister Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. Felipe Nasr and company have had trouble in the #31 Action Express Cadillac. They are on pace now, but they were struggling earlier on. Oliver Gavin is doing very well in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus and the team will want a notebook from him on what to do to improve the car.
Gavin spent two decades at Corvette Racing of course. 11 more cars in the field here at Daytona than there were last year when yours truly attended the race. The five classes have coexisted together pretty well. Two of the first yellow flags were caused by very experienced drivers making mistakes. Patrick Long still leads GT Daytona, ahead by 1.8 seconds over the Lamborghini #1 of Bryan Sellers. Scott Dixon continues to lead overall in the #01 Ganassi Racing Cadillac of Scott Dixon, Kevin Magnussen, and Renger van der Zande. A good battle continues brewing in GT Daytona between the Wright Motorsports Porsche and the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini.
#16 is in the pit lane for fuel and a driver change. It looks like maybe Jan Heylen stepped into the car but it is difficult to tell. The windscreen is being cleaned, and the car is down and away. So, right now, Scott Dixon leads over all, Tim Buret in LMP2, Kenton Koch in LMP3, Antonio Garcia in GTLM, and Daniel Serra in GTD. It's time for the fireworks at Daytona International Speedway. The fireworks look great. It feels like it is normal in an abnormal time in the world, enjoying this wonderful and iconic sports car endurance race.
Scott Dixon and Kamui Kobayashi shared a car last year to the victory. But now they are racing for different teams. Kobayashi and Dixon have both been spectacular. In reviewing the highlights, we saw the #111 GRT Grasser Lamborghini having issues. Not sure if yours truly talked about that car. That is the car of Rolf Ineichen of Switzerland, Dutchman Steijn Schothorst, and Italians Mirko Bortolotti and Marco Mapelli. Scott Dixon just finished a triple stint in the #01 Chip Ganassi Cadillac. Renger van der Zande is at the wheel of it now.
Corvette has been leading GTLM for a while and the positions were being swapped between #3 and #4. Will the Ferrari and the BMW's be able to come back? The Corvette's are bish bash boshing it at the moment with the mid engine C8.R. Chevrolet and Corvette will have to evolve into a GT3 based car now that GT3 is expanding. It is for the benefit, health, and wealth of global sports car racing from 2022 and beyond. The drivers really enjoy the fireworks and they can hear them out the side of the car. It is a great tradition of Daytona. It's fantastic for fans and drivers alike.
Watching the cars circulate here at Daytona in the darkness is absolute magic. Kamui Kobayashi leads the motor race in the #48 Ally Bank Action Express Cadillac. He has to be more careful with hitting the curbs in the Bus Stop. Corvette #4 in the lane for service. Not sure who is driving at the moment. Ganassi Racing had their former sports car mechanics come back to the team after working on the IndyCar team. Daniel Serra brings the #21 AF Corse Ferrari to the pit lane. Kamui Kobayashi leads the motor race currently, as mentioned, as we are close to 3/4 of the way through the eighth hour of the race.
Felipe Nasr has moved past A.J. Allmendinger for fourth place in Daytona Prototype International. In LMP2, Win Autosport with the #11 car and Steven Thomas, who is a lawyer who owns the team, has done very well. Thomas Merrill, one of his co-drivers is pressing really hard. Tristan Nunez is the ace in the hole and they have someone one their team who also spent time on the factory Porsche squad in GTLM over the last number of years. James Calado admitted he made a mistake in the #62 Ferrari when he had a run-in with an LMP3 car, a pro driver against a Bronze driver, and Elliott Forbes-Robinson, a legendary driver, once said, "if you think you can make a pass and can't be committed, you'll never make the pass."
This is Risi Competizione's 20th Rolex 24. A couple LMP3 cars scrapping with each other, the #54 CORE Autosport entry and the #6 Muehlner Motorsports America entry. The Muehlner Motorsports America Duqueine D08 Nissan is being shared by German drivers Moritz Krantz and Laurents Hoerr, alongside Stevan McAleer from England and American driver Kenton Koch. Not sure who is at the wheel of the #6 at the moment although they are leading LMP3. Ah. It is indeed Stevan McAleer, an accomplished LMP3 driver. The Muehlner Motorsports America team did a couple 24 hour tests, they had suspension damage earlier, fixed it, and are now leading in class.
Behind them is Joao Barbosa in the #33 Sean Creech Motorsports car, a former driver from Mustang Sampling Racing at both JDC-Miller and Action Express. Barbosa is second in class. McAleer, Barbosa, and then, Oliver Askew in the #74 Riley Motorsports car. Stevan McAleer races in Prototype Challenge and owns a car with Chad McCumbee in Mazda MX-5 Cup. Stevan McAleer's brother Sam was a fan of his brother, and unfortunately, Sam passed away from his heart condition. His brother Sam who he lost in November, is pictured on the back of his helmet. Moritz Kranz and Laurents Hoerr ran an LMP3 car in the Prototype Challenge race at Daytona last weekend.
Renger van der Zande is now back in the lead of the motor race. Joao Barbosa met Sean Creech when he was testing a Peugeot 908 diesel LMP1 car for a classic car 24 hour race. The next round of DPi pit stops are upon us as Loic Duval has pitted and now Renger van der Zande is pitting the #01 machine. A.J. Allmendinger is second. A.J. Allmendinger finished a double stint and Dane Cameron gets into the car. So, Cameron is back in the car. Alexander Rossi is next followed by Felipe Nasr. Kamui Kobayashi moves back to the lead of the race.
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