Kamui Kobayashi has gone back to the lead of the motor race and holds an 8.7 second advantage over Renger van der Zande. Grab a nap in the endurance sports car races whenever you can, especially at the Rolex 24. You have to recharge at any time you can. Chase Elliott looking on, along with Action Express team manager Tim Keane. A.J. Allmendinger says he is racing well with the MSR Acura. Jimmie Johnson is ready for another stint in the #48 Action Express Ally Bank Cadillac. Jimmie Johnson looks dismayed, shaking his head on the pit box. Now, is there a telemetry issue or something with the #48? Kamui Kobayashi is still clobbering the curbs in the Bus Stop.
In GT Daytona, Nicklas Nielsen is leading in GT Daytona for AF Corse. Nielsen is being chased by Andrea Caldarelli in the #1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3. The team has so much familiarity and Caldarelli is a factory Lamborghini driver, so a very plug and play kind of a driver indeed. In endurance racing, sometimes you have to do your best if you are not the fastest bloke or woman in the trio or quartet. Meanwhile, a close shave for Alexander Rossi in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura getting squeezed by two GT Daytona cars, a Mercedes and an Aston Martin. Rossi can put on a show in an IndyCar and also clearly in a sports car. He also went over to Australia a few years ago and ran a V8 Supercar in the Bathurst 1,000 at Mount Panorama.
Kamui Kobayashi continues to lead the motor race as darkness permeates the sky over Daytona Internatonal Speedway just past the witching hour of midnight. So, it is indeed Sunday morning in Florida as we speak. Kamui Kobayashi's lead has now ballooned to 18 seconds or so. Jimmie Johnson will have a new routine with IndyCar and with doing other sports car races. He can pick and choose where he wants to race now. He is being a race car driver and chooses to race in certain places. So his attitude, outlook, and perspective are totally different. IMSA has such an open paddock compared to IndyCar and NASCAR. The feeling is so different. Yours truly has experienced it.
Hoping to come back to Daytona in 2022. #31 is in the pit lane for routine service. Mike Conway into the car after Felipe Nasr completes a stop. Kamui Kobayashi pits and he will hand it to Jimmie Johnson with a mega sized lead. Renger van der Zande is now back in the lead and we have seen the #10 Acura being more efficient with their pit stops than many of the other cars. Johnson is hitting the curbs in the Bus Stop, but not as hard as Kamui Kobayashi did earlier on. We are just over halfway through the ninth hour of the race.
The #1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini is pitting and so is the #10 Konica Minolta Wayne Taylor Racing Acura. The #5 Mustang Sampling JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac is back into pit lane as well for scheduled service. Not sure who is driving that car that we saw in the lead earlier on in the race. We also can see the #01 car circulating on the road, through the International Horseshoe, back to turn six and up onto the banking another time. Renger van der Zande has taken over the lead of the motor race and meanwhile, Thomas Merrill continues to lead in LMP2 for the WIN Autosport team in the #11 car.
The #01 Cadillac is in the lane and Kamui Kobayashi says his pace was conservative for the first time out, but then on new tires he gains more confidence. He says there's still a long time to go, but the night is definitely the Happy Hour. Kamui Kobayashi is probably telling Chase Elliott secrets of their success. Dane Cameron meanwhile is in the #60 car, and the Acura is still having some handling issues. It is a tough ask to have a new car for a team, even with championship caliber drivers at the controls. When the sun comes up and the temperature rises, will the balance change? Thomas Merrill is expected to pit soon. He runs ahead of Antonio Fuoco, Gabriel Aubry, and Devlin DeFrancesco. DeFrancesco will race Indy Lights later in the year.
Devlin DeFrancesco was born 15 weeks premature and is still driving a race car. Jimmie Johnson, meanwhile, is back to the lead of the motor race. Stay as focused as possible. At sunrise it will be hard for the drivers to see. Kevin Estre is still holding on in the #79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19. They are not giving up. Kevin Estre sharing with Cooper MacNeil, Richard Lietz, and Gianmaria Bruni. The #9 Pfaff Motorsports team is running very well in GT Daytona. Zacharie Robichon at the controls of the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche. They qualified on the pole for the Rolex 24 last year. They did not race for most of 2020 due to the virus pandemic. If the pandemic continues wreaking havoc with travel, and there will be strict restrictions in Canada, but Pfaff Motorsports will stay in the United States should that happen.
Laurens Vanthoor is on the team, a former Porsche factory driver, along with Matt Campbell. Lars Kern, too, a German Porsche test driver, and Zacharie Robichon is also a quick driver in addition to being a businessman. Watching from pit lane, has to be absolutely incredible as NBC Sport's Parker Kligerman is doing right now. The same is true for Leigh Diffey, taking in the experiences. The transition across the apron from the oval to the road course is incredible. Out of habit you go to places on the track to see what is going on.
I was on the observation deck at Daytona watching last year and I miss it having to call the race from home this year. It is awe inspiring to just stand there and take things in with the cars going by. Only three cars are retired from this race, all three LMP2 cars, the #81 DragonSpeed car, the #20 High Class Racing car, and the #29 Racing Team Nederland Jumbo Supermarkets entry. Antonio Garcia is running really well for Corvette right now. Devlin DeFrancesco says the biggest challenge of running an LMP2 car is managing traffic. But he and his team mates are running very well. DeFrancesco is ready to race for Andretti Steinbrenner Motorsports in the Indy Lights open wheel championship.
Renger van der Zande is whittling away the lead from Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie Johnson though is comfortable behind the wheel of the Cadillac. Jimmie has twice finished runner-up at the Rolex 24. It is a two car battle at the sharp end of DPi before Alexander Rossi and Mike Conway come next. For Jimmie Johnson, he says that navigating traffic while not losing time is the hardest part about driving an endurance sports car. Especially one of these Daytona Prototype International cars. In this race you just don't have a book on every driver to expect what on earth the bloke or lady is going to do. But Jimmie Johnson is able to make consistent lap times and know how to make passes.
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