FFF returns to IGTC with intention of running full-season with a single Lamborghini...
https://sportscar365.com/sro/igtc/fff-set-for-full-season-with-lamborghini-factory-drivers/
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
FFF Set for Full Season with Lamborghini Factory Drivers
Suzuka 10H to Be Replaced by Round in Gulf Region
A story from a few weeks ago about the Intercontinental GT Challenge making a schedule change for 2021.
Suzuka 10H cancelled for second consecutive year; IGTC planning race in Gulf region...
https://sportscar365.com/sro/igtc/suzuka-10h-to-be-replaced-by-round-in-gulf-region/
BMW M4 GT3 Set for NLS Debut, GTWC Europe Outing This Year
BMW looking to give new M4 GT3 its race debut in post-Nurburgring 24 NLS race...
https://sportscar365.com/industry/bmw-m4-gt3-set-for-nls-debut-gtwc-europe-outing-this-year/
Van Gisbergen Given All Clear for Bathurst
Supercars star to make first GT World Challenge Australia start of season after missing Phillip Island...
https://sportscar365.com/sro/gtwc/australian-gt/van-gisbergen-given-all-clear-for-bathurst/
Teams 'Guiding' Development of SRO's Newest Series
GT World Challenge Australia working closely with teams on 2022 plans in SRO absence...
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
In Memoriam: Johnny Dumfries
We remember longtime sports car racer Johnny Dumfries, who was also a British nobleman. He was a sports car racing great, who also drove for one season in Formula 1 with Lotus in 1986, where he just so happened to be the team mate of the late, great Formula 1 World Champion, Ayrton Senna. He came to prominence driving with Jaguar, with the Tom Walkinshaw Racing Silk Cut Jaguar team, in the mid-to-late 1980s, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans with them, driving alongside Jan Lammers and Andy Wallace in 1988. He also raced in the Group C sports car racing World Championship, the original incarnation of what is now the FIA World Endurance Championship, with Porsche, Mercedes Benz, and Toyota, as well as a brief stint with Courage Competition before bowing out of sports car racing for a while.
He did come back, briefly, in 2003, as a test driver for the 24 Hours of Le Mans with John Nielsen's RN Motorsports Zytek LMP675 team. He tested the open cockpit sports car but never ran in the race itself, unfortunately. The car was eventually shared in the 2003 Le Mans race by John Nielsen, Hayanari Shimoda, and Casper Elgaard. But it is his tenure with Jaguar that is most well remembered. Dumfries died at age 62 after a short illness. Here are two obituaries from Autosport magazine, and Autoweek magazine.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/former-f1-driver-johnny-dumfries-passes-away-at-62/5850802/
Here is a catalog of the cars he raced, from Racing Sports Cars as well.
https://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/photo/Johnny-Dumfries-GB.html
Rest In Peace, Johnny Dumfries. The sports car racing world, will miss you.
Double Stint: News Roundup; Listener Questions (3-30-21)
The latest Double Stint Podcast, recapping the news of the week (a lot of which has been discussed here), as well as listener questions.
https://sportscar365.com/podcasts/double-stint-news-roundup-listener-questions-2/
Monday, March 29, 2021
Weekly Racing Roundup (3-29-21)
Reports from 12H Mugello and Super GT testing, plus news and notes from the past week...
https://sportscar365.com/features/roundup/weekly-racing-roundup-3-29-21/
Sunday, March 28, 2021
Detroit Round Moves to IndyCar Weekend; GTLM Added
Detroit race moved to June 11-12; Corvette’s to race on home soil...
https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/detroit-round-moves-to-indycar-weekend-gtlm-added/
Acura Making Progress on LMDh Program
Acura in midst of design studies, work with chassis constructor on LMDh project...
https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/acura-making-progress-on-lmdh-program/
Saturday, March 27, 2021
NLS Season-Opener Called Off Due to Snowy Conditions
Saturday’s four-hour NLS race called off due to snowy conditions at Nürburgring...
https://sportscar365.com/other-series/n24/nls-opener-called-off-due-to-cold-weather/
N24 Organizers Give Green Light to Original June Date
Nürburgring 24 Hours set to go ahead as planned in June; fan access remains uncertain...
https://sportscar365.com/other-series/n24/n24-organizers-give-green-light-to-original-june-date/
The Heart of Racing's GT4 Expansion "Pretty Seamless"
Ian James on team's expansion into GT4 racing with Gray Newell...
Friday, March 26, 2021
FIA World Endurance Championship headlines
More stories from the FIA World Endurance Championship anticipating the beginning of the 2021 season and the new Le Mans Hypercar era at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium in early May.
Gamble Completes GR Racing's Porsche GTE-Am Lineup
Additional Entries, SCG Presence Among 37-Car Field for Spa
United Looking to Form European Sub-Base Amid Travel Hurdles
The latest WEC Talk Podcast. Jim Glickenhaus is the guest, speaking about his team's debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the FIA World Endurance Championship as part of the new Le Mans Hypercar division.
WEC Talk: Jim Glickenhaus on LMH Project
Thursday, March 25, 2021
60 Second Update Official Test Days #GTWorldChEU 2021
Here is your 60 second update on GT World Challenge Europe testing at Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France in preparation for the 2021 season.
NLS news
This Saturday will be the opening race of the NLS (Nurburgring Langstrecke) Championship at the legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife in the Eiffel Mountains of Germany, and here's some breaking news as the championship gets set to begin for 2021.
ROWE Names Drivers For Two-Car NLS Opening Round Entry
More than 140 Entries Set for NLS Season-Opener
Stay tuned for an eventual post of the race broadcast of the first event. Looking forward to bringing all the action to you, from the Nurburgring.
12 Hours of Sebring Race Broadcast
The race broadcast of last weekend's 12 Hours of Sebring on the official IMSA website, in four parts to watch at your leisure. As always, on the microphone for IMSA Radio, we have John Hindhaugh and Jeremy Shaw in the booth, and Shea Adam on pit lane, telling the story, covering all the action. Enjoy.
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Sainteloc Commits to IGTC Program Alongside GTWC Europe
Sainteloc Racing to run full IGTC season for first time, alongside two-car GTWC Europe entry...
https://sportscar365.com/sro/igtc/sainteloc-commits-to-igtc-program-alongside-gtwc-europe/
Retiring Fassler "Proud" of Achievements in Long Career
Retiring Le Mans winner Marcel Fassler "proud" of achievements over long racing career...
Porsche & BMW, & their future involvement in IMSA
More headlines from the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, specifically about Porsche and BMW and their involvement in the WeatherTech Championship, going forward.
Porsche Targeting End-of-Year Rollout for LMDh Car
BMW Working on GTD Pro Program
LMDh "Very Appealing" for BMW Amid Continued Discussions
Porsche to Debut New GT3 Car in 2023
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Double Stint: Sebring Recap; News Roundup (3-23-21)
The latest Double Stint Podcast, recapping last Saturday's 12 Hours of Sebring, and analyzing the latest news in the world of sports car racing.
https://sportscar365.com/podcasts/double-stint-sebring-recap-news-roundup-2/
SRO America Moves VIR Date to Avoid Expected Detroit Clash
Virginia International Raceway event now June 4-6...
Creventic Opens Door to All-Silver Driving Crews
This story came in, in late February while we were covering and talking about the abbreviated 2021 Asian Le Mans Series. Creventic, organizers of the 24 Hour Series are considering All-Silver driver lineups for their endurance races.
Lineups in 24H Series can now consist entirely of FIA Silver-rated drivers...
https://sportscar365.com/other-series/24hseries/creventic-opens-door-to-all-silver-driving-crews/
Recapping the 12 Hours of Sebring on the official IMSA website
Some stories recapping the 12 Hours of Sebring via the official IMSA website.
Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring: Mazda Leads after Four Hours
Porsche Reaches Century Mark in Sebring Wins with GTLM, GTD Triumphs
'Gods of Racing' Finally Reward No. 5 Cadillac with Sebring Win
Three Takeaways: Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring
Monday, March 22, 2021
Weekly Racing Roundup (3-22-21)
Report from Super Taikyu opener at Motegi, plus news and notes from the past week...
https://sportscar365.com/features/roundup/weekly-racing-roundup-3-22-21/
post-race news after Sebring (continued)
More post-race headlines after the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Braun Credits Strategy in Come-From-Behind LMP3 Win
Sebring Post-Race Notebook
Porsche Targeting End-of-Year Rollout for LMDh Car
BMW Working on GTD-Pro Program
Sunday, March 21, 2021
12 Hours of Sebring race recap & post-race news
The race recap, and post-race news from the 69th Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring.
Race Recap:
Van der Zande Leads First Hour at Sebring; Trouble for Whelen
Tincknell Leads at Four Hours after Pair of FCY Periods
Van der Zande Out Front at Halfway
Tincknell, Mazda Lead as Sun Sets Over Sebring
Pagenaud Exceeds Drive Time Limit in No. 48 AXR Cadillac
Pfaff Claims Sebring GTD Win; Leads Porsche 1-2
WeatherTech Porsche Takes Surprise GTLM Victory
JDC-Miller Breaks Through for 12H Sebring Win
Post-Race news:
We join NBC Sports and the commentary team of Leigh Diffey, Calvin Fish, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dave Burns, and Townsend Bell in the broadcast booth, and in the pit lane, Marty Snider and Kevin Lee.
Watch Extended Highlights of Drama-Filled 12 Hours of Sebring
Bourdais on "Most Improbable" Win after Rear Wing Failure
"Pretty Frustrating" Incident for for Dixon Dashed Hopes of Win
Jaminet Got "Really Lucky" in Race-Defining GTLM Incident
Saturday, March 20, 2021
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 12 (the finish)
Leading this motor race now is the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-V.R. of Sebastien Bourdais, and his co-driver Tristan Vautier says that they want a good last pit stop. Felipe Nasr hit the #5 Cadillac earlier on. The #55 Mazda is still in contention and so is the #60 Meyer Shank Acura, while the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura is suffering right now from intercooler troubles. They are not getting proper cooling on the red hot turbocharger. Meantime, the plot thickens in GTLM as Connor De Philippi is moving in on Antonio Garcia. Corvette vs. BMW in the final 55 minutes of this motor race. Wow. It is not done and dusted yet. Don't cut the cake just yet ladies and gentlemen. This one is still sizzling.
It looks as if the #25 just passed the sister #24 BMW. Hard to tell in the darkness. All five classes on track with multiple cars on the lead lap as Laurens Vanthoor pits the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R in GT Daytona. Zach Robichon and Lars Kern are the other two drivers. The #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin pits as well, Ross Gunn at the controls with Ian James and Roman De Angelis sharing the car. They've been in contention in GT Daytona all day. Katherine Legge in the #88 EBM Hardpoint Porsche 911 GT3R with Katherine Legge at the wheel.
They lead GT Daytona at the moment, with Bea Figueredo. Legge brings the EBM Porsche to the pit road. The only Porsche in GT Le Mans, the #79 WeatherTech Porsche 911 RSR-19 is pushing hard, but they have to get around the BMW and the Corvette. Matthieu "Jam Jam" Jaminet is in that car. Pit stops coming, (final pit stops), for the GTLM division. Corvette #4 is in the pit lane. Sebastien Bourdais leads this motor race in the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Mustang Sampling Cadillac. From the aerial view, it is Corvette vs. BMW for GT Le Mans honors. Garcia vs. De Philippi. Neither of these cars have hit the lane for their final stops.
Jordan Taylor does not know yet why Corvette have not pitted. Connor De Philippi flashes the lights. Here comes De Philippi down pit road. What is going to happen and the Corvette boys are going to have to react. Fresh Michelin tires and fuel. We look at the track positions, the "dancing ants". The #3 might catch traffic on the in-lap. The BMW is down and away. What kind of traffic will you encounter on cold tires exiting the lane? Headed to Bishop Bend, Antonio Garcia. He is in the clear. However, he must hit the lane. Just over 40 minutes on the board.
Antonio Garcia is in the pit lane. What will the Corvette team do to expedite the stop? A quick pit stop for the Corvette, all the field, gunning the engine within an inch of it's life. De Philippi into Sunset Bend, and Garcia releases himself back into the lead but De Philippi has hot tires. The cold tires will slow Garcia down 4-5 seconds a lap, but he has the track positions. When you do a short fill, get it right. A top off is fine. But 2/3rd of a fuel tank has to be calculated correctly. Sebastien Bourdais is 8.5 seconds to the good over Harry Tincknell with less than 40 minutes left in the motor race.
Bourdais' lead has now ballooned to 9.7 seconds. But he dives for the pit lane. Obviously JDC-Miller Motorsports had to go for it. This is a major turn around for this particular team. They won Watkins Glen in 2018. Sebastien Bourdais has won Sebring before but not for a while. Will Bourdais hang on? Alexander Rossi also pits the #10 Acura. Bourdais and Joao Barbosa nearly get together. Barbosa used to drive for the Mustang Sampling team. Mikkel Jensen has the #52 PR1/Mathiasen LMP2 Oreca in the pit lane for the final pit stop. They had an upright failure in the morning warmup and had to serve a drive through penalty. Mikkel Jensen will bring the car home teaming up with Ben Keating and Scott Huffaker.
Final stop for Kamui Kobayashi in the Ally Cadillac #48. They've been really fast but have had a litany of troubles. They had a rattle gun issue as well. Harry Tincknell also has to make his final pit stop aboard the #55 Mazda. Tincknell in the lane. He will stay in the car. Four new Michelin tires and VP Racing fuel. Trouble for the #75 Mercedes AMG GT3 as Maro Engle has had a huge wreck on the front straight right out of Sunset Bend. Three wheels on my wagon, and... smash! Left rear tire went out, hitting directly on the concrete wall! Ouch! Full Course Yellow, the eighth of the motor race. Antonio Garcia in the Corvette just missed it.
Mikael Grenier, Kenny Habul, and Maro Engel, game over. Half an hour to go tonight in the 69th Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. Maro Engel had a left rear wheel issue, plowing backwards into the tire wall. Less than 25 minutes to go. Jordan Taylor says it is stressful to watch his co-driver, but Antonio Garcia is going to go for it. Just a shade over 20 minutes to go. The #44 Magnus Racing "Speed Racer" Acura NSX GT3 is in and out of the pit lane. The #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac still leads. Team boss John Church and advisor Christian Fittipaldi are looking for a win. John Wright and Wright Motorsports have to catch the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche. Two Porsche's racing each other in GT Daytona.
Cadillac vs. Mazda vs. Acura. Bourdais, Tincknell, Rossi. They come through Sunset Bend. Green flag. Bourdais rockets away, the four-time IndyCar champion. Dane Cameron moves to third past Alexander Rossi. Harry Tincknell still second. Cameron just barely clears Rossi! The Mazda is not able to get instant energy into it's Michelin tires. Create temperature and lateral grip in the tires and in the car. Tincknell is behind Bourdais by 4/10ths of a second and that lead could grow. It is growing. Mikkel Jensen leads by a second and it's door to door in GTLM betwen Porsche and BMW. Jaminet wants the long way but can't get by Connor De Philippi.
Antonio Garcia leads these two chaps by a second. Laurens Vanthoor leads Patrick Long in GT Daytona by 2.2 seconds. CORE Autosport, after 27 years of racing took a year off, and has come back to racing in LMP3. Colin Braun at the wheel fo the car leading Jeroen Bleekemolen and Spencer Pigot. Braun, Bleekemolen, Pigot, and Askew, the top four in LMP3. Spencer Pigot and Oliver Askew are former IndyCar drivers who could get back into IndyCar. Joao barbosa is there, and Askeww is off the road with less than 14 minutes to go.
He lost drive and re-lights the car. Tincknell is faster than Bourdais, just 3/10ths behind Bourdais. Dane Cameron is right in there as well. Bourdais is the minnow and he has two hungry sharks ready to chomp. A telemetry alarm for the #5 Cadillac. Less than two seconds blankets the top five. Kamui Kobayashi is fifth. Alexander Rossi is hanging tough even with a broken intercooler. Bourdais has regrouped and remains in the lead over Tincknell by half a second. The GTLM battle has gone pears shaped for Cotvette and BMW! Connor De Philippi has gone off the road and so has the Corvette. Porsche unscathed. The BMW and the Corvette are wounded with seven minutes on the board.
There was some contact between the BMW and the Corvette and the Corvette gets rotated. No contact I don't think between BMW and Porsche. Yes. There was a touch. Oh man! #25 gets a drive through penalty. Race over for BMW and for Corvette! The DPi leaders are about to catch five GT Daytona cars with five minutes to go. Five DPi cars battling for the finish. Look at this. Here comes Kamui Kobayashi, moving up. He moves to third. Mikkel Jensen leads LMP2 but has Ryan Dalziel and Era Motorsports right in the fight.
An altercation between Katherine Legge and Andy Lally. A penalty looms over Legge in the EBM Hardpoint Richard Mille Porsche. Borudais and Tincknell scrapping for the lead and here comes Dane Cameron and Kamui Kobayashi as well. White flag next time by. Bourdais is clear without much traffic. Bourdais is pulling away from Tincknell. He wants it. Kobayashi is in the fight as well. Tincknell throws the block over Kobauashi. Here he comes on Tincknell again. #55 goes wide. Mustang Sampling win Sebring! #5 for "The French Connection", Sebastien Bourdais, Loic Duval, and Tristan Vautier.
PR1/Mathiasen win LMP2. Pfaff win GT Daytona. Colin Braun will win for CORE Autosport in LMP3. WeatherTech Racing are going to win in GT Le Mans. Four straight GTLM wins for Porsche at Sebring! Wow!
Overall/DPi: #5 Bourdais/Vautier/Duval Cadillac DPi-V.R
LMP2: #52 Keating/Jensen/Huffaker Oreca 07
LMP3: #54 Bennett/Kurtz/Braun Ligier JS P320 Nissan
GT Le Mans: #79 MacNeil/Campbell/Jaminet Porsche 911 RSR-19
GT Daytona: #9 Robichon/Vanthoor/Kern Porsche 911 GT3R
So, there you have it. A wild and wooly 12 Hours of Sebring for 2021 is done and dusted. Goodness. What an unbelievable race. Next time out, it is the first sprint race of the year, in early May, at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. We will see you, in the middle of May for round three of the championship. So long, for now, everybody.
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 11
Pit stop time for the #10 WTR Acura. Filipe Albuquerque out, and Alexander Rossi in. The #31 Whelen Cadillac is slow with Mike Conway at the wheel of it, as the #01 is in the lane. Scott Dixon will do a double stint and then Renger van der Zande will finish as the Mazda #55 also pits. Massive fire for the #24 BMW in the lane! Jesse Krohn is out of the car. Game over for the #24 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE. What set that car ablaze? Was that a fuel spillage? The driver change happened while the fire was going on as the car is covered in fire extinguisher foam. Looks like they will continue on with the pit stop and in the race. But the #79 WeatherTech Porsche is going to be able to make inroads for a fourth successive GTLM win for Porsche at Sebring. BMW Team RLL try to figure out what went wrong with the #24 as the sister car leads in GT Le Mans, car #25.
Filipe Albuquerque is one of the latest people in a long line of drivers who have raced with Wayne Taylor Racing. The #31 Whelen Cadillac came to rest in an unsafe spot and that is why we are under yellow right now;. Zach Veach tops up with fuel in the #12 Lexus and we will see Veach, Laurens Vanthoor, and also, Andy Lally, pushin in GT Daytona, as Ross Gunn leads GT Daytona for the #23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin. Dixon, Pla, Jarvis, Rossi, the top four overall and in DPi. What a pretty picture at night Sebring International Raceway is. We have just an hour and a half to go before this race is over.
We are ready to go back to green. Scott Fixon leading Olivier Pla, and Oliver Jarvis. Dixon flies into the lead. He does not have to defend. He is moving away from Olivier Pla. Oliver Jarvis has Alexander Rossi closing in on him. It is hard to find any cars that have the pace of the #01. Through Cunningham Corner and Collier Corner. Oliver Jarvis is 6/10ths of a second away from the lead. The Audi era was two decades ago, and finished in 2013-2014 and 2015-2016. Oliver Jarvis was a worksd Audi driver. Pla is moving ahead of Jarvis.
Rossi gives up a position to the #48 AXR Cadillac as the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac moves up and Sebastien Bourdais is now all over Kamui Kobayashi. The #10 Acura is losing power. Damage too look, a tire rub, on the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus with Zach Veach driving. They will have to make an unscheduled pit stop. Vasser Sullivan has not had a good time at Sebring the last two times. Wow! The Pfaff Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor nails the Lexus. The front of that Porsche will be crumpled. What will the stewards say? Laurens Vanthoor, Ross Gunn, and Andy Lally, and now, the Lexus crew will need to serve a drive through penalty for passing before the green flag waved.
Antonio Garcia in the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R has cycled back to the lead of GT Le Mans ahead of the BMW's and the WeatherTech Porsche. Since 2002, Corvette Racing has 11 class victories here at the Sebring 12 Hours. Colin Braun has moved ahead of Jeroen Bleekemolen in the LMP3 class. Wow. Amazing performance. Lots has happened. Yours truly was eating pizza to reenergize for the final hour and we have seen a lot. Mike Conway and the #31 Whelen Cadillac are out of the motor race due to mechanical woes.
A fire for the #24 BMW M8 GTE of Jesse Krohn in the lane, and also, the #01 Scott Dixon driven Ganassi Cadillac. Wow.
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 10
Ganassi Cadillac, the #01 in the pit lane as we have ourselves a lovely, golden sunset here at Sebring. Scott Dixon is back behind the wheel. Pit stop time for Montoya as well in the #60 from the race lead, handing the car over to Olivier Pla. Three wide for Scott Fixon into Kristensen corner going by Kyle Tilley in the Era Motorsports LMP2 car. Mazda and Harry Tincknell stay ahead of Scott Dixon. Now, Filipe Albuquerque is back into the lead in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura. Porsche are going for four wins straight here at Sebring and BMW has all new BMW M8 GT's for this race and for the last two endurance events this year which BMW are also contesting. The sun is going to be blinding into the apexes of the corners especially in turn seven and into turn 17, Sunset Bend.
Juan Pablo Montoya says that the #60 Acura is very strong and he was saving fuel. Kevin Magnussen says his stint wasn't the cleanest. His day has been tough. Scott Dixon and Renger van der Zande will finish out the race in the last two hours and 50 minutes still on the board. Kevin Magnussen has not won since 2013 in the Formula Renault 3.5 championship. Jimmie Johnson says that they are racing really for a trophy after Simon Pagenaud's drive time went over. Simon Pagenaud's drive time went over by 50 seconds. Race Control says that the maximum drive time was exceeded.
More GT battking between the #25 and #79. Campbell vs. Eng. A massive crash for the #8 Tower Motorsports LMP2 car of Tim Buret! Oh my word! That car is absolutely destroyed! We have seen some colossal, massive accidents today. Timothe Buret speared off the road and rolled the car through the safety tire wall. Oh my God! That's a massive wreck and Thank God he didn't hit the concrete barrier. A very fortunate escape for the 25-year-old Frenchman. The safety car has been deployed for obvious reasons. The tire temperatures were not up and the sun has gone down, so the track temp and ambient temp have dropped.
Pit stops in GTLM for the #79 Porsche. The BMW's were also in the lane on the same strategy and so were a myraid of the GT Daytona runners as we continue under Full Course Yellow behind the safety car. That was a close shave near pit exit for the WeatherTech Porsche, the BMW, and the Pfaff GTD Porsche! This is the 69th running of this great race, as a U.S. Army Air Force Base between 1941-'45. It is the oldest continually operating race track in the United States. Spencer Pumpelly is still on the lead lap in the #44 Magnus Racing Acura NSX GT3. Will they be on pace with the Lamborghini and the Porsche's? We'll see. Andy Lally and Mike Johnson, teaming up to put this program together.
Sebring has not been the best place for the Acura NSX GT3. Two and a half hours to go. Corvette Racing's Laura Wontrop Klauser says the Corvette brand are still trying to see where they can put the Corvette into a class structure for next year. We shall find out. Oliver Aslkew is second in LMP3 in the #7 Duqueine for Forty7 Motorsports. It is his first 12 Hours of Sebring as Stevan McAleer is driving. Mazda took on scrubbed Michelin tires while everyone else in DPi just took fuel. Filipe Albuquerque leads in the #10 Acura. Green flag in the twilight. Scott Dixon moves to the outside of Filipe Albuquerque.
He has been studying his team mate Renger van der Zande. Acura #60 off the road at turn five corner exit. Pit stop for the #1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini. The car was very slow on corner exit. Something has cropped up in the Lamborghini. They too have run afoul of drive time issues. But what is going on with the Lamborghini? GT Daytona is blown wide open! Trent Hindman in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche is getting a drive through penalty and it's side by side stuff between Matt Campbell and John Edwards. Phillip Eng in the sister BMW leads in class. BMW Team RLL run 1-2 in GTLM. The Paul Miller Lamborghini is slowing and the gearbox is on the blink.
The transmission is eating itself. Katherine Legge is in the #88 EBM Team Hardpoint Porsche 911 GT3R. Legge sharing with Bea Figueredo, and Christina Nielsen. Zach Robichon leads Trent Hindman and Frankie Montecalvo, Spencer Pumpelly, Katherine Legge, and others, will move up. Scott Huffaker leads LMP2 right now and Dylan Murry leads LMP3 in his first start at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Pfaff and Wright had a contretemps at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the middle of the night. Right now, they are running together here at Sebring with two hours and 20 minutes remaining.
Scott Dixon leads Olivier Pla by quite a margin, by 3.2 seconds. Simon Pagenaud is now fifth and in sixth, Loic Duval. Trent Hindman has to serve his penalty. He has four laps in which he can serve it before the stewards stop scoring him. Mikael Grenier drops a wheel off the road. Meanwhile, Scott Dixon continues to lead the motor race by over 3.5 seconds ahead of Olivier Pla, and then comes Filipe Albuquerque and Oliver Jarvis. Brake lockup there look, for Scott Dixon. Simon Pagenaud is moving up, but they will not be able to score well due to an impending disqualification for the #48 Cadillac. Very sad.
Pipo Derani says of his contact with Renger van der Zande, he did not see a second GT car. He was prepared to go side by side. van der Zande could see, and yet he went between Derani and the GT car. Derani thought Renger van der Zande turned him into the wall. He decided to split the cars and never saw the GT car. It sounds like cooler heads have prevailed at Action Express. It is very unfortunate for the team as Pipo says he surely had the line over Renger van der Zande. Action Express races clean. There is a level of frustration at AXR with how the season has not gone their way yet.
Still two hours and ten minutes left. It will be a long haul for both of the Action Express cars. Trent Hindman penalized in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche, in a drive through penalty for having too many crewmembers over the wall. Trent Hindman is beginning to play catch up. Scott Dixon leads and has a gap of eight seconds over Olivier Pla as Dixon squeezes past Wayne Boyd in the LMP2 United Autosports Ligier, with 2003 Le Mans winner at Bentley, with Tom Kristensen of all people. We thought Guy Smith was retired. Nope. Not by a long shot. The new lighting on the Ulmann straight really helps as it used to be pitch black down there.
PR1/Matthiasen are in the lane. He is in the car. He has been nominated for the factory Peugeot Le Mans Hypercar team along with Renger van der Zande for 2022. Pfaff Motorsports and their Porsche continues to lead GT Daytona with Zach Robichon at the controls. Spencer Pumpelly in GT Daytona along with Ross Gunn and Katherine Legge have all moved up. Dylan Murry leads LMP3 and his dad David Murry had a great career and raced here at Sebring several times. Laurens Vanthoor might take over Porsche #9. Frankie Montecalvo is still running Lexus #12 and Zach Veach will finish. Spencer Pumpelly is third in GT Daytona in the Magnus Racing Acura NSX GT3.
They are getting a lot of help from HPD (Honda Performance Development). Dylan Murry, teamed up with Jeroen Bleekemolen and Jim Cox. Murry has also won in Michelin Pilot Challenge, following in the footsteps of his dad. The sister car for Riley Motorsports of Scott Andrews is chasing, closing the gap down and quick. Ten hours and a second and a half separation. Goodness me.
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 9
Four hours to go. The scrap for the GT Le Mans lead is hot and heavy as we see Matt Campbell reeling in Bruno Spengler. Augusto Farfus is next in class in the sister BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE. Kamui Kobayshi is catching Renger van der Zande hand over fist. Jimmie Johnson will likely be getting back into the #48 car. LMP3 car #83 off the road. Rodrigo Sales at the controls. He is dragging part of the diffuser. Sales loses that diffuser piece and keeps on trucking. Scott Andrews leads LMP3 for Riley Motorsports in the #74 Ligier. Jonathan Bomarito still leads this motor race in the Mazda, originally from California, having relocated to Tennessee.
Filipe Albuquerque is moving in in the #10 Acura and here come Magnussen and Kobayashi as well. Deja vu. Daytona running order, (somewhat), here at Sebring. Pit stop time for Magnussen and for Kobayashi. Bang on the money on the pit schedule for #48. Jimmie Johnson ready to get into the car. Porsche vs. BMW round two in GTLM as Spengler is keeping Campbell at bay. Augusto Farfus is five seconds behind these two and then Nicky Catsburg was caught in the quadruple decker sandwich of DPi cars.
Driving straight into the sun at 180 miles an hour. #55 and #10 in the lane. Driver change at Mazda. Bomarito out and it likely will be Oliver Jarvis into the Mazda. No driver change for Acura #10. Filipe Albuquerque driving. Mazda leads over the Acura. Where is the #01 Cadillac? Jack Hawksworth spins and fortunately gets back on track but the tow link is broken, and the car is cambered like crazy. He was in the path of Filipe Albuquerque who might be damaged. Kevin Magnussen moves inside, and Albuquerque actually was farther back in the braking zone. It sounds like Albuquerque gave the Lexus a thump.
#10 has been in the lane and we have a Full Course Yellow because of the fact that Hawksworth's suspension is damaged. He stops on the backstretch. Magnussen came out of all that shemozzle in second spot. Hawksworth is trundling back to the pits and we have a Full Course Yellow. Now, Harry Tincknell leads Kevin Magnussen with Juan Pablo Montoya third and Jimmie Johnson in fourth. Mike Conway is now at the controls of the #31 Whelen Cadillac.
Bomarito is still favoring his left knee, on the brake pedal. Finesse on the throttle, and braking, are both challenging. Scott Andrews and Dylan Murry are the two LMP3 cars on the lead lap in class as the fans take in this unique motor race;. #48 in the pit lane with Jimmie Johnson, five laps into their latest stint. Three hours and 38 minutes remaining. This is a splash and a dash. Corvette C8.R #3 in the lane as well, but he drivers through. That was a mistake by whoever is driving. Nicky Catsburg at the wheel of the Corvette.
GTD cars in the pit lane, the entire field in class. Porsche #9 in as Laurens Vanthoor hops out and Lars Kern gets back in. #25 and BMW are doing a brake change, or maybe it is the #24. #25 is fine. #24 needs a brake change and the #25 is pinned in. Dear me. Connor De Philippi not happy with his team mate. Bruno Spengler in #25, and Augusto Farfus in #24. Philipp Eng is in the #25 BMW. Jimmie Johnson is about to experience sunset on a restart with some of the best sports car drivers in the world. Make good decisions and stay in the fight. Don't feel under pressure.
We are ready for the restart. Harry Tincknell, Kevin Magnussen, Juan Pablo Montoya. Tincknell gets the jump leaving Magnussen and Montoya to pick up the scraps. Mike Conway is being smart, moving out of the way as Nicky Catsburg spins the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R and is back underrway. He was way lff in the dirt, headed for the access road, and he left a WeatherTech signboard out on the road. Filipe Albuquerque will have to serve his drive through penalty for incident responsibility. The sun is setting. The shadows growing long. Chad Knaus and the #48 team did a splash and dash and they could still be in the pound seats as the race continues into the darkness.
GTLM and the fight remains hot and heavy. Campbell, Eng, Farfus. Nicky Catsburg has to play catch up in the #3 Corvette C8.R. Campbell is flashing his high beams at an LMP3 car and Phillip Eng in the BMW is doing the same in GTLM to Matt Campbell as well. Farfus nearly gets bottled up behind the LMP3 car. The finish is coming up. Tincknell leads Magnussen by a second at least. We continue to watch the GTLM battle as Matt Campbell still leads in class. Filipe Albuquerque has served his penalty and he is moving in. He is 39 seconds behind the leader.
Harry Tincknell leads the motor race ahead of Kevin Magnussen through Sunset Bend, down the front straight and into that wicked first corner. Eng is making his presence known to Matt Campbell. BMW of course are only running the endurance races this year so we will not see them again until Watkins Glen in New York in June. GT Le Mans also will not exist next year. There will be GT Daytona and GT Daytona Pro. Traffic ahead for the Porsche in GTLM. The BMW's might have a chance to pounce. Running order remains the same in GTLM. You've missed nothing as we get ready for the evening hours.
New brakes = more bite and friction in the braking zone. BMW and Porsche both might need brake changes. We go for a lap, or half a lap around Sebring and really hear how the drivers are driving the race car. Throttle position, braking, gear changes. Meanwhile in GTD, Madison Snow and Jan Heylen scrap and the leaders come through. Harry Tincknell vs. Kevin Magnussen. We have had 26 lead changes among six leaders. A tad over three hours remaining. Harry Tincknell still leads. We've discussed the GTLM battle and in GTD we have seen trouble for Lexus, a wee bit, and we see Pfaff Motorsports leading in class in GT Daytona. Porsche have had a good race today as they did back in November.
The #48 Ally Bank Action Express Cadillac is fourth overall and are rebounding. This car was rebuilt from scratch overnight and Jimmie Johnson spun earlier. They've been through the ringer and are moving in. Pit stop time for the #55 Mazda. Harry Tincknell in the lane. Where will it cycle out? The #01 Cadillac is still pushing as well with Kevin Magnussen pushing hard. Jonathan Bomarito tweaked his knee earlier. But he is still in it. Still in the fight. Simon Pagenaud pits the #48. He has also won the LMP1 championship in the American Le Mans Series in addition to his IndyCar successes.
Chad Knaus on the box and the Hendrick Motorsports pit crew, they've done well. Rolex 24 redux, as we can see a bunch of cars going for the win in this race. Absolutely unreal. The GTD battle remains hot and heavy between the Wright Motorsports Porsche and the Paul Miller Lamborghini and in GTLM Porsche continues to lead both of the factory BMW's. The plot thickens. This motor race is far, far from over as the sun begins to set.
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 8
Bomarito vs. van der Zande round two. Bomarito slammed his knee on the steering wheel, hyperextending it upon getting out of the car. Renger van der Zande, the Dutchman, he is not giving up. Bomarito gets a better corner exit. Well past halfway and Nicky Catsburg in the #3 Corvette, was called to the pit lane. Catsburg didn't understand a pit call. The two BMW's and the #79 Porsche, the WeatherTech car did not pit. Bomarito and the Mazda racing a 2.0 liter turbocharged 4 cylinder against the 3.5 liter turbo V6 in the Acura and the 5.5 liter normally aspirated V8 for the Cadillacs. Lars Kern in the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R is passed by Corey Lewis in the #1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
Frankie Montecalvo leads Kyle Kirkwood in the intramural Lexus scrum. The Aston Martin of Roman De Angelis, the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin is the lightest GT Daytona car. Meantime, the Renger van der Zande vs. Jonathan Bomarito battle remains hot and heavy. Some argy bargy between the two and here comes Ricky Taylor making inroads. Dane Cameron and Pipo Derani behind. Dane Cameron and Kamui Kobayashi are also coming into the picture. Kamui Kobayashi slides around and there is supposedly contact between Loic Duval and Kamui Kobayashi on full opposite lock! Yikes! Lapped traffic for Jonathan Bomarito, GTD traffic. Wow. Slcing and dicing through the Acura, Porsche, BMW and more in GT Daytona.
More GTD traffic as Maro Engel balks Bomarito. The Mazda was held up by the Mercedes and poor old Kyle Kirkwood in the Lexus gets bombarded. Three wide with the Aston Martin and Renger van der Zande goes to the other side of the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche! Everyone seems to be on the same pit strategy as far as the top four. Bomarito, van der Zande, Taylor, Cameron. A few hours away from official sunset. The sun will drop pretty fast. Corey Lewis has moved around Lars Kern. Kern is an engineer and a production car for specialist. His father worked for Porsche for 40 years. He began racing again, and is their endurance driver at Pfaff. He is an engineer, but acts more like a driver for sure. Meanwhile, Kyle Kirkwood and the #14 Lexus has gotten back on the lead lap after the most recent Full Course Yellow.
Traffic ahead and Renger van der Zande is right on Jonathan Bomarito's six. Close moment between Jonathan Bomarito and Dylan Murry in the #91 Riley Motorsports Ligier. Murry sharing with Jeroen Bleekemolen and Jim Cox. The DPi field in 2021 is stout. Scott Huffaker has won Jeremy Shaw's Team U.S.A. scholarship. No dramas for the #52 he says, except for starting from pit lane and serving a drive through penalty with Mikkel Jensen currently in the car. Scott Huffaker is confident. Bomarito leads as Ricky Taylor wants by Renger van der Zande checking up behind the #79 GTLM Porsche. Into turn one, he's looking, probing Renger van der Zande as they go by the sister BMW M8 GT #25, of Connor De Philippi.
Dane Cameron is now moving in, making inroads on Ricky Taylor in the identical #10 car. The unsettling and the violence of the bumps in Sunset Bend, turn 17, is incredible. In GT Daytona, Lars Kern continues to chase down Corey Lewis. After this race, you are really sore in the wrists and forearms due to the kickback through the wheel over the bumps. At Daytona, the pain is back pain in the banking. van der Zande has a run on Bomarito completing one lap and starting another. More GTD traffic. Van der Zande gets balked by Kyle Kirkwood.
Now, Ricky Taylor is reeling in Renger van der Zande hand over fist. The light is diminishing and the sun is getting low in the sky as we get closer and closer to darkness. The #31 Whelen Cadillac spins. The leaders are in the pit lane. #01 in the lane as Kevin Magnussen gets back into the car. Mazda #55 is in the lane for sticker tires. No driver change. #48 pits as well as does Ricky Taylor. Taylor stays in and Kobayashi stays in. #31 loses it and slams the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac of Tristan Vautier. Felipe Nasr had a steering rack break, possibly.
Juan Montoya has all kinds of bother as he goes inside, then outside and nearly tags Lance Willsey in the #33 Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier. The incident between Felipe Nasr and Loic Duval is under review by the stewards. The Action Express Cadillac and the Mustang Sampling JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac. Kevin Magnussen chases Jonathan Bomarito as well as having Filipe Albuquerque right on his tail. Another good run for Riley Motorsports and the #74 car. Gar Robinson has completed his drive time and so Spencer Pigot and Scott Andrews are going to alternate to take the car to the finish.
Magnussen threads the needle by GTLM and GTD traffic. In replay, e see the Mercedes and the Porsche together and Filipe Albuquerque moves in but Kevin Magnussen too, he gets roughed up in a big way as Matthieu Jaminet almost makes contact as well. Kyle Tilley in the #18 Era Motorsports Oreca spins. Felipe Nasr has been penalized for the incident with Tristan Vautier and will serve a penalty, a drive through penalty. Kamui Kobayashi is reeling in Juan Pablo Montoya. These Daytona Prototype International cars are bulletproof. Pretty incredible.
Kamui Kobayashi drifts the #48 in the esses and he makes it back. Wow. Incredible stuff. Corey Lewis has Lars Kern reeling him in in GT Daytona. One of the best battles on the road. Lewis' tries might be knackered. Patrick Long is next up in the serial. BMW #25 is in the lane in GTLM. The leaders are in in GTLM. Bruno Spengler into the #25 and the #79 Porsche will have Matthieu Jaminet still driving. A slight delay on fuel. Check that. "Jam Jam" out of the car and it could be Matt Campbell at the wheel of it now. It is. Jaminet and Campbell will trade back and forth. Cooper MacNeil has done his stints and is done for the day. The factory Porsche program ended at the end of 2020 but now we have the WeatherTech Porsche in GTLM as well.
Now, the #1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini is in the lane. Madison Snow takes over from Corey Lewis and Bryan Sellers will have another stint or two before the race ends. Good battle here, look, as Kamui Kobayashi is reeling in Juan Montoya. Kobayashi is just five seconds behind leader Jonathan Bomarito. The #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R pits. Lars Kern out of the carn and Laurens Vanthoor into the car. They were running second. Now, the #14 Lexus is in too. Jack Hawksworth takes over from Kyle Kirkwood. Jan Heylen replaces Trent Hindman in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. Lexus #12 sees Frankie Montecalvo in the car. Now, Kamui Kobayashi is reeling in Kevin Magnussen.
Corvette #3 in the lane for service. Where will the speed come out of the Corvette. There will be temperature crossover between tire compounds as dusk falls. The pit stop crossover has begun. Andy Lally leads GT Daytona and has come to the pit lane for service. Laurens Vanthoor and Madison Snow are pushing. To the lead, and it's Kevin Magnussen wrestling Filipe Albuquerque. Albuquerque uses the LMP3 car as a pick. Bomarito and Mazda continue to lead this motor race. Bomarito seems to be leaving margin on the table to calculate his moves. Kobayashi in the #48 Action Express Ally Bank Cadillac is faster than anyone in the top four.
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 7
This race will be dry. Heavy rain at Sebring means red flags and undrivable conditions. Past halfway. Under six hours left on the board. Renger van der Zande leads the motor race. Oliver Jarvis in the Mazda, they won't have too much worry with no air conditioning, but they have had over boost and some radio troubles. The #60 Meyer Shank Acura has had aero balance issues, but not now. Olivier Pla is running well. Now, Alexander Rossi, after the penalty for the pit equipment is in the middle of a triple stint. Ricky Taylor will be the next driver into the car, and they have made up 30 seconds on pace alone. It sounds like the #60 Acura team adjusted their ride height on the car.
With the ride height corrected, the #60 team could get back in the game. Renger van der Zande has a big wiggle as he moves in on Stevan McAleer in the #7 Forty7 Motorsports car in LMP3. There have surely been many heart in mouth moments through this race. It happens to everyone. There is a muffler sitting outside of turn 17. Where did that come from? Who knows where that sucker came from. Maybe it was hiding in a pothole or it came from a B17 bomber during WW. II. This place has been around for 80 years. Katherine Legge is glad to be back after a didaster last year breaking both legs in a crash. She and Christina Nielsen are teamed up together, showing that women can be racing drivers, just like others in sports car racing in the past... Lyn St. James, Desiree Wilson, Kathy Rude, Deborah Gregg.
Trent Hindman still leads in GT Daytona with Lars Kern second and Ross Gunn third in the Aston Martin. Katherine Legge also had a massive Champ Car crash years ago but it didn't even phase her one bit. Alexander Rossi, meantime, has the #10 Acura in the pit lane and Ricky Taylor is back into the car. Rossi might be the man to also finish this race for WTR. Sebring as a track, changes so much. When it is overcast, in the cool spot, the track stays consistent. The grip level always changes. Peak tire and car performance does not fall off as much in cooler temperatures like these.
Pit stop time now for the #52 PR1/Mathiasern LMP2 car, the leader in class. Scott Huffaker out, and into the car, it is either Mikkel Jensen or Ben Keating. Ah. It is Mikkel Jensen. Oliver Jarvis is in the #55 Mazda. They are pitting for service and Trent Hindman will hand the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R to Patrick Long. Also in the lane, Renger van der Zande in the #01 car. Renger van der Zande stays in the car. No penalty for the earlier incident between Pipo Derani and Renger van der Zande. It was a racing deal, a racing incident, pure and simple.
As the sun sets, in another three hours, the sun might heat the track surface. The braking zones into turn seven, and turn 17 (Sunset Bend),. Some damage to the left rear of the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports car of Matteo Llarena. Llarena has lost the fender, the "cheese wedge". Poor old Llarena is going to have to make around another lap. The race has been green since 2PM. The exhaust system on that automobile is loose. It looks like an RLV off a 100cc direct drive. Llarena is still circulating, and the team is looking for some form of Full Course Yellow. He is coming to the lane.
We have Dave Burns, Townsend Bell, and Kevin Lee on the broadcast now to replace Leigh Diffey, Calvin Fish, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Now, Simon Pagenaud has pitted the #48 Cadillac. A spin for the #22 United Autosport LMP2 Oreca. Oh my gosh. Pipo Derani thankfully lifted! Egad! Meanwhile, the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R is in the lane, Jordan Taylor hopping out, and Antonio Garcia into the car. Matthieu Jaminet is now in the #79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche in GTLM. A coming together too for the #55 Mazda and the #60 Acura. Dane Cameron and Jonathan Bomarito. Cameron is back in the motor race but where is Jonathan Bomarito?
Bomarito got hit in the right rear. There will be a penalty there for the #60 car. Race Control are reviewing the incident. #60 will serve a drive through penalty for incident responsibility. Through the spotters, Cameron apologizes to Bomarito, or vice versa. Call a truce. Pipo Derani is lucky, as Jim McGuire will get a penalty for his incident with the #31. Game over for the #38 Performance Tech car. Rasmus Lindh, Matteo Llarena, and Dan Goldburg, game over. Matt Bell, meanwhile has stuffed the #83 WIN Autosport car into the wall, in turn 13, the Tower Turn. No drive. Is the engine or transmission busted? Bell sharing with Rodrigo Sales, and Niklas Kruetten.
Under yellow, Cadillac #01 and Acura #10 pit leaving the #31 to stay on track. The #55 Mazda came to the pit lane as well. #38 and their team found a dead squirrel in the car. Oh boy. We've seen alligator but no squirrel. Hmmm. Hungry? Squirrel on a stick. Barbecued alligator. Get your vittles here. Extremely posh grub available. OK. Pit stop time for GT Daytona as the #44 Magnus Racing Acura NSX GT3 on Andy Lally, John Potter, and Spencer Pumpelly, with the Speed Racer, Mach 5 livery. The #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche is in the lane for service, diagnosing something for a quick repair under the bonnet. Of course, the engine is mid mounted in a Porsche. It sounds like the team is doing a brake change, and the mechanic under the hood was pouring brake fluid into the master cylinder.
You see a lot of people do some crazy things at Sebring, although, it is family friendly now. It's been a nice, temperate deal as far as the weather. We are glad fans are at Sebring and yours truly is also enjoying this motor race. We remain under Full Course Yellow with nearly another hour on the board. In the meantime, the #52 PR1/Mathiasen LMP2 car, the Wynn's car, has just pitted to top off fuel. #31 has taken the wave around making a lap up, full fuel load, and tires. Pipo Derani will catch the leaders. He is going to be slotted in somewhere. Oh no. Driver time limit for #48, for four hours in a six hour period.
So, the stop has been made and Kamui Kobayashi is now in the car, replacing Simon Pagenaud while the #31 is at the tail end of the DPi queue. Kamui Kobayashi si also told to slice his way thorugh the GT's. The pace car scampers away. Renger van der Zande tries to move around Bomarito and Ricky Taylor is also getting close. Derani and Kobayashi are charging. Side by side between #10 and #01. Ricky Taylor jinks right and then left. That's a lot of bish bash bosh there boys. Fight amongst yourselves, lads. Poor old Pipo Derani is trying to move in on Dane Cameron. Bomarito leads the motor race.
Renger van der Zande has inched away from Taylor, working on Bomarito. Five hours to go as we approach the end of another racing hour. Cadillac vs. Mazda. The backstretch from 16-17 will tell the tale of the tape.
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 6
Kenny Habul has hit the wall in the esses, in the lowest speed corners on the road. He has backed it into the fence. The team was having a wheel speed sensor affecting the ABS and the traction control. He is back on the track but the rear end of the car is slightly tweaked. Kenny Habul, one of his best pals is country music musician Zac Brown and they are doing songwriting together. Now, there's been a spin again in turn 16 with a couple of LMP3 cars. Yann Clairay is at the controls of the #33 Sean Creech Motorsports car. A mistake by the driver and Austin McCusker takes the extreme wide line before continuing. The GTLM battle rages between John Edwards and Matt Campbell. Campbell won the LM GTE Pro category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans early in his career.
Turn one and turn 17 are always tough. Turn one is blind and turn 17 has all the bumps. Turn 13, the Tower Turn is also really tough to line it up properly on corner entry. Austin McCusker in the Forty7 Motorsports car shares with Jim Norman and Oliver Askew. Actually, it's Stevan McAleer who is the second driver, not Jim Norman. Jimmie Johnson is suited and booted for his next stint in the #48 Cadillac. Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. testing for an entire day testing before they went to the Rolex 24, two decades ago.
Earnhardt Jr. thought he totaled the car, and they fixed it. Jimmie Johnson is now back into the #48 Cadillac. Antonio Garcia is chasing Ian James in the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin who is sharing with Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn. This team does work for the Seattle Children's Hospital and the Heart of Racing. #01 is slicing and dicing through GT traffic. That's Renger van der Zande. Meanwhile, Oliver Jarvis is now at the wheel of the #55 Mazda. This is crucial, (i.e. risk assessment). Don't over commit. Turns three, four, and five are slower, but speed picks up between Big Bend and the hairpin. The pace is more predictable and we've not seen great amounts of brake lockup.
We haven't seen many drivers dropping wheels either. That's good to see. Maybe later in the race when it gets dark we will see drivers push harder. Traditionally, this time of day, the track is hot and greasy, but not today. It is cooler and therefore the race is cleaner. Mazda seems to be having a smooth race. Oliver Jarvis is driving. Jonathan Bomarito hyperextended his knee catching it on the steering wheel at the driver change. He hyperextended his knee. Bomarito drove the Mazda RX-8 with Speedsource over a decade ago. Mercedes #75 had no traction control and no ABS and that's why the car spun earlier. Amateur drivers and pro drivers are on such a different level. The pros can rely on their own skill while the amateur drivers use the driver aids.
Kenny Habul sharing with Maro Engel and Mikael Grenier. Madison Snow also moves back by Katherine Legge and these two battled for the championship in IMSA back in 2018. She had a broken leg last year after a testing crash in Europe. Legge raced a road course event in NASCAR Xfinity some years ago. The #48 team is working out well with their pit stops. Drivers can wear a narrow cut driver suit or a boot cut as far as the pant legs, and it depends on what cars you are driving, depending on open wheel, stock cars, sports cars. So, Renger van der Zande is now back to the lead of the motor race in the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac.
Jimmie Johnson is still running well, doing his best to go througn the field. Through Cunningham Corner and Collier Curve, turns ten and eleven. Porsche vs. BMW in GTLM. Nip and tuck stuff, look, as John Edwards moves by Cooper MacNeil, the next driver in the serial in the #79 Porsche while Matteo Llarena pits to serve a speeding penalty in the #38 Performance Tech LMP3 car, the Ligier. Llarena, the Guatemalan driver, who ran the Rolex 24 earlier this year at 16 years old, now 17. We welcome 20 time Le Mans starter and six time Sebring starter at Sebring, David Hobbs.
NASCAR boys used to drive wearing boots and they stopped the heat from coming in. So, the #60 MSR Acura pits as well. David Hobbs says the big difference between today and the races of yesteryear is the incredible pace. Three drivers instead of two. The cars are amazingly strong and reliable. In the old days, you had to baby the car. Changing brake pads used to take forever. Aston Martin #23 in the lane. Brake changes are so short and tire wear is not really an issue. Cadillac #31 has gotten one lap back but are still two laps behind.
Every single class is won by seconds as we see the #10 Acura hit the pit lane. Responsibilities fall on the pit crews and that has always been there in an endurance race. Kamui Kobayashi, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and more, could have done extremely well in Formula 1. Kobayashi did have some F1 starts, but here he is, getting into sports car races. Kobauashi is still going for it and his skill is top notch. He would've done extremely well in F1 and had been a world champion. Cadillac #01, the Ganassi car is in the lane.
Riley Motorsports has their #74 LMP3 car in the lane as well. In Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton has become one of the all-time greats, and Mercedes has had trouble in testing, sandbagging a bunch. Hamilton could be on top again. Red Bull could also be a factor and take some wins. We will see. David Hobbs was a driver and a broadcaster. Hobbs and Ken Squier broadcasted live at CBS the 1979 Daytona 500. Trying to put commentary on a taped race, was really tough. It was a hit in a snowstorm in February and had all the ingredients for an epic race.
Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison were scrapping in turn three on the last lap in those big, heavy, wide stock cars, and they crashed and down onto the flat, throwing fists at each other. Cale Yarborough's hair is flying all over the place as he is fighting the Allison brothers. Richard Petty won the race of course and on the cool down lap, Bobby Allison joins in the fight with his brother Donnie and Cale Yarborough. Brock Yates had several videotaped pieces on B roll that could not be used. He had visited Junior Johnson on the farm and David Hobbs did Daytona 500s from 1979-1995.
In 1990, Dale Earnhardt was about to win, and did not win and Derrike Cope did, and Hobbs was told by Dale Earnhardt's wife to get out of there. Dale Jarrett's win in 1993, and his mom wouldn't watch until the very end. He did NASCAR until 1995. Daytona, Michigan, Talladega, and more. David, we've enjoyed having you on this broadcast, mate. Thanks for your time, Hobbo. Racing royalty. David Hobbs. The one and the only! Renger van der Zande continues to lead the motor race over Oliver Jarvis, Jimmie Johnson, and Olivier Pla.
Magnussen is really going for it. Ganassi Racing got their Cadillac very late, but they have a fresh approach on the setup of the car as well. Ganassi's IMSA program continues to evolve. Alexander Sims at the wheel of the #4 Corvette C8.R, three laps down, has had a misfire. Bu the team continues to go for it. Alexander Sims is a great racing driver and he is working to mitigate his carbon footprint from air travel etc. The green Mercedes is for mother earth, the environment, solar energy and so forth. Nick Tandy is going for four straight Sebring victories, three with Porsche, and this would be his first race win with Corvette.
We look to see how the progress will work out with the #79 Porsche, currently in the hands of Cooper MacNeil. Simon Pagenaud is now into the #48 Cadillac. Jimmie Johnson has satisfied his minimum drive time and there's a debrief with crew chief Chad Knaus. The sister #31 AXR Cadillac will see Pipo Derani get into it. #31 has pace and they just need yellows to make up the laps they are down. It's been a pretty clean race so far. Another hour is about to be put on the board here. We'll be halfway home very soon. We thought there'd be a lot of drama at the Rolex 24, but the LMP3 cars made no trouble and they aren't giving people issues yet here either. But Sebring is pitch dark at night.
The LMP3 cars are lightweight and the corner speeds are incredible. But the LMP3 cars are having a very hard time handling the bumps. Oliver Askew pogoed all over the place. The LMP3 cars are built to a cost cap and so the suspension cannot be as advanced. We are fast approaching the halfway mark of this race. Scott Pruett was part of the one and the only Sebring victory for Chip Ganassi Racing. They never won GT Le Mans in the Ford GT here. Renger van der Zande is definitely into a rhythm here. Oliver Jarvis is next up followed by Olivier Pla and Alexander Rossi.
Spencer Pigot leads LMP3 for Riley Motorsports in the #74 car. Renger van der Zande leads by 20 seconds. PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports with the #52 car of Scott Huffaker, are going for a hat trick. Huffaker and company have won twice in this race. The weather is playing a factor. It is nice now to see cloud cover to cool the track and take the extremely blazing sunset out of Sunset Bend. The medium tire compounds have been what the GTLM teams have used, but the soft compounds might be a good choice for later this evening, although, we'll see because the tires are always a mystery on pressures, cambers and so forth.
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 5
Mike Shank is not frustrated right now. It is taking time for the team to develop the car. Juan Pablo Montoya will be racing in IMSA, and the World Endurance Championship, preparing for another run at the Indianapolis 500, and his son, Sebastian Montoya, is racing Italian Formula 4. Filipe Albuquerque battling Scott Dixon. Oh wow! Albuquerque muscles his way past Dixon, the six-time IndyCar champion. The drivers are talented and the cars are extremely durable. Whoa! A bit of a lurid moment for the #52 PR1/Mathiasen car with Ben Keating at the wheel of it while Scott Andrews is pressing Dan Goldberg. This is Riley Motorsports vs. Performance Tech Motorsports.
Laurens Vanthoor is the minnow while Jan Heylen is the shark, pressing each other in GT Daytona. Wright Motorsports vs. Pfaff Motorsports. Have a go at the #14. They've had brake issues and also a penalty for taking emergency service. Jack Hawksworth and company are a lap down but are fighting back trying to get back on the button. We have a mishmash of prototypes and GT cars. Meantime, Juan Pablo Montoya is monstering Harry Tincknell at the moment. Kamui Kobayashi in fifth, he's pushing while the sister Action Express Cadillac, the #31, needs a yellow to gain back another lap. They are two down and want to gain back at least one.
Scott Dixon has a stellar record in IndyCar but also in sports cars. Scott Dixon knows how to make the right decisions at the right time. Mazda #55, Harry Tincknell says his air conditioning is busted. It is cooler today at Sebring, but Tincknell says "I need airflow in the car." The sun is still hot. You are in a glass greenhouse driving a Daytona Prototype International car and we see the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche in the lane. Jan Heylen hands the car over to Trent Hindman. Mazda has made changes to a new representative for their team. Meanwhile, the #60 MSR Acura is in the lane. We watch once again, the all female lineup of Bia Figueredo, Katherine Legge, and Christina Nielsen.
Katherine Legge and Christina Nielsen will do the full season in this Hardpoint EBM Porsche. Zach Veach is now driving the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, former IndyCar driver now a sports car driver. Zach Veach wants to race sprint cars on dirt eventually. Acura #10 in the lane now from the lead. Tires and fuel, and a driver change to former Indianapolis 500 winner, Alexander Rossi, is now into the car for a stint. A survey was recently taken. Should Sebring be resurfaced? My answer, to editorialize is, no! Now, Rossi fades in front of the #5 Cadillac. Rossi defends against Sebastien Bourdais. Bourdais picks up some debris and he is not happy with Rossi.
This is a dress rehearsal for when these two race each other in IndyCar next month for the first time. The #38 Performance Tech LM P3 class leader is off the road and nearly collects the #01! Dan Goldberg was surely in a spot of bother there. He spun off the road on acceleration on cold tires. More woes for Tower Motorsports and the #8 LMP2 car, John Farano at the wheel of it. Baron is a former driver and has run many different cars. Kamui Kobayashi is back in the lead of the mot race and has the #48 Ally Cadillac.
Alexander Rossi will be penalized for leaving the pit lane with equipment attached to the automobile. The fuel nozzle got stuck when the #10 was trying to leave the pits. Nothing was attached on exit. If you get to a critical part of the race, and a penalty has already been called, that is unfair to your competition. Now, Kamui Kobayashi leads the motor race, is off sequence to it's rivals. Acura #10 is back in the pit lane to serve the drive through penalty. This is at least 20 seconds in the pit lane. Once again, Sebring needs to stay as it is. Don't touch the bumps, ever.
Rossi is 50 seconds in-arrears of class and overall leader, Kamui Kobayashi. Jordan Taylor leads GTLM in the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. Oliver Gavin retired, but he will race with Corvette in Europe. Two LMP3 cars have spun. #54 and #91. George Kurtz for CORE Autosport and Jim Cox for Riley Motorsports. Kurtz gets into the turn too deep and the #91 was spun around. That was in turns 14-16 as Kamui Kobayashi pits from the lead of the motor race with seven and a half hours to go.
Kamui Kobayashi is from Japan, lives in Monaco, and also in the United States. He was in quarantine in different places, running for Action Express, for Toyota in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and also, in Super GT. Now, the battle for the lead of the motor race is Harry Tincknell in the Mazda vs. the #01 Cadillac of Scott Dixon. Jordan Taylor pits the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R and will hand the car over to Antonio Garcia. Dixon is chasing Tincknell. Mazda are the defending champions of this race. Dixon goes around Bill Auberlen in the Turner Motorsports BMW. Tincknell runs wide and more traffic with GTD and GTLM cars.
Scott Dixon has to correct the car and is on pace. He struggled driving the #10 car last year in the endurance races when the #10 team was racing a Cadillac. We say hello to Tom Kristensen who must be having a good time watching the race, making a cocktail or something like that. Kristensen wishes he could be there, watching with buddies in Denmark. Kristensen says Sebring is an unbelievable track testing the capabilities of the cars and the skills of the drivers. With heat and humidity, the track gets tougher for the momentum, loading the cars up. Bring the car into a position to survive during these endurance races.
Kristensen's favorite time of the race was at sunset and just after darkness. Sebring gave Audi confidence but also nightmares. Kristensen with J.J. Lehto and Jorg Muller tested the BMW V12 LMR and then, they turned around, went to Sebring, and won on debut. Kristensen showing on camera, his uniforms, his racing uniforms from running with Audi and Bentley. Tom Kristensen has written a couple of books including a big autobiography. In 2000, with Audi, Kristensen in qualifying spun into turn three into the barrier. At exactly the same place where the Lamborghini and the Mercedes wrecked earlier. He was very embarrassed by that wreck.
Kristensen is enjoying this race, the Mazda vs. the Cadillac, vs. the Acura. Kristensen is very much a fan of Kevin Magnussen and later on, Magnussen has signed up to drive for Peugeot in the Hypercar class in the World Endurance Championship. "Mr. Le Mans", "Mr. Sebring", Tom Kristensen. Good to hear from him. We see a great battle in GT Daytona between Trent Hindman and Zacharie Robichon. The #96 Turner Motorsports BMW went behind the wall a couple hours ago and spent 15 minutes in the garage replacing an alternator belt.
Acura #60 is in the pit lane for service. The GT Daytona championship has another separate Sprint Cup championship for all the other races that aren't the big four enduro events. The GTD cars cautiously go through turn 17 while the DPi cars are absolutely flying through there, literally. Scott Dixon is harrying (pardon the pun), Harry Tincknell. Tincknell slices his way around Robichon and has to move by Hindman as well, look. Pit stop time now for Ganassi and for Mazda. Tires, fuel, and a driver change as Renger van der Zande gets back into the car.
Also, in the Mazda, Harry Tincknell out, and it looks like Tincknell actually stayed in and he is now ahead, but here comes Dixon on cold tires and bish, bashbosh, makes the move. Lean on the traction control a little bit, as we watch Matt Campbell hassling John Edwards. Porsche vs. BMW. Porsche 4 liter flat six vs. BMW twin turbo 4.4 liter V8. Acura #10 of Alexander Rossi in the lane. Rossi will stay in the car. Rossi is down and away. Matt Campbell and Matthieu Jaminet will split duties for the sprint races with Cooper MacNeil as they share the car as a trio for this race, and these two are 20 seconds adrift of Antonio Garcia leading GT Le Mans in the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. Stack the corners of this track like dominoes.
Matt Campbell has won at Le Mans and Bathurst, and raced in the endurance races in IMSA last year.
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 4
Many teams needed a yellow, but Tristan Nunez's woes continue. The engine cover and rear attenuator come off as they are looking for a black box. An Engine Control Unit. A Gearbox Control Unit. A sensor. They are two laps down. Filipe Albuquerque continues to lead. Tristan Nunez was a star at Mazda when they ran two cars in the DPi class in the past. Compartmentalize the issues. The electrical woes continue for the #11 car. All of the LMP2 cars are virtually identical. Oreca chassis' and Gibson engines built in England. Pit lane is closed. IMSA will open the pits when it is safe. The accumulation of marbles, tire clag, is going to be hard to deal with as the tires get cold under these Full Course Yellow periods, and the rolled up rubber is all over the road. It is a major clag fest out there as Jimmie Johnson found out the hard way earlier on.
Harry Tincknell is back into the #55 Mazda. Jonathan Bomarito had his knee caught on the steering wheel of the car during the driver change. This tweaked his knee, and maybe he banged it on the wheel exiting the car. Pits open for DPi cars. #01, #60, #55, and #10. Fuel and tires for #01. Fuel and tires also for the #60 machine. Simon Pagenaud and Tristan Vautier stay out. Alexander Rossi will be the next driver into the #10 Acura. Bodywork repair, or a ride height adjustment is going on on the #60 MSR Acura. This is the Cameron/Montoya/Pla entry. They are using a pair of Vise Grip pliers or something to fix that automobile. Juan Pablo Montoya is into the car.
Simon Pagenaud now leads the motor race as we have begun the fourth hour. More woe for Tristan Nunez and the #11 Win Autosport team in LMP2. They need an electronic component from the paddock. Pit stop time now for GT Daytona. Lars Kern out, Laurens Vanthoor in, in the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche. Jan Heylen will get into the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche, he will start his second stint. For Vasser Sullivan, they are doing a driver change, tires, fuel, and a brake change. An early opportunity for a front brake pad change, is a good idea to get ahead of the game. These two cars will go to the back of the queue as the mechanics are synchronizing the pads into the calipers. We are under the safety car, so, if nothing goes wrong on the pad change, the Lexus boys will be in the pound seats.
Corvette #4 in the lane with Nick Tandy at the controls. They had a misfire earlier and are still trying to figure that out. The misfire has not gone away on the silver Corvette for the 25th anniversary of Mobil 1 providing lubricants for Corvette. Can Nick Tandy beat the safety car? Yes. The two Lexus' have also made it back on track and beat the safety car to avoid going a lap down. If the timing on a brake change is wrong, one side pushes the calipers back, and if the other side isn't set, the calipers get pushed through. It is one fluid motion with the pry bars and the mechanics have to look at each other spot on to coordinate it.
Both Action Express cars stay out. We are ready for a restart. Simon Pagenaud leads and maybe the #31 can get back on the lead lap. Harry Tincknell for Mazda second, and for third, Filipe Albuquerque. Nasr moving in on Tristan Vautier in the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac. Vautier locks up in the hairpin. More hot and heavy battles, look, in GTLM. Corvette vs. BMW vs. Porsche. Bruno Spengler vs. Jordan Taylor in the #3 Corvette C8.R. The DPi scrap continues and is still as hot as ever.
Simon Pagenaud has grown his margin and run a 1:49 dead. Nasr at 1:50.5. Two GT Daytona cars have just crashed! Oh dear! The #28 Alegra Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 of Billy Johnson and Franck Perera have clobbered the wall, pushing the tire wall and the concrete barrier back. That is at the exit of turn three before The Carousel. Jeepers creepers! We need a replay for this. That concrete barrier has definitely been moved. Billy Johnson is OK. But, is the car drivable? He has the engine running. Franck Perera is out of the Lamborghini and just fine as the crowd cheers. He must be favoring a leg or a foot or something.
In replay, we can see, oh my, Perera had brake failure. He was angling the Lamborghini to try making the corner and the antilock brakes failed or something. Ouch! Was that a stuck throttle? Billy Johnson had absolutely no clue that was going to happen. Jeepers creepers! The barriers are still beoing moved and so are the tires. Yours truly took a short break to have a bite to eat. We remain under yellow. Now, in crashes, you have to collapse into the moment. Don't tense up. Stay loose, move your hands away from the wheel, but let yourself go. Don't tense up too much in bracing yourself because you will hurt yourself. Be careful. You know you are fine, but if you've had the wind knocked out of you, that's scary.
Just a tad over eight hours left on the board. We have not gone to the red flag. We have stayed under Full Course Yellow after the Billy Johnson, Franck Perera incident. We are back to green and Simon Pagenaud is in the lead holding off Harry Tincknell in the Mazda. Tristan Vautier and Felipe Nasr are still laps down. Pagenaud is pulling away. Filipe Albuquerque is being monstered by Scott Dixon. Shades of the Rolex 24 back in January. A little contact between Earl Bamber and Jan Heylen. Heylen and Ferriol are being pressed by the #1 Paul Miller Racing Lambirghini, and oh dear! Corey Lewis and Earl Bamber have made contract in Sunset Bend, just before the corner. Straight to the pit lane for Corey Lewis.
Lewis spins and gets a good ke-thunk to the right rear by the Porsche, the #99 of Bamber. Bamber has right front damage and that #99 has been the cork in the bottle all day. Both of these blokes are in strife indeed. Pit stop time for Simon Pagenaud in the #48 Ally Bank Cadillac. The yellow flags are cycling the strategy. Now, a driver change, and they came up six minutes short on points for the Endurance Cup as Kamui Kobayashi are back. Billy Johnson and Franck Perera are both OK. Perera says he did have a brake failure and he couldn't get brake input from the pedal as it went right to the floor. Perera has his first crash of his career.
Billy Johnson says he is bummed for the Alegra Motorsports Mercedes team. He was at the apex, and crashed into the Lamborghini. Two strong podium worthy cars. Franck Perera is the only racer I know who hasn't crashed until now in a 25 year career! Holy moly! The most recent Full Course Yellow lasted for 28 minutes. We watch Matt Campbell in the Porsche 911 RSR-19, the 4.2 liter flat six howling as he makes his way around the track. The technical variety of the cars in IMSA is amazing. The Porsche is a great driving car and is easy on the eyes, too. The LMP3 car is getting monstered by Campbell. That is the #7 car, for Forty7 Motorsports being driven by Austin McCusker.
Earl Bamber and company will go back to the garage. What an eventful race so far as we have another racing hour coming up. Meyer Shank Racing now run second behind the #55 Mazda of Harry Tincknell.
12 Hours of Sebring: Hour 3
Pit stop time for the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta Acura as Filipe Albuquerque takes over from Ricky Taylor. Thomas Merrill moves ahead of Ben Keating in LMP2. Albuquerque leads Kevin Magnussen right now. Merrill somewhat forces the issue, who grew up near Laguna Seca Raceway on a farm in Salinas, California. Cadillac #01 has pitted for Chip Ganassi Racing. The Cadillac's lost five kilograms of weight and got a liter more of fuel capacity. Simon Pagenaud is leadin this motor race now by 19 seconds over Filipe Albuquerque. #48, this is the car Action Express and Hendrick Motorsports tested a few weeks ago for Jimmie Johnson and company. Johnson is also racing IndyCar this year on the road courses. Simon Pagenaud has pitted and we can see the Win Autosport car and the PR1/Mathiasen car as well. Ben Keating is into the car replacing Scott Huffaker.
#31 is in the lane for service. We have a driver change in that car as Felipe Nasr gets into the car. Action Express and the #31 need some help and would like a wave around to try to get a lap back. Taking a triple stint at Sebring later in the day, it is easier to gradually go in between daylight, twilight, and darkness. Cooper MacNeil is chasing Augusto Farfus. Check that. Matthieu Jaminet is in the car right now, sharing of course with Cooper MacNeil and Matty Campbell. The GTLM cars are running in the 1:56 range. Simon Pagenaud stays in the #48 Ally Bank Action Express Cadillac. With the DPi cars, they can run 40 minutes on fuel while the GT cars run an hour or so on fuel stints.
Pagenaud is now fourth, chasing Dane Cameron, Kevin Magnussen, and Filipe Albuquerque. Look out for the glare from the headlights tonight. No rear window tinting allowed on the GTLM and GTD cars. The lighting towers have been moved in to give the track more light at night. We watch Gar Robinson in the #74 Daytona winning Ligier JSP3 for Riley Motorsports. Robinson sharing with Spencer Pigot and Scott Andrews. This is a major adjustment for Robinson who raced Trans Am cars and last year ran a Mercedes AMG GT3. The driving style is so different. A more flowing line without diamonding the corner. The #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac is in pit lane, Tristan Vautier staying in the car.
This team did not test at Sebring, and so, they are definitely on the back foot. It is hot out there, not in terms of ambient, but in terms of track temperature. It is going to be greasy out there, perhaps. Glad to see fans at Sebring being able to watch this motor race, socially distanced of course. Kyle Kirkwood in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 leads the GT Daytona class right now. Jordan Taylor is leading GT Le Mans in the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. Kirkwood is managing his lead in GTD over Patrick Long and is in the zone at the moment.
Four wide for a moment as Kyle Kirkwood had to yield to both Scott Andrews and Simon Pagenaud. The timing and scoring systems on the screens is very fascinating to watch. Meanwhile, in GT Daytona it is Kyle Kirkwood and Lexus vs. Patrick Long in the Porsche. The Porsche is a lighter car, so, the advantage on tire wear goes to them. Patrick Long is getting feisty. He wants to move and go for it. We have a spin there, look, again for the #8 Starworks LMP2 car in the hands of Frenchman Tim Buret. Don't overdrive the car. A piece of bodywork flies off one of the cars. Hard to see where it came from.
Thomas Merrill moves around Kirkwood and the scrum continues through the Collier Curves and Bishop Bend. Stephen Simpson runs ahead in the #19 GRT Grasser Motorsports Lamborghinin Huracan GT3. Filipe Albuquerque leads the motor race with Kevin Magnussen bearing down on him. The sister #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus ahead, Robert Megennis at the keyboard. Down the Ulmann straight and will the Cadillac get a tow from the Acura? Patrick Long is equal with Kyle Kirkwood. 5 liter V8 in the Lexus, 4 liter flat six in the Porsche. Both normally aspirated engines. Magnussen will pounce on Albuquerque after Albuquerque gets balked by the Speed Racer liveried Magnus Racing Acura! Egad!
Stay with the big picture. Lots of time left on the board. Not even 1/3rd of the race done and dusted. Long is probing Kirkwood. Multi class sports car racing at it's finest. That is what IMSA is all about. This is fascinating to watch. Four wide into turn one! There's a GT Daytona Lamborghini and a couple of LMP2 cars in the way. Magnussen gets dusted at least briefly. There's an ebb and flow between the cars, just like a defensive safety in football. Focus forward. That's all you can do. Poor old Patrick Long is still stuck behind Kyle Kirkwood. Nick Tandy in the #4 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R is making up ground after co-driver Tommy Milner had a pit penalty.
Pit stop time now for Filipe Albuquerque from the lead of the motor race for VP Racing fuel and Michelin tires. Alexander Rossi is the third driver on this team of course. Acura has had issues with burning the rear tires off the car at least in the past. Be proactive with adjustments on the car, not reactive. Don't fall behind with tire wear. If you fall behind on one end of the car, it is hard to get it back later. Pit stop time for the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac. Scott Dixon will get into the car as Kevin Magnussen finishes his stint. Albuquerque leads. Scott Dixon on cold tires for his first stint. Albuquerque in lapped traffic.
Mazda #55 in the lane as well with Jonathan Bomarito at the wheel of it. Scuff tires in practice to get the mold release agent off of them. That's another tip in racing, sports cars or otherwise. In the lane now, the #25 BMW M8 GTE. Fuel, tires, and a driver change. Nope. Bruno Spengler I believe, is in the car. He is sharing with Connor De Philippi and Philipp Eng. Trouble with the wheel nut on the left front tire. Trouble with the nut itself, or, with a jammed rattle gun perhaps. Maybe there isn't enough air pressure in the air lines for the rattle gun. Fuel is of course flow restricted by IMSA.
Mold release on new tires is like non stick on a cooking pan. Meanwhile, Kyle Kirkwood continues to hold off the advances of Patrick Long. Here's Long, down the inside, and that was a clean pass. Patrick Long takes over the GTD lead. So, Patrick Long, is off the leash. He and his team mates won the most recent edition of the 12 Hours of Sebring, last November. He has run with Porsche for nearly two decades, since 2003, running the Porsche Carrera Cup in Germany. Long is a writer and a festival promoter in addition to being a race car driver. A multifaceted gentleman.
In back timing the motor race, you don't want to have to do a splash and a dash at the end, or near the end. Kevin Magnussen believes he can win again after lackluster times in Formula 1. Oh dear. More woes for #11. Tristan Nunez, the LMP2 leader is crawling through Le Mans Curve and onto the Ulmann straight. There could be a driveline issue on that automobile. Deary me. This could put out a Full Course Yellow. Hashtag, Put It Out! Or not? The car is stuck in second gear on the pit lane speed limiter. Jeepers creepers! Stay green. But poor old Tristan Nunez has to be gutted. Try the master ignition switch, but don't stall the car. Egad!
They have a big lead in the class. So, they might have time to fix the car. A replacement steering wheel is on the car, but the car won't go into gear. Take the steering wheel off, and put it back on. Diagnose the issues on the fly. Time for the Control, Alt, Delete. Poor old Nunez is being passed as Dwight Merriman now leads the class in the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca. Ryan Dalziel and Kyle Tilley share that specific car. The IPS is busted. Ignition Position Sensor? Hmmm. The car was stuck in second gear on the rev limiter. IPS still dead. Traction Control. This is very confusing. The backup steering wheel is not the issue. The car won't fire back up. Oh my gosh. Check your connections. More trouble as the #54 CORE Autosport LMP3 car is off the road, dead stick.
Full Course Yellow. Hashtag Put It Out! Kurtz is now back on his way. So, maybe this yellow isn't necessary. No damage to the LMP3 car for Kurtz sharing with Colin Braun and Jon Bennett.
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