Saturday, March 20, 2021

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.    

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