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.
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