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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