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.
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