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.
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