Jordan Pepper remains second, four seconds behind Christopher Haase in the lead of the motor race. We are now within the last two hours of this race. Christopher Haase, Markus Winkelhock, and Patric Niederhauser have driven this car and into the pit lane from the lead of the motor race. Where does this fit the strategy equation? They will have one more stop. How is the fuel situation looking? What about tires? Refueling and a driver change. Tires cannot be changed until the fuel is in the tank. No technical pit stop here at Indianapolis unlike the 24 Hours of Spa in Belgium. They may be topping off the drink bottle, or, the oil system. The lead has changed. AKKA ASP take the lead presumptively on the road.
Jordan Pepper now in the pit lane. Will AKKA ASP stay in the race lead? Chamber of commerce weather today in Indianapolis, Indiana. What a great race we have seen thus far. Antonio Fuoco in the lead and needs a pit stop. Top two jhave not pitted. Charles Weerts, the Belgian, now second in the #32 WRT Audi. It is not dne yet. You think of patience and sustained speed in endurance racing, many drivers have pushed the envelope in this motor race including the AF Corse Ferrari's. Most of these moves though, have come to tears. Audi only has one bullet left.
Antonio Fuoco in the pit lane for service and a driver change. Who will get into the car? Pit lane is busy. Wholesale stops, like Grand Central Station. Audi in, McLaren in, Lamborghini in. Full service, and a bit of delay on the left front tire but may not lose time on the clock. Safety car right in the middle of the pit sequence! Holy cow! We've gone yellow, again. Raffaele Marciello has beaten the safety car. That's a massive break for the AKKA ASP boys! Matciello is told to slow down.
The safety car is for debris on the road in turn six. Go yellow, send the safety car, and then determine who the heck the leader is. Marciello is picked up by the safety car. Nicklas Nielsen hits the pit lane for the penultimate stop. Driver change, fuel, and tires. On the final stop, can people do a short stop? What are the benefits? What are the hangups? 80 seconds is the maximum delta. Tire changes, fuel and one tire, make small repairs. You will have to do a splash and a dash. On a long stop, it is 118 seconds minimum for full service of fuel and four Pirelli P Zero tires. So, Callum Illott is now third in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari.
Pirelli makes a great trie, but tire degradation is designed into them. There was a service vehicle on the front straight near the pylon. Inwonder how that came about. The gain between a short stop and a long stop, is 38 seconds. Engines like cool weather but tires do not. Tires need heat to work effectively. Mount Panorama Bathurst is a place where safety cars are prevalent. That is an unbelievable circuit. Marciello, Niederhauser, Ilott, the top three. Raffaele Marciello will finish out this race at AKKA ASP. Can they win after the car was stuck in transit?
None of the Audi's have run clean. Ferrari and Lamborghini have had trouble. There have been very few cars who have not had a totally clean race today. Back to green. Let battle resume! Into the turn one braking zone, here comes Niederhauser and here comes Callum Illott. Fans at Indianapolis, take note. He will race IndyCar next year. Callum Illott is coming, and fast. Niederhauser is flying and Marciello feels the pressure, on the wheel. Book it! Callum Illott sweeps around two cars in one shot! 2020 Formula 2 runner up. Illott leads Indianapolis.
Jordan Pepper is going to be all over Raffaele Marciello as well! The left front fender flapping in the breeze on the Mercedes. Ben Barnicoat, McLaren factory ace is splitting Andrea Caldarelli and Dries Vanthoor for fourth spot. Barnicoat is a lap down. Another notable change sees Alessandro Pier Guidi passing Silver class leader Lucas Legeret. Legeret in the #26 Sainteloc junior team Audi. Ashton Harrison, she has run very well with the #77 Compass Racing Acura NSX GT3 as Dries Vanthoor is harrying Andrea Caldarelli. The shadows grow long here at Indianapolis. Dries Vanthoor tries Caldarelli on the outside. Vanthoor slithering all over the road. GT4 traffic in the way, Automatic Racing Aston Martin.
You need a disappear button for the GT4 cars. Smokescreen. Oil slick. Anything. I want my mummy! Hardy har har. Callum Illott leads Patric Niederhauser. GT4 pit stops proceed. We watch Callum Illott and Patric Niederhauser. Michael Miller in the Automatic Racing Aston Martin tried getting out of the way, but couldn't. We've seen some great moments. But Callum Illott, going from third to first in one corner. Holy smpkes! Now, Patric Niederhauser is going to push hard to try and catch the Ferrari, Illott at the wheel of it. Mercedes and Lamborghini are just not racing the way they want to.
Dries Vanthoor has passed Andrea Caldarelli. Tim Pappas leads GT4, the Pappas/Bleekemolen/Bleekemolen team. Bill Auberlen now runs second in GT4, running three seconds a lap quicker than Tim Pappas. Bimmerworld wants to repeat their win from the inaugural race here at Indianapolis last year. Callum Illott has extended the lead gap to 1.2 seconds over Patric Niederhauser. Raffaele Marciello has dropped down from the top two after leading on the restart and he is falling into the clutches of Dries Vanthoor. GT3 and GT4 mixed together as the headlights come on. Marco Mapelli holds 11th place for K-PAX Racing with Dakota Dickerson in the Acura NSX GT3 #93 for Racer's Edge Motorsports.
Patric Niederhauser is closing in fast on Callum Illott. Niederhauser is pressing hard. We heard the scuttlebutt about the Audi being stronger deeper into a run, and that could be true. Niederhauser, the 2019 ADAC GT Masters champion after an open wheel racing career. He has run on the Nurburgring Nordschleife as well. He is now running stateside. Race Control issuing a drive through penalty for drive time violation for the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3. Gradient Racing and company will have to answer for that. Kenny Habul has probably overdone his drive time compared to co-drivers Mikael Grenier and Martin Konrad.
It could be for exceeding 65 minutes drive time or for too many consecutive stints. Now, Callum Illott is being monstered by Patric Niederhauser. 75 minutes left on the board. The handling of the Audi is really crisp, so Callum Illott has to be on guard. Niederhauser wants to give the Briton the rough end of the pineapple. The Ferrari might have more oomph down the front straight. Audi late on the brakes, going to the inside. Callum Illott has to watch the double move so the stewards don't ping him for blocking.
The GT4 cars are now in the way. They are mibue chicanes and a collision between Michael Miller and one of the other GT4 cars. Patric Niederhauser is forcing the issue, forcing Callum Illott into a possible mistake. So, the pit window will open in another eight minutes for final stops. Ferrari and AF Corse are calm and confident. How does Illot negotiate traffic. Illott is continuing to hold off Niederhauser. Niederhauser closing in on Illott. These two are seven and a half seconds up the road from third spot, from Raffaele Marciello in the Mercedes. The engineers are stressed out by this stage. Who wouldn't be?
Illott gets slightly stymied by the sister Am AF Corse Ferrari but he knew the professiona car was coming. So, Sainteloc Audi continues to chase down the Prancing Horse. Dries Vanthoor is no closer to Marciello but what we can see is that Marciello is closing little by little on the leaders. However, Dries Vanthoor's tires might be knackered by now. Callum Illott is surviving but for how long? What will final pit stops bring? Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor are both coming in a hurry. Where does Illott have to defend from the Audi?
Will pit stops and who has a joker left be what determines the outcome of this motor race? We shall find out. Niederhauser might have something left in the locker. Raffaele Marciello is now eight seconds in-arrears and Dries Vanthoor is still steaming along in fourth place. In the Silver Cup, Lucas Legeret leads Matt McMurry. In spite of the drive through penalty, Mikael Grenier has the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes in the lead of Pro-Am over the Porsche of Dennis Olsen. Illott still hanging on but barely. Now, Raffaele Marciello hits the pit lane as early as possible. 65 minutes to go. Marciello will be good to the end as Niederhauser is flying, sticking like glue to the tail of Illott's Ferrari.
Marciello in the lane and a driver change. They've ben pressing those Pirelli P Zero tires. The fuel will be good but the tires will be knackered. Marciello wll go a lap down. Niederhauser is going to make the move, but Illott is really defending on worn out Pirelli P Zero tires. This is a mano e mano battle. Closing in on one hour to go. Seven hours almost in the bag. Illott moves past the #36 GT4 leading BMW M4 GT4 of Bill Auberlen. Lamborghini #10 in the pit lane. Niederhauser is pressing Illott again and has more grip compared to the Ferrari. Legeret pits from the lead in Silver.
3/10ths of a second between the two leaders. Marciello was likely unhappy with the balance of the Mercedes AMG GT3. He will have more mileage on those tires he could be in trouble with track position. Theoretically, Marciello could get the wave by and a lap back. Niederhauser's tires might be a bit knackered. The track is getting dirty and greasy. There's debris offline. Niederhauser is not giving up. Here he comes again. Illott is defending like crazy and he isn't cracking. He is up on the wheel for sure. He knows how to deal with it and maintain the lead of the motor race as the front straightaway is shrouded in shadows.
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