So excited, that I hadn't seen we'd switched the clock hour and now, we have 58 minutes to go. Play the big picture. Big attrition rate here at Petit Le Mans, as 13 cars have now retired of the 43 starters. So, 30 cars are still pounding around on track as we watch the replay of Ross Gunn slicing past Laurens Vanthoor in GT Daytona. Felipe Nasr, Pipo Derani, and Mike Conway, are looking good for a victory and a championship. We will find out as this last hour is at hand. Good battle between the #24 BMW M8 GTE and the #79 WeatherTech Porsche 911 RSR-19 in GT Le Mans in the final hour of the GT Le Mans class' existence before these cars are headed for the museum for admiring fans to see. Lexus RC F GT3 #12, for Vasser Sullivan is in the pit lane. Fuel and tires for the run to the flag it appears.
#31 was 157 points out of the championship lead, but they are going for four wins in five races and going for a championship. The #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche has had three wins and four top two placings. They too can win a championship in GT Daytona. Laurens Vanthoor has won a GT Le Mans championship. He looks for GT Daytona glory along with Zacharie Robichon. Corvette and Porsche scrapping for the GT Le Mans win. Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre, and Fred Makowiecki, Porsche factory drivers. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports team is leading LMP2 and Felipe Fraga leads LMP3. #60 in the pit lane with an issue on the left hand side of the car. Has he been off the road? They were in the money, and they have had a season that has been a struggle.
Mike Shank will be very frustrated. Helio Castroneves leaves the pit box but they go back to the garage. What a horrendous season for MSR. Harry Tincknell and now, and Ricky Taylor are pushing. Tincknell is really pressing Felipe Nasr. Felipe Nasr very upset with GT traffic. Lapped traffic still a factor. This motor race is not over. Tincknell will be pressing hard. Tincknell runs wide and has less fuel than the #31 car. Mikkel Jensen, Garrett Grist, Nick Tandy, and Laurens Vanthoor are your other class leaders.
Porsche #79 pits. They are back on track now in the GTLM fight. Tincknell closing in fast on Nasr. 1.1 seconds only between these two. 1.6 seconds is the gap. In five years, we haven't had this long of a green flag run. #60 is back on track. For #60, it is Helio Castroneves at the controls. Tincknell still chasing Felipe Nasr for the lead of the race. Seven lap fuel advantage for Nasr. Action Express is now 10.3 seconds between Nasr and Taylor. 40 minutes to go. There is an option of a two tire stop. The gap is closing now. This could come down to one last pit stop.
What would you do, taking two tires? New rears and hot fronts, probably. #31 and #55 in the lane. Rear tires for the #31 while the Mazda is going with four tires. #10 has not pitted yet. Will they go for rear tires on the #10 Acura? A lead of eight seconds. Hot front tires and cold rear tires. Watch out through the esses. Ricky Taylor will have to make a decision. Cold tires will be a big deal. Four scufed Michelin's for the #10. Taylor, on cold scuffed tires goes off the road. Nasr lost eight seconds on fresh tires. Kobayashi, erstwhile leader in the #48 Action Express/Hendrick Motorsports Cadillac.
Nasr working lapped traffic. This is dicey. #48 Ally AXR Cadillac in the lane. 30 minutes to go in IMSA 2021. Nasr leads Tincknell now by almost five seconds. Petit Le Mans is now an iconic race, founded by Don Panoz, the late great who founded the American Le Mans Series. Audi's Allan McNish had a great finish and win here. McNish won Sebring, Petit and Le Mans. He crashed on the formation lap and came back to win back in the day. In the championship, the gap is eight seconds between Felipe Nasr and Ricky Taylor.
The field in DPi is stacked! You have Kobayashi and Conway at AXR who are world champions for Toyota in World Endurance Championship racing. Ricky Taylor is 8.7 seconds in-arrears of the #31. Nasr and Action Express will be playing prevent defense and they have to watch out and be careful of the gap. Nasr still leads but is being reeled in little by little by the competition, through the darkness. Can Action Express hold on for an overall championship? The Mazda #55 moves by the #31 Cadillac. Yes. Mazda has gone to the race lead.
Nasr is really pushing now. No mistakes. Ricky Taylor is coming after him too. You have to push hard, now. Ricky Taylor is now 8/10ths of a second wquicker than Felipe Nasr, getting caught in traffic. The gap is now 4.6 seconds. Don't get desperate. Stay precise. Ricky Taylor is there. He is right on Nasr's six. Taylor is charging. 2.8 seconds now. Felipe Nasr has used tires. Ricky Taylor has four new ones. Used rear tires on the #31. Taylor in full attack mode now.
Nasr will be struggling for grip. Those tires will be knackered. A second and a half between the championship rivals. This is mano e mano now. Felipe Nasr is going to have a lot of sliding on those old tires. Twelve minutes left to race. Nothing between Taylor and Nasr. Mazda #55 getting stacked in the esses. Nasr can't let the Mazda slow up too much. Nasr needs to clear the LMP2 car. Nasr loses time to Taylor over an LMP2 car. Taylor is balked by a lapped GT car and loses 3/4 of a second. Big break for Nasr. Nick Tandy loses it and reginas control but limps into the lane on the grass! Sheesh!
The right front tire on the Corvette is tortured. Porsche now run 1-2 in GTLM for WeatherTech. We have had a caution free final hour so far. Just over seven minutes to go. It is 42 degrees ambient with a breeze. Nick Tandy is out of Corvette #4, angry. Ricky Taylor is told that he is good on fuel while the #31 and #55 close on fuel. 1.7 seconds separate the title rivals. Mazda wants to win in their final race. Mazda won it on fuel mileage at Watkins Glen. #55 has to check up due to that GTD Aston Martin. Nasr is pushing hard. No fuel saving. No coasting. Run it until it is dry.
There was a change in mentality for Pipo Derani for the rest of the season since Sebring back in March. He softened his touch and now AXR are finding results. Nasr has a massive run and he backs off a wee bit. How close is Taylor? Where is he? Traffic will influence the outcome. Taylor has to go now if he wants to catch Nasr. One second in it. Traffic again. Two minutes to go. Two minute warning. Taylor gets stymied by a slower prototype. White flag next time by.
Taylor in Nasr's slipstream. Nasr's tires are dead. He is going to break the draft with one lap to go. The Mazda wins the race. Race control is reviewing the incident between the #31 and #10. No action . AXR are champions! At the end of the season, in a ten hour race, it is determined by inches. Mazda wins their final race. Harry Tincknell's head is steaming in the cold. They win in their final event. Your winners in LMP2 are the #8 Tower Motorsports Oreca 07 in the hands of John Farano, Gabriel Aubry, and James French. The Canadian, the Frenchman, and the American. LMP3 honors go to
Overall/DPi: #55 Jarvis/Tincknell/Bomarito Mazda Motorsports Mazda RT24P
LMP2: #8 Farano/Aubry/French Tower Motorsports Oreca 07
LMP3: #74 Robinson/Fraga/Andrews Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan
GT Le Mans: #97 Estre/Christensen/Makowiecki WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19
GT Daytona: #23 Gunn/De Angelis/James The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3
Champions:
DPi: #31 Nasr/Derani Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R.
LMP2: #52 Keating/Jensen PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07
l;MP3: #74 Gar Robinson Riley Motorsports
GT Le Mans: #3 Taylor/Garcia Corvette Racing
GT Daytona: Robichon/Vanthoor Pfaff Motorsports
Joy for Action Express. Pain for Wayne Taylor Racing. So ends the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship season. Uncork the champagne at Action Express! You guys deserve this one! We'll see you next year for action from the IMSA WeatherTech Championship. For now, from Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, on a chilly fall evening, bye bye.
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