Robby Foley in the #96 Turner Motorsports leads GT Daytona, sharing with Aidan Reed and I am not sure who their third driver is. Felipe Nasr has done a stellar job in his first stint as Pipo Derani is ready to take over the car. AXR are in championship position. We will see chopping and changing between #31 and #10. They had a hard beginning of the season but now have the momentum. Caution. Pipo says, "I gotta go!" He is right on the button, getting ready. Balaclava, check. Helmet, check. Maybe we will have debris cleanup. Helio Castoneves will be stepping aboard the #60 Acura for MSR. Kamui Kobayashi has some argy bargy with the #42 NTE Sport Audi in GTD, Don Yount at the controls. Yount sharing with Jaden Conwright and Chilean driver, Benjamin Hites.
Right now, everyone is cruising under Full Course Yellow. The manufacturer involvement has been amazing. BMW, GM, (Cadillac, Corvette), Porsche, Mazda. This again, is Mazda's swansong. Harry Tincknell leads the motor race and has done so by six seconds or more. Mazda have six wins, five poles, and 25 podiums in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, and they finished third in points last year in 2020. These cars are built with manufacturer styling cues around chassis' built by bespoke race car manufacturers. Oreca in Acura's case, Dallara for Cadillac, (and soon, BMW), and Multimatic, for Mazda. Watch out for tire marbling with all the clag that will be out there. It's going to be sketchy when there's clag all over the shop.
Pit stop time for the prototypes. Mazda will hand the car to Jonathan Bomarito for the next stint. #31 and Felipe Nasr will stay in the car. Pipo Derani will not get in yet. We want a short fill. #31 in the lead. Again, yours truly, as I write this, knows the team at Action Express, and team boss Bob Johnson. So, while I write about the whole race, I do wish the Action Express boys well. GTLM and GTD pit stops underway too, look. Everyone is in. IMSA President John Doonan says there is a record crowd for Petit Le Mans and it is great to see a huge field of 43 cars. The final hours will be magic to watch and don't forget about the cold.
We say farewell to GT Le Mans and to Mazda Motorsports. It is hard to see the sun set on the Mazda DPi program. They've been an IMSA staple for a long, long time, and they will have the Mazda MX5 Cup as well. So much great momentum at IMSA. Let's hope we see 50 some odd cars at Daytona for the Rolex 24 in 2022 and then of course, we have LMDh to look forward to. GTD Pro, we are going to see BMW, Lexus, Porsche, Corvette. Next year's schedule has been released. NBC and USA will bring the coverage, and the same with Peacock. So, if you are not signed up on NBC, USA, or Peacock, sign up now. You don't want to miss the races.
Let's enjoy the rest of this race. Mazda pit stop, wow! The #48 scraped the left front tire changer on the Mazda! Be careful down there, everybody! Bobby Rahal is here with his team, looking ahead to the M4 GT3. There have been discussions, and it is sad to see a great car like the M8 GTE go. But the M4 will be strong and maybe easier to work on. The BMW looks extremely fast and we will see the LMDh car too. That automobile looks incredible as you have seen. LMDh as a class is going to be unreal.
Cadillac, Acura, BMW, Porsche, Audi. Five brands so far, and maybe more to come. Bobby Rahal says that the approaches of winning for BMW and his team are the same. Philipp Eng, Connor De Philippi, and Bruno Spengler are in the #25. We see green and some issues as the #83 LMP3 has a spot of bother! He was crunched and has a right rear tire coming apart and will have to go a full lap. Poor old Naveen Rao is going to have to take it easy. Rao sharing with British drivers Matt Bell and Josh Skelton. The shemozzle in the pack makes it another Full Course Yellow with debris on the road. When you hear green on the radio, punch it.
Maybe he was hit by the #74 Riley Motorsports car of Gar Robinson. Robinson sharing with Brazilian Felipe Fraga and Australian Scott Andrews. We saw Andrews racing a Ferrari in the FIA World Endurance Championship this year as well. We have three classes crowning champions today. Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley have been really been running well and the swansong for their BMW M6 GT3 as they get ready to race the BMW M4 GT3 next year. They will be testing the car next weekend at Sebring and racing there in a different series. The track marshals want to make sure that the track is cleaned up.
We have the next generation NASCAR car coming up next year. Some elements of these cars are going to be put into the NASCAR Cup cars for next year. So glad to see people like Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus in the IMSA pit lane. We see the #12 Lexus have a crew member from Joe Gibbs Racing at Toyota. Action Express helped with the next generation NASCAR racer. Felipe Nasr pushes the bye bye button and now, Jimmie Johnson is at ther wheel of the #48 Ally Cadillac as well, look. GTLM and GTD mixed up in a candy dish. All different flavors. Kyle Kirkwood has really been pushing and Frankie Montecalvo has now taken the wheel of the #12 Vasser Sullivan car.
Misha Goikhberg leads GT Daytona in the #19 GRT Grasser Racing Team sharing with Franck Perera of France and Michele Beretta of Italy. We also see Russell Ward in the #57 Winward Mercedes AMG GT3, as they also race GT3 in DTM in Europe. They won in class at the Rolex 24 at the start of the year. Guy Cosmo in the #32 Gilbert/Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes. Cosmo sharing with Stevan McAleer and Mike Skeen. Two Americans and a Brit. McAleer, from the U.K. The glare in the daylight is a huge deal. The sun is right in the driver's eyes.
LMP3 damage. Hard to tell which car that is. That was moments ago, as Trent Hindman is now back on the lead lap while Kyle Kirkwood leads in the division. It's a traffic jam here at Road Atlanta, bringing to mind the Jimi Hendrix song "You're just like, crosstown traffic. All you do is slow me down, when I'm trying to get to the other side of town." Whoa! #60, the Meyer Shank Acura is off the road, makng the pass in the grass! Jeepers creepers! Sebastien Bourdais is now second. I think Cameron has all four wheels off, and yes, he did! Criminy! Lightning strike. He ran for cover! Yikes!
Kyle Kirkwood has been a very impressive driver. In the pit bunker, teams can check out their own car, and they have timing and scoring and the dancing ants, these dots that show the cars. The engineers are studying the performance of the car. Don't spill your secrets. Keep your cards close to your chest. Sebastien Bourdais got a huge head of steam and he slides 'round Felipe Nasr. Nasr is not taking any risks. All AXR must do is finish ahead of the #10 Acura. Filipe Albuquerque is pushing hard. Maybe Filipe Albuquerque will run one more stint. Big spins there, look, as an LMP3 car spins and the #1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini has massive tire damage on the right front corner.
That is the #7 LMP3 car spun around in turn ten, and the car whacked the Lamborghini. Maybe the Lamborghini hit Mark Kvamme and he didn't spin all by his lonesome. No tire rub for the Lambo but they need to check the car in the lane. Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, and Corey Lewis driving. Lewis will get into the car taking over from Madison Snow. Paul Miller Racing want to beat the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche and now the right rear wheel is not coming off the drive pegs! Desperation in kicking the tires! That hub could be damaged! Oh man, oh man, oh man.
Something has seized that right rear wheel, the drive pegs on the hub. Mazda on MSR Acura, side by side through turns nine and ten! Egad! This is wild. Hang onto your hollyhocks here, boys and girls. Porsche #97 has a flat left rear tire! Oh my gosh! It's all happening! Sebastien Bourdais will drive with the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing team and they will have two Cadillac's next year. Alex Lynn, Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, and new recruit for today and next year, Earl Bamber. Game over for the #1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini. That wheel and hub damage did them in, probably. Kick it, slam it, use a crowbar, and it didn't work.
It is an unfortunately thing to know that the championship slips through your fingers like sand. Madison Snow was collected by a spinning car. Seven podiums for the PMR team in 2021 as the championship battle in DPi is still on. Pipo Derani will be into the #31 while Ricky Taylor will get into the #10. Spinner there as the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes spins and then continues. What happened? Ah. He got nudged ovff the road? Nope. He was feeling the heat from the #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3.
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