Mazda #55 into the pit lane from the race lead. Fuel, tires, and a driver change. A full service pit stop for Mazda in their final race. Will it be Harry Tincknell or Oliver Jarvis into the car? The 2021 Petit Le Mans will be very dark when we get to nightfall. Garrett Grist leads in LMP3 and he has run these cars a lot in Europe. He also raced in IMSA Prototype Challenge here yesterday. What he does not have experience with is racing in the dark. 35-40 rookies in this field, having not done this race. The sunset is different here at Road Atlanta. The lighting at Daytona International Speedway is very well lit but it is incredibly dark here at Road Atlanta when we get to the nighttime hours.
Last year we were at the 12 Hours of Sebring, on this weekend, this same time of year. Sebring though is much flatter than Road Atlanta, because it is an old airfield circuit. Something might be wrong with the leading #55 Mazda. Hard to tell at this moment. Is Oliver Jarvis on the rev limiter? He has a miss in the revs. This is an emotional final race for them. An electric problem in Free Practice 1 for them but now, they need to diagnose the issues. The mechanics are checking the cokpit and the motor of the car as the bonnet comes off. Acura #60 just came in for scheduled service. All the signatures on this car are from the race team and fans autographs. The team signed the nose and on the grid, everyone signed it.
There could be an electronic issue or a fuel injection issue on the car. The engineers know exactly where they need to work. This car was developed five years and brought into the series after Mazda has been in for eight years. They will stay in IMSA with the Mazda MX-5 Cup single make series. Larry Holt at Multimatic has also supported this program. Jonathan Bomarito, too, has been with the Mazda people for years as a wave of Cadillac's are in the lane. #31, #48, #01. No driver changes at Action Express. Pipo Derani leads Simon Pagenaud. Not sure who is at the wheel of the #01 Ganassi car.
We will check for you in a moment. The #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac is now in pit lane as we have a slow LMP3 car somewhere. Maybe it isn't slow. Wait a minute, ladies and gentlemen. He was tipped into a spin. It's the luckless #83 entry rotating once again, look. #83 was a number used for years in the GTP era by NPTI Nissan and the factory team they had in the '80s and early '90s. Philipp Eng may have assisted the #83 into that spin. Naveen Rao at the wheel of it. Off track again for the #38 LMP3. The number of drivers is the most we have seen in years. 43 cars, and a total of 129 drivers. One retirement and we see 42 cars on track.
In the championship, Derani is following Ricky Taylor right now. Helio Castroneves in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura leads the motor race now. Let your driver focus. Drivers want to know what the experience levels are of the other drivers they are around. Brad Audet, the Chief Marketing Officer of Mazda says that they have a good race going right now. Will they ever return to the WeatherTech Championship? Maybe. For now they want to focus on the MX-5 Cup one-make championships. Mazda have been open and able to share their technologies with the media. Traffic ahead of the prototypes.
You have not missed much in this hour as we have been consistently under green flag conditions. Car #54 is off the road, with George Kurtz at the controls, the CORE Autosport Ligier sharing with Jonathan Bennett and Colin Braun. They lack ront downforce on those cars. The LMP3 cars are all over the track as we see Helio Castroneves with a 3.1 second lead and he will be in IndyCar racing full-time for 2022. Six and a half hours to go. You have to find a way to have speed and brains. There's a magical, happy medium, someplace. The #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 is in the lane from the lead in GT Daytona. Aidan Read at the controls.
He is of course sharing with Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley. Aidan Read is a crew member on a NASCAR team at Rick Ware Racing. Bill Auberlen again back at the wheel. Corvette #3 and BMW #24 is in the lane too. NASCAR will be using a lot of concepts on their new Next Generation car that will debut next year, from sports car racing, from IMSA. Castroneves and one of the Lamborghini's go for a rodeo ride there! Yikes! That was a close shave! Traffic everywhere. The grass around the track seems to be fairly thin. Ricky Taylor has now taken over the lead of the motor race.
The #74 Riley Motorsports LMP3 entry has pitted. So, we now have Ricky Taylor in the lead of the motor race. Castroneves is second. Derani third. Vautier fourth. Pagenaud fifth. Some drivers are behind where they think they would have been. GT Daytona pit stops as Laurens Vanthoor hands the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R to Nurburgring Porsche test driver Lars Kern. Robichon and Vanthoor lead GTD points by 221 points over their rivals. The wheel can hurt the sidewall of the tire which is compressed like a spring into the corner. The pressure adjustments on tires is miniscule.
DPi pit stops now as the #10 is in the lane. Pipo Derani moves to second in the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac. #31 is in the pit lane now for tires, fuel, and a driver change. Mike Conway will climb into the car for his stint. Driver changes have to be better than 30 seconds. When the driver plugs their radio wire in, that also changes the drivers on timing and scoring and minimum and maximum drive times. Four hours in a six hour time window. Mike Conway won with Toyota at the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlier in the year.
The most nerve racking it is, is for the third drivers who have to race and help their team mates out who are running for a championship. Drivers like Mike Conway, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, and more. Oh my gosh! The #7 LMP3 car has stuffed it into the barriers climbing the hill through turn four! Wow. Rodrigo Pflucker on cold tires or he was pushed wide. This is the Forty7 Motorsports entry with the 2019 Prototype Challenge champion at the wheel of it. Yours truly was away getting a bite to eat during the Full Course Yellow. Service for some of the top contenders in pit lane including the #60 MSR Acura and the #48 Ally Cadillac from Action Express and Hendrick Motorsports.
We now see a slew of GT Daytona pit stops as we are going to go back to green momentarily and are upon the completion of another racing hour. Fans are truly enjoying themselves today. This is wonderful. The kids are loving it to. Young and old. Good to see seven-year-old Own MacEachern who designed the Era Motorsports car's livery. It is a shame his car is out. But he must be having a wonderful time at the track this weekend. We await the green flag to wave again. The cleanup crews are still out there trying to make sure the track is clear as we are onboard with the #48 Action Express, Hendrick Motorsports Cadillac with Ally Financial sponsorship.
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