So, we have completed 2/3rds of this race. We still have a full third left. Several cars rejoining the track from green flag pit stops. This might be Ollie Milroy's first Rolex 24. Milroy leads GTD over Jonny Adam by 14+ seconds. Zacharie Robichon, the rapid Canadian, is now aboard the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. Lucas Auer continues aboard the #57 Winward Motorsports Mercedes. Millroy to the lane for service. Tristan Nunez continues to lead to the tune of 7.8 seconds. We are just two laps away from the 500 laps completed marker. 500 laps completed, 1,780 miles. 833 laps is the record, in 2020, the year yours truly was at the speedway to see the Rolex 24 in person. Tristan Vautier is slightly eating his way into the gap behind Tristan Nunez. Nunez has run 15 laps, and Vautier, 14. It is the Tristan and Tristan show.
We have another Full Course Yellow and so, we will see more pit stops. We need to find out what the reason is for this 14th yellow. The previous green flag was an hour and 47 minutes. What on earth happened? This is a big accident for an LMP3 entry. The Andretti Autosport car is off big style in the Internatuonal Horseshoe. It is the #36 Andretti Autosport Ligier with Rasmus Lindh, the Swede, at the controls. Felipe Fraga continues leading LMP3 ahead of Jon Bennett. It could be game over here for Andretti Autosport. Wait a moment. It is not Andretti Autosport. It is the #6 Muehlner Motorsports America entry, and the second time they've gone off the road.
Joel Miller was at the wheel of it, having pranged the barrier. His co-drivers, Efrin Castro from the Domincan Republic, Moritz Kranz of Germany, and America Ayrton Ori. So, Andretti Autosport fans, you can breathe a sigh of relief as Rasmus Lindh continues in the race in that automobile. The car will be recovered and maybe it will head to the lane under it's own steam. Prototypes will pit soon before GT's come in. Emergency service for the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. Nicky Catsburg needed to hit the pit lane. Corvette hit drama with alternator issues for the #4 entry. These cars are now GT3 cars reverse engineered and also run at Le Mans in 2021. Nunez, Vautier, Blomqvist, and Stevens, the top four.
Nunez leads the motor race. Pit stop time as prototypes have already made their stops and here come the GTD Pro and GTD runners. Gradient and NTE Sport are two of the teams in the pti lane. The race to end is on. We welcome Dave Burns and James Hinchcliffe to the booth. Green flag back in the air, now. Tristan Nunez being monstered by Tom Blomqvist and now, Nunez is off the road after being slammed by Tristan Nunez. Nunez has to slice and dice his way back up the order. He has enough time. Tristan Vautier might serve a penalty. Little argy bargy incidents can add up towards the end of the race.
Team strategist Tim Keene expects the #5 entry to get a penalty. Now then, Simon Mann is slow in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari. The fracas between the #5 and #31 is under review. KCMG and Pfaff Motorsports are still battling in GTD Pro along with the Ferrari #62. Laurens Vanthoor, Felipe Nasr, and Davide Rigon. #21 was biffed by a prototype headed for the lane! Yikes! 53 of 61 starters still running. Eight official retirements and only eight, from the race thus far. Tristan Nunez has now dropped to fourth place, 13 seconds behind. Will AXR be able to claw their way up? Tom Blomqvist now leads Earl Bamber and Ricky Taylor.
Colton Herta leads LMP2 ahead of Ferdinand Habsburg, Scott Huffaker, and Rinus Veekay. LMP3 has Felipe Fraga ahead of Malthe Jakubsen, George Kurtz, and Rasmus Lindh. In GTD Pro, it is Daniel Juncadella for Mercedes ahead of Davide Rigon for Risi Competizione Ferrari, Laurens Vanthoor in the KCMG Porsche and Felipe Nasr in the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche. It is still dark, just about 6:20 A.M. The cold weather has really affected the fans, the drivers, and the pit crews, all. All five DPi cars are on the lead lap. We are in the "zombie land" stage with the pit crews sleeping between pit stops while the cars race. Laurens Vanthoor has now passed Daniel Juncadella for the lead in GTD Pro.
Davide Rigon is all over Juncadella now. Tom Blomqvist continues to lead the motor race ahead of Earl Bamber and Ricky Taylor with Tristan Nunez now fourth. 22 laps down, Jose Maria Lopez is now in the #48 Ally Action Express Cadillac. Helio Castroneves is on deck for another stint to take over from Tom Blomqvist, kitted up 20-25 minutes before and we have a spin in the Le Mans chicane for George Kurtz in the #54 LMP3 entry for CORE Autosport. He lost it on corner entry into the Le Mans chicane. Maybe the was a mismatched downshift, locking the brakes. The #11 Win Autosport LMP2 car of young Josh Pierson, he has a stop + 60 penalty.
Trouble now for the #97 Mercedes, smoke pouring from the front of the car. It could be tire smoke, maybe engine smoke. Hard to tell. There's a lot of dirt and clag on the road. Maybe there is carbon fiber in shards out there. Juncadella went over the curbs and picked up some shrapnel somewhere. The curbs are good for lap time but bad for car reliability. One of the LMP2 entries is off the road. There's oil all over the road and that Mercedes might be puking oil out from someplace. Full Course Yellow, for the 15th time. The sun will be rising at Daytona very soon and we will be in daylight in a wee while.
Yes. A whole bunch of smoke emanating from that Mercedes, from under the bonnet. The snatch truck has retrieved the stalled G-Drive LMP2 entry. WeatherTech Racing have crowded their way around the motor in the Mercedes to see what is going on. The sun will come up in about 25 minutes with some clouds around too. So, #97 is now being pushed back to the garage. This is an oiling issue. I was right. The car was chucking oil out. This is the 15th yellow flag of the event, with all the traffic, and the cold. Pit road is closed. Wake up the crrew. It is time to go for it. So, the leaders have indeed pitted and now, we are going to see people double stinting tires.
Oil dry, cement dust is being laid down. Watch out for the cement dust on the road when we go back to green flag conditions. It is going to be really dodgy out there. Scott Huffaker spun and James Allen was stranded and is on the rollback to head back to the garage. James Allen scored an LMP2 podium here at Daytona in a rain soaked event in 2019. GTD Pro and GTD pit together. Laurens Vanthoor is in the lane along with Flipe Nasr and Davide Rigon. The dueling between the Porsche's and the Ferrari has been unreal. The sun is starting to rside at 20 minutes to 7AM Eastern Time. The Inception McLaren, one of them is still in the lane.
Yes. The rear deck is off of the McLaren as the crew makes repairs. Now they are buttoning it up and will send the car back on track.
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