No split between the two GTD classes. Corvette Racing were eighth and ninth in class in GTD Pro, not like that team to be way down the order. One of the BMW M4 GT3's is in the lane and we are getting ready to go back to green flag racing. John Edwards shares the new BMW M4 GT3 with Connor De Philippi, John Edwards, Augusto Farfus, and Jesse Krohn. The sister entry #24 has Philipp Eng, Marco Wittman, Nick Yelloly, and Sheldon van der Linde. Green flag! Tom Blomqvist moving in on Earl Bamber. The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura battles the Ganassi Cadillac. Kobayashi runs wide on cold tires. They are used tires, not fresh skins. Vautier, Albuquerque, and Bourdais are right in the fight and so are the other three DPi cars. Two Acura's and five Cadillac's. Look at the traffic jam in GTD! The track is literally blocked, three and four wide 'round the banking. Unbelievable.
The Bus Stop is now known as the Le Mans chicane. Daytona International Speedway has that and Le Mans will have a Daytona chicane on the Mulsanne straight. This is great. We will see convergence with the new GTP cars next year in 2023. Looking forward to that. Frankie Montecalvo, Michael De Quesada, and Misha Goikhberg battle in GTD. Lexus, Mercedes, Mercedes. We see Julien Andlauer and Matthieu Jaminet scrapping with each other, both in Porsche's. With the new GTP class, yours truly hopes to be back at the Rolex 24 in person. We shall see how possible that is with the worldwide situation right now with the virus. Meanwhile, Ben Barnicoat, has come over thanks to Jack Hawksworth, to be with Lexus racing in the United States. Barnicoat used to drive a McLaren in Europe. We now check on the #81 DragonSpeed LMP2 car of Eric Lux, sharing with IndyCar drivers Colton Herta, Devlin DeFrancesco, and Pato O'Ward who has also tested with the McLaren Formula 1 team.
He is happy and having a great time at the Rolex 24. He started his career in the WeatherTech Championship years ago. A great scrap continues to ensue in GTD Pro and GTD. Things seem to be settling down at the front right now as Kamui Kobayashi leads still for Action Express aboard the #48. Pato O'Ward says it is very different driving an LMP2 car and being up against the European drivers who have made LMP2 what it is. A spin for one of the Ferrari's and he gets back in the race. That was the #21 entry, the AF Corse 488 GT3. Not sure who is driving that car. Hang on a second. That automobile is being shared by Toni Vilander, Luis Perez Companc, Nicklas Nielsen, and Simon Mann. Pato O'Ward says driving a Formula 1 car is amazing and he compares one of the modern F1 cars to a go kart.
Sebastien Bourdais in the meantime, he is chasing the #60 Meyer Shank Acura with Tom Blomqvist at the controls, son of World Rally legend and Audi pilot in the Group B glory days of the 1980s, Stig Blomqvist. O'Ward says, time the traffic, much like the 33 car field at the Indianapolis 500. Oh dear! We have more spinning! We have the #12 Lexus RC F GT3 with damage! Frankie Montecalvo looks to have a flat tire. He could not avoid the spinning Ferrari which looks like the Cetilar entry, the #47. Crunch! The Ferrari got off the brakes! Good gravy! Bury your foot in the brake pedal to lock the wheels up.
That is the #47 Cetilar Ferrari with an all-Italian driving team. Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto, Antonio Fuoco, and Alessio Rovera. We saw Fuoco perform well with the AF Corse team in the SRO IGTC Indianapolis 8 Hours at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last fall. So, the #12 Lexus has made it's way to the garage for repairs. The team is at work changing the left rear suspension. The door seems fine and the body panels can be replaced. The suspension has definitely been tweaked. The #12 team has to get back out and score points. They will have to wait to win the Rolex, until next year. We will be open all night here at the Rolex 24. Keep the coffee handy. You will need it.
Ah, the sweet sounds of a flat six Porsche singing up on the high banks. Julien Andlauer, the Frenchman, taking the car around into the Bus Stop. He is chasing Ben Barnicoat and Matthieu Jaminet. For GTD Pro, the Lexus RC F GT3 for the Vasser Sullivan team is a brand-new car. Michael de Quesada is running very well in the #28 Alegra Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3. Michael de Quesada sharing with Daniel Morad, Linus Lundqvist, and Maximilian Goetz. In the lane now, the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac. Daniel Morad has known Robert Wickens since age eight when they were karting together in Canada.
Morad is a class winner at the Rolex 24. Patience has been key for Pipo Derani and company at Action Express. They are pacing themselves and settling into the race. We can see the class leading GTD car at SunEnergy1, another Mercedes AMG GT3. They ran very well at the 24 Hours of Dubai a few weeks ago. Luca Stolz, Kenny Habul, Raffaele Marciello, and Fabian Schiller. Whoops! Another spinner. That is one of the LMP2 entries. So, some order shuffling in DPi. Jose Maria Lopez is now in the #48 and has been passed by the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura DPi with Helio Castroneves at the controls, the four-time Indianapolis 500 winner. Filipe Albuquerque third in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac and fourth, the second Action Express #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac of Pipo Derani.
Check that. Lopez is now in the lead. Corvette Racing have logged 50,000 laps in the Rolex 24 in two decades. The Corvette's are a detuned GT Le Mans car. They are going to build a new GT3 car and it will come in the future. Antonio Garcia is currently at the controls of the #3 sharing with Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg. Jose Maria Lopez is now in the leading AXR #48 Cadillac. Pipo Derani is now up to third right behind Filipe Albuquerque. Gary Nelson, Action Express team manager, isvery impressed with Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez on the team. They are all champions in the #48 car. The same is true with the #31. Seven drivers on two teams and they know what to do. It is like herding cats. Let them do their thing.
In endurance racng, look at the big picture. Stay out of trouble. Keep the pit crew fresh. Nelson is a fan of the endurance racing. Gary Nelson is a former tech director for NASCAR. AXR won the title last year with the #31 and are back for more in 2022. Debris on the road out of the Le Mans chicane. It is a rear diffuser. It flew out from under one of the GTD cars. We will leave that be for now and clean it up in a wee while. But the team who lost that will be looking for it. Trouble for the #68 G-Drive LMP2 with a cut down left rear tire. Oliver Rasmussen at the wheel of it.
Francois Heriau of France, sharing with Oliver Rasmussen also listed as a Frenchman, Ed Jones, former IndyCar driver, and Austrian veteran Rene Rast. Jimmie Johnson is really refining himself as a driver. He is excelling in sports cars after his success in NASCAR and in IndyCar, he will get a chance to fully commit to that championship for 2022. Jose Maria Lopez still leads the motor race ahead of Filipe Albuquerque. Sebastien Bourdais and Pipo Derani are next in line. Lopez is scything his way through traffic. Respect what the other drivers aboard the GT3 cars need to do. Football star Bernard Pollard is also hanging out in the Action Express pit and the #48 team.
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