Less than an hour to go now. 55 minutes. Castroneves, Duval, Taylor, Derani, the top four. WTR is the only team with a consistent lineup and Helio Castroneves goes deep in the corner. Duval and Taylor are coming. MSR team boss Michael Shank, looking on. Here comes Duval! Taylor and Derani third and fourth. Duval is slicing into Castroneve's lead and we have a Full Course Yellow for a stopped Lamborghini on the road. Pfaff and KCMG are going to go down to the wire in GTD Pro. Race off pit lane. #2 and #9, they are scrambling off pit lane. Here comes Loic Duval trying to run down Helio Castroneves. We're under our 17th Full Course Yellow! Giacomo Altoe in the #19 TR3 Racing Piloti Lamborghini is stranded off the road. Altoe has sahred that car with Bill Sweedler, John Megrue, and Jeff Segal.
Pit stop time. All DPi contenders in the lane. Splash and dash for #60, #5 taking sticker Michelin tires. One more stop still left. #31 had more petrol in the tank. GTD cars in the lane now. #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari and manu, many more. Final stops in GTD Pro and GTD. Aston Martin for Magnus Racing, down and away. Serviced and sent are these GTD cars. 38 minutes to go. Tom Blomqvist is shattered. He needs to use the restroom and maybe just chill until the end of the race so he does not make any mistakes. AXR and JDC-Miller in the lane. Splash and dash for the #31 and #5 Pipo Derani told to save more fuel than you've saved, ever. LMP2 final stops. DragonSpeed, G-Drive, Tower Motorsports and others, in and out. Splash and a dash.
Ben Keating has a chance to win two Rolexes in DPi and LMP2. #52 in LMP2 third. Sticker Michelin's for Loic Duval #5. We might just see pushing and shoving at the very end. Taylor locks up. Duval off the road. Here comes Derani, or not. Derani cleaning his tires. Taylor behind Castroneves. GTD Pro has Pfaff and KCMG. Omnipresent scrapping between those two. Jack Hawksworth in Lexus #14 is in the fight too. In replay, Derani almost hits Taylor and Duval gets snookered. Cold tires for Derani. No grip.
Castroneves and Taylor scrapping with Derani and Duval all over each other. You can short shift to save fuel and lifting and coasting helps. Throttle application as well. Don't jab the gas pedal. Be smooth. Gain time. Lift and coast. Colton Herta in LMP2 has to chase down Louis Deletraz. 25 minutes to go now. Nothing really happening just yet. The top four sizing each other up. Flying formation. Same with top two runners in GTD Pro. It is an enviable record for WTR for four in a row with 20 minutes left.
Castroneves will be in GTD traffic, a huge clump. Pipo Derani is three seconds away. This is it. 20 minutes to go. This is the first race of the whole season. The biggest race in IMSA. Traffic ahead. 30 mile per hour speed delta between DPi and the GTD's. The two Acura's tiptoeing through traffic. Side by side stuff. Traffic giveth. Traffic taketh away. Duval passes Derani. A gap forming between the two Acura's. #60 ahead of #10. Herta forces Deletraz off the road in LMP2 and Deletraz almost comes back across the track! Incident under review.
Colton Herta leading LMP2. GTD Pro. Laurens Vanthoor tryuing to shadow and probe Matty Jaminet. Laurens Vanthoor side by side and cannot get to Jaminet. Herta coming through ad Vanthoor pushes im out of the way. Herta is balked and will gap the Porsche's. Vanthoor is pushing Jaminet hard. Side b side stuff right here. Jaminet will toss it iand get slammed by the LMP2? Nope. Deletraz down to third in LMP2. No more argy bargy from the stewards to #2. Ricky Taylor has lost time to Helio Castroneves with a three second lead. Taylor may be saving gas. Duval in deep trying to catch Taylor. Castroneves' lead grows.
Herta leads Giedo van der Garde and Louis Deletraz in LMP2. Alessandro Pier Guidi and Jack Hawksworth have faded in GTD Pro. Side by side and pushing and shoving between Vanthoor and Jaminet. Vanthoor in the gray. Jaminet leans on him. This is dodge 'em car stuff! Wrestling match between these two for GTD Pro! Felipe Nasr, 2021 DPi champion who will drive for Porsche and Roger Penske next year. Jaminet still leads. Here comes Jaminet! Taylor 1.8 seconds behind Castroneves. Here comes Jaminet. Vanthoor on the knife edge. Cstroneves is onhislast lap. M Side by side. Jaminet takes the lead! Where is the leader?
Dodge 'em cars. Porsche Cup race. No white flag yet. Vanthoor crashes in the Le Mans chicane! Jaminet will win GTD Pro. Meyer Shank win the 60th Rolex 24. Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud, Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis. DragonSpeed take LMP2 honors with Eric Lux, Devlin DeFrancesco, Pato O'Ward, and Colton Herta (a contingent of IndyCar drivers make up 3/4 of that team). GTD Pro goes to Matty Campbell, Matty Jaminet, and new Porsche recruit, Felipe Nasr. GTD also goes the way of Porsche and Wright Motorsports in the #16 car.
Winning drivers, Ryan Hardwick, Zacharie Robichon, Jan Heylen, and Richard Lietz.
Overall/DPi: #60 Castroneves/Blomqvist/Pagenaud/Jarvis Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05
LMP2: #81 Lux/DeFrancesco/O'Ward/Herta DragonSpeed USA Oreca 07
LMP3: #74 Robinson/Fraga/van Berlo/Cooper Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan
GT Daytona Pro: #9 Campbell/Jaminet/Nasr Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R
GT Daytona: #16 Hardwick/Robichon/Heylen/Lietz Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R
That's all from Daytona. Tomorrow, there will be a more comprehensive wrap up of the race. Stay tuned for that. Yours truly is bushed after watching what I think has to be my 25th Rolex 24. I've seen a bunch of them including one in person. If I keep typing, I'll just put typos everywhere. So long, everybody, from Daytona Beach, Florida, and Daytona International Speedway. Next up for IMSA, another classic Florida enduro, the 12 Hours of Sebring at Sebring International Raceway in March. Can't wait for that one! Take care.
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