From Lanky Turtle. SRO GT World Challenge America race 2 trackside video from St. Petersburg.
Monday, February 28, 2022
Weekly Racing Roundup (2-28-22)
Report from GT America at St. Pete plus program announcements and other news...
https://sportscar365.com/features/roundup/weekly-racing-roundup-2-28-22/
Bathurst 12H Shifts to Pro-Am Format; 2023 Date Confirmed
Pro class eliminated in effort to attract additional entries for this year's postponed Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12H...
https://sportscar365.com/sro/igtc/bathurst-12h-shifts-to-pro-am-2023-date-confirmed/
FIA World Endurance Championship stories
Headlines from the FIA World Endurance Championship as we get closer and closer to the opener of the 2022 season at the fabled Sebring International Raceway.
Holland: Vector Sport Formed on "Blank Piece of Paper"
Tincknell, Priaulx Join Ried in Dempsey-Proton Porsche
WRT Adds Third LMP2 Entry Involving GT3 Stars
Peugeot will miss the 24 Hours of Le Mans due to homologation delays on the car and will debut the 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar in the second half of the 2022 FIA WEC season.
Peugeot 9X8 Set to Make Debut After Le Mans
Corvette to Run Yellow Livery in WEC
ACO Delays Le Mans Entry List Reveal
Sunday, February 27, 2022
GT America St. Petersburg Race Broadcasts
Race broadcasts of both opening races for SRO GT America 2022 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. We join SRO GT World and our commentators, Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish, in the booth, and Amanda Busick in the pit lane, for all the action.
Headlines from the official IMSA website
Headlines to be aware of from the official IMSA website headed for round two, the classic 12 Hours of Sebring in Sebring, Florida.
Cross Polination: Technology Transfers Both Ways in IMSA Racing
New Wright Lineup Off to Best Possible Start in GTD
RHR Returns: Hunter-Reay Joins No. 01 Cadillac Lineup with Chip Ganassi Racing
Lopez Subbing for Johnson in No. 48 Cadillac at Sebring
Porsche Completes Successful LMDh Test at Barcelona
Splash and Go: Three Questions with Colin Braun
Andretti Autosport Finds Silver Lining to Take to Sebring
Jarvis, MSR Riding Winning Wave of Momentum into Sebring
Winning Makeover: DragonSpeed's New LMP2 Lineup
Pair of Former F1 Drivers Confirmed for Sebring
Saturday, February 26, 2022
SRO GT America: St. Petersburg Race 2
Welcome back, to St. Petersburg, Florida, and the St. Petersburg street circuit for race two of the season opener for SRO GT America in 2022. Yesterday, we saw an absolute sizzler of a 40-minute motor race. Today, should be no different. Starting from pole in today's motor race is yesterday's race one winner, Jason Daskalos. He is at the wheel of the #27 Daskalos Motorsports Audi R8 LMS. Yesterday's race was a street fight. Today will be no different with another 27-car grid answering the bell today. Yesterday's race was a hoot. Excited to see how things will pan out today. Daskalos and Scott Smithson really battled hard yesterday. Jason Daskalos won yesterday but will start fifth today. The grid for race two is set by fastest laps in race one.
Jeff Burton is caboose on the field and not just behind the rest of the GT3 field. Thankfully Zelus Motorsports and team boss Ty Isaac, did not have to go to a brand-new car. Marko Radisic podiumed in GT4. Derek DeBoer hung onto second in GT4 while he was being harried by Moisey Uretsky. GT America has an eight-round schedule in 2022. Yesterday's race start in turn one was carnage. Let's hope we do not have a repeat. George Kurtz set fastest lap yesterday and really turned it on. Mirko Schultis in the Callaway Corvette, he too will be up there, with the Callaway Corvette C-7-R. Once you see green, you can pass, even before the start/finish line. Scott Smithson aboard the #08 Mercedes turns the car but has to do a three-point turn to get out of the paddock and onto the track.
The cars are driving out to the track now. That Callaway Corvette is a beautiful race car. Mirco Schultis won in class at Petit Le Mans, eight years ago, in a very different car. The Callaway Corvette did not arrive until a couple Friday's ago and cleared customs last Monday. This is a sleeper for the win today. Row two has both the DXDT Racing Mercedes AMG GT3s. Masters championship win yesterday went to David Askew. Forgot to mention that yesterday.
Scott Smithson, he has poise to go for it, and will better time his traffic runs today. Smithson and Bryan Sellers will team up in GT World Challenge America. Smithson has only been racing for three years, starting in TCR. David Askew invited him to a track day in 2020 and he got the racing bug. George Kurtz, on the pole, now racing under the Riley Motorsports banner after racing for a number of years through last year with DXDT Racing. Bill Riley and Riley Motorsports have loads of experience with the Mercedes AMG GT3. Colin Braun is mentoring him and will be his co-driver.
Marko Radisic is eighth on the grid and back in SRO GT4 for the first time since 2020. Marko Radisic, from Serbia, he lives in Sarasota, Florida, not far from the St. Petersburg street course. Radisic is a wheel man and is fit as a fiddle. SRO America President and CEO Greg Gill is stunned with how well this race weekend has gone. He is very excited. There's wind in the sails of the SRO America championship. We have seen growth and we have a normal season opener. The rest of the series will start at Sonoma Raceway in March.
This track at St. Petersburg has been around since the 1980s and is a fan favorite. The weather is wonderful and the setting is spot on. There is an energy to this race that we have never seen. Chris Cagnazzi will not race today as he has a sore back and needs to rest up before the rest of the season. So, Chris, we hope you are watching. 14 turns, 1.8 miles, is the length of this street course. This is a very flowing track with many high speed turns along with surface changes and those dreaded concrete walls.
Many rookies are in the field today. The cars roll off single file on the recon lap. We have GT3 and GT4 cars in this race of course. A real assorted candy dish of motorcars. 25 cars on the grid. Safety car driver Mike Stillwagon turns the field loose and we have a green flag and we're underway! George Kurtz leads and Smithson and Askew press on. Mirko Schultis spins and had contact with a couple other cars. Derek DeBoer and Jason Bell scrap in GT4. Shuffling too for Scott Smithson who gets dropped down the order in that Mercedes AMG GT3. Another driver who had a poor start, Justin Wetherill in the Ferrari 488 GT3.
Ziad Ghandour is back for TR3 Racing this year as George Kurtz makes good his escape. Ghandour wants by Smithson. If you try giving the spot on the inside to another driver, you will be in the barriers. The stewards are likely studying that incident from earlier as George Kurtz is putting a massive amount of daylight between himself and the others. In replay, C.J. Moses it looks like, may have nudged Schultis. These GT3 cars have ABS taking braking away across the paint. ABS helps in some ways and hinders in others. George Kurtz is flying right now, a second and a half quicker and five seconds clear of David Askew.
Justin Weatherill is now ahead of GT4 leader Derek DeBoer. DeBoer racing the GT4 Porsche Cayman for The Racer's Group. Todd Coleman is off the road in turn ten, car #69, the Smooge Racing Toyota Supra GT4. Jason Bell in the Aston Martin, he has left front damage, but is chasing Derek DeBoer. Chris Gumprecht next up in another Mercedes AMG GT4. Gray Newell in the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for The Heart of Racing is also in the fight. There is no class split in GT America. Smithson is pushing, screaming around St. Petersburg uncorking the fastest lap of the motor race so far, not sure what the time is.
Smithson says that this track at St. Petersburg is intimidating but he is dealing with the traffic right now. Timing the passes is the major factor. 1:14 dead for Smithson, and 1:15.1 for Kurtz while Jeff Burton resets fastest lap, caboose on the grid, in the #191 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Burton will be co-driving with Corey Lewis in GT World Challenge America starting at Sonoma Raceway in California, next month. Moisey Uretsky in the Toyota Supra wants to keep Gray Newell at bay in the Aston Martin. Game over for yesterday's winner, Jason Daskalos. He is upset as drivers think they can come inside but on the paint they are in no man's land.
There's always the next race. Daskalos says he has learned a lot about the car getting the win, and they'll move on. Bryan Putt is off the road in the B-Sport Racing Aston Martin, car #15. Massive fight for the GT3 podium as Ziad Ghandoor is hanging on by his fingernails over Scott Smithson. 29 minutes on the board yet. Game over as well for Mirko Schultis and the Callaway Corvette team. David Askew has spun off the road and is now back on, after nosing into the tires. Where is Jeff Burton? He is who we are looking for. Jeff Burton, Justin Weatherill, and Jason Harward have all made a pass.
Poor old Askew went down the escape road. George Kurtz continues to lead. Kurtz has been running long distance IMSA races in addition to his GT3 experience. Kurtz was on the podium in LMP3 in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and he will be racing again at the 12 Hours of Sebring next month. Clutch woes for Mirko Schultis and the Callaway. Game over. Jason Bell was upset yesterday, and his co-driver/driver coach Andrew Davis has to reassure him. Go quick, no mistakes, but improve your race craft. It is very hard to pass on a street course. Moisey Uretsky in the bright yellow Toyota Supra is still being chased by Gray Newell. Newell started racing in 2021.
Ian James, Heart of Racing team boss, he is a coach and mentor for Gray Newell. He had a big wreck on the streets of Nashville, Tennessee, last summer. Gray Newell also ran the 24 Hours of Dubai in an Aston Martin and he finished second in class. Seat time is key. Don't take any risks. Marko Radisic is catching Moisey Uretsky. He has kept it clean. Plenty of time left on the board as we are just near halfway through this motor race. Jeff Burton might be having an issue. Ah. Pass under yellow, drive through penalty. Burton is pinged.
David Askew has passed Jason Harward as well. Ziad Ghandour and Scott Smithson are scrapping hard. All of this action behind George Kurtz, leading the motor race by nine seconds. Ziad "Z Hog" Ghandour is really pressing hard. The GT3 and GT4 cars have horsepower but the GT4 boys do not have the downforce that the GT3's do. Marko Radisic is chasing Gray Newell. Radisic is indeed right on Newell's six. Full Course Yellows eat up the time in these sprint races as we are halfway home. Crossing over the paint, roll off the brake pedal for a locking wheel. Many drivers overcommitting to the corner.
Justin Wetherill will be sharing with Ryan Dalziel in GT World Challenge America this year. He has been a winner in Ferrari Challenge before. Wetherill was a businessman who went on to be a racer and is a Ferrari fan. Ghandour and Smithson, close to the wall, maximize the corner radius. There is a crown on the street that drains rainwater. But you don't want all the clag in that crown for the race car. That's for dead sure. Ziad Ghandour goes inside sSMithson, missing the braking zone and, Scott Smithson to P2. Book it. Smithson has the preferred line.
George Kurtz, with 17 minutes on the board, is whistling into the distance. Mercedes vs. Mercedes, but with two different teams. Kurtz is a definite performer when he is right on the money and in his sweet spot. Deary me. Jason Harward, game over for the #88 Lamborghini which crashed yesterday and had to be repaired. The new invitational class Porsche Cayman GT4 is really running well and needs to be homologated before Sonoma next month. That is Rob Holland. Harward smashed the wall in turn 14. Ouch. Hope he is OK. Wetherill, Uhler, C.J. Moses, the battle is on. Wetherill passes Moses and we could have Ziad Ghandour spun.
He did. He spun off turn 14 and has it back in the race. Smithson and Wetherill fight for second and Wetherill has uncorked a new fastest lap, 1:13.6. 1:13.9 was the fastest lap set yesterday. 1:13.667 as Wetherill goes purple. No one has been able to touch George Kurtz. The Wetherill and Smithson battle is what we are watching. Kurtz is 20 seconds ahead. Jason Bell has a torn up splitter and a lot of damage on that Aston Martin. It could hinder and help at the same time. Ghandour is making his recovery.
Ross Chouest in the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 is pressing hard, under Chouest Povoledo Racing. Paul Sparta next up in the BMW M4 GT4 for Random Vandals Racing. Chouest, a graduate of Ferrari Challenge, from New Orleans, Louisiana. He holds the record in Louisiana, for high school basketball. So, he has been an athlete for a long time. Paul Sparta is running well, in his second year of professional racing. The bonnet of the Mercedes is fluttering a bit but not badly. Less than ten mnutes to go. Keep your focus.
Keep in mind, we are racing on city streets at 135 miles an hour on streets that are normally 30 miles an hour. Derek DeBoer loses a place to the RENNTech Mercedes of Chris Gumprecht. DeBoer washes out wide into the clag on the outside of the track and Gumprecht takes the spot. It's deja vu all over again as Moisey Uretsky chases Derek DeBoer. 20 of the GT4 Toyota Supra's have been sold in the United States, ex McLaren Formula 1 enginner, Steve Hallam is the team boss at Toyota customer racing. Gumprecht slows into one of the corners, and Moisey Uretsky says, "thanks, mate" and presses past Derek DeBoer!
DeBoer to the outside and slides wide! Jeepers creepers! Total commitment! Gray Newell is pressing and George Krtz is also going to be in this shemozzle and Newell spins out! DeBoer's radiator leaking, and... crunch! DeBoer in the fence with five minutes left right in front of the leader! That part of the course will be a skating rink! We stay green. No we don't. Full Course Yellow now. You are in no man's land and Greay Newell just needed to give it up. Two cars tried to go for a spot where there's only room for one.
The track marshals are cleaning up. I don't think we are going to be able to restart this race. Jason Bell runs first in class. Bell's home is here in St. Petersburg. Celebrate a little harder tonight with a beverage and a good meal. George Kurtz has come back from an iffy start of the weekend. Good rebound. Justin Weatherill records the Crowdstrike fastest lap. Next month's race at Sonoma Raceway will be wild. White and yellow flags. This is the final lap behind the safety car. Give a call too, to Rob Holland with the new Porsche Cayman pseudo GT4 cars, which is soon to be homologated. They raced a Ford Mustang GT4 last year.
The points battle begins in earnest at Sonoma. Teams can drop two races but it is unclear about choosing certain races per weekend or certain rounds of the championship. Victory goes to George Kurtz, his third GT America win and his first for Riley Motorsports in 2022. GT4 goes to Jason Bell, from the Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg area. Sonoma Raceway in California is a very different challenge, a natural terrain circuit. Low grip, elevation change, and it will be a massive weekend of racing.
Overall/GT3: #04 George Kurtz Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3
GT2: #58 C.J. Moses GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT2
GT4: #2 Jason Bell GMG Racing Aston Martin AMR GT4
The GT2 cars are amazing with loads of power and less downforce. They will be very competitive at natural terrain circuits. So, the St. Petersburg GT America doubleheader is in the bag. Sonoma will be fun, next time out. We will see you in a month. So long for now, from St. Pete. Take care everybody.
Friday, February 25, 2022
SRO GT America: St. Petersburg Race 1
SRO America kicks off their season a wee bit earlier than expected in 2022. Yours truly regrets he could not find the time in 2021 to blog a lot of the races. Maybe there will be time in the coming weeks to do so. But, with that out of the way, we begin the season today for the GT America championship which is not typical of many sports car racing series in the world today. The reason is this is a format meaning races with only one driver behind the wheel of each car. The races will be 40 minutes in duration, and we begin today with race one of two, as GT America supports the IndyCar season opener here at the St. Petersburg, street circuit, in St. Petersburg, Florida. Three classes of automobile are open to run in GT America and those include cars from GT2, GT3, and GT4. 27 cars begin the second season of this series.
We have nearly 30 cars entered for these first two races of the season, here at St. Petersburg. Jason Harward starts fourth. He wants to lead out of the first corner. Third, George Kurtz, the champion of GT America 2021. The front row includes Scott Smithson, and Jason Daskalos. Daskalos podiumed last year on the street circuit in Nashville, Tennessee, last summer. Turn one lap one will be mega important. Turn one is part of the airfield runway. Don't lock the tires up. Watch your tire pressures. Be patient. This is indeed a street circuit.
This is a teomporary circuit using part of the airport runway for the straightaway. The championships here this weekend paddock outside the track. They are gridding up now. A street course is very intimidating if you have not driven one. Don't carry too much speed and don't get scared of the walls or you will spin. Process the information, but in race conditions it is a totally different kettle of fish. This is multi-class racing as always in sports car racing. One GT2 car, and a bunch of both GT3 and GT4 cars entered in this motor race.
The new Porsche Cayman's are here, but they are not entirely homologated by the SRO. Adam Adelson and Rob Holland are faster than the homologated GT4 cars. The folks at SRO are going to be studying the cars before the next race at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California, in April. Our GT4 champion from 2021, Jason Bell, he has qualified on pole at his home track. Bell said that the first corner is going to be the key factor. Maybe the Indy Lights open wheel cars dulled the paint in their race before the sports cars. Chris Cagnazzi aboard a Mercedes AMG GT4, he is on the pole in the class.
Watch for the painted lines. Chris Cagnazzi is driving the #39 entry for Cameron Racing. Watch for the compression of the field at the start. We cannot lose time in a 40-minute event. Ziad Ghandour is back with TR3 Motorsports who raced well in the Rolex 24 in a different championship. The fourth car we have is a Callaway Corvette GT3 which is back in sports car racing for the first time in the United States in four years, since 2018. So many cool cars are mixed and matched in GT America. It is a real assorted candy dish. We are going to see massive growth in this championship, so yours truly really hopes he can cover these races this yuear along with the other mega sports car championships out there.
The cars are on track behind the safety car. Mirko Schultis of Germany will be driving the Callaway Corvette. Watch for him. We have issues here for Nick Shanny aboard the #21 Toyota Supra GT4. This is his first professional race in the #21 Accelerating Motorsports Toyota Supra GT4 with Steve Hallam at the helm, former McLaren Formula 1 team engineer. Toyota could be building a GT3 car. Watch this space. We could hear more. OK. Time to get this race going as safety car driver Mike Stillwagon heads for pit lane and the green flag is up and away we go!
Who leads to turn one? Jeff Burton is scything his way through the GT4 field and Chris Cagnazzi careers into Jeff Burton! Good grief! We might see a Full Course Yellow. Yikes! Poor old Jeff Burton, it could be game over. Daskalos leads the motor race as David Askew is chasing rookie Justin Wetherill in the #37 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3. Heavy damage too, for the Aston Martin GT4 entry of one of the Aston Martin's, car #15. That is the B-Sport Racing entry, Bryan Putt at the wheel of it. Jason Daskalos on cold tires also clouted the barriers! Ouch! Daskalsos gave that wall a major thud.
This circuit is legendary having been around since the 1980s. But it is very unforgiving as well. Under the safety car, these drivers are collecting themselves, but they will have to get it together here when the green waves again. Derek DeBoer in the Porsche Cayman GT4 for TRG in car #66, he is a lucky luck boy to get out of that opening corner shemozzle. TRG team boss Kevin Buckler will be telling his driver to just go for it. We've lost time for this race from behind the safety car. All the shards of carbon fiber on the road will cut down a tire in a heartbeat. Jeff Burton has changed over from Rearden Racing to Zelus Racing for 2022.
Burton had his breakthrough season in 2021 stepping up from GT4 to GT3. With these doubleheader races, it is going to be hard for Burton to catch up. Burton has raced a few different cars through the years. We see C.J. Moses in the GT2 Audi. That motorcar is a hotrod. But it does not have the downforce of the GT3 entries. C.J. Moses is an experienced driver in GT4. They needed a new steering wheel for the car. Jeff Burton walks back to the lane under his own steam, but he has to be gutted. The steering wheel is the nerve center of a modern race car and not just a sports car but also an open wheel car.
We see the Callaway GT3 car which was shipped over from Germany after the program for ADAC GT Masters ended. Mirko Schultis from Freiburg, Germany, is a NASCAR Euro Series driver in Chevrolet's. He is a GM guy. He wanted to transport his dirt bikes and bought a Chevrolet Tahoe sans a roof for a thousand Deutschmarks. Oh no. Rob Holland in the new spec Porsche GT4 Cayman is out. Schultis has fallen in love with Chevy and has been racing them for years. He lives here in Sarasota, Florida. The Callaway has been around in Europe since 2007. They have been in the game for a long time. These teams in SRO GT America are top notch efforts.
Driver/owner David Askew for DXDT Racing is back for more. This is the #63 Mercedes AMG GT3. They had five cars last year and this year have backed it down to a few less cars. Askew is becoming a faster driver since they have shrunken their customer program. Askew will race with Dirk Mueller in GTWC America. Bryan Sellers is going to co-drive with Scott Smithson. Many people from the Starworks team will be helping the DXDT boys out. They had excellent professional drivers in the past like Michael Cooper and Ryan Dalziel. Multimatic is connected with AMG Mercedes.
Justin Wetherill in the #37 Ferrari runs fifth for Triarsi Competizione. They made their debut in GTWC America at Sebring last fall. Ryan Dalziel will now co-drive in the Ferrari with Justin Wetherill, a businessman who is now focused on racing. He bought a Ferrari from the Triarsi Ferrari dealer in Orlando. The GT3 cars have more momentum than the Ferrari Challenge event. The Ferrari won the Kyalami 9 Hours a couple weekends ago. Green flag with just over 20 inutes to go. Jason Daskalos leads the motor race. Daskalos is being monstered by Scott Smithson, a touring car veteran in SRO. Smithson raced in the Indianapolis 8 Hours last fall with DXDT.
At the tail end of the line is Jason Harward and we have seen a spin for Jason Harward who tried to pass George Kurtz and got crossed up. Smithson wants the lead from Daskalos. Daskalos had brake fade in Free Practice yesterday. In GT4, Derek DeBoer leads in class for The Racer's Group and team boss Kevin Buckler. Moisey Uretsky is next up in the dayglow yellow Toyota Supra and Ross Chouest next in the serial in the Aston Martin being harried by Marco Radisic in his BMW M4 GT4. Kurtz dives inside Smithson, can't hold it, and Smithson takes the place back.
Daskalos now, he must be up to snuff unless he is wrestling the car around as Kurtz goes wide again, look. Halfway through this motor race. Scott Smithson is really giving him fits. He is biding his time with Bryan Sellers on the radio. Daskalos well aware Smithson is right on his six. This circuit goes around Pioneer Park and to the shorefront in St. Petersburg. Marko Radisic has moved 'round Moisey Uretsky. Uretsky in the Toyota on the other line. Now, Radisic is going to reel in Derek DeBoer. Marko Radisic races a 24 hour karting race but goes Marco Solo for that event at NOLA Motorsports Park in Louisiana.
Karting is extremely physically demanding. Yikes! 16 minutes left on the board. Radisic reeling in DeBoer. Porsche vs. BMW. Radisic dives in on the brakes and DeBoer slams the door in his face. This is cat and mouse. Dog eat dog and cat eat mouse. Smithson too, he is pressing Daskalso side by side. Smithson wants it! Traffic ahead. This is where you earn your money. GT4 traffic cleared. Kurtz smells blood in the water. He is the shark chasing the two minnows here. No vanish button on the steering wheel. Poor old Jason Bell has dropped like a stone to tenth spot.
Jason Daskalos followed by Smithson and Kurtz. Smithson needs to plan a move but Daskalos is still pushing hard. Kurtz gets stymied and now has to press on. Kurtz has an evil handling Mercedes along Bayshore. He has clag on his tires. Marko Radisic moves past the Porsche of Derek DeBoer. DeBoer is being monstered by Moisey Uretsky, the driver from Russia. He raced in Mazda MX-5 Cup in 2021. John Geesbreght did the same thing in 2021. That Toyota Supra is a great GT4 platform. Daskalos is still being pressured by Smithson!
Ten minutes of motor racing to go. The Benz is more planted. Kurtz and David Askew are pressing hard. Marko Radisic continues leading GT4. SRQ Motorsports is the airport code in Sarasota, Florida, and so that is the name of this new team. TRG are going to do everything to maintain a podium place. DeBoer has the edge on Uretsky in the Supra. Here come the leaders, dicing through traffic as Smithson is keeping Daskalos honest, passing C.J. Moses and Paul Sparta. Daskalos goes deep. He is surely on defense. Daskalos raced a Dodge Viper here in 2010 at St. Petersburg. Daskalos wants to race a GT3 car for 2023.
Many new drivers in this championship. You have no clue how they will race. Trust is key especially on a street course as Jason Bell is moving up and chasing Ross Chouest. GT4 leaders are lapped traffic for the leaders and Daskalos nearly parks it in turn nine. Smithson needs a run on Daskalos through traffic with just five minutes on the clock. George Kurtz in third place. Smithson and Sellers, watch out for those boys in GT World Challenge America. David Askew is pressing hard as Sean Whalen spins the GT4 Zelus Motorsports car.
Marko Radisic leads Derek DeBoer and Moisey Uretsky in GT4. Ayrton Senna backed off at Monaco and lost a Grand Prix there. Ross Chouest is still on guard to fend off with his rivals. Meantime, Smithson is still chasing Daskalos but needs better timing. Read the taffic and get through the turns at normal pace. Smithson does have experience racing in multi-class racing. He drove touring cars and did so in a touring car against GT4 machines. George Kurtz for Riley Motorsports, up against his old team boss David Askew at DXDT Racing. Kurtz and Colin Braun are both at Riley Motorsports for 2022.
St. Petersburg is much like Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio combined with Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan. Final lap. DeBoer vs. Uretsky for the podium in GT4. Jason Bell is flying right now too after his first lap shemozzle and has been moving up. He may run out of time. Jason Daskalos is going to win race one here at St. Petersburg! Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Scott Smithson and George Kurtz complete the podium. In GT4, it is Marko Radisic in the BMW winning the race with Derek DeBoer, the runner up.
Overall/SRO3: #27 Jason Daskalos Daskalos Motorsports Audi R8 LMS
GT4: #22 Marko Radisic SRQ Motorpsorts BMW M4 GT4
GT2: #58 C.J. Moses GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT2
There is an Invitational division in these races, but with only one car. Pole to the checkers for Jsson Daskalos despite brushing the wall out of turn three on lap one. We look forward to more action in GT America at St. Petersburg tomorrow. So, tomorrow morning, we will be back to race again. Street course racing is fun and thrilling, but when things go wrong, risk management is number one. So, congratulations to Jason Daskalos. See your tomorrow morning for race two here at St. Petersburg. Should be another thrilling 40-minute sprint. So long, from St. Pete, everybody. See you in the morning for more GT racing action.
Thursday, February 24, 2022
Race Recap | Joburg Kyalami 9 Hour 2021
Mercedes-AMG were victorious while Audi Sport and Ferrari claimed IGTC's titles at Kyalami 9 Hour…
FCP Euro Returns With All-New Lineup
Mike Skeen to lead new lineup in FCP Euro Mercedes-AMG GT4 beginning at Sebring...
https://sportscar365.com/imsa/impc/fcp-euro-returns-with-all-new-lineup/
24H Le Mans Scrutineering to Return to City Center
ACO confirms schedule for this year’s ‘back to normal’ 24 Hours of Le Mans…
https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/le-mans-scrutineering-to-return-to-city-center/
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Watch Mbedded Episode 5: BMW M4 GT3's IMSA Debut
The latest episode of the BMW documentary series, Mbedded, focusing on the IMSA debut at the Rolex 24 at Daytona of the BMW M4 GT3.
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
SRO Working “Daily” on Postponed Bathurst 12H
Decision to be taken “quickly” on IGTC element for Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12H amid depleted entry…
https://sportscar365.com/sro/igtc/sro-working-daily-on-postponed-bathurst-12h/
Monday, February 21, 2022
4 Hours of Abu Dhabi Race Highlights
Take a look at the race highlights from the doubleheader for the second and final weekend of racing in the 2022 Asian Le Mans Series season, from Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Telling the story, lead Asian Le Mans Series race commentator, Graham Goodwin.
Race 1
Race 2
Three Additional Le Mans Invites Secured
Nielsen Racing, CD Sport, Inception Racing secure auto invites for 24 Hours of Le Mans...
https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/three-additional-le-mans-invites-secured/
Weekly Racing Roundup (2-21-22)
News including 30th anniversary SRO GT race at Spa, GTWC America programs and more...
https://sportscar365.com/features/roundup/weekly-racing-roundup-2-21-22/
Sebring Test with Corvette Racing - Behind The Scenes
Corvette Racing's Jordan Taylor explains the testing routine at Sebring International Raceway for the team before next month's 70th anniversary running of the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Sunday, February 20, 2022
Pierson, Di Resta Sweep Abu Dhabi; Nielsen Wins Title
United Autosports win Race 2 in Abu Dhabi; Nielsen Racing crowned LMP2 champions...
https://sportscar365.com/lemans/asian-lms/pierson-di-resta-sweep-abu-dhabi-nielsen-wins-title/
Winner & Highlights of the Asian Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi: Race 2
It is championship day in Abu Dhabi for the 2022 Asian Le Mans Series. We are getting ready to go. In qualifying, HRT and Arjun Maini along with Aston Martin and Jonny Adam at TF Sport, and Klaus Bachler, battled for pole. Bachler was the man to put Porsche on top. Xavier Lloveras was quick in LMP3. Nielsen Racing were second while Paul di Resta scored his second pole in two races. Graff and G-Drive thankfully fixed their fire damaged car from yesterday's race. The car was second quickest in LMP3 in the 15-minute warmup this morning. It is going to be hot. Josh Pierson, wow. He put in the iron man race yesterday.
After this race, Pierson will head to Sebring, Florida, and race in the opening 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship race. Herberth Porsche and TF Sport Aston Martin are at the top of the shop in GT. We are going to see drama today. They are packed up behind the safety car right by the W Hotel. The field forms up, two by two. It is time for championship day in Abu Dhabi! Watch the off camber final turn. Red lights out, and away we go! Taking the lead it is United Autosports. Lockup for the #44 ARC Bratislava car. The GT cars are spreading out and passing immediately. D'station, Oman Racing. No real issues it seems althoug there is a puff of smoke. Damage to one of the Herberth Motorsports Porsche's.
Into turn nine they go, the newly configured corner here at Abu Dhabi. Trouble too for the #13 entry, stopped dead stick. There was tire rub on the #91 Herberth Motorsports Porsche and we saw James Dayson in trouble briefly there. Josh Pierson leads Rodrigo Sales, Eric Trouillet, and the rest. CD Sport, the #27 LMP3 championship contender is falling behind. Hubert Haupt is pressing hard already in the #6 HRT Mercedes AMG GT3. The Garage 59 McLaren's are scrapping for position already and we see the TF Sport Aston Martin pressing the Mercedes already.
Wow. The GT battle is hot and the Aston Martin takes the GT lead while the #55 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 of Rino Mastronardi is third. Mastronardi will become a Silver rated driver as soon as this race ends. Everyone's pencils are sharpened now. Meantime, Josh Pierson leads this motor race to the tune of five seconds. The #2 DKR Engineering car leads LMP3 while second is G-Drive with Fabrice Rossello driving. Nielsen Racing under pressure from Koiranen Kempi and Konrad Motorsport. Henrique Chaves in GT, he is scampering away. We have at least four GT cars going for it.
Jurgen Haring, the second Herberth Porsche #99, he has dropped down the order. Spin there for the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari that won the GT Am class yesterday in race one of the weekend. Roman Ziemian at the controls. Drive through penalty for the #20 SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes in GT. In LMP3, the Duqueine has the speed over the Ligier and the Ginetta. We are seeing the fact that one of these chassis' is the fastest compared to the others. We see pit stops for the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari and the #59 Garage 59 McLaren. SPS take their penalty and get back in the fight.
The #59 McLaren has just had woes all weekend with penalties and a coming together in Free Practice as well as during the race yesterday. Josh Pierson is dominating, cutting a 1:43.498. Rodrigo Sales is his nearest rival. Pierson is a Silver while Sales is a Bronze driver. DKR Engineering are pulling away in LMP3 as Fabrice Roussello is under pressure from Torsten Kratz and Christophe Cresp. Seven brands of cars in GT and so many mechanical combinations. Josh Pierson still pulling away. In GT, Walkenhorst Motorsports are working their way through dealing with the new BMW M4 GT3. They are continuing to get the bugs worked out.
Pierson continues to uncork purple sector times, scything his way through the GT's. His next target is the #88 Garage 59 McLaren of Alexander West, and then Victor Gomez in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari. Nick Moss, too, aboard the #42 Optimum Motorsports McLaren. All the drivers in that car have performed very well over this abbreviated season. It was a neat and tidy start to this motor race. That was good to see. Miro Konopka did lock the brakes on the #44 ARC Bratislava Ligier in LMP2. We are settling down, 15 minutes already on the board.
CD Sport are glued together in LMP3. They wait to see where everyone else is and then come to the fore. Tony Wells has lost a spot or two. He has Sean Thong in the Ginetta behind. That is the Konrad Motorsports entry. The AMG Mercedes is far stronger here in Abu Dhabi than it was in Dubai. With their faster drivers, the McLaren's will undoubtedly come into the picture. The Aston Martin's lost performance during yesterday's race. Poor Jonny Adam had a cracked catalytic converter and allowed fumes in the car, making Jonny woozy. Terrible. That is not what you want. Meantime, the #59 McLaren that was to be driven by Manuel Maldonado has not left pit lane.
It could be game over for that team. Oh wow. Running wide, the #77 D'station Asto Martin, followed by Herberth Motorsports in the #91. The red flag was their saving grace and that is how they won yesterday's motor race, so Ralf Bohn completed his drive time and was able to parlay that miscue into a win after a great last pit stop. Chandler Hull aboard the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 is closing up on Bohn, in the Porsche. The Mercedes is running extremely well in the GT class lead. Hubert Haupt is the first GT driver not to whinge about Balance of Performance in a while. Track limits, are another matter, though.
Someone has smoke billowing from their car heading into the lane. No dramas for now. The LMP3 battle is on between Tony Wells and Nick Adcock. These two are both Bronze ranked drivers. CD Sport vs. Nielsen Racing. The #49 High Class Racing LMP2 Oreca of Kevin Weeda is in pit lane already. They had a damaged floor in yesterday's race after Dennis Andersen made contact with a GT car. Victor Gomez meanwhile is chasing down Jurgen Haring in GT. High Class Racing back on track. They were only in the pit lane 55 seconds.
Jorg Breuer, Jurgen Haring, and Victor Gomez, these three cars are all scrapping. Porsche, BMW, Ferrari. Watch track limits. Alexander West in the #88 McLaren for Garage 59 is one driver with a reminder. Garage 59 will have a McLaren racing at the Nurburgring during that season in NLS. Henrique Chaves might be having an issue. I think. There was a mistake there, hitting the speed limiter button or something. I take it back. Maybe that was the Mercedes that slowed up, as Rino Mastronardi has made the pass. Brendon Iribe in the #7 McLaren is having a good run as Sam De Haan is chasing. Conrad Grunewald in one of the Ferrari's is being warned about track limits.
Brendon Iribe is going to be given a target lap time that he will want to run to insofar as pace. Now, we see a scrap between Fabrice Rossello and Sean Thong in LMP3. Franz Konrad and Audi legend Ralf Juettner are running this LMP3 team. A couple of legends there. So, Sean Thong passes for fourth place chasing down the Koiranen Kempi entry. Rodrigo Sales locks up chasing after Kevin Weeda. Already half an hour gone. Henrique Chaves pinged for abusing track limits. It also looks like the #95 Aston Martin might have a penalty just as the #59 McLaren does. Manuel Maldonado is having a fraught race.
In the meantime, Conrad Grunewald is being chased by one of the Porsche's probably. Grunewald passes Brendon Iribe who gets crossed up and has to back off just a shade. Grunewald is really showing his capabilities. We will see him in Pro-Am racing in Europe and maybe more in the United States as well. Brendon Iribe starts the McLaren for Optimum Motorsports and Ollie Milroy will be in for the middle stint and finishing out the race will be Ben Barnicoat. Car #12 reported for track limits, the Dinamic Motorsports Porsche with Giorgio Roda at the wheel of it. Nielsen Racing team manager to Race Control. Oh boy. What could that be about? Tony Wells will have clear track and less trouble as there is a flatspot and a vibration for the #3 CD Sport entry.
Manuel Maldonado is back in the race after a ten-and-a-half-minute spell on pit road. He is four laps down. Not a good day for the #59 McLaren which has also had a broken shock. Peter Kox has a penalty, but they have unlocked speed in the #48 Porsche for S Aalocin by Kox Racing. Peter Kox, Stephane Kox, and Nico Pronk. Josh Pierson is on his merry way in the lead, 53 seconds up the road from Rodrigo Sales and Nielsen Racing. Rino Mastronardi is not making inroads, although Tomonobu Fujii is pressing hard. Improper track reentry for the #4 and they will have a penalty in their future.
Fujii is showing his nose to Hubert Haupt. Fujii san has a tow and he is going side by side with the Benz and makes a textbook pass. Bronze rated Satoshi Hoshino will be into the Aston Martin later in the game. Haupt races all over the world, born out of the old Black Falcon GT3 team. The Mercedes is a very usable car for gentleman drivers. Meantime, Josh Pierson is really opening it up and he is managing a lead in this motor race, learning how to make that work. One of the LMP3 cars runs wide, the G-Drive Racing entry #26. Nick Adcock passes by Tony Wells, but Wells won't take kindly to having the door slammed in his face. But that move by Wells was not on either.
Fuel and no tires for Josh Pierson as he makes a pit stop. Pierson is gaining experience for his debut in FIA WEC later in the year, something we will be watching very keenly when Sebring rolls around in less than a month. Henrique Chaves and Aston Martin, top of the shop in GT as Rino Mastronardi is losing time to Senor Chaves who is caught in traffic. The Aston Martin brings more power than does the Ferrari. As the saying goes, you need to bring some more power. More woe for the #96 Attempto Motorsports Audi. They are reported to the stewards for track limits. All of the LMP2 cars have visited the pit lane.
Sam De Haan has now been passed by Conrad Grunewald. De Haan will keep fighting. He can't quite make the pass and might have to give it up. It is easy for a driver to charge into the turn a V it off. Other drivers can cut tighter lines though, which is quicker. Attempto Racing have taken their penalty as Nico Pronk has taken over the #48 Porsche and a drive through penalty for the #12 Dinamic Motorsports Porsche as well. Ben Barker, Giorgio Roda, and Phillip Saiger are the three drivers. Nick Moss in the Optimum Motorsports #42 McLaren also being warned by track limits. Battle for second in LMP3 as Torsten Kratz is being harried by Jesse Salmenautio. New teams, new drivers, new cars. They are all here in ALMS.
ARC Bratislava have pitted and are catching up in LMP3. Pierson and Sales, the top two. 15 seconds behind Sales in #4, is Mr. Pierson himself. The Am entries have longer pit stops so that the fueling, the tires, and the driver changes do not put pressure on the drivers and the team. Safety is paramount. The Asian Le Mans Series is a new market for teams and drivers who have come out of it and into GT and prototype racing and the leader in LMP3 has a cut tire! Or, is it a mechanical issue? Slow down. This is Matthieu de Barbuat, who is a championship contender. Trouble for this car. It was hit from behind and the legality panel is gone, the cheese wedge, the fender.
Game over for #2 and DKR Engineering! We have Full Course Yellow now on the speedway. At leas they make it back to the lane for service. Full Course Yellow, now. Pit stops coming and fast. To the garage for the #2. We have seen wholesale pit stops in all classes, and driver changes. Louis Prette into the #17 Ferrari and into the #6 Mercedes, we have Rory Penttinen, the Finn, now at the wheel of it. Garage 59 are in and so are Oman Racing and the second Herberth Motorsports entry, excuse me, third, the #33. We already have one hour on the board in the race.
Garage 59 have pitted the McLaren. So, a new lead in LMP3. BMW M4 GT3 #35 has now pitted as well almost knocking the lollipop out of the car controller's hands. DKR have made a driver change as Sebastian Alvarez takes over from Matthieu de Barbuat. Oh dear. Green flag, and the Rinaldi Racing car is slow! It has not gotten up to speed as Josh Pierson motors on in the lead opening the second hour. Another iron man stint for Pierson. The Rinaldi entry is now back up to speed. Matt Bell is now second. He was the driver to get into the car. Miro Konopka third, but Konopka is out of sequence in LMP2 Pro-Am. Once again, it is hot here in Abu Dhabi. 30 degrees Celsius. 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
Team manager for #6 to Race Control immediately. That is for an unsafe pit release at Haupt Racing Team. Josh Pierson still leads as in GT, John Hartshorne is leading in the Aston Martin and David Perel, the South African, now at the controls of the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari #55. The battle will be on between Rory Penttinen, Alfred Renauer, Jon Miller, and Louis Prette. John Hartshorne is now being monstered by David Perel. The Briton vs. the South African. Hartshorne runs wide and David Perel dives inside and passes on corner exit.
Rinaldi Racing has to win and hope the #7 McLaren has trouble. Ollie Milroy is in the car for Inception Racing. We have now been racing for an hour and ten minutes. If Rinaldi wins this race, Inception must finish third. Brendon Iribe is done with his stint. Ollie Milroy in the car now, and Ben Barnicoat will finish. David Perel and Davide Rigon are the closers at Rinaldi Racing. Perel has really improved as a driver and has done incredibly well. Perel is a Silver rated driver, but he has driven for several Ferrari GT teams. He has run for Kessel Racing, AF Corse/Spirit of Race, and Rinaldi. The only team he has not raced for is Iron Lynx.
Inception Racing must pour on the steam if they want to keep up. Andrew Watson, meanwhile, in the #42 Optimum Motorsports McLaren, he too, is flying right now, chasing down Ollie Milroy, and we have a spin frm the Konrad Motorsports Ginetta! Yikes! Gabriele Rindone at the controls, the Luxembourg driver, who needs to get the car into reverse. CD Sport has also spun! Deary me! It is the #27 entry! That would be Antoine Doquin I believe. We are going to see a Full Course Yellow, maybe. Drivers will be being told there is a stuck car at turn five. Marshals cannot go onto the track under green flag conditions. There's just no way. Local double yellow right now.
Full Course Yellow is coming. Ooh. A touch, and a big one between the #49 High Class Racing LMP2 and a GT car. Matt Bell has to give a position back. The heat soak for the LMP3 cars makes it so the starters don't operate and the engine won't start. It is a standard starter on these cars. The car has to be stalled. Back to green now and we have the battle at the front between Pierson and Bell into turn six. Here comes Bell. The GT Porsche is ahead. Cannot tell which one. Brake lockup for Pierson and Bell is pushing hard. This is so the #4 car get back on the lead lap with two and a half hours to go. Through the Parabolica they go and into the hotel turn.
Matt Bell is going to try the undercut on the outside. No dice. Jeepers creepers! This is awesome racing! The United car has the speed and the traction off the corner. Traffic still ahead. Matty Bell is monstering Josh Pierson, trying to get inside the head of the youngster. To the otuside of the BMW M4 GT3 and back to the Parabolica. Louis Prette gets split by the leaders! That was unreal! Again, fantastic racing! Josh Pierson is really giving it everything he has, the young American hot shoe. The #39 Graff Racing LMP2 car is third and now a couple laps down.
Drive through penalty for the #95 Aston Martin which was incurred by Henrique Chaves. So, John Hartshorne will take it. Sebastien Page screams past Matt Bell! Wow! Through lapped traffic. No. That's Josh Pierson again. This is amazing. Risky but impressive for Pierson. Send it! Well, he sent it, and he delivered! Game over for Ginetta and Konrad Motorsports. Terminal mechanical woes. New driver aboard the #72 LMP3 entry. It is now Russia's Nikita Alexandrov. Pierson now has to pass the YC Panda Audi which has been a mobile chicane so far. Great battle between Torsten Kratz, the German, and Xavier Lloveras, the Spaniard.
Torsten Kratz wants it, but Xavier Lloveras is now the LMP3 leader after it's massive accident yesterday. Unsafe release penalty for the #33 Herberth Motorsports Porsche. Check that. It is for the #6 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes. Not a good thing for them. Another track limits penalty for Manuel Maldonado. We still have this great battle simmering on between Pierson and Bell. Traffic ahead once again, look. They clear the Attempto Racing Audi. They have also passed the #20 SPS Mercedes and the #3 CD Sport LMP3. Bell loses time to Pierson. Pierson still has lapped traffic ahead.
Graff Racing and High Class in LMP2 Pro-Am are scrapping too. John Corbett and Dennis Andersen. Inception Racing can still secure the championship and a Le Mans entry. Yours truly stepped away to grab a glug of coffee, and a spot of breakfast, and has been watching this great battle for the lead and in LMP2 between Pierson and Bell. Matt is keeping Josh honest, that's for dead sure. What a great race we are seeing. Pierson is being tested and he will be well aware of what he must do to become an even more effective racing driver. Your concentration is on overload and you are beginning to get physically sapped. Plus, you might be thirsty if your drinks bottle is on the fritz. But Mr. Pierson is really showing that he can do this, that he can drive a competitive race car at the top of the tree in a high level sports car championship.
Kessel, Oman Racing, and Optimum battle. David Fumanelli, Ahmad Al Harthy, and Andrew Watson. Davide Rigon and Ben Barnicoat are the gun drivers for Rinaldi and Inception Racing with Optimum Motorsports. The traffic is unpleasant, but it makes for great racing. Ah. We have a double yellow at turn six. What is that about? We'll see. Ah. No harm, no foul. Car #13 spun and continued. That is the Intereuropol Competition LMP3 entry. It is getting dark and quickly, now, here at Yas Marina. Sebastien Page has Dennis Andersen all over him like a cheap suit for the lead in LMP2 Am. Sebastien Page is the cork in the bottle in traffic.
Oh dear! Spin for the #2 DKR Engineering car and he has no rear wing. Full Course Yellow immediately. Wowzers. Poor DKR Engineering! They have had a dreadful weekend. Dennis Andersen clobbered the #2 and we are under Full Course Yellow. Battle for P2 Am cars and the $2 is racing through to turn five. He is to driver's right into the turn, spins out, and maybe the #49 made contact someplace, ripping the rear wing, the rear decklid, and the opposite side cheese wedge off of it. The rear taillights are gone. So DKR Engineering will be hanging their heads. They can still race but they've lost the championship.
Lorents Horr must have his head in his hands, crushed. We might have two championships in the bag already. Good gravy! In less than ten minutes, chaps, this motor race will be half over. It is true, that the #49 entry may have run into the back of the #2. It is hard to tell though when Andersen gets away. Pit stop time at United Autosports. Sebastian Alvarez was the driver at the controls of the #2 car, the Spaniard. Paul di Resta will be into the #22 entry for the middle hour and a half stint before Josh Pierson finishes the race. LMP2 Am, the #39 entry might just be in the pound seats for a title for Graff. Trouble again for the #49. That car has damage all over it, or does it? They have changed the rear tail on that car as well as the nose.
No. They taped it up on the front and they've very likely changed the tail, the rear wing as well. Dennis Andersen and Anders Fjordbach had major trouble yesterday as well. We are closing in on halfway as the #20 GT Am championship leading Mercedes pits for service. John Loggie, Mikael Grenier, and Valentin Pierburg. Eric Trouillet now leads LMP2 Am which he has for a while, ahead of Dennis Andersen and John Corbett. New LMP3 leader as well as Koiranen Kemppi are in front, but they owe us a pit stop. The #26 G-Drive Ligier has Vyaceslav Gutak now at the wheel, the driver from Russia.
We are back to gren flag racing. Paul di Resta is now chasing Matty Bell. It is the other way 'round though. Di Resta leads but he locks up lunging to the inside of a car as he wants to move by Matty Bell. Battle for position in GT. Frank Bird now at the controls of the #88 McLaren for Garage 59 chasing the Inception entry of Ollie Milroy. Herberth Motorsports and Porsche are your GT leaders. Frank Bird is applying the blowtorch to Ollie Milroy. Meantime, Paul di Resta is now back in the lead ahead of Matt Bell. We are right at the halfway mark in the race now. Fastest lap of the motor race for Paul di Resta at 1:42.556. Vyachslav Gutak is being harried by Hendrik Still for LMP3 and Still makes the move for the class lead.
Colin Noble needs to book it as he has uncorked his personal fastest lap but needs to move ahead of Rinaldi Racing if he wants the championship. The #8 Nielsen Racing LMP3 car has not been on the button throughout the series or during this weekend as Dennis Andersen pits again and so, their title battle is now over. The opportunity is fading away for High Class. John Corbett is monstering Eric Trouillet is as well. So that is ARC Bratislava chasing Graff. Corbett taking tenths per lap out of the Graff machine. So, we are into the hours of darkness at a point where yesterday's race ended. The darkness always brings mystery in endurance racing.
Frank Bird has swept past Ollie Milroy in GT. One McLaren past another. Herberth Potsche still leads GT and there was a massive wiggle for #26! They are battling the CD Sport entry for tenth overall as the #35 Walkenhorst BMW M4 GT3 hits the pit lane. Jonny Adam should be at the controls of the #95 TF Sport Aston Martin. Axcil Jeffries now at the controls of the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari I believe, in GT Am. John Hartshorne has put in his time and now, Jonny Adam will take Aston Martin #95 to the end. Track limits warning for both Jon Miller in the #34 Walkenhorst BMW M4 GT3 and for the #17 APM Monaco Ferrari 488 GT3, Louis Prette at the wheel of it. Alfred Renauer leads GT ahead of Frank Bird and Ollie Milroy. So, we have a Porsche leading a McLaren.
Davide Rigon is now at the controls for the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari and Rinaldi must win and be ahead of Inception Racing to take the championship. Bird, Milroy, Rigon. Good to see Davide Rigon back in the races after he had a massive accident at the 24 Hours of Spa last year which put him on the sidelines for a good chunk of the 2021 campaign. Marco Seefried in the sister #99 Herberth Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R is next in the queue. Alessandro Pier Guidi is next up behind Seefried. The Ferrari pilot has had a track limits abuse warning. Ollie Milroy is really going for it but then again, so is Frank Bird. Mikael Grenier is also turning it on in the Mercedes. He is a lap down and wants it back.
Grenier is at the controls of the #20 Mercedes AMG GT3 for SPS Automotive Performance. Bird, Milroy, Rigon, Grenier. These four cars are scrapping for position, and a drive through penalty for the #17 AF Corse Ferrari. They have sunk like a stone. Rinaldi Racing have turned all of their headlights on and so, Ollie Milroy will be hugely distracted by the high beams. Ollie Milroy's son Milo is cheering his dad on. Oh dear. Trouble for the #72 Koiranen Kemppi LMP3 car. Clode shave here between the Mercedes and the Ferrari. Davide igon is being monstered by the Mercedes. Paul di Resta will be taking no prisoners in the lapped traffic as Ollie Milroy closes back up on the decklid of the Mercedes.
Davide Rigon will be fuming behind his helmet after getting held up. Matt Bell is passing the GT cars aboard the #4 Nielsen Racing Oreca LMP2. Grenier catching Milroy. John Corbett is chasing down Eric Trouiller in LMP2 Am. Frankie Bird given the black and white flag for abusing track limits. Marco Seefried and Alessandro Pier Guidi are behind Rigon. Seefried is going to pushing Rigon for everything he has because he just wants to be the race winner in GT. That is for dead sure. Kevin Weeda is now at the wheel of the #49 High Class LMP2 car. ARC Bratislava needs the High Class and Graff cars to fall by the wayside to be in contention. We could have a Ligier coming into racing sports cars later in the season in Europe. We will find out.
Herberth Porsche #99 hits the pit lane, and we have a local yellow flag for a possible spin. Ollie Milroy still being monstered by Davide Rigon. Tom Gamble and D'station Racing have stopped under the gantry on the front straight. He has lost electrical power. Full Course Yellow, now. Full Course Yellow, now. Game over for the #77 D'station Racing Aston Martin and the trio of Tom Gamble, Tomonobu Fujii, and Satoshi Hoshino. The #20 SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes is in the lane for fuel. We can see the #88 Garage 59 McLaren in as well and the #7 Inception Racing McLaren as Davide Rigon is now ahead. Ben Barnicoat has taken over the Inception McLaren. Watch out for driver time. This race is four hours plus one lap.
Valentin Pierburg, the German, is at the wheel of the SPS Mercedes. Game over for Konrad Motorsports and for D'station Racing. We have about an hour and a half of the race and the season left. Kessel Racing is in the lane. United Autosport is invisible for points. They will not be able to be eligible in this race, for points and they tested here but truly could not do it. Mikkel Jensen pits the #74 Ferrari for Kessel Racing. Jensen is racing along with Paul di Resta for Peugeot and their Hypercar effort. Peugeot will be releasing the 9X8 soon and we wonder when it will debut. No rear wing on that race car. Car #17, the AF Corse Ferrari left the pit lane sans it's headlamps being turned on. Lorents Horr has the #2 DKR Engineering car back on track but they are laps and laps behind.
Green flag. Mega slide on cold tires for someone. An hour and a half to go. The race is on for LMP2 Am. ARC Bratislava want a victory. John Corbett vs. Eric Trouiller in the #39 Graff entry. Poor old Lorents Horr is not up to racing speed in the #2 DKR Engineering Duqueine LMP3. That car still has mechanical problems. Davide Rigon, too, is dropping down the order for some reason. We don't know, because he had a flawless pit stop. Robert Renauer now driving the #91 Herberth Motorsports Porsche ahead of Alessandro Pier Guidi who has been dinged with a penalty for track limits. Marvin Kirchofer now at the wheel of the #88 Garage 59 McLaren. Every leading team now is on a different pit strategy. Good grief.
Championship permutations see United Autosport a lap up on the overall champions at Nielsen Racing two laps ahead of LMP2 Am winner #39 at Graff. They do not have eligibility for an automatic invite to Le Mans, but they could be chosen. The #44 ARC Bratislava car is next. In LMP3, CD Sport will be champions. In GT, Herberth Motorsports are ahead of AF Corse. Alessandro Pier Guidi has ceded the lead and Andrew Watson is closing in on the Ferrari. We have McLaren's next up and Inception Racing could very well win GT as well. GT Am, Herberth Motorsports lead the championship ahead of Mikael Grenier. We have seen a driver change in #99 from Marco Seefried over to Finn Gehrsitz.
Andrew Watson, Nick Moss, and Joe Osborne have driven very well in Asian Le Mans Series 2022. They have been off the podium, just barely, and they want a podium in this finale. They really do. Ben Barnicoat is catching Marvin Kirchofer. Ben Barker is next up having a track limits awarning over his head as Kevin Weeda spins the #49 High Class LMP2, again. Goodness. If those boys did not have bad luck, they'd have none. Trouiller and Corbett are in a battle in LMP2 as well. Battles all over the shop here in Abu Dhabi, look. #49 was reported to be stopped at turn nine. That is incorrect. They are stopped at turn 13. Axcil Jeffries gets a track limits warning at turn three and turn five down to turn six.
#49 is back in the lane. Ah. Good battle here as John Corbett, the Australian, is catching Frenchman Eric Trouillet. Corbett has the better exit and gets his nose chopped off by Stefanie Kox in the #48 Porsche. Eric Trouillet is not a happy bunny aboard the #39. The car just does not look too comfortable. Corbett lights up the rear tires and gets sideways! Eek! He has to stay cool and stay in a rhythm. Just keep chipping away. Don't bin it at the last moment. Half the teams here have senior team management who are female. Again, that opportunity for ladies is very prevalent in motorsports and that's wonderful. Oh no! #17 has spun off the road! That was a lunge, and it has spun out I believe. Corbett actually spun the #17 and there was a smokescreen. Vincent Abril, spun out, and so, their championship hopes are up in smoke. Poof! Goodnight.
Picking the bones out of this, as we go to safety car, the Graff car makes the move cleanly in turn one, John Corbett goes inside, not enough room and Vincent is already in the turn, contact, on the whirligig for Abril, and... zonk, right into the barriers. Safety car scramble. Safety car scramble. This is not the same as Full Course Yellow, and the field will be packed together. Rotten luck for the boys at team 17. #39 hit the pit lane before the safety car and so they could very well be in the clear. We hear from Tom Gamble, retired with the car having expired from the motor race. Gamble says they had a strong race until a drive through penalty for track limits. They knew a good result was on the cards. Suddenly, the driveshaft packed up.
Vincent Abril, a tad winded, gets out of the #17 Ferrari under his own steam. So, that's three retirements from the motor race with just over an hour remaining. If the medical light comes on inside the car after the G meter records, the driver has to be checked by the doctors at the medical center, whether he is OK or needs an examination at the hospital. The flatbed and the marshals recovering the car, checking the barriers, the SAFER barriers. We have an hour and ten minutes left in the race and the season. #44 is in the lane, but the pit lane is closed. They will trundle through and have to come back around. There may have been a miscommunication somewhere, or they have a punctured tire. That is a brief stop for emergency service to replace a single tire.
Current cars that are a lap or more down are being waved by to get a lap back. In NASCAR, this is known as the "lucky dog". So, the "lucky dog" is now being applied. Don't ask questions of your pit crew so there is confusion. Just patiently wait for the crew chief or team manager to tell you what lap you are on. Simmer down. Don't worry. Herberth Motorsports now leads GT. They are mathematically in for the title, but they need Inception and Rinaldi to be DNF's. GT and LMP3 cars will be good to get to the end of the race on fuel after a final stop. The safety car is keeping to driver's left through turns five and six, likely for the wave by.
Paul di Resta and Matt Bell run liner stern. Pit stop time now. The entrance to the lane is open. All GT cars will come in and LMP3's if they need to. Final pit stop for the #23 United Autosport car. They were bottled up I think behind the #2 DKR Enginerring LMP2 car. GT cars also in the lane. Most everybody is in the lane while Nielsen Racing take track position and are now back on the lead lap. Davide Rigon at Rinaldi Racing have not pitted nor have the #7 Inception Racing McLaren. Dinamic Motorsports leads in the #12 Porsche 911 GT3R, Ben Barker at the controls. Everybody in ten places from fourth to 14th won't need to pit again. Green flag.
Matt Bell leads as we are into the final hour of the event. Less than an hour left. #4 stayed on track. Josh Pierson is back in the #23 car. Both leaders will need a splash and a dash. Check that. Matty Bell needs a splash and a dash, but United Autosport will be good to go on fuel to the end. David Droux now in the #39 and Neale Muston will take the #44 car to the flag. Joe Osborne will take the #42 Optimum Motorsports McLaren to the checkers. They are tenth. Inception run seventh. Ferrari #55 and Porsche #91 are 1-2. Inception can still take the title if the race ended now. But Rinaldi have rolled the dice and they want another Full Course Yellow. It's a long shot for them. John Corbett and Vincent Abril's fracas is being investigated by the stewards.
Nielsen Racing have taken the lead by dint of their pit stops in LMP3. Colin Noble is now leading Leonard Weiss. These spots in LMP3 really matter. Did Colin Noble pit? Yes. He has eaten 40 seconds away from the rest of the field. Nielsen Racing could very well win two Le Mans entries if they keep it together. Ben Barker leads GT right now in the Porsche at Dinamic Motorsports. They are being followed by the #69 Oman Racing Aston Martin and third is the #55 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari in contention for the title. Nicky Catsburg is out of the top ten in the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsports BMW M4 GT3.
A move by Josh Pierson as Matt Bell uncorks the fastest lap time for the #4 Nielsen Racing entry at 1:42.4. David Droux does likewise for the Graff entry. The battle is hot and heavy for GT Am. Mikael Grenier vs. Finn Gehrsitz. Axcil Jeffries is a ways back. These last 50 minutes are going to get spicy. Matt Bell laps at 1:42.2. He will likely need another stop. Team manager of Optimum Motorsports McLaren #42 to the race steward's office immediately. Ah. We watch the battle in GT here between Ben Barker and Finn Gehrsitz. Ben Barker, Robert Renauer, Klaus Bachler, Ben Barnicoat, Arjun Maini, Davide Rigon, and more. The GT drivers are very good, currently. These blokes are wheelmen.
Mikkel Jensen, Nicky Catsburg, Jonny Adam, all of these blokes are factory drivers. Ben Barker though, he is moving past Finn Gehrsitz. Charlie Eastwood, too, wants by. Finn Gehrsitz is being told, "move over, mate. This is not your fight." The Intereuropol LMP3 car and Nicky Catsburg in the #34 Walkenhorst BMW are being told they will be penalized. Marvin Kirchofer is a McLaren factory driver as well. Well, well. Factory drivers' top trumps here at the moment. Wow. Ben Barker runs wide and deep into turn six. But he gathers it up. Ben Barker happens to be a mega bingo fan. Nicky Catsburg is a lap up on the #20 SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes.
Not sure who is driving #20. It could be Valentin Pierburg. Paul di Resta says driving is tricky with the Full Course Yellow's and the safety car interventions. They have been a tad out of sync on pit stops. It is Josh Pierson's race right now. The team is getting ready for Sebring for the opener for the FIA World Endurance Championship as well. Happy 16th Birthday, Josh Pierson. Trouble for Optimum Motorsports as we said earlier. Drive through penalty for passing the red light at pit exit. Ben Barker, bottled up behing Mikael Grenier. That is Grenier, not Valentin Pierburg. Nick Catsburg is ahead of both of them or so it seems.
Trouble as a Porsche has spun. Was that #91 or #99? It looks like it was #91 that spun off. It was Robert Renauer! Dear me! #88, the McLaren lunges inside and spins Renauer off the road. Renauer was an innocent bystander and Marvin Kirchofer has spun. Charlie Eastwood now leads GT. Pit stop time for Ben Barker. Ben Barnicoat leads the points right now and he is behind the sister Herberth Porsche #33 of Klaus Bachler. Colin Noble leads Leonard Weiss in LMP3 by 13 seconds as Sebastian Alvarez has now taken over the #2 DKR Engineering entry replacing Lorents Horr for the end of the race. Charlie Eastwood leads GT but will need a pit stop before the end. The gap is a minute and seven seconds between #23 and #4.
Pierson leads. Bell second. Matt Bell is behind by a minute and seven seconds. Ben Hanley will take over #4 which takes their pit stop now with 38 minutes left. Charlie Eastwood will be looking to pass Francesco Piovanetti. Three wide! Egad! Davide Rigon is pushing, and he too has to deal with the traffic, and both have to stop. Eastwood slithers past the SPS Mercedes. Ben Hanley is now in #4. Josh Pierson does need to stop again. #7, the Inception Racing McLaren leads GT points by 13 markers. Nielsen Racing #8 has pitted in LMP3. None of the other LMP3 cars needs to pit. Colin Noble will cede the lead to do so.
This will be a squeaker in LMP3 on fuel. 35 minutes to go. Team manager #44 report to the stewards. An inevitable penalty for the boys at ARC Bratislava, sadly. David Droux uncorks a 1:41 in the #39 Graff Oreca. The track and ambient temps are cooling allowing the engines to breathe easier. #8 still in the lane. Walkenhorst BMW #34 in the lane. Trouble it appears for the #8 Nielsen Racing entry. #8 in trouble. Game over for the title. They are dropping down the order like the proverbial stone. Rinaldi and G-Drive are now slugging it out in LMP3. Leonard Weiss vs. Xavier Lloveras, a car that was on fire in yesterday's contest.
This will be the comeback story. The #8 Nielsen entry, their title hopes are dashed. #69 the Oman Racing Aston pits from the lead and the #55 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari is slithering around on it's knackered tires, so they must pit. Overheating for the #8 due to pit lane contact. That is cruel! Xavier Lloveras goes around the Rinaldi Ferrari. Walkenhorst and YC Panda team managers summoned to the stewards' office. YC Panda have had a rotten time in ALMS in 2022. They will be back. Half an hour to go. SPS Performance hit the lane. The Mercedes is out of sequence and the #99 Herberth Porsche stops as well.
Lloveras is chomping at the bit to pass Leonard Weiss and has done so. Will Weiss get him back? No. Lloveras takes it. From ball of flame to Hall of Fame for the #26 boys! OK. That was good. Thanks, Graham Goodwin! High Class Racing with continuous issues as Anders Fjordbach will finish the race. Full service pit stop. That car is tattered by still running. #55 in the lane now, with Davide Rigon. They did roll the dice. They will lose the lead in two classes, will Rinaldi Racing, who relinquishes the lead to the Herberth Porsche #91. Fuel only. No tires. Those tires will be ratty. Drive through penalty for the #42 McLaren for exiting the lane with the red light on. I was right. Inception Racing retake the championship lead as they run.
25 minutes to go now in the season. Robert Renauer leads GT. Marvin Kirchofer is second in the #88 McLaren. That car may have issues insofar as Race Control. Klaus Bachler is next up in the #33 Herberth Porsche and then comes the Inception McLaren as Graff will win LMP2 Am and an overall podium will be earned. Bachler on Kirchofer. The battle of the German's. Who will win this one? Kirchofer has to fight. He blocks the Porsche. Bachler pushes Kirchofer in turn seven and Kirchofer gets away. Anders Fjordbach sets fastest time for the #49 car but that is a beleaguered, secondhand motorcar at this moment.
Not another penalty for the #96 Attempto Audi. But there will be one I suppose. Ugh. Kirchofer has a clean run through the corner and Bachler is still skittering around. They are catching the sister Garage 59 McLaren #59 with Nicolai Kjaergaard at the wheel of it. 15 hours and 40 minutes of the season now done. We have 20 minutes to go as Bachler is right on Krichofer's six! Yikes! Bachler will have the move as Kirchofer is stymied by the Ferrari and he's got it. Piovanetti ahead in the red car. Herberth Motorsport now run 1-2. Holy mackerel. The GT race is at full bonkers right now! Weiss is being harried by Steve Palette for CD Sport.
CD Sport still have two bullets in the gun. Who has to pit with 18 minutes left on the board? Jonny Adam is locking in on Francesco Piovanetti who is the next car on his shopping list. Josh Pierson is in cruise mode. A rookie is really making hay while the sun shines here. OK. Well, it's dark, but you get my point. Pierson is having a similar meteoric rise as we saw last year at G-Drive with Franco Colapinto, the Argentinian driver. Pit stop time for Pierson. Four-minute stop and hold penalties for passing around under yellow for Walkenhorst Motorsports BMW #35 and one of the other cars. Read the rulebook. That's what you must do.
Ben Hanley now gets himself back on the lead lap. David Droux solidly in third spot. Black and white flag for track limits for Nicky Catsburg in the #34 Walkenhorst BMW M4 GT3. Ben Hanley is probably not goingot be able to catch Josh Pierson. Nielsen Racing are becoming a massive force in LMP2. Edouard Cauhaupe is catching Steve Palette and Leonard Weiss in LMP3! Dear me! Arjun Maini has passed Ben Barnicoat. Steve Palette, Leonard Weiss, and Edouard Cauhaupe are all scrapping for position here in LMP3 with 12 minutes to go. Weiss is not driving to his full potential, so Cauhaupe has him worried.
They are a point apart. #3 has to finish ahead of #27 to win the championship. Weiss' tires are knackered. They are dirty, with clag all over them. Davide Rigon took fuel only and Ben Barnicoat is holding station. #91 leads the race, fourth in points. Back to LMP3, a lunge for Cauhaupe on Weiss. A pass 'round the outside in turn nine might work. Steve Palette is three seconds up. Oh! He can't quite make it, as Klaus Bachler gets a final warning on track limits. Better luck for the sister Herberth Porsche entry. Josh Pierson is 90 seconds ahead of Ben Hanley. Going for position, a great move by Palette on Weiss! Wow! Palette ahead of Cauhaupe. Colin Noble's chances are gone. What a shame. He could have been at Le Mans in a second LMP2 entry for Nielsen Racing.
Robert Renauer leads Klaus Bachler and Marvin Kirchofer in GT. We have seen no report on the Kirchofer McLaren. Will there be a late penalty? Or is it just rubbing is racing? Drive through penalty for abusing track limits for the #96 Attempto Racing Audi. Remember that we have an additional lap to race once the clock goes to zero. Lorents Horr is now at the wheel of the #2 LMP3 car for DKR Engineering. Under five minutes to go. Robert Renauer is looking to win, but the #33 Herberth Porsche, the sister car, is now 1.6 seconds behind. Charlie Eastwood is racing with Arjun Maini. Marvin Kirchofer might just complete the podium in GT.
Axcil Jeffries and Mikael Grenier are lapping in formation for the most part. This lap, plus one more, for Josh Pierson to take back-to-back wins here in Abu Dhabi, a minute and a half clear of the Nielsen car. David Droux passes as Edouard Cauhaupe will have to settle for second behind Steve Palette. Palette is catching LMP3 race leader Xavier Lloveras. Leonard Weiss is still in the fight too. CD Sport have done so well, from nowhere. Unbelievable. They do not have a deal in Europe for the season, but they will go to Le Mans. One lap to go. Robert Renauer though is feeling the heat from Klaus Bachler. Final lap. Josh Pierson and Paul di Resta are on their way to victory, again.
A second consecutive win for the #23 United Autosport LMP2 Oreca! Pierson and di Resta bring home the bacon! Josh Pierson gets his full license this week. Alfred and Robert Renauer along with Ralf Bohn win GT and Herberth Motorsports bosses the top two steps of the GT podium as Marvin Kirchofer and McLaren at Garage 59 complete the podium. G-Drive Racing win LMP3! This is their first LMP3 win. He is going slowly but will still make it. He could be struggling but will still win! Yikes!
Cars are running low on gas. Wow! #27 wins the LMP3 title! Herberth Motorsports go 1-2 in GT. Inception Racing seal the title for McLaren in GT. Ollie Milroy, Brendon Iribe, and Ben Barnicoat. The race winning LMP3 G-Drive car did run out of gas on the last lap, coughing and sputtering to the bitter end. He is being flat towed back to parc ferme. Rodrigo Sales, Matt Bell, and Ben Hanley are LMP2 champs. Christophe Cresp, Antoine Doquin, and Steve Palette are LMP3 winners. In LMP2 Am, Graff Racing win the title with David Droux, Sebastien Page, and Eric Trouillet.
LMP3 honors go to G-Drive and the #26 Ligier Nissaan for Xavier Lloveras, Vyaceslav Gutak, and Fabrice Rossello. GT classes are won by Alfred Renauer, Robert Renauer, and Ralf Bohn, followed by the sister car of Klaus Bachler, Yifei Ye, and Antares Au. GT Am honors once again go to Kessel Racing and the #57 Ferrari for the Swiss team. Axcil Jeffries, Roman Ziemian, and Francesco Zollo. SPS and Kessel are on equal points and SPS will take the title by dint of their Dubai victories.
Overall/LMP2: #23 Pierson/di Resta United Autosports Oreca 07
LMP2 Am: #39 Trouillet/Droux/Page Graff Oreca 07
LMP3: #26 Rossello/Lloveras/Gutak G-Drive Ligier JS P320 Nissan
GT: #91 Renauer/Renauer/Bohn Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R
GT Am: #57 Jeffries/Ziemian/Zollo Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GT3
There will be a party in Abu Dhabi tonight! What an enjoyable motor race this was today. So, the 2022 Asian Le Mans Series is in the history books. We have enjoyed bringing the races to you over these past two weekends and will be back in 2023 for more Asian Le Mans Series action, as we also have to look forward to the European Le Mans Series and before that starts, it will be the beginning of the FIA World Endurance Championship. So, we'll see you then for much more sports car racing action. So long, everybody, from the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. Take care.
Saturday, February 19, 2022
post-race wrap up for Abu Dhabi race number one
Post-race wrap-up for race one for Asian Le Mans Series in Abu Dhabi.
4H Abu Dhabi Red-Flagged After G-Drive Fire
United Dominates Saturday's 4H Abu Dhabi
Excited for the finale tomorrow. Looking forward to bringing it to you, here on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog. See you tomorrow.
Winner & Highlights of the Asian Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi Race 1
Round three of the 2022 Asian Le Mans Series brings the drivers and teams to the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, the recently revamped and reconfigured Yas Marina circuit which is also home to the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which saw the massive F1 championship decider here, last December. Last weekend in Dubai we saw Nielsen Racing's #4 Oreca break out the broom, and sweep, with Matt Bell, Rodrigo Sales, and Ben Hanley. For this weekend, a new contender has stepped into the ring. United Autosport have entered their LMP2 Oreca in this weekend's races, listed as car #23 for what is presumably a duo of Scotland's Paul di Resta sharing with 16-year-old American sports car rookie, Josh Pierson. Will the di Resta/Pierson dynamic duo upset the apple cart? Will Nielsen Racing keep their dominance streak alive? Join us to find out as we bring you flag-to-flag coverage of race one for Asian Le Mans in Abu Dhabi! It's live, and it's next!
A close eye will also be kept upon the Am battle in LMP2 featuring ARC Bratislava, High Class Racing, and Graff. Momentarily, we will get to the situations in LMP3 and in the GT class for the production cars. We welcome back, once again, our commentators for the Asian Le Mans Series, Graham Goodwin, alongside former Corvette factory driver, Oliver Gavin, along with Nadia Nash reporting from the pit lane. These two races will have the championship title, and Le Mans 24 Hours invitations, at stake. CD Sport, Nielsen Racing, those are the top prototype contenders. GT is a battle between McLaren and Inception Racing and Rinaldi Racing.
United have done testing, here at Yas Marina. Lorents Horr and DKR are on pole in LMP3. The GT class is stacked. Porsche and Mercedes are improving, and the McLaren's and Ferrari's are also up there. This newly reconfigured speedway at Yas Marina is much faster. 15 seconds quicker per lap. Turn five has had the apex widened. That will be a sweet spot for overtaking. As we move down the front straight at this 5.218 kilometer circuit, we sweep througyu turns two and three. Watch track limits. Turn five is very wide and then get a great run to turn six and through seven and eight and into the Parabolica at turn nine. V the corner through the twisty bits, under the hotel bridge and through to the final turns.
The two races will go somewhat into darkness. You are racing in daytime because of the great lighting at Yas Marina as we are 25 minutes away from the start. Yas Marina was originally built in 2009. Turn nine has really been changed and given a lot of banking. This will be a side by side overtaking spot. We also have the aforementioned changes at turns five and 14. The flow of the track has changed for the better. New challenges arise. The surface change means the car balance is totally different. Some cars have more understeer and don't want to turn. Other cars are far more reactive while the front dives and the rear end of the car steps out. You have two different ages and types of pavement on this track.
Maximize the package. Everyone has Michelin tires under them. But the drivers are also finding the sweet spot so they can deliver on track. In this heat, the track temperature and solar energy will be at it's peak for the next hour and drop off. The track management will be big. It will be hot and greasy and then it will cool off in dramatic fashion. This track for all intents and purposes, is a street course but is laid out as a permanent circuit. We have talked about the flow of the track, and this is a major improvement of the new configuration. Bonjour, Monsieur Michelin. Bibendum is out on the grid.
15 minuted before we start this motor race, so at 4:30 A.M. Central Standard Time. The #23 United Autosport entry, has Josh Pierson, at age 16, as the youngest driver in the race. Happy Birthday, Josh. He just turned 16 and this is his present. In qualfying, GT cars went out first, with 23 entries. Klaus Bachler and Jonny Adam battled for pole and Adam gets it. In LMP3, Intereuropol and G-Drive battled, but it was DKR Engineering who scored pole with Lorents Horr. In LMP2, Dennis Andersen and the Graff entry scrapping for Am pole. United Autosport on the pole ahead of Nielsen Racing. We have the Chevrolet Camaro safety car ready to go, waiting for the green flag for the recon lap.
DKR Engineering and their Duqueine is the LMP3 pole sitter. Horr says that he had a good couple of sessions, thanking his team. He enjoyed the run. That's the secret of going that quick. The team had electrical woes in Bahrain last weekend. But today they are back on the button. The Nemo clownfish stripes on the car started somewhere. Lorents Horr has a buddy who designs graphics in Germany who came up with the idea for that. "Finding Nemo" and finding form, that's what DKR are doing. Dominate, and then, go to ashes. So, DKR wants to turn things around. They really do.
Weather is at 28 degrees Celsius but the humidity has dropped. The temperatures will drop as night falls. The rookie drivers will be out there in the heat of the day. Some drivers can handle it and others cannot. Yas Marina is not as physical of a track as Dubai. But Dubai was cooler. We'll have more heat here in Abu Dhabi. Paul di Resta says "I've let Josh get on with it. He knows what to do." It is a lot for him to think about. Paul di Resta will do the second stint after dark, mid-race and then Josh Pierson will get back into the car. Pierson is the student and his co-driver di Resta is the teacher. The team is looking ahead to next month and the 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Rodrigo Sales will start the #4 Nielsen Racing car. Nielsen Racing are looking at exposing cracks in the armor of Josh Pierson as a young driver. United Autosports team boss Richard Dean says that they are exposing Pierson to a full-on racing environment which you cannot test for. Testing is one thing while racing is another. Pierson also had a waiver to race at the Rolex 24 three weeks ago. We have fans in the stands here in the UAE. The safety car drivers are ladies today. That's great to see women involved in racing. Motor racing is very accepting of both men and women coming into the sport.
The championship winners will automatically be invited to the biggest race in the world, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Three teams will have the opportunity to go if they win tomorrow. This will be all kinds of bonkers, hopefully. Green flag. The formation lap is underway. We have a record-breaking GT field in this race. We have a 37-car field for this race. A great field. So, the lights are off on the safety car. Ready for a start. Watch the surface transitions through the final few turns. Watch the GT class action as well. They are crawling as the safety car is in the lane.
Red lights out! Punch it! We are underway! The LMP3 boys jockeying for position as Eric Trouillet goes to second. One of the BMW's loses the braking point but everyone is through turn one with no worries. Josh Pierson leads. We do not have a right, left, right chicane. Pierson has a clean road ahead. Aston Martin leads in GT already passing the LMP3 cars. Through turn six and the SPS Mercedes spins and resumes. Not sure who tapped him there. This is a frantic first lap of the motor race. Pierson leads the motor race. He has run away from everybody. He has the welly down.
Pierson is four seconds to the good over everybody else. Graff, Nielsen, and High Class, followed by ARC Bratislava;. Trouble for the #7 Inception Racing McLaren in GT. Oh dear. Did that get tangled with the #20 Mercedes? There is debris on the road in turns five and six. The #3 CD Sport LMP3 car, the LMP3 championship leader is dropping like a stone. Tony Wells tries making a move at turn nine but it's not on. Jesse Salmanautio from Finland and his co-driver Tommi Vialainen in the #72 LMP3 car for Koiranen Kemppi Motorsport is already pressing on.
Four hours plus one lap is the race duration. Good battle in GT. Herberth Porsche, AF Corse Ferrari, and D'station Aston Martin. Turn five and six lap one incidents under investigation. Lots of argy bargy there. Those different lines you can take at turn nine are available. V the corner, U the corner. There are so many cars and engine and chassis configurations. The setups are also different. Ten GT3 cars in a row. The D'station Aston of Tomonobu Fujii is running very well. Fujii needs tire temperature in the front tires and is wriggling all over the road. He needs to have the front axle switch on.
Fuji tries the Ferrari, Conrad Grunewald at the controls. Everyone has rolled up their sleeves and is already getting on with it. The #7 Inception McLaren has Brendon Iribe at the wheel of it. He needs to get his head down and focus. #34, the Walkenhorst BMW M4 GT3 is taking liberties with track limits. This is fast and frantic races. Edoardo Freitas who is Race Director here will also help in Formula 1, it was just announced. #17, Grunewald has been rotated and is now dropping like a stone. Fujii in the #77 car was not committed, scrabbling around on the road.
Car #88 is also in the fight. That is one of the Garage 59 McLaren's. Frank Bird, Marvin Kirchofer, and Alexander West. 1:43 dead for Josh Pierson. Wow! 1:43.098. Last year, the top lap was at 1:58 by Franco Colapinto. The new track surface is making the speedway a lot faster. Rodrigo Sales has moved to second around Eric Trouiller as we see the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3. Alessandro Pier Guidi on the driver's strength. Puerto Rican drivers Victor Gomez and Francesco Piovanetti are the other drivers. Piovanetti at the controls right now. Good battle in LMP3. Torsten Kratz vs. Jesse Salmenautio. This team was in the basement in Dubai with issue after issue. But now they are bang on the money and giving the Rinaldi automobile fits.
#3, the CD Sport entry has dropped down to 33rd place and have to climb the ladder. Rodrigo Sales has passed Eric Trouiller. But Trouiller is right on his six. Nielsen Racing have to run this motor race error free. They want to win, but the bigger picture is going for the points, the title, and the Le Mans invite on the table. Replay of the start, and the BMW M4 GT3 for Walkenhorst Motorsport shot out of a cannon and the Inception McLaren was early off the road. We could not tell who hit the Mercedes who spun out. Everyone is back underway and Race Control though, they are considering incidents.
Pierson, Sales, Trouillet, the top fve, followed by the Am ranked LMP2's of Kevin Weeda and Neale Muston. The D'station incident, there's not much to say. He tagged the Ferrari and Conrad Grunewald dropped eight places from fifth to 13th spot. Ouch. That was a nerf. Pierson, 21 seconds to the good as Rodrigo Sales has Eric Trouillet all over him like a rash. James Dayson has the wheel of the #13 Intereuropol LMP3 entry. Dayson sharing with Alexander Bukhantsov and Guilherme Oliviera.
The #39 is caught out by a GT class car threading the needle. That wide apex turn five is an interesting corner. The dander is up with #17. He is pushing and perhaps just a wee bit too hard. Take a breath, don't rush. Giorgio Roda and Antares Au are the other Porsche's to deal with in GT. Grunewald is going to have to go after them next. Herberth Motorsports are pressing past the BMW or trying to. Jon Miller in the #34 BMW is being warned for track limits. Ralf Bohn and Hubert Haupt are battling, Porsche vs. Mercedes. Herberth Motorsports vs. Haupt Racing Team. Marvin Kirchofer is also a quick boy in the #88 McLaren for Garage 59. Kirchofer is really pressing on but McLaren have been pegged back in the Balance of Performance.
The gap is growing between the McLaren and the Mercedes as Josh Pierson resets fast lap at 1:42.653 running purple sectors, fastest of all. Oh dear. In the traffic, Pierson has lost time to Eric Trouiller. Drive through penalty for contact on lap one at turn five for the #96 Attempto Racing Audi R8. The #55 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari is now right behind the #59 McLaren. Marvin Kirchofer has his hands full with Rino Mastronardi. Jean Francois Brunot has been in and out of the pits in the #66 YC Panda Audi, the car just mentioned.
Miller, Bohn, Kirchofer etc. in a real scrap. But leading in GT right now, it is Henrique Chaves in the Aston Martin. Miller sharing the #34 with both Chandler Hull and Nicky Catsburg. Boatloads of action still to come your way. Don't go anyplace. Walkenhorst Motorsports, they will be racing more GT3 this year in the NLS at the Nurburgring and in DTM. Issues for #13. Hmmm. The #77 D'station Aston Martin has also run wide. Maybe there is fluid on the road. We do not know yet. James Dayson has lost a couple spots. Neale Muston in the meantime, is running well. But we have trouble as the #21 Konrad Motorsports LMP3 car has lost a wheel! Half an hour on the board. Unusual. He has made it to the pit lane. What is going on there?
Neale Muston is working over Kevin Weeda and Muston passes the Porsche, the Herberth entry, while he is also pressing the #55 car, the Rinaldi Racing car. Full Course Yellow as the Mercedes is tussling with the McLaren and it's a drag race! But he will have to give up the place. Full Course Yellow, Full Course Yellow. What a frantic opening half hour! Wowzers. The Konrad Ginetta has just now come back into the race, Jordan Grogor at the controls. Matthieu De Barbuat leads LMP2 for DKR Engineering right now. Duqueine run 1-2-3 in the class. Nielsen Racing's #8 car has just hit the pit lane. Pit action already as cars are coming in.
Aston Martin run 1-2 in GT. TF Sport leads D'station. Jon Miller third in the BMW M4 GT3 for Walkenhorst. Josh Pierson makes his pit stop but overshoots the box and gets pushed back. He does not have a straight shot into the box. Driver change it appears at DKR. Maybe not. They are off sequence with their tire change. All these cars must pit three times with a minimum pit time. The only two professional LMP2 cars do not have to adhere to that target time because they are Pro entries, not Pro-Am entries. Rodrigo Sales stays in the #4 car. 55 minutes is the required window of drive time for the first stint I believe.
Race Control are still deliberating how the penalties will be allocated if there are any. TF Sport and Henrique Chaves have opted not to pit yet. Chaves will have a big lead going back to green. The other Aston Martin has not pitted yet. New driver at DKR Engineering as Sebastian Alvarez from Mexico, takes over. The wheel that departed the Konrad Ginetta is still being retrieved. We are actually set to go back to green. Three hours and 20 minutes still on the board but the sun will sink like a stone later as we go back to green, and the track will cool off massively. So, Josh Pierson leads the motor race. Pierson is a real talent. Stephen Simpson and Oliver Jarvis are Pierson's driver coaches, two veterans of sports car racing worldwide, especially in North America and Europe.
The #96 Attempto Audi is under investigation for crossing the pit exit blend line while on track. Josh Pierson is doing a double stint before handing over to Paul di Resta. Team manager for Attempto, immediately summoned to Race Control. No coffee and treats for you. Deary me! There's a spun or two there for the #51 Ferrari and the #6 Mercedes. Francesco Piovanetti dumps Hubert Haupt who has damage to the left rear, and front end damage to the Ferrari that will do no good at all. Looks like a tire rubbing on bodywork for the Mercedes, someplace. Is that rear diffuser damaged?
Your field of vision in a GT car is not too good save for the camera and radar system. The blind spots can really catch you out. In replay, three wide oh dear, and that move was just not on. Marvin Kirchofer makes the clean pass and Piovanetti was completely caught off guard by Haupt being there and then Haupt got spun out. Kirchofer was clean and green and Piovanetti overloaded, overcorrected, and poor old Hubert Haupt was just an innocent bystander. Jon Miller is given his final warning for track limits. He needs to mind his P's and Q's as he is pressing Tomonobu Fujii. Fujii san will be penalized as well and Piovanetti has to hit the lane to check the radiator and the tires as well.
We also see James Vowles running for Garage 59. James Vowles is Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes Formula 1 race engineer. So, Josh Pierson leads. Great to have the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari in this motor race after they could not start either of the events at Dubai last weekend. That is the car shared by Mikkel Jensen of Denmark, David Fumanelli of Italy, and Michael Broniszewski of Poland. Sebastian Alvarez is the leader in LMP3 running strongly at this stage, 13 seconds up the road from the Finnish entry, the Korainen Kemppi Motorsports car. Team manager of the #17 Ferrari to Race Control immediately.
Conrad Grunewald should still be at the wheel of that Ferrari sharing with Vincent Abril of France and Louis Prette of Monaco. Trouble for the #13 LMP3 entry. That is James Dayson. Dayson did not race in Dubai as he could not travel and he has GT cars passing him left, right, and center. Henrique Chaves at the controls of the #95 Aston is running well. Now, we have yet another Full Course Yellow in 30 seconds. There will be driver changes to come. The more professional drivers will come into the cars this time. Two Full Course Yellows and we are not even at the end of the opening hour. No indication as to why we are under FCY right now. The #51 Ferrari is a bit damaged after that fracas with the #6 HRT Mercedes.
Ah. We do have some debris on the road at turn five. That's well off the racing line though. There must be soemthing else going on. Hard to tell at this stage. A mirror has fallen off someplace and there is more debris on the road so the marshals are picking up the debris now and will be in touch with Race Control. That had to be from the contact between the #6 and #51. You do not want carbon fiber on the track because that is so sharp, it will cut a tire immediately. #4 and #66 in the lane. #13 and #21 in. #8 at Nielsen Racing and also the Kox Racing Porsche, car #48. Peter Kox, Stephane Kox, and Nico Pronk. Right front corner damage on the #51.
Pit stop time at United Autosport. Is Josh Pierson driving or is Paul di Resta in? No. Pierson stays in the car. We have a BMW mirror and a bollard that has been squished. Ian Loggie aboard Mercedes #20 is told to respect track limits. That is the SPS Automotive Performance entry. Same for Antares Au, the Turkish driver in the #33 Herberth Motorsports Porsche. Au started the race sharing with Yifei Ye and Klaus Bachler. Francesco Piovanetti is headed for the garage. They are actuall visually looking at the damaged bodywork. It is peeling off the front.
Use the 200 mile an hour tape and more. Changing the tires and we are going to see the racer tape come out in force. It is a quick fix, a bandage. The two standard tools in motor racing is the super sticky racing tape and the hammer. Get plenty on there boys, because you will have to pull it into the garage. Full Course Yellow ends and we are back to green. Ben Barker and company are a lot happier with the #12 Dinamic Motorsports Porsche this weekend. Andrew Watson is in the #42 McLaren that was started by Nick Moss. Joe Osborne will finish out in the second of the Inception McLaren's.
So, hour one is indeed in the bag and it was frantic. We move into the second our of the motor race, now. Sam De Haan in the Oman Racing Aston Martin Vantage, car #69. De Haan sharing with Ahmad Al Harthy and Charlie Eastwood. Ferrari #17 has served it's penalty and there is also one for car #77 and a looming track limits penalty as well for the #17. Ben Hanley is now in the #4 Nielsen Racing Oreca right ahead of Josh Pierson. Pierson might be told to back it down a wee bit. Rodrigo Sales had track position that Ben Hanley now must maintain. Drive through penalty once more for the #96 Attempto Racing Audi for crossing that pit lane line. Read the rulebook, boys.
CD Sport #27 in LMP3 has the trio of the French trio of Christophe Cresp, Antoine Doquette, and Steve Palette. More penalties to serve and more visits to the Race Control office. Francesco Piovanetti has finished his stint and has something to say. He says that the start of the race was very dramatic with a lot of crashing. They lost time on their strategy. Piovanetti cannot be happy about what he has gone through. He is probably a little bamboozled. Marvin Kirchofer did not hit him. It was something with the Mercedes as we saw earlier on. Meanwhile, Josh Pierson is pressing on and has a lap lead if he can close the gap to Ben Hanley driving the #4 Nielsen Racing Oreca.
Pierson goes purple in sector two. Pierson is definitely going to school as a racer today, dealing with slower traffic with the LMP3 and GT cars. Rinaldi Racing have a ten second penalty added to their next stop for a pit stop infringement. The #34 Walkenhorst Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 has pitted but it has forced them down out of the top ten in GT. Pierson has now lapped Ben Hanley in the #4 Nielsen Racing car. They are working to their plan. They won by four laps in race one in Dubai last Saturday. Ben Hanley is being told to take it a little easier. Pierson has now lapped the field. Top of the shop in GT is the #95 TF Sport Aston Martin, now being driven by John Hartshorne.
Henrique Chaves has finished his stint and he says in his interview that the stint went well, and they are into a rhythm. However, when the rear tire temps went up, they lost momentum and were caught out by the Full Course Yellow. Hartshorne has just been passed by Marvin Kirchofer in the McLaren, #59. Rinaldi Racing, car #55 of Rino Mastronardi is third, five and a half seconds down. So, Marvin Kirchofer is the GT leader ahead of John Hartshorne and Rino Mastronardi who has to be cautious about track limits. Spin for Jorg Breuer, the German aboard the #35 Walkenhorst Motorsports BMW M4 GT3. #35 is 21st in GT out of the 23 car field.
We have to see how things happened with the car. V8 turbo Ferrari vs. inline six turbocharged BMW. So, Marvin Kirchofer leads GT currently. Rino Mastronardi is now ten seconds down on Kirchofer. No result yet in the investigation for the contact for the #77 Aston Martin for D'station and Ollie Milroy tries but decides discretion is the better part of valor. Satoshi Hoshino ahead in the aforementioned Aston. Andrew Watson is coming in a hurry. Ollie Milroy is running a faster line as he is all over the Aston like the proverbial cheap suit. D'station have to watch on the track limits. The stewards will be watching that like hawks.
Milroy passes Fujii. Done and dusted. No dice. So, Ollie Milroy fourth in GT. Lapped traffic there, look, and here comes #42 on #77. Fujii being monstered by Andrew Watson. Watson goes inside. Nope. Nope. Don't chop the nose off the car. Poor old Fujii is skating around. Alfred Renauer in the #91 Herberth Motorsports Porsche closes in. Ollie Milroy is disappearing, whistling off into the distance. We've been duped. Fujii san is at the controls of the D'station Aston Martin, the team boss. Criminy. Fujii is the Bronze rated driver. Meantime, Alfred Renauer is pushing, pushing, pushing. Milroy and company are leading the GT championship by a single point.
Davide Rigon is yet to come in the Rinaldi Ferrari and Ben Barnicoat in the #7 Inception McLaren. Josh Pierson continues in the #23 overall leading United Autosport car. Satoshi Hoshino is dropping down the order. Three-wide into turn five. Oh dear. An off for the #26 LMP3 entry, the car has fluid chucking out of it. Safety car scramble. Oil on track. It is a nasty deal. You can be a victim of someone else's misfortune. It is like driving on ice. That is very dodgy, because you cannot see the oil until you are slithering on top of it. The LMP3 field for the most part finds this FCY as a saving grace. Sweet relief. Nikita Aleksandrov has to pick up his speed in the #72 Duqueine for the Finnish team in LMP3. Aleksandrov, the Russian driver.
The #26 G-Drive LMP3 car may be the offender with grease venting out of it. Pit lane is closed. The safety car is waving the queue by to pick up the race leader. Ah. OK. Safety car picks up the leader. No wave by needed. Hard to tell if there is liquid chucking out the back of #26. It is not losing fluid, or they've lost all of it. This is the G-Drive Ligier #26 being shared by Vyaceslav Gutak of Russia, Spaniard Xaiver Lloveras, and Frenchman Fabrice Rossello. The marshals are laying down the oil dry. I wonder if #26 spun twice going under the bridge. The oil was dropped but not on the prefferred racing line.
The #26 may get a meatball flag, a mechanical black flag. #26 rotated but not on his own oil. So, there is a car that has spilled it's guts someplace. Pit lane is still closed. We're closing in on halfway. We need one safety car crocodile while the marshals deal with the track cleanup. #26, it could very well be game over with terminal trouble. Oh God, he's on fire! That is not good. Thank Heavens the driver is out of the car. Leaking fuel. This is a significant fire. Jeepers creepers! The marshals put the fire out. The driver is clear of the burning race car. Fire is the worst fear of any motor racing driver. Phew! He's safe, thanking God for saving his life.
This will require a mega cleanup. Red flag. The race has been stopped because we need to do a cleanup with two hours and 20 minutes left on the board, so we are 20 minutes away from the halfway mark of this motor race. The fire is out on that car was saw burning. Thank you to the orange army of marshals. We could not race without them. There's some fluid runoff on the track surface and we will need a track cleanup. This will be a lengthy red flag to clean up the mess as the cars form up single file on the front straightaway. The track is completely clear. The pit lane is closed. Teams cannot touch the cars under the red flag conditions. The doors are open s the drivers can cool off.
No tires or fueling opportunities. Maybe there will be safety issues they can tend to. But fundamentally, race cars are in parc ferme conditions. Everyone has opened the doors. As soon as you stop, the heat soak on these cars without air running over the car, the car becomes like a sauna and the heat absolutely cooks you and the car. Plus, the sun is blazing, and the track surface is screamingly hot. The teams can bring batteries, fans, water etc. Race Control gives them instructions on a closed, specific radio channel. We will wait 15-20 minutes for the cleanup to happen as the fire crews are taking care of things as well.
The modern safety innovations and sciences behind accidents and safety features on the cars, are so important. Window nets, crash boxes, head and neck restraints. Quick evacuation systems also are necessary for things like fire, to evacuate in under five seconds. Pop the door on either side and bail out. We are near the halfway mark of the race. This track at Abu Dhabi was redesigned for Formula 1, but it seems to be working wonderfully for multi-class sports car racing. We have seen more contact here than we saw in Dubai. This new track configuration is really improving the racing. What we saw in that latest incident was an oil fire.
Drivers will be taking on fluids, stretching their legs, perhaps heading for the restroom briefly. Drivers can tense up and get tight. Physios will help the drivers if their muscles are tight or sore. Fatigue can set in with these short, but back-to-back races. We have ten minutes now before the race restarts. In five minutes, we will have ourselves another round of pit stops. Stephane Ratel of the SRO, Pierre Fillon from the ACO, and John Doonan, President of IMSA, is calling in. Glad you all are checking it out. No one is hurt. But it is game over for G-Drive #26. Let's hope they can repair the car for tomorrow's finale.
36 cars still in the motor race. Single file restart behind the safety car. The cars will have to come back up to racing temperature. Josh Pierson, in the lead, will have to get used to this. This is endurance racing bingo. Remember, Nielsen Racing are going for the championship and the automatic invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Pit entry now open. We are looking for the green flag. Start back timing this race. That is the plan now, since we are past the halfway mark, and we have had a half an hour under red flag conditions. Pierson will be the rabbit until the end of his stint and Paul di Resta will finish the race out. Only two drivers at United Autosport. Pierson will have clear track unless Ben Hanley is going to unlap himself and make a move. Hanley won't make his move too soon. Fourth spot, Eric Trouillet, the Frenchman.
Green flag. We are back underway. Many cars hit the pit lane including the #59 McLaren as Ben Hanley goes to the inside and has now passed Josh Pierson to get onto the lead lap. Pierson though is not oging to give up. He just has to be patient, but he might have a run. Hanley is going to try holding the youngster at bay. The United car has pace on the straight. Hanley will be pushing and he does race clean but is a fighter. Pierson is just feeling his way into the car. Richard Dean and company might be telling him to cool off. The Inception Racing McLaren is now the GT leader as the two leaders pass the Haupt Racing Team Mercedes, car #6.
A major shuffle in LMP3. DKR Engineering leading Rinaldi Racing and the #27 CD Sport entry followed by Koirannen Kempi Motorsport, and Konrad Motorsport I believe. Nielsen Racing down the order. Inception lead GT. Driver change as Lorents Horr is now at the wheel of the #2 DKR LMP3 car. Sebastian Alvarez and Matthieu de Barbuat have both done their driving stints. Jonny Adam has now taken over the #95 TF Sport Aston Martin in the GT division. Victor Gomez, from Puerto Rico is now at the controls of Ferrari #51. John Corbett in the #44 ARC Bratislava entry is now unlapped after the #49 High Class Racing car hits the lane. Dennis Andersen sharing with Anders Fjordbach and Kevin Weeda.
Kessel Racing in the lane in car #57 for fuel, tires, and a driver change. Meantime, Ollie Milroy has made a move on the Ferrari. But Alfred Renauer is coming fast and so is David Fumanelli. Herberth cedes a spot to the CD Sport LMP3 entry. Andrew Watson has a run on the Ferrari and Renauer runs wide. The Aston Martin sees a spot and moves in. That had to be Tom Gamble in that Aston Martin, not Satoshi Hoshino. That is one of those "check this out" move. Victor Gomez and Jonny Adam are also flying. Adam wants his lap back. Optimum, D'station, Herberth, Dinamic, Kessel, ah... D'station and more. Tom Gamble is indeed in the D'station car. #4, the Nielsen Racing car pitted and Matt Bell is into the car.
Josh Pierson is still driving the #23. Ben Barker has the wheel of the #12 Dinamic Motorsports Porsche. Barker will a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship starting at Sebring in a few more weeks. This is spirited driving. Very impressive. Three cars have been reported to the stewards for working on cars under red flag. The deal is, you would think they'd have permission to fix the cars under red flag. Maybe not. Maybe the parc ferme conditions did not permit that. Antoine Doquin leads in LMP3. He has been a star in LMP3 in Europe over the last year. Matthieu de Barbuat remains at the controls of the next LMP3 car, the #2 DKR Engineering car.
A queue of eight GT cars and some argy bargy there between the Ferrari and the Porsche. AF Corse vs. Herberth. #17 and #33. Yifei Ye at the controls of the Porsche which has had a bear of a race today. #51, #96, and #33 all pit. Peter Kox driving the #48 entry, he is still right in it. He has been racing for a long time, racing with his daughter Stephane. Stephane may finish out the race, maybe. Yellow flag under the bridge or just beynd. The #35 BMW spins and rejoins. There's a quick, offset camber change through that corner for Jorg Breuer.
Andrew Watson pitting for a driver change to hand the #42 McLaren over to Joe Osborne, and they are halfway through a fuel stint as well, look. Tom Gamble moves past the Garage 59 McLaren, Alex West at the wheel of it. Jonny Adam also moves by Alex West, the Swede. The #17 AF Corse Ferrari which has had a fraught race today, they are third and have come back into contention. Marco Seefried is leading GT Am for Herberth Motorsport as well. #91 pits for Herberth as well. The engineers and strategists are crunching the numbers to the end of the race, earning their money to make themselves competitive.
Robert Renauer maybe is assisting his brother Alfred Renauer. No driver change apparently. Trouble for the #33 Porsche which has stopped for a reset and maybe he spun. That is Yifei Ye at the wheel of it. He had to reset the car. Control, Alt, Delete. Oman Racing, the #69 Aston Martin is second in GT Am with Ahmad al Harthy at the controls. Oman not far from the UAE. Rory Penttinen, the Finn, will inherit second spot, now in the #6 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes, as he is with a TV crew from Finnish television doing a documentary about endurance sports car racing.
Ben Barnicoat, Alessandro Pier Guidi, Joe Osborne, a lot of the hot shoes are aboard the GT cars now. You have missed nothing up front. Josh Pierson has a lap over Matt Bell. Their lap times are very close together as we watch driver stint times. High Class Racing have resumed in the lead of LMP2 Am. In LMP3, Antoine Doquin has Matthieu de Barbuat right on his six. LMP2 Am have 100 second delta times for the pit stops while the LMP2 regular class does not. Pit stop time at Oman Racing. Charlie Eastwood, the Irishman, is into the Aston Martin. Where will Haupt Racing Team cycle into when they pit?
Final stops will be shorter. Splash and a dash for fuel, likely. #27 loses the lead to #2 in LMP3. So, DKR Engineering will lead CD Sport. Matthieu de Barbuat takes the lead in LMP3. Rory Penttinen is the new leader in GT in the #6 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes, who is a Silver driver. Ben Barnicoat is next in line. He will be racing three different GT3 cars this year with McLaren, Lexus, and Porsche as well. Our mate Oliver Gavin has also driven a lot of GT cars through his career. Saleen, Corvette, McLaren, Lexus etc. Inception Racing are running in many championships this year. They ran at the Gulf 12 Hours and in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and they are racing here. They have a Porsche in FIA WEC and a McLaren in SRO GT World Challenge. Optimum will be racing GT Open and Michelin Le Mans Cup as well.
Joe Osborne running third in GT. #7 and #55 separated by one point in the championship in GT. Osborne will be telling #55, "follow me, sunshine." Alex West briefly spins the McLaren. Vincent Abril is next behind in the race order there. So, Haupt Racing Team and Rory Penttinen, has Ben Barnicoat right on his gearbox. Josh Pierson moves through and will have a clear lap. So will the Ben Barnicoat and Rory Penttinen story. Barnicoat is pressing hard. Penttinen has clag on his tires. He is now going to be eaten up by that McLaren or so it seems.
Penttinen shuts the door. Local yellow? Hmmm. Penttinen wants to do the switcheroo on Barnicoat. Maybe it is the other way 'round. When do I pull the trigger? When do I go for it? Barnicoat lets another car go at the right spot. The Mercedes is moving around here comes Barniocat who got chopped by the BMW. The V8 in that Mercedes has the oomph. Robert Renuaerr battles David Perel as Barnicoat takes Haupt on the brakes! Wow! Pass secured. Eight minutes to go before we see final pit stops and the last hour here in Abu Dhabi race one.
David Perel is dropping behind the Porsche but is being caught by Tom Gamble. #39 moves on #44 to unlap himself. Gamble is being chased by Jonny Adam and by Ben Barker and Charlie Eastwood. Hopefully you have eaten breakfast because you don't want to go to the fridge or the coffeemaker before the end of this motor race. Joe Osborne and Rory Penttinen are pressing hard as well and we have loads of drivers really pushing Davide Rigon has not been into his Ferrari yet. We now will hear from Haupt Racing Team and the boss, Hubert Haupt himself.
Haupt says that the first two long pit stops were under yellow and had a short stop after the safety car. Rory Penttinen is fighting for second. He will be pushing. Arjun Maini should take over for the end of the race. Yes. Maini will step into the Mercedes soon. Maini drove a Mercedes-AMG last year in DTM. Ben Barnicoat is on the tail of the Audi for YC Panda who have had trauma the last week or so. They wanted to have two cars but the travel difficulties into southeast Asia have been really hard. Jean Francois Brunot currently driving.
Final pit stops are being planned now and they will be in the lane in the next lap or so because we have about an hour left to race. Tom Gamble, Jonny Adam and others are coming in a hurry as Joe Osborne slides past Rory Penttinen. The GT scrap will come down to the pit stops, truly. Jonny Adam is the first to blink. Penttinen is losing momentum, so his tires could be knackered. Robert Renauer is now right on top of the #6 car. The gun drivers are in the cars to close out this motor race before we come back tomorrow for the closer. Penttinen moves past Renauer. Can Renauer use the slower Audi as a pick?
Anders Fjordbach has taken the lead in LMP2 Am, passing John Corbett. Alessandro Pier Guidi warned for track limits. Aston Martin #95 back on track and nearly contact with Pentinnen and Adam! Yikes! That was a close shave! Renauer wants Pentinnen but runs into the corner a tad too hot. Jonny Adam now has a run on both of these blokes! Holy mackerel! One hour to go. Jonny Adam is overtaken by leader Josh Pierson, clicking off the laps. He is absolutely doing an iron man stant. Will he hand the car, over to Paul di Resta?
We have seen Phil Hanson do this driving for United Autosport before. Shadows grow long here in Abu Dhabi. The last hour will be massively important as Colin Noble slides onto the clag on the outside, on the dust and grit out there, and into the sausage curb and the driver will be feeling that. Ouch! Less than an hour to go. 52 minutes, now 51 minutes. So, Paul di Resta will be taking the final 51 minutes of this race after Josh Pierson finally finishes his stint, does the 16-year-old phenom driver. Just a two-driver team here at United Autosport. Fuel, tires, done. Down and away. Ben Barker is catching David Perel.
Inception still leads GT. Arjun Maini goes too deep into the turn. The red flag will have helped some drivers and teams and ruined it for others. Brief local yellow at turn 12. Quick spin, maybe. Paul di Resta has to be going for fastest lap. Josh Pierson says that he did not expect to be in the car for three hours and overall he says his stint went well with fuel saving and old tires. He is confident about race two tomorrow. Good onya, lad. He looks fresh as a daisy after a three hour stint in an LMP2 car. Wow. Drive through penalties for the three cars that were worked on under red flag. AF Corse's #51 Ferrari is one, the #72 LMP3, our pals from Suomi, and it still says the #97 but it is the #96 with bodywork damage, the Audi. That was a misreported car number.
Fin Gehrsitz and Vincent Abril battle, the German and the Frenchman. Porsche vs. Ferrari. This is the #99 Herberth Porsche with Fin Gehrsitz, and fellow German's Marco Seefried and Jurgen Haring. Nielsen Racing are looking good for the title, and they could very well take two if they get a good place in LMP3. CD Sport do not have an LMP2 program or a race program for the rest of the year. Inception Racing has a WEC effort with Project 1. They could have an entry under their own name for Le Mans if they cash in tomorrow.
Final stop at DKR Enginering for the #2 car. Lorents Horr will get 40 minutes to do his thing. The rebuild they did on the car at DKR Engineering has been successful. They have changed three tires, or perhaps just the right-side boots. The track changes here at Yas Marina have made the track 15 seconds quicker than it used to be. David Droux puts in another quick time in the Graff Racing LMP2 Am car. #33 and #77 pit for the final time. Tom Gamble will finish the race and the #33 Porsche for Herberth has just not had the race they've wanted. Taking on fuel and they will need tires.
Paul di Resta sets new fastest lap of the race at 1:41.657. Good battle in LMP3 as CD Sport are passed by Nielsen Racing. Colin Noble passes Steven Palette. Noble has just pitted. 35 minutes to go. He now has to pass Hendrik Still but gets balked by the Kox driven #48 Porsche. Colin Noble will be fired up. The red mist will come down. Drive through penalty for the #96 Attempto Racing Audi. Penalty after penalty for those chaps. Noble has to keep his wits about him. But he will want to move in for the pass. This is for the final step on the podium in LMP3 with major championship implications.
CD Sport really want this. #8 has less power and not enough traction. This is a Pro-Am partnership with Colin Noble and Tony Wells. Trying to accommodate Wells' comfort level, has probably upset Noble a wee bit. We still have GT battles to look at in the last half hour. Inception Racing and Optimum Motorsports have been in and out of the pits with Ben Barnicoat and Joe Osborne respectively. Herberth Motorsports will have to pit soon too. Robert Renauer at the controls. AF Corse and Herberth will need to pit.
Contact under investigation at turn 11 between the #74 Kessel Racing car and the #66 YC Panda Racing Audi. Jonny Adam's tires are starting to get knackered as Ben Barker passes. Lorents Horr can clear those two chaps. Adam decides to give it up as he is losing time. Deary me, what is going on with the BMW? He is just not up to speed. Mario van Bohlen in a spot of bother. Drive through penalty for YC Panda after that scrape with the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari. Robert Renauer continues to lead in the GT class with 26 minutes left on the board. #17 and #91 still need to pit. GT cars can do a tad over an hour on fuel. More full throttle running here in Abu Dhabi than there was in Dubai.
Pit stop time for the #91, look. Herberth will have to play catch up. #17 goes through and completes another lap. McLaren #7 have done their final stop. Final stop for Herberth Motorsports. #17 will take the lead. No sign yet of the Inception Racing McLaren. Where is Ben Barnicoat? Now he comes through the picture. It's squeaky, squeaky time right now. David Droux in LMP2 is now pressing hard to catch Anders Fjordbach. There is no Le Mans entry for LMP2 Am. But the race win and pride are still at stake.
Where on earth is car #17? Where are they on fuel. In the lane now for the Ferrari, but it will drop down behind the McLaren. No tires. Track position is key. Robert Renauer and Herberth Motorsport retain the lead as Ferrari #17 is back on the speedway, leading by 13 seconds. The Inception McLaren is being monstered now by the Ferrari but there were no tires taken. So, Ben Barnicoat, he is going to be a bit better off. Arjun Maini in the #6 HRT Mercedes will be the only driver to have enough in the locker to put up a fight. #17 is not keeping up with the McLaren. Abril not on pace with Barnicoat. Black and white flag for Tom Gamble on track limits, last and final warning.
Gamble is being harried by Ben Barker. The Aston Martin's are fading now after having a head of steam after the red flag. Ben Barker is pushing at 1:52.364. Vincent Abril is ahead by under ten seconds... Arjun Maini, pardon me. Maini has to press Abril but has Joe Osborne on his six as well. In LMP3, Steve Palette is motoring away from Colin Noble who has to be kicking himself right now. He will be a sourpuss after this race. Violation of pass around procedure for the #99 Porsche! Oh my! The Ferrari of Axcil Jeffries will move ahead in GT Am. Herberth Motorsports has a 3:45 penalty in their future.
In LMP2 Am, it is Anders Fjordbach vs. David Droux. The Danish driver vs. the Swiss driver. The performance difference between LMP2 and GT is unreal. Paul di Resta is two laps up on Matt Bell in LMP2 and the overall. Eight second pit penalty for the #6 HRT Mercedes for violation of minimum pit stop time! Wow! Herberth have not served their penalty yet either. They have time but they need to do it. A two secnd stop and go for the #88 Garage 59 McLaren for a pit stop time violation, Frank Bird at the controls. David Droux runs way wide as Paul di Resta uncorks another fastest lap. 1:40.913.
Up the inside, and David Droux passes Anders Fjordbach! That was a smart move! Droux is certainly faster than the Dane is. Abuse of track limits for #88. Their race at Garage 59 is going pear shaped, and fast. Anders Fjordbach has perhaps been vanquished in this battle. He has junk all over his tires. #6 takes the pit penalty. Joe Osborne is now right back behind Vincent Abril. Late stop and a splash and dash for United Autosport. #88 takes their penalty. This has been an action packed event, unlike some of the racing we saw in Dubai. Tomorrow we will be going into the darkness to settle the championships.
United Autosport are a lap up on Nielsen Racing. Will they have wrapped up the title after this event? We are going to have to check and see. DKR Engineering are having a much better run in Abu Dhabu than they did in Dubai last weekend. Car #77 reported to the stewards for track limits abuse. That is the D'Station Aston Martin as the #99 Herberth Motorsports Porsche has served their long penalty as the Aston Martin is not a happy bunny on knackered old boots. Robert Renauer is now 12 seconds ahead of Ben Barnicoat. Inception Racing going for a championshup. They cannot seal the deal on the title today but could do it tomorrow.
Paul di Resta, carving his way through traffic like a hot knife through butter. Title not settled overall yet. That will be tomorrow, so, be sure to join us. Final track limits warning for Nicky Catsburg. No worries for Robert Renauer. Herberth Motorsport have delivered so far and did so a lot last year, too. Mikael Grenier is catching up to Axcil Jeffries. This is for the GT Am win. Herberth will go for a formation finish it appears. Miro Konopka has just had contact with the #88 McLaren and both of those cars are headed for the scrapyard as the McLaren is spraying and spattering parts all over. Pardon me. That is the #59, better placed car, Nicolai Kjaergaard at the controls. Yellow flag at turn nine for debris.
Double yellow at turn nine. Stay to the right. There's bits of bodywork all over the place. Two laps to go. Four hours plus one lap for this race. Team manager for car #57 report to the stewards. That is for Kessel Racing, GT Am leader. Deary me. That is not good. The battle is on. Axcil Jeffries and Mikael Grenier I believe. Final lap now. Josh Pierson has done the lion's share, three hours in an iron man stint and has passed the test with flying colors. Time is up. Final lap. Nielsen Racing will come home fourth. Inception does not have enough of a lead over Herberth Motorsports. Final lap. Do the basics well, and you will succeed.
Jonny Adam right on Charlie Eastwood's back door. This has been an impressive, clinical run for United Autosport and the duo of Josh Pierson and Paul di Resta. United Autosport wins it! LMP2 Am goes to the #49 High Class Oreca. Axcil Jeffries has lost time on the last lap and dropped down two places. Faultless execution in LMP3 for DKR Engineering with Lorents Horr and company. Return to form as Herberth Motorsports win GT for Porsche. Joe Osborne is a second and a half behind Vincent Abril. Osborne will finish right on the rear deck of the #17! Holy cow! Graff Racing beat High Class in LMP2 Am. David Droux, Eric Trouillet, and Sebastien Page.
LMP3 class winners, DKR Engineering, with Lorents Horr, Sebastian Alvarez, and Matthieu De Barbuat. In GT, Herberth Motorsports and the #91 Porsche win, with brothers Robert and Alfred Renauer, and Ralf Bohn, on the driver's strength. GT Am accolades go to Kessel Racing and their Ferrari 488 GT3 in the hands of Axcil Jeffries, Roman Zieman, and Francesco Zollo.
Overall/LMP2: #23 Pierson/di Resta Oreca 07
LMP2 Am: #39 Droux/Trouillet/Page Oreca 07
LMP3: #2 Horr/Alvarez/De Barbuat Duqueine M30-D08 Nissan
GT: #91 Renauer/Renauer/Bohn Porsche 911 GT3R
GT Am: #57 Jeffries/Ziemian/Zollo Ferrari 488 GT3
We will see you tomorrow, for the finale, here at Yas Marina, in Abu Dhabi. Looking forward to it.
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