80-year-old concrete here at Sebring after the place was built as a bomber training base and airfield during WW. II. Jose Maria Lopez says he is feeling good even after his crash in the World Endurance race yesterday. He is fine and feels good driving. He and Kamui Kobayashi got no time in the Cadillac. He had to remember how the Cadillac works compared to the Toyota he drove in World Endurance yesterday. It was an honest mistake. They only had ten minutes in the morning warmup for a total of four laps. The braking points, the rolling speed, the turn-in, are very different. Kamui Kobayashi is now at the wheel of the #48 Ally Action Express Cadillac.
Juan Pablo Montoya is out of the infield care center, and he says that he saw people check up into turn one and backed off, lifting and rolling through the first turn. When the other car spun, the driver lifted off the brakes. Hold the brake as you spin to avoid other cars. Hopefully we will see both Sebastian and Juan Pablo Montoya racing together later in the season. Hopefully this is not just a one-off deal. We are set to go back to green flag racing here. Mike Conway leads the motor race over Stoffel Vandoorne and Will Stevens. Richard Westbrook is now all over Stoffel Vandoorne as Mike Conway starts pulling away. Will Stevens is being harried by Richard Westbrook and Kamui Kobayashi as well, look. Meyer Shank Racing is looking to become the first team since 2017 to sweep both Daytona and Sebring. Mike Conway leads by half a second and could be whistling off into the distance.
The tires are still cold even at full speed while Jordan Taylor continues leading GT Daytona Pro. Marco Mapelli is fending off the LMP3's and here comes Marco Wittmann in the #24 BMW Team RLL BMW M4 GT3. Wittmann is making a challenge here, trying to get around Mapelli. Poor old Ben Barnicoat is stuck in traffic trying to reel in Wittmann in the BMW ahead. Michael de Quesada is moving in on Ben Barnicoat. GTD Pro vs. GTD. Richard Westbrook has his sites set on Stoffel Vandoorne. Conway leads Vandoorne now by 2.1 seconds. Will Stevens is pushing, making his way over the ever bumpy concrete here at Sebring International Raceway.
This GTD Pro scrap continues. Taylor, Mapelli, Wittmann. Driving GTD cars is like being on a treadmill, doing brain surgery, with a mosquito in your face. Thank you for that goofy imagery, NBC Sports' Townsend Bell. Joao Barbosa in the #33 Sean Creech Motorsports entry is putting up a fight as the GTD Pro entries work their way through LMP3 traffic at the present time. Lars Kern is two laps down compared to Joao Barbosa. Barbosa sharing with Dr. Lance Willsey and Malthe Jakobsen as we watch the #97 WeatherTech Mercedes and check in onboard with the #57 Winward entry we talked about earlier, with Marvin Dienst driving, the 25-year-old German.
Russell Ward, Winward team boss says that the car had a brake failure in practice and the car was wrecked but the team was able to jump on it, solve the issues, and get the car back together. In qualifying the car went straight on and plowed into the tires in replay in turn four I believe. Teams are using NASCAR spotters on scaffolds, on the prat perch, keeping an eye out for the cars and telling the drivers of dangers. Sometimes replays can be deceiving as thoughts of being accidents that happen a second time. Mike Conway is fending off the challenge from Richard Westbrook. The #31 Action Express Cadillac vs. the #5 JDC-Miller Cadillac. Our condolences to Mike Conway as he has lost his father Mike Conway Sr. We feel for him, concentrating on both big races this weekend with the 1,000 Miles of Sebring yesterday and the 12 Hours today in two different cars.
Richard Westbrook is applying the blowtorch. That is for sure. Westbrooks' tires are three laps fresher than Conway's. Mike Conway should hit the pit lane in a few more laps. Earl Bamber, Stoffel Vandoorne, and Will Stevens are next in the serial. Giedo van der Garde leads LMP2 over Scott Huffaker, Fabio Scherer, and Steven Thomas. Top of the shop in LMP3 is Kay van Berlo followed by Colin Braun, Cameron Shields, and Matt Bell with Joao Barbosa, Dakota Dickerson, and Lars Kern next.
The top order in DPi is Mike Conway, Richard Eetbrook, Earl Bamber, Sotffel Vandoorne, Will Stevens, Kamui Kobayashi, and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Filipe Albuquerque awaits his next stint in the #10 Konica Minolta Acura. The top order in LMP2 sees Scott Huffaker, Gideo van der Garde, Fabio Scherer, Steven Thomas, and the rest. Tire trouble for Gradient Racing and the #66 Acura NSX GT3. Kyffin Simpson, from Barbados, the young driver is at the wheel of it. He spun off at Sunset Bend over the bumps. Simpson sharing with Till Bechtolsheimer and Mario Farnbacher. hE HAS STOPPED AT a blind turn in the esses, same place where Jose Maria Lopez flipped the Toyota yesterday.
We have a Full Course Yellow. This is the second Full Course Yellow of the day. Yours truly was very worried fr Kyffin Simpson. He could very well have been clobbered by somebody especially the oncoming LMP3 traffic. Some of the DPi cars have pitted and Kamui Kobayashi has now leapfrogged everyone else in DPi up to the leader. A brake change for the #74 Riley Motorsports LMP3 car. Pretty early in this race to be changing brake pads. Do it early and get it done under yellow as we are 20 minutes shy of the five hour mark here at Sebring.
GTD pit stops coming. Half a stint on fuel so you only need half a fill of 20 seconds of gas into the tank as well as tires and driver changes. JR III. did not pit the #30 LMP3 car. So Dakota Dickerson has time on his side but put him off strategy in the car he is sharing with Ari Balogh and Garrett Grist. Driver changes imminent in GTD. Fuel for the #63 TR3 Lamborghini and there is no driver change on that car but a clean windscreen. So, Marco Mapelli will stay in the car. Fuel and tires only for the #3 Corvette C8.R. Ben Barnicoat pitting from P4 and Richard Heistand is having issues with the left rear tire. Lug nut not on the left rear tire.
The wheel does not want to go on right. A bent post or a cross threaded wheel nut! Deary me! They will sink like a stone. Ben Barnicoat could have been ahead of Marco Wittmann at the end of the lane at the red light at pit out. Remember, this place was a B-17 and B-24 bomber bass. Alec Ulmann who was an aeronautical engineer came up with the idea to run this race, and the rest is history. A flagpole at the circuit marks Hendricks Field Memorial Park as a memorial to the airmen who served here at Sebring during WW. II. There's a nearby commuter airport and back in the 1950s the runways were used and they are still used here. The Cleary Brothers out of Palm Beach, Florida, poured the concrete and this place became a civilian airport in 1946.
Richard Heistand's wheel is busted. I knew they cross threaded the wheelnut because now he has three wheels on his wagon. He is grinding down the stub axle destroying the rear floor! Goodness me. The safety crews have found the errant tire. You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel. The floor and the diffuser might be damaged, and they will have to rethread the wheel nut on that automobile. Same tune. Second verse. Both Action Express Cadillac's resume 1-2. Mike Conway ahead of Kamui Kobayashi. Duval, Vandoorne, Bamber, Albuquerque next up in the queue. The top four LMP2 drivers are Giedo van der Garde, Ben Keating, Dennis Andersen, and Steven Thomas.
Vandoorne is filling in for Helio Castroneves who is racing in IndyCar with Meyer Shank Racing this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. We will get back to the rundown later as we are back to green. Conway leads Kobayashi, Duval, and Vandoorne. Earl Bamber is fending off Stoffel Vandoorne's challenge. Filipe Albuquerque in sixth spot. You can go racing as soon as you hear green on the radio. Bamber and Duval scrapping for position along with Stoffel Vandoorne. Two Acura's side by side as Albuquerque screams past Vandoorne.
Albuquerque dove past Vandoorne when he was trapped behind the #02 Earl Bamber driven Cadillac. Mike Conway leads Kamui Kobayashi by a second while Loic Duval is wrestling to fend off Earl Bamber. The Duval and Bamber scrap continues in earnest. Mike Conway leads Kamui Kobayashi by 1.2 seconds. Marco Wittmann in GT Daytona Pro continues to hound Jordan Taylor. Wittmann has space over Marco Mapelli and does not need to take any high risk moves. The GTD Pro drivers are becoming frustrated with the LMP3 traffic blocking their way.
Ashtyn Harrison is debuting in the WeatherTech Championship with Tom Long and Kyle Marcelli in the #93 Racer's Edge Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing Acura NSX GT3 in GTD. After their transmission woes, the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche is 26 laps down, Ryan Hardwick at the wheel of it.
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