Daniel Morad will not drive at night. Meanwhile, Farnbacher passes Auberlen and the Acura is on song right now. Everyone pushing. Mapelli, 1.4 seconds to the good over Serra as we get set for pit stop time here at Indianapolis. Farnbacher to the lane. Cooper warned for getting into a near tangle with Conrad Grunewald. Farnbacher to the lane and needs clear track to use the undercut with the tire warmers. Knock out minimum drive times early doors. Bimmerworld also in in the #94 M4 GT3. Ashton Harrison and Taylor Hagler should drive the middle part of the race before Farnbacher will be the closer. Serra chipping away the gap under one second chasing down Marco Mapelli. Wow. 65 minutes can be extended if there is a Full Course Yellow towards the end of the stint. K-PAX and AF Corse in the lane. K-PAX doing a driver change. More cars dive into the lane for the first of what we believe will be seven times.
Both K-PAX entries in. Driver changes all over the shop. A fabulous drive for Daniel Serra. Four mechanics allowed along with the fuel vent man. Two wheel changes and one rattle gun allowed over the wall. K-PAX mending the damage to the #3 Lambo. He is a lap down and has to make up time. A snail's pace down the pit lane and get to the fast lane ASAP to avoid incidents. If there is overlap, the car to the inside has to give it up. No racing down the lane. Ooh! Conquest passes by K-PAX. Michele Beretta and Cedric Sbirrazuoli are now into the two leading cars. Cedric Sbirrazuoli, the Monagasque in the #34 and Beretta in the #1 K-PAX Lambo. Daniel Serra says the car was really good. An odd start, he did not see the green, the stars and stripes, but is now back in the fight.
At AF Corse, they were gutted after Q1, but they know what to do for the race. Trouble in paradise at US Racetronics after their splitter damage. Tristan Vautier now at the wheel of the #6 Mercedes. Their splitter damage is getting worse. If the carbon fiber gets under the wheel, that will cut a tire down. They tried repairing it with something, but it is peeling away. The front left corner is down. US Racetronics cannot buy a break! They have had the speed but not the results. Tristan Vautier will be heartbroken. Driver change at AF Corse, and their Silver driver, Ulysse De Pauw, the Belgian, is in the car. Daniel Morad now fourth in the #77 Craft Bamboo Mercedes, the Theodore Racing liveried Benz.
AF Corse and Craft Bamboo have made serious recoveries. US Racetronics' loss is their gain. Cedric Sbirrazuoli second ahead of Michele Beretta in the #1 K-PAX Racing Lamborghini. Michele Beretta's dad has supported Marco Mapelli's racing career and Mapelli is sponsored by Beretta's dad's business. Their dads went to school together in Italy. Drive through penalty to the Zelus Lamborghini. Only two Am class cars, and the DXDT Racing Mercedes is 17th overall in the #08 Mercedes AMG GT3. Morad uncorks fastest lap again in the Craft Bamboo car. They were the Mooneyes liveried car last year. The #08 DXDT Racing Mercedes is driven by Scott Smithson, sharing with David Askew and Valentin Pierburg.
Daniel Morad could determine the Pro class outcome. Marciello made a promise to fans he would win. We'll see what happens and if the Swiss domiciled Italian can follow through. Morad's fast lap, 1:23 dead. 1:23.085. They are flying! The Pirelli tires are very consistent and very strong late in the run but they are on heavy fuel early doors in this stint. Drive through penalty to the Triarsi Competizione Ferrari #13 in Pro-Am with Ryan Dalziel at the controls sharing with Justin Wetherill and Conrad Grunewald. The Steven Cameron Racing #39 Mercedes is really motoring as well and again that is a top trio with Cagnazzi, Shane Lewis, and Guy Cosmo. Kyle Washington is running very well too and his background is in off road trophy truck racing.
That is also a type of endurance racing, but so different. George Kurtz, he is really moving up, CEO of Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity firm that supports and sponsors SRO and the Mercedes Formula 1 team. If a car has a white Fanatec banner, it is eligible for IGTC points and if it is black, that is a GTWC America car. Robby Foley is now at the wheel of the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3. Foley wants by Kurtz. Let him know you are coming, and poor old Kurtz is getting hung out to dry and has to let him go. Foley now working on Kyle Washington.George Kurtz follows to the inside and he needs no second invitation. Kurtz has come to racing later in life and is now also a champion race driver, clinching GTWC America in Pro-Am, possibly, depending on the result of this motor race when we finish up this evening.
Ashton Harrison now in the #93 Acura and now, Richard Heistand has speed in the #94 Bimmerworld BMW M4 GT3. So, this is a real battle. You have to know who you are racing. Heistand, looking to see if he has grip, and can make the pass, and is Ashton Harrison having a look at where I am. Stay on the brake pedal turning the wheel and you activate the ABS. Maybe let Heistand go and then work your way back. Ashton Harrison has only done single make Lamborghini Super Trofeo racing in the past. Harrison ran in HPD Academy last year. Jon Mirachi is the whole package as a team boss who focused on racing and also training racing drivers with fitness, nutrition and so on.
Ashton Harrison won overall at the three-hour mark in the 8 Hours of Indianapolis last year. She became the first female winner in the 30-year history of World Challenge. Daniel Morad is pushing hard as Ulysse De Pauw leads by seven odd seconds. Alessandro Balzan is being harried by Michele Berretta and Morad wants by both of these chaps ahead. Nick Wittmer makes a move on Russell Ward for fifth in the overall. Russell Ward knocking out his drive time to hand the car to Philip Ellis and Jules Gounon later on. Alessandro Balzan is skittish on corner entry. Control the speed. Beretta might be able to make a pass and bring Morad with him.
That rurn seven braking zone is really bumpy as we have talked about. The fuel load is still heavy coming to the middle of this specific stint. Balzan might have a mismatched set of Pirelli P Zero tires. #71 runs a 1:23.9. Flat out through the chicane and Morad dives inside! That's close! Balzan ekes out a gap and Morad could be the shark chasing Beretta, the minnow. Morad almost runs into Beretta. He did not nick the diveplane on that car. Ulysse de Pauw though is uncorking 1:24 flats, a second compared to the rest. Over consecutive laps, Morad is fastest. Everyone on average running in the 1:23 range. This is the race pace, not the flat out pace you would have wanted in qualifying yesterday.
Ulysse De Pauw made his North American debut at Petit Le Mans last weekend. Oh my! Too deep and a big lunge for Beretta through the grass! Don't turn your GT3 car into a lawnmower and get Roger Penske's grass in your radiator. Morad closing in on Balzan and Balzan gives it to him. Be smart and know the handling on that Ferrari is not working. They've lost their antilock braking system. Unless there is a Full Course Yellow they cannot fix it. Ulysse de Pauw now leads Daniel Morad to the tune of 13 and a half seconds. Morad is unleashed and he will run down Ulysse de Pauw for sure.
The #34 Ferrari is really twitchy under braking. That is a massive adjustment. Maybe the ABS is totally off, or, it is inconsistent. The GT3 cars are designed to be used with antilock brakes. Use it while you have max downforce. As the speed bleeds off, the grip and the speed affect the ABS and you maintain the braking pressure but now he has to release the brake on his own into the turn. Balzan is being monstered now by the Lamborghini of Marco Mapelli. Two Italians going for it as we are ah hour and a half into the race. Michele Beretta takes third spot away from Balzan.
Ulysse de Pauw loses a second to this scrap. Daniel Morad is now a second quicker than De Pauw. Two Silver rated drivers pushing hard for the overall lead here at Indianapolis. Nick Wittmer, meanwhile is the sole Silver rated car in the field and they are making a statement, running ahead of Russell Ward in the #33 Winward Racing Mercedes. Nick Wittmer's dad, his grandfather, and his brothers, the whole family are race car drivers. The ace up their sleeve at ST Racing is Harry Gottsacker. He is comfortable having raced at Dubai and Spa in 24 hour races for Creventic and SRO. The BMW M4 GT3 has a yoke to steer the car. The wheel developed by Fanatec for sim racing, can be plugged into a BMW M4 GT3. Unreal!
There have been eSports races here at Indy and in other races. Nick Wittmer's brother Kuno Wittmer has a presence in IMSA and he raced with the great Tommy Kendall. Gosh. We are all getting old here. Sim racing is amazing. The only thing you can't do is hurt yourself except for relationships. So many drivers use sim racing for real driving practice or just for fun and now, Nick Wittmer passes Alessandro Balzan and poor old Balzan is slowing in the lap times department with the ABS woes. Maybe the ECU is not working, and they could reset it. In half an hour we ought to see more pit work. Ample track time but the brake issues crop up in hour one of the race.
Ulysse de Pauw still is harried by Daniel Morad. Only one yard of bricks remain from a track that was fully paved in bricks whe IMS opened in 1909. The Indianapolis 8 Hours is the first professional sports car race to be run here. Elia Erhart moving to the inside of George Kurtz. Riley Motorsports Mercedes vs. Wright Motorsports Porsche. George Kurtz's Mercedes AMG GT3 might be an evil handling motorcar at this point in the race. He did clinch the title in GT America last time out at Sebring. Kurtz's confidence has indeed been boosted moving to Riley Motorsports. Davide Rigon, seventh in Pro and ninth overall. Dominik Baumann, the Austrian, now at the controls of the #75 SunEnergy1 Merrcedes AMG GT3. Baumann has also run GT3 for the Vasser Sullivan Lexus team in IMSA.
Davide Rigon has now taken over from Pierre Ragues and is moving into the top ten in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari. Harry Gottsacker is next into the #38 Samantha Tan Racing BMW M4 GT3. Gottsacker giving much credit to his teammate and wants to be fast and do the job at hand here at IMS. Gottsacker says there are many slower corners that require patience but he loves The Brickyard. Gottsacker from Alamo Heights, Texas, and grew up karting with Patricio O'Ward, the IndyCar driver. The BMW is very tail happy! For Nick Wittmer, those tires are getting a tad squirmy!
His grandfather is a five-time Canadian rallying champion. STR38 focusing on customer racing while ST Racing is focusing on team boss Samantha Tan and her career endeavors. A battle overall between Russell Ward and Robby Foley. Mercedes vs. BMW. Robby Foley continues chasing Russell Ward and has given much help to Michael Dinan, his co-driver. The pace has been unreal. Many cars might be about to go a lap down. You cannot afford to lose a lap. No wave arounds in different classes and if you are split from the rest of the divison, you are on an island and climbing a mountain, rolling a boulder up a hill like Sisyphus.
Foley compromises turn 12 exit to get a better run through the final turn. A couple America drivers going at it hammer and tongs as Ulysse de Pauw leads by 11.7 seconds over Daniel Morad, Michele Beretta, Nick Wittmer, and more. Team boss Will Turner, he says about Robby Foley, he is not phased getting on the radio asking him how the car is. Jay O'Connell, the engineer, in communication with his driver. They don't have to make a pass but I think he has done so already. Thw BMW M4 GT3 is performing well at IMS. They seem to have a top speed advantage and a braking advantage. The last hour will be a big deal.
Brakes are always a strong point for BMW sports cars. It changes with configuration of the car. Braking ability is about downforce just the same. Jarett Andretti makes a move on the GMG Porsche and one of the other Ferrari's. John Andretti, Jarett's late dad, he won the Rolex 24 in a Porsche 962 with Derek Bell and more, many moons ago. Andretti Autosport and Jarett Andretti won LMP3 at Petit Le Mans last weekend. Now then, Dominik Baumann was way off the road and allows for a move. Excuse me. That was Ward who spun. Trouble for one of the Zelus cars.
Ward went right off the road in front of Baumann in turn one! That was close. Seth Lucas also had a moment aboard the #88 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini, having also run LMP3 and GT4 cars. He is stunned by the power, downforce, and braking in a GT3 car. Seth Lucas will be in the final GT America event tomorrow. I believe it is the only Supra in GT America but there are many in GT4 America. Rigon passes Baumann and Russell Ward runs wide allowing Davide Rigon to slice past. Ward has Baumann all over him. This is a massive battle we are watching. Ward peels off to the pit lane.
He has been struggling in the stint. Ward handed a warning for unsafe reentry by the stewards. He had to be screaming on the radio, "get me out of here!" One rattle gun for all wheels. Fuel should take longer, and the car is down off the air jacks. A 92 second pit lane delta for fuel. Is is Philip Ellis or Jules Gounon in the car now? Ashton Harrison now being harried and may go a lap down to Ulysse De Pauw. This might get spicy. Wright Motorsports eighth in class and 19th overall, not having a good race so far. Philip Ellis is now in the #33 Winward Mercedes and Ward just completed a double stint. Harrison does not want to go a lap down if a yellow waves because she would be split from everyone else in Pro-Am. Harrison in 11th overall soon to be lapped by Ulysse de Pauw and almost slams the door on the Belgian.
Only ten cars now remain on the lead lap in the motor race of the 25 starters. Morad 12 seconds down on the leader as Ellis is motoring in the pole winning car.
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