Russell Ward started #33 and the word from the Winward pit is Russell's dad Bryce Ward says the car was difficult to drive. Ward needs a rest. He is knackered and probably upset. Craft Bamboo in the lane for service, waiting on fuel. Did they make a driver change? If so, will it be Raffaele Marciello or Daniel Juncadella? Balzan drops a place to Davide Rigon who has applied the rocket booster and is really racing ahead. Alessandro Balzan's pace is dropping even more having been passed by Baumann. Balzan must be going nuts with the ABS issues. During the second stint, it has been a real bear. Tristan Vautier continuing to have trouble after the splitter damage in the #6 US Racetronics Mercedes AMG GT3. SunEnergy1 are the top Pro-Am team right now. Habul has a front running team in a worldwide championship, and he won overall at the Bathurst 12 Hours earlier this summer.
Habul also ran with Dominik Baumann at the 24 Hours of Spa. Habul might clinch the Pro-Am title. To the lane now for Conquest. Balzan out of the car and so it will be either Daniel Mancinelli or Cedric Sbirrazuoli in the car. I would think it is Mancinelli. We shall see. Ulysse De Pauw continuing to lead the motor race running late into the pit cycle after starting in 18th spot on the grid. It is still Daniel Morad in the #77 Theodore Racing liveried Craft Bamboo Racing Mercedes AMG GT3. Pit stop time for the #218 Andretti Autosport Ferrari. Jarett Andretti runs a single stint and it should be Ryan Briscoe getting into the car. A maximum continuous stint time is three hours. After a double stint, you have to rest for one hour.
At Conquest Racing, Alessandro Balzan says that he is very sad for the team as the ABS is not working. They are losing their competitive edge. Balzan drove a GTE spec 488 Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and a GTE spec Ferrari in World Endurance Championship trim does not have ABS. They were hoping so much for a Full Course Yellow. They have a speed sensor issue which is why the ABS is not working. Cedric Sbirrazuoli will have to brake 100 feet earlier than normal. Same for Daniel Mancinelli. Conquest have a long race ahead. Pit stops cycling as we cross over to hour three. Nick Wittmer has gotten up to third place.
He started tenth. Samantha Tan or Harry Gotrsacker will get in. K-PAX Lambo #3 in the lane and have been in recovery mode. There is a wheel speed sensor problem on the #34 Ferrari, and they can't read the speed. There is too much bias on the front brakes. Dial the knob back towards more brake bias in the rear. It is really frustrating with five hours and 49 minutes of the race still to go. The Lamborghini's are still struggling. This race will end at night. Tracl temperatures might cool down as opposed to ambient temps and we will see the final half hour in the darkness. The track changes, the car changes. That is how endurance racing works. It is a pleasure to have your company as we join Ryan Myrehn, Calvin Fish, Bob Varsha, and Amanada Busick on the broadcast.
Antonio "Speedy" Fuoco is now at the wheel of the #71 Ferrari for AF Corse and Daniel Morad is chasing. Fuoco was a great open wheel driver, and he has become a Ferrari factory GT3 driver, runner-up in GTWC Europe Endurance Cup. Again, we will have that Barcelona race for you soon. Working on it. Fuoco also raced at the 12 Hours of Sebring back in March and now Davide Rigon too, a fellow Ferrari driver and Italian is pushing. John Edwards now at the wheel in the #96 BMW M4 GT3 for a different team in IMSA but is now adapting too to the Pirelli tires. He is chasing Davide Rigon down. We have seen Edwards run very well in IMSA in GT Daytona Pro in an identical BMW M4 GT3.
Phil Ellis vs. Davide Rigon vs. John Edwards. He has the consistency. Edwards' racecraft gives him the ability to feel where other cars are. Edwards picked up sponsorship from Red Bull to do karting and open wheel racing at 14, 15 years old living in Italy. He was willing to make that work to be a pro driver and now he is a factory BMW driver, a palladin, a hired gun. John Edwards won overall titles in Star Mazda and Atlantic open wheel racing but fell through the net in open wheel racing and has landed in sports cars. Joey Hand was going over to Europe to run DTM and now, Edwards is indeed a top American driver for BMW in GT3. DTM of course also now uses GT3 machnes so ths must have been in the Class 1 touring car days.
George Kurtz was very frustrated with his stint handing over the Mercedes to Ben Keating. There's tire pickup all over the Mercedes just would not turn. The start was frustrating as well after he went off the road avoiding Charlie Luck. Plenty of racing time left and anything can happen. The Crowdstrike team won Pro-Am at Indianapolis two years ago. Kurtz is a champion in GT4 and now in GT3 as well in the GT America series. Edwards wants to pass but has to back out of it trying to pass Klaus Bachler in the GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3R #32 sharing with James Sofronas and Kyle Washington. Edwards chasing Molina. Jan Heylen meanwhile is in the lane at Wright Motorsports.
This is an unscheduled pit stop and they might go a lap down. Something is wrong, with mechanics going to the right side of the car, the electronics playing up aboard the Pro-Am ppoints leading Porsche. Charlie Luck and Jan Heylen won titles ij SRO last year as son-in-law and father-in-law. Antonio Fuoco leads Daniel Morad by 20 seconds with Michele Beretta, Phil Ellis, Miguel Molina, and John Edwards. Power steering trouble for the #45 cars. You still have to nurse these cars in endurance races.
Years ago race cars were a lot more fragile than they are today. Nobody really drops out of races anymore because the cars are so good and so reliable, but there is a level of unpredictability. Fuoco, Morad, Beretta, the top three and now we see Harry Gottsacker being challenged by Philip Ellis and the #33 Winward Racing Mercedes is coming back to life, back into it's own. 20 pounds minimum tire pressure in the Pirelli P Zero tires. Use some of the banking. Indianapolis is only banked at nine degrees. Philip Ellis has passed Harry Gottsacker and here comes Miguel Molina, the Spaniard, and the Texan gains back a place over the Spaniard, Molina a Ferrari factory driver.
Molina says, no you don't, and Gottsacker passes. We have been caution free so far with two and a half hours on the board. The leading AF Corse Ferrari has dug it's way out of a hole when they began the race in 18th and now, Antonio Fuoco has 20 seconds in hand ahead of Daniel Morad. Game over for the #6 US Racetronics Mercedes AMG GT3. Loris Spinelli in tears. The incident with the #91 Lamborghini took them out of qualifying. Heartbreak for the heartbreak kids. US Racetronics will regroup and come back in 2023.
Trouble too for the #39 Stephen Cameron Racing Mercedes AMG GT3. Is their oil spilling out the back? We will have to see. Power steering trouble for Wright Motorsports. Shane Lewis, Guy Cosmo, and Chris Cagnazzi in trouble. Jan Heylen, championship leader in Pro-Am might be back in the race but he is shown in the lane. Maybe they went behind the wall which would be another big issue. Harry Gottsacker still being harried (no pun intended), by Miguel Molina and by John Edeards. Good battle between RealTime Racing and Racer's Edge. Erin Vogel chasing Christina Nielsen. Nielsen has had a quiet season and she filled in at Iron Dames in FIA WEC at Spa Francorchamps as one of their drivers had the virus.
Five female drivers. Erin Vogler, Taylor Hagler, Ashton Harrison, Christina Nielsen, and Samantha Tan. Now then, John Edwards has passed both Miguel Molina and Harry Gottsacker, both. Edwards to fifth in the Pro class. Turner Motorsports could find a podium place if all goes well. The BMW is showing to be very strong on the straightaway. Molina to the inside of Edwards as Vogel is a pick and Nielsen passes Vogel. Erin Vogel, she is caught out in traffic. Watch out for the tire pickup. Molina and Edwards side by side. Here comes Molina before the final turn. This will be a humdinger into turn one! Molina tries it but the top end is fearsome in that 3 liter twin turbo V6 in that BMW. V6 power in the BMW and the Acura. V8 power in the Ferrari.
Harry Gottsacker too will want a bite of the cherry as the curbs at Indianapolis are very flat and usable. This is a different layout at 2.44 miles and 14 corners. At turn ten in previous years cars shortcutted the turn and this year there is a tire bundle at the apex of the turn. Fuoco eking out a gap on Morad. He sets the Crowdstrike fastest lap at 1:22.9. The transition from the road course to the banking is very treacherous as now, Molina is stuck behind the #94 Bimmerworld BMW M4 GT3, now in the hands of Chandler Hull. SunEnergy1 are not eligible for points in GTWC America. They are invisible for points. BMW's cojtinue to hold top speeds as Edwards goes through the traps at 169 miles an hour.
Beretta drops a wheel in the corner and now, Phil Ellis smellls blood in the water. Ellis was knocked out of a podium position at Petit Le Mans last weekend. Ellis tries but Beretta hangs on by his fingernails. Ellis to the inside again and he can't quite make the pass! So close and yet so far. Ellis losing time down the front straightaway. He was closer last time by compared to the Lamborghini. 117 laps, 285 miles. Michele Beretta has won titles in the European Le Mans Series and in International GT Open for Vincenzo Sospiri Racing. Vincenzo Sospiri a former Indy 500 starter. Contact between Beretta and Ellis! The K-PAX Lambo is wounded! Well, well, well. Another car off the road and that is Erin Vogel in the #43 RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3.
Ryan Eversley was supposed to be here to do strategy but could not make it and so, Spencer Pumpelly, another veteran driver is now on strategy. Vogel got tipped by the #3 K-PAX Lambo currently in the hands of Jordan Pepper. In replay, Elllis to the inside, Brettta does not give it up and washes out in the apex of the turn. That was a racing deal. We are getting very close to completing the third hour of the race, and so after the next hour we will be at halfway. Early pit callers as Chandler Hull pits and trouble now for the #04 Riley Motorsports/Crowdstrike Mercedes AMG GT3 of Ben Keating! That car is back in Gasoline Alley! Oh my! Racer's Edge could indeed be in the pound seats as Wright Motorsports are back on track but down the order.
Jan Heylen is 17 laps down to the leader and 15 down to the #93. K-PAX have right hand side damage on the Lamborghini as there is vulnerable bodywork on the side of the car. Incident between Jordan Pepper and Erin Vogel, #3 and #43 under review by the stewards and the same could be so for Jordan Pepper in #3 and Phil Ellis I believe in the #33 Winward Mercedes. Pit stops wll be coming up very soon. The pace of the race has been relentless and we have seen zero Full Course Yellows and only nine cars on the lead lap.
Fuoco leads Morad by 28 seconds. Dani Juncadella will be next into the #77 Craft Bamboo Racing Mercedes. Ambient temperature at 55 degrees. With the aero on a GT3 car with the sun warming, there will be heat in the cockpits especially for the front engine cars. All the heat radiates through the car. A spin, look, for Jeff Burton and gets back on track. He spins right in front of Michele Beretta. The car is a way down the order. Burton seventh in Pro-Am. He has speed but needs to make fewer mistakes. Jan Heylen at Wright Motorsports is back on track.
Not good news for Wright Motrsports or Riley Motorsports. Racer's Edge might just be in the pound seats though. Miguel Molina is catching Michele Beretta hand over fist. Of the top four cars, three started at the back of the grid. Both AF Corse cars, Craft Bamboo, they were all at the back and Winward was at the front of course. Jules Gounon is in good shape and so is Philip Ellis. We have not heard from the stewards about the Ellis and Beretta shemozzle. Morad to the lane for service. Great job by the Canadian driver. He is done driving and Daniel Juncadella will do a double stint.
No comments:
Post a Comment