Raffaele Marciello should take the #77 Craft Bamboo Mercedes to the finish. Beretta might just pop to the inside under braking and does so. Clean racing. Molina passes Beretta. Ferrari and Lamborghini have been the strongest brands. Actually, Ferrari and Mercedes are the ones to really go for it as Philip Ellis hits pit lane and should hand over to new track record holder, Jules Gounon. Ellis did a single stint and Gounon might also do a single and then Ellis and Gounon both double stint to the end. Daniel Juncadella pushing like mad to gain ground. Fuoco and Molina running long. That is the strategy at AF Corse.
This race will be half over at the end of this hour. A bit more attrition than we thought there would be. The story in Pro-Am is turned on it's head before the halfway mark in the motor race. Martin Konrad is the top placed Pro-Am car, the SunEnergy1 Mercedes that won the Bathurst 12 Hours in May. Kenny Habul, Dominik Baumann, and Martin Konrad. Martin Konrad, son of Franz Konrad who fielded sports cars in a distinctive aqua paint scheme for a number of years. Gounon down a lap and K-PAX must still make their pit stop for Michele Beretta, fighting for track position.
John Edwards coming in a hurry. Cedric Sbirrazuoli stays in the #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari with the wheel speed sensor issue, the Monegasque is now in the car. The #39 Steven Cameron Racing Mercedes is still in the lane being fixed. 1:22.982, the fastest lap for Antonio Fuoco less than a second off the track record! Oh man! No wonder Fuoco is nicknamed "Speedy". Fuoco had new co-drivers in the Barcelona GTWC Europe endurance finale. I can't say much because I am still working on that race so stay tuned for that coming up soon.
Racer's Edge in the lane, the #93 Acura. We are seeing a driver change. They are running knowing if they stay clean, they can claim the Pro-Am title with trouble for Riley Motorsports and Wright Motorsports. Fuoco picking them up and setting them down. He has to pit on this sequence, lapping past fourth place Pro-Am runner Justin Wetherill in the #13 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari. Seth Lucas, 16 years old, driving in his first GT3 race in the #88 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3. As a teenager Wetherill started his own computrer repair business called You Break It, We Fix It, as a teenager.
He has made a good living from that business and is a Ferrari afficionado as Erin Vogel hits the pit lane. She had an incident that was under review, and we have not heard about it. We have not seen drive through penlaties recently either. We'll have to see. Ashton Harrison now at the wheel of the #93 Racer's Edge Acura as Alessio Rovera, the Italian, is now in the #23 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari in the Am class. Rovera won in class at Spa along with Louis Machiels, Stefano Cnstantini, and Andrea Bertolini. Still damage on the #1 K-PAX Lamborghini. John Edwards is now doing all he can to try and catch Michele Beretta.
Edwards to the pit lane. K-PAX with Jordan Pepper now ninth overall as Martin Konrad pits from the Pro-Am lead, handing over to Kenny Habul who ran NASCAR and then he went to sports car racing. Habul has been a championship winner. Kenny Habul has a house overlooking Conrod straight at Bathurst, at Mount Panorama. The Bathurst 1,000 is this evening in fact. There are great venues in the IGTC. Bathurst, Spa, Indianapolis, Kyalami in South Africa, now the Gulf 12 Hours. The Kyalami 9 Hours was mixed into this year's schedule.
Gounon is going for his fourth IGTC win here at IMS as Antonio Fuoco is in. A driver change underway at AF Corse. Could it be Danel Serra or Ulysse De Pauw. Trouble with the rattle gun on the right rear tire! Don't hurry and don't cross thread the wheel nut. Miguel Molina is now in the lane in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari. Daniel Juncadella is back. The AF Corse team is Amato Ferrari, no relation to the car company they race with. Ulysse de Pauw in the #51 Ferrari and now, Craft Bamboo and Mercedes go to second and Gounon and Edwards both pushing. Can they leapfrog? Ferrari released. Winward in traffic, for third at tje back of the crocodile and Jules Gounon takes the place.
Pierre Ragues, the Silver rated Frenchman will be pressing John Edwards. Jules Gounon is making his first laps in the motor race. How will Gounon deal with traffic? Klaus Bachler turns the GMG #32 Porsche to Kyle Washington, but they were short on their pit stop time and have to be brought in for a drive through penalty. Daniel Juncadella is now in the #77 Craft Bamboo Mercedes AMG GT3. What do drivers eat in endurance races? Sandwiches and chocolate bars, and a water of course. Dani Juncadella has taken over the #77 Mercedes.
Charlie Luck has now taken over the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche, 14 laps down to their class leader. That is not good. They are back out, but they have a mountain to climb. Ulysse De Pauw now leads Dani Juncadella by 23 seconds. Harry Gottsacker is still in the #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 seventh overall and we have yet osee Samantha Tan take her stint behind the wheel. Samantha Tan will be into the car soon. She might be a tad nervous before driving but gets down to business behind the wheel and begins to push. She is proud of Nick and Harry, her co-drivers. Keep going. That's what they will be doing. Samantha Tan is from Ontario and started in Canadian Touring Car Championship racing.
She won the 24 Hour Series GT4 championship a year or so ago. Daniel Morad and Daniel Juncadella have been the most consistent drivers in terms of lap times in the 1:23 range. The #71 Ferrari has a healthy lead but battles from third on down are tightening up. The #04 Kurtz/Braun/Keating Crowdstrike Mercedes is back on track and they are 30+ laps down. They will have go into damage limitation mode and the team is pushing the car back up the pit lane, leading by a single point over the #93 Racer's Edge Acura.
How will the #45 Porsche recover? Radiator damage for the #04 car of Ben Keating as Kenny Habul has been incredibly fast and he is indeed a wheel man. Bimmerworld could be in line for a class win at the end of the race and Triarsi Competizione are right behind. Richard Heistand being harried by Alessio Rovera. In the Am class, Jason Daskalos is leading over Scott Smithson in the Am class as Jules Gounon is trying to make a pass. Smithson second in Am sharing with David Askew and Valentin Pierburg. Edwards turning in late, setting up on the front straight.
He has the pace and goes by the #3 K-PAX Lamborghini and in #1, Andrea Caldarelli wants to pass but has to bail out into turn one or all the traffic would have been in a wad. Your competitors will not see you in their blind spot. Next time by 150 laps completed, 366 miles as Caldarelli passes Pierre Ragues by. Caldarelli goes a lap down and now we see contact between De Pauw and Ragues at AF Corse!. De Pauw will get penalized in that shemozzle! Juncadella will catch and pass. Ulysse de Pauw just won a Sprint Cup title in SRO Europe. Incident under review between #51 and #71. #71 may lose track position and then go on full attack mode.
No real damage evident. Caldarelli to the inside, no place to go, and De Pauw has a head of steam. Caldarelli has to cut across the grass and the Ferrari team will have a major ice cream headache after that one. The race is flying by and the pace is relentless. I want a break but just cannot take one right now. I need a bite to eat as many of these drivers do. The graining of the tires is what is being picked up, carved off the tire by the abrasiveness of the speedway. Graining is when the tire rips itself apart and then there are shavings like a cheese grater from the pavement. It is like rolling a snowball when you are a kid playing in the wintertime, building a snowman.
Drive through penalty for AF Corse. There is nothing that can be done and the American rules are different where the blue flags are not as common. Here comnes Ulysse De Pauw to serve his penalty. Pierre Ragues could have seen his teammates eyes wondering, what did you do to me?! Meantime, Daniel Juncadella moves to second. He is running now behind Taylor Hagler. Car #04 is back out but not up to full speed and now Daniel Juncadella has taken the lead of the mtor race and Ulysse De Pauw is now in second place. Mercedes back to the top of the shop. Mercedes can score the manufacturer's cup since Audi are not entered with any cars here at Indianapolis of course.
Raffaele Marciello expects to win this race, and the conditions will change but they are in the game. He thinks the Ferrari contact is "not so clever". It is dark at night and not easy here at Indianapolis to race into the darkness in the final stanza of this motor race. We shall see if Marciello gets the call to drive in the dark. Rumors were Raffaele Marciello was to go race for someone else but he says he shall stay with Mercedes for te foreseeable future. Marciello is still young and has a long career ahead so he will stay put. Like the band Tower of Power sang in one of their songs "you're still a young man, don't waste your time."
Ulysse de Pauw has served his drive through and is now 21+ seconds behind Dani Juncadella. The Pros can time their drives past traffic. Cars running 77-78 miles an hour into turn six. Edeards and Fuoco fastest with identical speeds. Jules Gounon in third is the fastest man on the road cutting a 1:23.9 while no one else is running underneath the 1:24 bracket. More cars are getting back on the lead lap. Edwards, Caldarelli, Gottsacker. Winward are praying for a Full Course Yellow, and we have not seen one yet. Gounon has driven with a lot of different brands but is a racer first and foremost.
160 laps complete. 390 miles. John Edwards has indeed passed Andrea Caldarelli. The two Ferrari's escaped sans damage. But the AF Corse team have perhaps blotted their copybook. Oh dear. Wright Motorsports still in the basement as Charlie Lucks spins after getting tipped by Misha Goikhberg and the leader has to take evasive action! Yikes! Caldarelli and Edwards still battling and #3 cops a penalty does Misha Goikhberg. Game over for Stephen Cameron Racing with a broken oil pan hitting the curs in turns five and six. Game over for Chris Cagnazzi, Shane Lewis, and Guy Cosmo. Edwards being reeled in by Caldarelli hand over fist.
BMW are just not finding the speed edge at Indianapolis today as Alessio Rovera just punched in a 1:20.484, half a second quicker than average lap time. Rovera is also a speedster. He is also a Le Mans winner and a FIA World Endurance champion. To the pit lane, Chandler Hull stepping out of the #94 Bimmerworld BMW M4 GT3. Maybe it is still Richard Heistand. We are coming to the end of another race hour. Closing in on halfway and we have not seen a single safety car. Pretty incredible. I think a lot can be said about conditions and no GT4 cars eligible for the race as well. Justin Wetherill hits the pit lane and it is Chandler Hull now at the controls of the #94 Bimmerworld BMW M4 GT3.
Everyone mixed up. Rovera passing Askew who is second in Am behind Jason Daskalos. More pit stops and driver changes as Daniel Juncadella is in the lead passing the repaired and delayed Riley Motorsports Mercedes.
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