Action Express are beginning to charge as the #31 Whelen Cadillac is slicing and dicing through the GTD Pro traffic right now. Ditto for Meyer Shank Racing as they are vying for the championship. So, outgoing champions vs. possible incoming champions. It has been a tough road for my pals at AXR this year and we are hoping to upset the apple cart later in this race. This new era of sports car racing with hybrid engines and 700 horsepower on tap from Cadillac, Porsche, BMW, and Acura, it is going to be madness. It is on this global level as well. We are going to see some amazing things. Porsche, BMW, Acura, Cadillac. The Acura ARX-06, Porsche 963, BMW M LMDh, and Cadillac GTP-V.R. We will see Lamborghini and McLaren coming.
Drive through penalty for jumping the restart for the #32 Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes! Ouch! In the meantime, Helio Castroneves will assist the #60 team to a championship run. Castroneves, the four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, is part of the fabric of the program in IndyCar and in sports cars. He has to compromise. They have been changing seats on the car. Helio Castroneves knows they have to be on top of this. He feels that his time in IMSA helped with his fourth Indianapolis 500 win in 2021. Ben Keating now under siege from Henrik Hedman and John Farano in LMP2! Farano leads the title chase over the #18 Era Motorsports car that is sixth after starting from the lane. Farano and company are ahead by 86 points over second and 90 points over third.
Farano could win the Trueman award and that would punch his ticket for an LMP2 drive at the 24 Hours of Le Mans next year. We shall see. Co-driver Rui Pinto Andrade went off the road. That accident for Andrade was missing a turn and dropping a wheel, skating across the gravel trap and kissing the wall. What is the scoop at The Heart of Racing? Roman De Angelis says he had a messy start to the race and is just trying to survive and let the GTD Pro cars by. Survival is the case here. De Angelis now 93 points ahead of Heylen and Hardwick and 98 ahead of McAleer. Some big-name drivers are readying to get into the cars. Brendon Hartley will step into the #10 Konica Minolta Wayne Taylor Racing Acura very soon.
The leaders working their way through traffic. Meyer Shank and both of the Action Express Cadillac's are in this shemozzle among the GT3 cars, look. Jimmie Johnson has a bucket list of races he wants to do. We could see him racing at Le Mans at Hendrick Motorsports with the Garage 56 NASCAR car and Mike Rockenfeller has been driving that car. It will be fascinating to see that car perhaps next year. Jimmie Johnson was in a winged sprint car recently as well. He wants to be a versatile, all -around driver. We could see him in Europe or at the Bathurst 1,000 in Australia too. Trouble and a spin... boom! for Dan Goldburg in the #38 Performance Tech LMP3 car.. He spun the wheels and hence spun the car on hot tires.
LMP3 has traction control through low-speed turns for worn tires or a greasy track. Goldburg sharing with Cameron Shields and Tyler Maxson. Good scrap here for GTD honors between Simon Mann in the Ferrari and Roman De Angelis in the Aston Martin. At the top of the shop, Earl Bamber leads the motor race by 9.2 seconds over Pipo Derani and Tom Blomqvist as Pipo Derani pits the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac. Action Express will not defend their title. But as I said, the team is looking for a race win if they can find it with either of their two cars. They are a tad off sequence as Olivier Pla will get into the car. It sounds like they have had a handling issue on the car and went to reserve fuel. They are now back in the game with Olivier Pla at the controls.
Derani on cold tires and needs to build temperature, being passed by Earl Bamber. Not Derani. Olivier Pla, excuse me. The #62 Ferrari making a move on the #1 BMW M4 G3. Madison Snow vs. James Calado. Felipe Nasr now runs behind Maximilian Buhk. Porsche vs. Mercedes vs. Ferrari vs. Corvette in GTD Pro. Ricky Taylor now sixth and now, the #18 Era Motorsports LMP2 car spins and is trapped in the gravel pit. That is Dwight Merriman at the wheel of it. He is stopped and perhaps buried. Full Course Yellow again. Merriman sharing with Ryan Dalziel and Christian Rasmussen. Fuel for the #48 Ally Cadillac for Action Express and Hendrick Motorsports. It was emergency service on reserve fuel. Crew Chief, Chad Knaus, frustrated and for good reason.
Merriman loses it under braking and did not have contact with the #42 NTE Sport Lamborghini Huracan, Don Yount at the controls. The #18 Era Motorsports car is back underway as the Action Express team is arguing a point with the IMSA officials. We shall see what that is all about. To editorialize briefly, it seems that we have gotten the short end of the stick on some calls before and I hope it is not happening again. I guess we are about to find out. As fair as I must be in these race reports, I am also supporting a team on the grid. The race remains under Full Course Yellow at this time.
Time for DPi pit stops. Everyone is in in DPI, LMP2, and LMP3. The race leading #02 Ganassi Racing Cadillac are in for a driver change as well as fuel and tires. Alex Lynn into the car. Helio Castroneves is now in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura replacing Tom Blomqvist. The #10 and #48 are in. Jimmie Johnson into the car and they will have a drive through penalty for entering a closed pit. In replay, Kamui Kobayashi was committed to the pit lane. You need two tires on that line. Six seconds was the time the yellow had been out. Chad Knaus is really enjoying calling the shots for AXR and the #48.
Meantime, GTD cars are in Paul Miller Racing BMW, Corvette Racing, and more. Jordan Taylor is replacing Antonio Garcia. Garcia has not yet won a Petit Le Mans. All the other GTD Pro and GTD cars have made their stops. A sacrifice to the sway bar change for increased roll stiffness while giving up grip. The weather was uncertain due to Hurricane Ian and thankfully it has turned out great. The fans are loving it. Sebastien Bourdais in the #01 Ganassi Racing Cadillac is now leading the motor race ahead of Helio Casgtroneves. Alex Lynn, Brendon Hartley, Richard Westbrook, Jimmie Johnson, and Olivier Pla complete the DPi runners and riders.
Ben Keating leads Steven Thomas and Sebastian Montoya in LMP2. Now, the #48 Ally Cadillac for Action Express and Hendrick Motorsports is back to the pit lane. Could trouble be brewing for the #48 Ally Cadillac? Porsche Carrera Cup champion Parker Thompson is on the radar of many IMSA WeatherTech Championship teams. In the meantime, driver changes, as Helio Castroneves is now in the #60, Alex Lynn in the #02, Brendon Hartley in the #10. At Vasser Sullivan Racing, the #14 car s still in fifth in GTD Pro. Lexus VP of Marketing Vinay Shihani is really happy about the progress of the team.
The #12 team has also had promising runs and they have had bad luck, but they are getting there and building momentum. We are now ready to race again. Green flag. Sebastien Bourdais now leads this kotor race aead of Helio Castroneves, Alex Lynn, and Brendon Hartley. Richard Westbrook, Jimmie Johnson, and Olivier Pla round out the DPi field. Castroneves is chasing down Bourdais right now. Tom Blomqvist will be testing the Meyer Shank IndyCar at Sebring next week. Bourdais and Castroneves are chasing each other. In GTD Pro, Jordan Taylor leads and now, John Potter has wrecked and so have the #99 Porsche and the #20 High Class Racing LMP2 car of Dennis Andersen has stuffed it into the tires and Rob Ferriol was off in the #99 Hardpoint Porsche 911 GT3R as well.
Potter is beached in the gravel trap. In replay, Potter just went straight, spearing off the road and into Rob Ferriol. Something broke in the steering or the suspension. Trouble early doors with Dennis Andersen and company and the day has gotten even worse. This is a short yellow procedure with the pit lane closed. Dennis Andersen has trundled back to the pit lane and the team will assess and fix the damage. They may have to send the car to the garage. The #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin seems fully beached. Potter is now being rescued, backing down the hill under the car's own steam it seems. Maybe he is just on the starter motor.
Maybe he will get back into the race, sharing the #44 Magnus Racing car with Andy Lally and Spencer Pumpelly. This is the end of the sixth year of the Daytona Prototype International cars before we get to the GTP/LMDh cars next year. 58 races over six years. Brendon Hartley, a three-time Le Mans winner and a former Petit Le Mans winner with Extreme Speed Motorsports in 2017. Every team has no spares to carry forward. Leave it all on track and do whatever it takes to win. That is the case for everybody. Blomqvist and Jarvis now 26 points ahead of Albuquerque and Taylor and 112 points ahead of Bourdais and van der Zande for the title.
Ben Keating, Sebastian Montoya, Steven Thomas, Rui Andrade, Dennis Andersen, and Christian Rasmussen the top five in LMP2. We will update you on the LMP3 standings soon and perhaps the standings in GTD Pro and GTD as well. First, we look forward to an interview with NBC Sports' Matt Yocum and IMSA President, John Doonan. We can tell you that Jarett Andretti and Andretti Autosport lead LMP3 at this moment and we will get to the running order in full soon. John Doonan says that a lot of students are here to try and find careers through IMSA and the STEM program in conjunction with the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency.
More families are here and so the next generation is learning about engineering and design and about motor racing. The new GTP cars are amazing things. Acura, BMW, Cadillac, and Porsche. The styling of these cars is amazing. Lamborghini will be there and the new Ford Mustang GT3 car is coming in 2024 as well. The NASCAR Foundation and the France family have really stepped up to help with the victims of Hurricane Ian. The France Family, the NASCAR Foundation and others have donated $200,000 to the American Red Cross to help. We are praying for you. Very excited for Daytona 2023.
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