Derani leads by a second and a half. Pay attention to Tom Blomqvist's lap times with a new nose. What can he do compared to the #10 Acura and Ricky Taylor? The #60 is the better handling Acura this weekend as Tom Blomqvist said it was very hard to handle at Mosport Park. Wow! Big off for the Ferrari through turn 12 into the dust! That was Luis Perez Companic. For the overall lead, Pipo Derani sbeing hounded by Earl Bamber. Bamber right on Derani's six. Action Express vs. Ganassi Racing. Derani is hungry. The championship for AXR in 2021 was wonderful. But now, Action Express really wants to win. Felipe Nasr taught Pipo Derani how to look at the big picture. Winning a title is learning how to get consistent top fives or whatever.
Dorsey Schroeder always says you win if you have a car finishing third or second that is capable there. Tire requirements penalty for the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3. They will have to serve another drive through penalty. Derani in traffic and being reeled in by Bamber. Yikes! Dirty windscreens, dilated eyes in the bright sunlight. It is madness as you are blinded through turn five. The race has now settled down and everyone is on pace. The last two hours are the money hours with the driver who's adjusted his eyes to the darkness. Class leader, Josh Burdon, passed in LMP3. He is leading the class being passed by the leaders. Bamber slowed up before the corner to get the run through the apex past the Corvette C8.R. Derani keeping ahead. Bamber had to check up.
Jesse Krohn leading GTD Pro in the #25 BMW M4 GT3. We are coming to the end of an era in Daytona Prototype International as we get set for GTP next year which will be amazing. The old Daytona Prototypes were very cost effective and many people thought it was nuts to go to a sleeker and more sophisticated car, and now to the GTP car which can run worldwide. GTP or LMDh it won't matter. This is going to be a new renaissance of sports car racing in the next decade. DPi debuted at the 2017 Rolex 24. 59 races. 27 wins for Cadillac, 16 for Acura, seven for Mazda, and four for Nissan. It has been ana amazing generation of racing. But Grand Touring Prototype will be absolutely unbelievable.
They will ramp their way into the hybrid deal easing their way into it with new technology. They have the new cars on display here for testing tomorrow and so forth. Bamber now 1.8 seconds down on Derani. The sun going down will bring major changes. The closeness of the battle is also in LMP3. Burdon, Siegel, and Pino, the top three. Jack Hawksworth ahead in the GTD Pro Lexus #14. Nolan Siegel is pushing hard. Here are the LMP3 points for the title. Right now Colin Braun and Jon Bennett lead the class on 1,992 points with Garrett Grist and Ari Balogh only 50 points behind and Gar Robinson 64 markers out.
Nolan Siegel was spectacular yesterday in the Prototype Challenge race. 17 years old with experience in open wheel cars. Prototype Challenge races the exact same car as is used in LMP3. Porsche Carrera Cup, Prototype Challenge, Michelin Pilot Challenge, the ultimate goal is the top of the game, this, the WeatherTech Championship. Nolan Siegel into the pits. Pipo Derani's lead margin has now grown back to 2.4 seconds over Earl Bamber. Bamber is closing up a wee bit on Derani. Taylor and Blomqvist are third and fourth, 21 and 37 seconds back respectively.
Pipo Derani avoids more traffic with a scheduled pit stop. Earl Bamber now takes the race lead. There's a driver change at Action Express. The countdown is on as we join Leigh Diffey, Calvin Fish, and Townsend Bell and now the #32 Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 stops and starts again. Just a tick over three and a half hours to go. Only five cars out of the race. 38 of thr 43 starters still running and the nighttime will be very busy. We will lose ambient and track temperature fine tuning the car for the final hour or two. Another deal with the car shutting all the way down on the Mercedes. One of the GT Daytona championship contenders.
Earl Bamber to the lane from the race lead in the #02 Ganassi Racing Cadillac and he will hand the car over to Alex Lynn. Olivier Pla now in the #31 Cadillac a lap down to the leaders. Kamui Kobayashi next up in the #48 Ally Cadillac also a lap down. The #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac is now retired with Loic Duval, Tristan Vautier, and Richard Westbrook. Game over. More woes for Dirk Mueller. They are having electrical troubles and to pull to the side and power cycle the car. They will have to pit and put Stevan McAleer in the car. Mueller was here in 1999 in GT with Cort Wagner for Alex Job Racing.
McAleer and Skeen got split because Mike Skeen got the virus and had to sit out a few races. But the tech issues are now being resolved checking the passenger side floorboard on the car that houses the electronics. Bill Auberlen in the lane, in his 17th Petit Le Mans. He is doing another stint and getting fuel and tires in the BMW M4 GT3, the #96 for Turner Motorsports. Some argy bargy there between Daniel Serra in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari and the #66 Mario Farnbacher driven Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3. They too have had electrical issues today. They had carbon rubbing on the wiring loom.
Dirk Mueller is bummed about this electrical issue on the #32 Mercedes AMG GT3. For safety reasons the car shut itself off. No fix for the electrical issues on the Mercedes especially in the darkness which will appear in the next hour or so. Mario Farnbacher is leading GT Daytona, and he is 28 seconds ahead of Jordan Pepper. Daniel Serra is not letting Mario Farnbacher by. Farnbacher to the pit lane. That was getting too feisty and too spicy. Pit stop time now for the #10 Acura ARX-05. Ricky Taylor at the controls. Blomqvist, Lynn, Taylor, Pla, the top four. Let's take a look at the other classes quickly.
In LMP2 it is Rui Andrade leading Josh Pierson, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Anders Fjordbach. LMP3 has Josh Burdon leading Nolan Siegel, Joao Barbosa, and Josh Sarchet. Jack Hawksworth for Lexus leads Nicky Catsburg's Corvette C8.R, Matthieu Jaminet for Porsche and Daniel Serra for Ferrari in GTD Pro. In GTD it is Jordan Pepper for McLaren over Bill Auberlen, Madison Snow, and Kyffin Simpson. McLaren, BMW, BMW, Acura. Helio Castroneves is set for a stint aboard the #60 MSR Acura. He will take over from Tom Blomqvist.
Blomqvist to the pit lane to hand off to Castroneves. The goal is to fight for the title with the #10 car. Michelin tires and VP Racing fuel in the tank. Castroneves is dealing with seatbelts, the radio, the cool suit, and the drink bottle. On cold tires, on a track where the sun is setting. Olivier Pla has passed to third in the #31 Cadillac. Lynn, Taylor, Pla, Castroneves, Dixon, the top five in DPi. 54 points now the margin in points between Taylor and Albuquerque over Jarvis and Blomqvist. 3,416 points total for the #10 car right now.
Taylor lifting and coasting through the turns so he can be on full throttle through traffic on the straightaways. In another five minutes we will begin seeing even more shadows before it gets dark. The other Action Express Cadillac, the #48 of Jimmie Johnson, he is sixth overall and a lap down. Sixth and last in class with the retirement of the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac, the Mustang Sampling car. Traffic ever present, as Jimmie Johnson is still sixth seeing Helio Castroneves in his mirrors. They raced against each other in IndyCar this year.
It is a Saturday night sports car party. It will be dry and clear this evening. Enjoy it. Just over three hours to go as we are into the most exciting phase of the race. We saw earlier in the highlights, a massive accident between the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi and the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 in GTD. Loic Duval and Aaron Telitz. Ouch! Now, it is night time and it is time to throw caution to the wind. Full commitment. Throw caution to the wind. The DPi cars are in their final race ever before the cars are headed to the museum.
Right now, Taylor and Albuquerque are 54 points ahead of Blomqvist and Jarvis. In GT Daytona, Jordan Pepper leads the race and in the Michelin Endurance Cup. The #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin leads the points. Ian James. Roman De Angelis, and Maxime Martin, 33 points ahead of the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R of Zacharie Robichon, Ryan Hardwick, and Jan Heylen. The Heart of Racing are trying to garner the best female drivers around and give them an opportunity to do a full season of racing in GT4 in Michelin Pilot Challenge or elsewhere much like the Roush gong show. Big accident! Yellow! Rob Ferriol, Katherine Legge, and Nick Boulle.
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