Yellow flag. Rob Ferriol has smashed the wall at the exit of turn five at the top of the hill. Ferriol moving around in the car so he should be OK. In replay, let's see. He was loose on corner exit, overcooks it and goes right towards the tire barriers. Thank God the tire barriers were there because you see concrete walls against a pile of dirt. Boom! A very unforgiving angle. Stacked, banded tires really help. Rob Ferriol able to walk away from a massive accident. Sunset at Road Atlanta. The traditional ending point of the season. A sports car endurance race is like a book and has chapters. But closing in on nightfall, this is where things get really interesting.
Pit stop time. Ganassi, Wayne Taylor Racing, Action Express, Meyer Shank Racing. We see the championship contenders in. Action Express wins the race off pit road with Olivier Pla and the #02 loses track position. GT Daytona pit stops and GT Daytona Pro pit stops as well. BMW #25 is in and John Edwards stays in the car. They were in fuel save mode. Vasser Sullivan Lexus, and Ben Barnicoat have a lightning quick stop and they are back on track. They need a boost after Aaron Telitz crashed with Loic Duval's Cadillac.
It was a short fuel fill at Action Express going for the Michelin Endurance Cup points. They will have to pit again for the endurance points. Olivier Pla has the lead. 45 minutes, behind the safety car, #31 has to pit yet fully. When we went to yellow there was more ambient light and now it is dark. Green flag. Olivier Pla stretches his legs over Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves. The track temperature is dropping. Plus the track is still very dirty offline. Amber lights only on the GT Daytona cars as everyone else uses solid white headlamps. Jimmie Johnson is now back on the lead lap in the #48 Ally Action Express Cadillac. Marvin Dienst is currently in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3. Mike Rockenfeller, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jimmie Johnson have quite the chemistry.
Mike Rockenfeller has been doing a lot of testing on the Garage 56 NASCAR racer. We have crossed over the 2 hours and 40 minutes to go mark, a traditional sprint race distance as Olivier Pla leads by a second over Ricky Taylor. Sebastian Priaulx, son of Andy Priaulx MBE, the legend. Sebastian Priaulx only 21 years old, going for the GT Daytona win into the darkness. Like the old song says. The nighttime is the right time to be with the one you love. Well, it is the right time for endurance racing as well. The two Acura's have now cycled back to the lead of the motor race even after the blinding pit work by the Action Express team on the #31 Whelen Cadillac with Olivier Pla at the controls who has now gone down to sixth overall.
A lot has changed since the first Petit Le Mans in 1998. 29 cars started that first race. 18 brands of cars in the series now compared to eight 25 years ago and Michelin tires as well as Motul have become sponsorship partners in this race. IMSA and ACO have undertaken the new effort for the new prototype series we will see next year. Michelin and Porsche are the only brands to have competed in all 25 editions of the Petit Le Mans. Michaelin are located in Greenville, South Carolina, here in the United States. Robby Foley and Madison Snow are battling for BMW honors in GTD right now.
The BMW M4 GT3's are the ones to beat. Madison Snow says the car is very comfortable for a front engine GT car. They are tracking down the Sebastian Priaulx McLaren. Bill Auberlen looking for career win number 66. 25 years at Petit Le Mans and only missed two of them in 2004 and 2008. 19 starts with BMW and three with Panoz. The late, great Don Panoz and former IMSA President Scott Atherton made all this possible. The sports car community owes a lot to Scott Atherton for this series and this event.
So many of the top car brands were put into this series by Scott Atherton. Jim France, Ed Bennett, and more are also a part of this. It has been so wild because of the damage from the hurricane in Florida. A lot of damage at Daytona International Speedway and Sebring International Raceway. Time is of the essence with just over two hours left to go in this motor race. Who is going to win this endurance classic? Who si going to be champion in all of the classes? We are asbout to find out as the race rolls on through the darkness here in The Peach State.
Taylor leads Castroneves. It is mano e mano between the Acura's. Team Penske had Acura for a while of course. The gap is now 44 points between Taylor and Albuquerque and Jarvis and Blomqvist. Just a shade over two hours to go. Ricky Taylor's pace is a problem for the #31 Whelen Cadillac. AXR may be on the back foot. At Vasser Sullivan Lexus, Kyle Kirkwood has finished his stint and they want their first enduro win as we see the #02 Cadillac going off the road and back on. Alex Lynn at the wheel of it. Kyle Kirkwood will be back as the endurance driver at Vasser Sullivan in IMSA in 2023. Jack Hawksworth will finish the race.
Alex Lynn in the pit lane and in replay, he locked up the brakes into turn 10A. Heavy on rear brake bias in the cool of the night. Juan Pablo Montoya hits the floor on the driver change changing over to his son, Sebastian Montoya. Juan Pablo Montoya tripped over a tire. Ouch! He could have twisted an ankle there! Egad! He should be OK. Olivier Pla off and on. Pla went in hot into turn ten. Jeepers creepers! The #48 Ally Cadillac is in the lane as well. Ricky Taylor now leads Sebastien Bourdais by 17 seconds. Rui Andrade, Gabby Chaves, Ben Barnicoat and Sebastian Priaulx are the other class leaders.
Pla in fourth a minute and nine seconds down on the rest of the DPi field. He is having to play catch up. The #8 Tower Motorsports entry and the #01 Ganassi Racing Cadillac are both into the pit lane for what could very well be the final pit stops of the race for them. #60 in as well and there is a driver change from Helio Castroneves over to Oliver Jarvis. Ganassi Racing will beat Meyer Shank Racing off pit lane. The #10 Acura is now in the lane as well.
We look back at Audo's triumphant victories at Petit Le Mans. Allan McNish made a comeback in the tenth anniversary Petit Le Mans in 2008. Olivier Pla has now recovered to second place behind Filipe Albuquerque. Blomqvist and Albuqeque. An incident between Castroneves and Lynn? That's odd. Something that happened earlier, probably. Hmmm. Blomqvist will finish this race in the #60. The GT Daytona cars are now setting up to their final stops. Albuquerque now leads Olivier Pla by 8 some odd seconds and James Calado has had some argy bargy with Antonio Garcia! GTD Pro rivals!
In replay, we can see that Garcia got tagged in the right rear through turn ten. Two into one won't go. How will the stewards call that one? Garcia has still never won a race at Road Atlanta. #60 given a second warning for blocking by the stewards. Is it on Blomqvist? It maybe is on Helio Castroneves. Sixth is the #48 Ally Cadillac for Action Express as Mike Rockenfeller is in the car after Jimmie Johnson has finished his stint. Jimmie Johnson says you are flirting with disaster all the time. He was being left behind by the other DPi entries. You put a lot of trust in other people seeing you.
This is Jimmie Johnson's last race in DPi. He wants to be at the Rolex 24 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
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