Jimmie Johnson wants to be back at the Rolex 24 next year. Maybe he could race in Monster Energy Supercross on a motorcycle in the dirt. Back to the lane, the #31 Whelen Cadillac at Action Express on a very different strategy. Driver change. Olivier Pla has finished. Handing over to either Mike Conway or Pipo Derani. Pit stop time at Corvette Racing as well for the #3. Mike Conway is now in the #31 Whelen Cadillac replacing Olivier Pla for this next stint. Will Conway take it home? Will Pipo Derani be the closer? Conway is down and away. Corvette #3 in the lane for regular service. That I believe is Antonio Garcia at the wheel of it. Action Express now run fifth and sixth with Mike Rockenfeller and Mike Conway in #48 and #31 respectively.
Motul Petit Le Mans, celebrating it's silver anniversary, we are within the final two hours of the motor race as Filipe Albuquerque weaves his way through GT Daytona traffic, passing Kyffin Simpson, the teenager in the Gradient Acura NSX GT3 #66 while the two BMW M4 GT3's have track position. You have to put trust in other driver's hands, to paraphrase something Jimmie Johnson said. Don't make the pass halfhearted. Don't roll speed through the turn necessarily. So, the Robby Foley and Madison Snow scrap is hot and heavy indeed. Filipe Albuquerque now leads Earl Bamber and Renger van der Zande by 15 seconds.
Race Control is looking at the incident we just saw as some hip and shoulder between Robby Foley and Madison Snow with Mike Rockenfeller sending it around the outside in the #48 Ally Cadillac! Wow! Three-wide in the downhill! That was brave, using all of the road! Mike Rockenfeller does not have a deal for 2023 yet since Action Express will have just one GTP Cadillac next year for the beginning of the new class. The Inception Racing McLaren now has just Jordan Pepper and Seb Priaulx because Brendon Iribe is flying to Barcelona for the GT3 race tomorrow in the finale of SRO Europe. Again, we will have that race for you on the blog, in due time. Look for it sometime next week.
Jordan Pepper, the South African, an amazing driver as the #14 Lexus RC F GT3 is in the lane and Ben Barnicoat hands off to Jack Hawksworth for the finish. A yellow would be a bad deal, a nightmare, at this time. Hawksworth tightening the belts, reset the fuel, brake bias, traction control and so many other things. Drink bottle and more. Reset the brake bias. How much do you put into the car? You can't really find how much brake bias is in the car on the telemetry, on the data system. BMW in the lane again. Bill Auberlen wants to go for it. Paul Miller Racing and Turner Motorsports.
Bill Auberlen going for win number 66. The #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin just finished their penultimate pit stop and Roman De Angelis handed the car to Maxime Martin. Smoke from the #1 VMW M4 GT3 either from the bonnet or the brakes. Kyffin Simpson has brought the #66 Gradient Racing Acura int the lane. Mario Farnbacher might be the bloke to take it to the end of the motor race. Mario Farnbacher is a two-time GT Daytona champion in an Acura NSX GT3. Waiting on the fuel in the #23 Heart of Racing Aston of Alex Riberas from Spain, and the British duo of Tom Gamble and Ross Gunn.
The two Ganassi Cadillac's are running liner stern right now. Pit stop time now for the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari as well. Fuel, tires, and a driver change. Petit Le Mans used to be ten hours or 1,000 miles and now it is just a ten hour event. The points situation looks like this. 84 points now separates the #10 of Albuquerque and Taylor from the #60 of Jarvis and Blomqvist. One hour and 43 minutes to go. If either drop or gain, the points will swing in a major fashion. Stay tuned. Watch this space as we keep talking about a wild motor race. In LMP2, John Farano still leads by 80 markers over Juan Montoya and Henrik Hedman and a further 16, for a total of 96 points to the third placed duo of Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel.
Tower Motorsports are looking for the hat trick in LMP2. John Farano, racing at age 62 from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. LMP3 points appear as follows. Colin Braun and Jon Bennett lead the series by 54 markers over Gar Robinson with the third-place duo of Garrett Grist and Ari Balogh just six points behind them, and 60 away from Braun and Bennnett. Gabby Chaves and company at Andretti Autosport lead the motor race in the LMP3 division. Your class leaders right now include Filipe Albuquerque in DPi, Sebastian Montoya in LMP2, Gabby Chaves in LMP3, Matty Campbell in GTD Pro, and Jordan Pepper in GTD.
In GT Daytona points it is a 38-point gap between Roman De Angelis for Heart of Racing Aston Martin and Stevan McAleer for Korthoff Racing Mercedes. Jan Heylen and Ryan Hardwick for Wright Motorsports Porsche, they are 43 points behind and just five away from Mr. McAleer. Pfaff Motorsports with Matthieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell have already clinched the GT Daytona Pro title. Korthoff and company with McAleer driving have had a litany of electrical woes, but they are back up to speed, continuing to dig.
A perfect pit stop at Pfaff Motorsports. The #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW is off the road but has a cut down tire late in the game with just over an hour and a half to go. Contact between the right front of the BMW #1 of Madison Snow and the #13 AWA LMP3 car. That is the Duqueine in the hands of Orey Fidani, the Canadian, Englishman Matt Bell, and Germany's Lars Kern. At Mc;Laren, Sebastian Priaulx just finished his stint. He and Jordan pepper pushing hard after Brendon Iribe had to fly to Barcelona for tomorrow's GT3 Europe race.
The race is so hectic. Seb Priaulx ran the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the summer which was far less hectic. Wayne Taylor Racing are looking for a title after two years of being very close yet so far. The #02 Ganassi Racing Cadillac is in the lane. Ryan Hunter-Reay says the team is waiting to see where they are going to go. It will be tight to the end. Earl Bamber will stay in the car. #02 is back on track and it is great to see Ryan Hunter-Reay back at the track. Hunter-Reay an Indianapolis 500 winner and someone who has run IndyCar and sports cars. He might just have a ride ready to go for the 2023 Indianapolis 500.
The maximum stint is what, 42-43 minutes on fuel? Less than an hour and a half to go and it is still Albuquerque and Blomqvist for Acura, at the top of the shop. Renger van der Zande is now a lap or so down in fourth overall. van der Zande passes the #10 to get back on the lead lap. Is Albuquerque in full on fuel save mode? Acura #10 in the lane for the next to last pit stop. Albuquerque stays in the car. Will Ricky Taylor finish the race? We'll have to wait and see. #60 goes an extra lap. Brendon Hartley has done what he was asked to do and now, Blomqvist is in the lane for service. Will this be their penultimate stop at MSR? Maybe. Scrubbed Michelin tires. Blomqvist will do a triple stint and pack the tank with petrol.
Blomqvist will double stint the fronts and put fresh rear Michelin's on the car? Ah. It is four. Felipe Nssr at Action Express put rear tires on the car to get to the end in the race that won the championship in 2021 for the team and team boss, Bob Johnson. AXR have not had the season they have wanted this year. But, we will be back. Now, as far as Acura, we might just see the two of them going at it hammer and tongs at the end of the motor race. Jack Hawksworth leads GTD Pro. Jordan Pepper leads GTD. Gabby Chaves leads LMP3 and now, in LMP2, it is a battle between Louis Deletraz and Sebastian Montoya.
Montoya tries going around Deletraz and another six inches he would have been skating on the floor! So many marbles, so much clag out there. Earl Bamber leads the motor race in the #02 Ganassi Racing Cadillac. He has put a hurt on the field today. Tristan Nunez, former driver for Action Express, he is in a podium place in LMP2 for the #11 team for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports with Josh Pierson and Steven Thomas. Great scrap in GTD Pro between Lexus, Ferrari, and Aston Martin. Earl Bamber is cruising right now and Filipe Albuquerque has a gap over Tom Blomqvist. Will wee see a late race yellow? The points gap is still the same.
Renger van der Zande is not in it for the title. He will send it for the victory to be honest. Chip Ganassi Racing not settling for third place. Seven retirements from this 43 car field. Not too bad considering how frantic and intense this race has been. van der Zande just sends it around Albuquerque and he has run too! van der Zande used to drive for Konica Minolta Wayne Taylor Racing back when they were a Cadillac team. Honda Performance Development President David Salters said this is a win, win for Acura. Acura won in 2019 and 2020 with Team Penske and we have seen tons of dominance from Cadillac these last few years.
This is the final hour of DPi racing in history. Nothing to save the equipment for. Use it up, burn it up. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, there will be testing of GTP cars after the awards banquet at Chateau Elan tomorrow. The order is now Bamber, van der Zande, Albuquerque, Blomqvist, Derani, and Rockenfeller. Louis Deletraz continues to lead in LMP2. Have to check for LMP3, GTD Pro, and GTD. We are so, so close to the final hour of the motor race. Ganassi 1-2 going into the last hour of the motor race.
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