Reports from the Rolex 24 at Daytona via David Land on YouTube at the 6-hour mark, 12-hour mark, and at the finish.
Tuesday, January 31, 2023
DOUBLE STINT: Rolex 24 Recap & More (1-31-23)
Jonathan Grace, John Dagys, Daniel Lloyd break down last weekend's Rolex 24...
https://sportscar365.com/podcasts/double-stint-rolex-24-recap-more/
Button: Garage 56 entry will show "true NASCAR" at Le Mans
Today is the day. The Garage 56 NASCAR Next Gen Cup Series car that is tabbed to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, per the organizers at the ACO and the FIA permitting it, is going through a shakedown at Daytona International Speedway.
Story via Autosport magazine.
Intercontinental GT Challenge headlines
More headlines from Intercontinental GT Challenge as the Bathurst 12 Hours is drawing ever closer as the opening race of the 2023 season.
Whincup, Stanaway in Pro-Am Triple Eight Merc for Bathurst
Audi "Still Working" on Bathurst, IGTC Possibilities
Upstart HAAS RT Squad Eyeing 24H Spa Entry
It should be noted that I don't think HAAS RT has anything in common with the Haas Formula 1 team.
Audi Confirms Bathurst 12H Lineups Including Pro Crew
Habul, Gounon, & Stolz to Defend Bathurst Win With SunEnergy1
Catsburg Joins Craft-Bamboo for Bathurst 12H
Mostert Returns to MPC Audi in Final Bathurst 12H Entry List
Ellis Replaces Injured Auer in Craft-Bamboo Bathurst Lineup
Rolex 24 Race Recap + Post-Race News
A race recap and post-race news after a wild and crazy Rolex 24 as IMSA enters the second era of their GTP (Grand Touring Prototype) platform.
Race Recap:
Pole-Sitter Blomqvist Leads Opening Hour at Rolex 24
Acura, Porsche Battle for Top Spot at Four-Hour Mark
No. 7 Porsche Loses 20 Laps Due to Electrical Issue
Blomqvist Returns MSR Acura to Front in Hour 10
Pagenaud Holds Halfway Lead in MSR Acura
Bourdais Leads as Acura's Hit Setbacks With 9 Hours to Go
Braun Out Front Heading into Final Six Hours
Pagenaud Passes Bourdais at Restart With Three Hours to Go
Allen Takes Proton to Maiden LMP2 Win in Photo Finish
Heart of Racing Aston Claims GTD Honors, Beating Pro Winner
MSR, Acura Open IMSA GTP Era With Rolex 24 Win
Post-Race News:
Allen 'Held His Breath' Through LMP2 Photo Finish
Shank: MSR Got "Super Lucky" With Race-Long Gearbox Drama
Cadillac Teams Encouraged by V-LMDh Mechanical Reliability
Engel Reflects on GTD Pro/GTD "Dogfight" of a Finish
Acura ARX-06's Longest Previous Run Was "Four or Five Hours"
Corvette Lacked "Outright Pace" to GTD Pro Competitors
Porsche "Learned A Lot of Lessons" in LMDh Debut
Daytona Post-Race Notebook
Monday, January 30, 2023
Action Express Rolex 24 Diary Entry #2: We Did Everything We Could
Racing is a fickle sport and when you and your competition alike, are debuting new race cars, it is even more so. Such was the case at this year's recently completed Rolex 24 with the introduction of the Grand Touring Prototype or LMDh (Le Mans Daytona Hybrid) sports cars. For Action Express, we learned a lot, coming home fifth. A top five is a good showing, but I know we wanted more. I admire the tenacity of our drivers and our team, as we raced well but had issues, not mechanical in nature at all. A slower GT Daytona, GT3 car, crunched into us during the race and hence, with the unawareness of whoever was driving it, did damage to the car that had to be repaired.
If that hadn't occurred, no doubt we would have been higher up in the order, at the top of the shop, fighting for the win. We move on now, to the 12 Hours of Sebring, at the fabled yet difficult WW. II. bomber training base turned racetrack, in Sebring, Florida, for round two of the championship, which is slated to be run on Saturday, March 18th. Sebring is a race we won in fine style in 2019 during the Daytona Prototype International era. It has been a long time between drinks of champagne for us there. This year, we shall prevail. I am confident in our team and our drivers that we can and will meet the challenge and thoroughly take the fight to the other Cadillac's, to the Acura's, to the Porsche's, and to the BMW's. Once again, if you see a red Cadillac in your mirrors, you know we are there and we Expect to Win.
We did everything possible at Daytona and will put the race behind us, now looking forward to the challenge that the great old airfield at Sebring presents. See everyone in March, for that one.
61-Car Field Drives a Combined 140,000 miles at 2023 Rolex 24
Michelin's report video on the 61st annual Rolex 24. Of course, Michelin supplies tires to all of IMSA's teams and cars in a number of their sanctioned championships.
Michelin delivers lasting performance as the 61-car Rolex 24 field drives a combined 140.000 miles while guiding the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 to the first win of the new GTP era.
2023 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona
From Lanky Turtle.
2023 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona for the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.
2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona Race Start
From Lanky Turtle. Grandstand view of the start of the 2023 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona for the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.
2023 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Daytona Race
From Lanky Turtle. The opening race of the season for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series at Daytona.
2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona Race Rewind
A recap of the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona with NBC Sports commentators Leigh Diffey, Calvin Fish, and Townsend Bell.
Sunday, January 29, 2023
Rolex 24: Hour 24 (the finish)
Blomqvist leads by four and a half seconds. Listen to every single noise this new GTP car is making with the gearbox, the hybrid, the brake by wire units. The TDS Racing #35 LMP2 for Job van Uitert is in for their next to last pit stop. Maybe they burned off more fuel than expected. James Allen moves up in the #55 Proton Competition car sharing with Fred Poordad, Francesco Pizzi, and Gianmaria Bruni. Josef Newgarden taking the #8 Tower Motorsports LMP2 to the end sharing with Kyffin Simpson, Scott McLaughlin, and John Farano. Meyer Shank losing time and massive contact between Hawksworth and a slow LMP3! Oh my word! Into the International Horsehsoe, and... bang! The #87 FastMD Racing Duqueine Nissan. Yu Kanamaru sharing with Nick Boulle, James Vance, and current closing driver Antonio Seravilla.
Most GTD Pro and GTD cars in for final stops with over 50 minutes to the checkered flag. People anticipating a yellow as the #10 pits. This LMP3 car is stopped. Full Course Yellow. This will be a barnburner to the end. Blomqvist, Van Uitiert, Boyd, Engel, and Kirchhofer current leaders but we are not done yet. This finish, as I said about a situation earlier, will be FiYah! GTP is back, just like it was with IMSA in the 1980s and 1990s between 1981 and 1993. It was epic then and it is epic now. 51 of the 61 cars are still in the race. Only ten retirements. We had a six-hour green flag run! Unbelievable! #60 and #10 will be scrapping for the victory! So many emotions in this race. Crying tears of joy and tears of worry at the same time. Your emotions just run away with you, sometimes. These are human beings, not robots.
Less than 40 minutes left. Simon Pagenaud had a great battle with Sebastien Bourdais. Drivers and teams are nervous. Could Meyer Shank win two in a row? Some of the Cadillac's have their eye on the prize as well with Ganassi Racing. Spare a thought for my friends at Action Express. We pushed like crazy and absolutely raced our hearts out this weekend. Our time in the sun with the GTP is coming soon. Mark my words. 35 minutes remaining. Restart imminent. Cadillac's seem to be good on cold tires but the Acura boys are wondering.
Who is the most aggressive? Renger van der Zande I would think. This is a real motor race with 35 minutes on the board. We're all tired. Let's see what happens. Green flag! Bring the action. Blomqvist rockets away and Albuquerque is pushing for all he's worth! Here comes the yellowish gold Cadillac with van der Zande. Albuquerque locks the brakes and Blomqvist says, "thanks, mate." Contact in GT Daytona and Miguel Molina spins the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 with V6 power. Albuquerque is coming in a hurry and now, Winward is slow! A debris field as Ellis shoves his way through and brushes the barrier!
Trying tgo by the Corvette, and... whack! Ugh! That was bananas! Volt Racing Porsche, AO Porsche and the Ferrari all torn up! Stack 'em and rack 'em up again. Cue ball. Eight ball, corner pocket. Winward are crushed. Paet failure in left rear suspension and a busted driveshaft. The GTP battle is going to be absolutely a boxing match. A total slugfest. I say it every year and it is true, dang it. Here we go. Green flag! 26 minutes left. Albuquerque is the cork in the bottle as Blomqvist scampers away. In LMP2 and both GTD classes, there are great battles.
Antonio Garcia and Corvette have great speed chasing Jack Hawksworth and side by side between the team Cadillac's! Renger van der Zande leading Earl Bamber. The Whelen Action Express Cadillac is now fifth. The Ganassi boys need speed and it is not helping by scrapping with each other allowing Blomqvist and Albuquerque to scamper away. Hanley and van Uitert battle in LMP2 and the GTD Pro and GTD battles are hot and heavy, too! This is as hot as Cajun pepper sauce!
20 minutes to go. These are the best sports car drivers in the world. The Rolex 24 gives us a thrilling race right to the bitter end. Blomqvist is uncorking quick stuff and the other drivers are going, "dude, I am driving as fast as I can!" Blomqvist has undenied confidence especially with the brake by wire systems. Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, looking on. He won the Rolex 24 last year with Meyer Shank in the final year of Daytona Prototype International. In GTD Pro, Maro Engel says he feels a slight vibration in the Mercedes AMG GT3.
These closing laps, you feel and hear things you did not know were there. Hanley and Van Uitert going for the lead in LMP2. Van Uitert spins in turn one! It has backfired on the TDS car. Ben Hanley now leads the AF Corse #88 car of Nicklas Nielsen and company. Perrodo, Vaxiviere, and Canal, his co-drivers. 13 minutes remaining and we are going all the way to the checkers. Meyer Shank Racing will head perhaps for two in a row at the Rolex 24. Marco Sorensen is leading GT Daytona. Thiim and Sorensen won two FIA WEC titles in 2016 and 2020 together. But Sorensen is now ahead of his former teammate. Racer's Edge and Wayne Taylor Racing, it could be game over in GT Daytona with ten minutes to go.
Colin Braun has done a lot of development work with different manufacturers. His brother Travis is a Hollywood movie writer. Five minutes in change left. The teams that are coming up short in this Rolex 24, you know... you know... they want more and more and more. Cooper MacNeil is chasing a Rolex before he ends his career, and he might just get one in GTD Pro. AWA will win LMP3. Wayne Boyd, Anthony Mantella, Thomas Merrill, and Nico Varrone. The last GTP winning Rolex 24 in 1993 was the All-American Racer's Toyota Eagle for Dan Gurney, the late, great Dan Gurney, 30 years ago with Mark Dismore, Rocky Moran, and P.J. Jones.
In LMP2, Ben Hanley is being chased down by James Allen, the Australian, in this final lap and a half. White flag now. One lap to go. GTP will be won by Meyer Shank Racing and Acura! Acura draws first blood in the second GTP era. In LMP2, it is hammer and tongs between APR and Proton Competition. Allen goes alongside Hanley! Who is going to do it? Hanley wipes him off the map! Meyer Shank Racing and Acura win the first hybrid GTP race! Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud, and Colin Braun! Two times. Three times actually.
In LMP2, it will be, LMP2 is a dead heat and Allen wins with Proton Competition! James Allen, Fred Poordad, Gianmaria Bruni, and Francesco Pizzi! Holy cow! LMP3 victory to the #17 AWA Duqueine Nissan of Anthony Mantella, Wayne Boyd, Nico Varrone, and Thomas Merrill. WeatherTech Racing wins GTD Pro for Cooper MacNeil! Elation for Proton Competition. Despair for Crowdstrike! Helio Castroneves joins the late, great Peter Gregg as a three-time consecutive Rolex 24 champion! GTD Pro to WeatherTech Racing Mercedes #79. Maro Engel, Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon, and Cooper MacNeil. GTD honors go to Heart of Racing Aston Martina and the #27 car of Roman De Angelis, Marco Sorensen, Ian James, and Darren Turner for The Heart of Racing.
The biggest crowd in Rolex 24 history goes home happy!
Overall/GTP: #60 Braun/Blomqvist/Castroneves/Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06
LMP2: #55 Poordad/Pizzi/Allen/Bruni Proton Competition Oreca 07
LMP3: #17 Mantella/Boyd/Varrone/Merrill AWA Duqueine D08 Nissan
GT Daytona Pro: #79 Engel/Juncadella/Gounon/MacNeil
WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG GT3
GT Daytona: #27 De Angelis/Sorensen/James/Turner Heart of Racing Team
Aston Martin Vantage GT3
Yours truly is absolutely drained mentally, physically, and emotionally, ready for a nap. Another Rolex 24 in the bag. So long for now, everybody. See you next year, in 2024. Bye bye.
Rolex 24: Hour 23
We are set for the run to the flag. Two hours to go. There are multiple lead lap cars in four of the five classes. The reliability of the GTP cars has been great and they have delivered on the wow factor and the entertainment factor. Simon Pagenaud vs. Sebastien Bourdais. Porsche's side by side and banging doors. Kevin Estre in the #77 Volt Racing car squeezing by teammate Jan Heylen. That bright highlighter yellow Porsche has been driving (with Volt Lighting on the side), by Estre, Alan Brynjolfsson, Max Root, and Trent Hindman. Taylor Kyle is on strategy, Mike Hull's stepson, who was running the Arrow McLaren SP IndyCar team with engineer Chris Simons.
Trouble for Matt Plumb and company in the #64 TGM Aston Martin with a loose wheel and a broken upright or half shaft. Oh my goodness. The pressure is on for the race lead in LMP2 between Vaxiviere and Chatin but we have our 11th Full Course Yellow. Good grief! Filipe Albuquerque in fourth place in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing/Andretti Autosport Acura is only a lap down but the Ganassi team is going to be doing something with their strategy for dead sure. Do you sacrifice another bullet? You need two bullets in the gun before the end of the motor race. Full Course Yellow on the speedway.
This is setting up for drama in the final hours of the 61st annual Rolex 24 as the WeatherTech Championship continues to be unbelievably competitive. Sad for my pals at Action Express but our time for a GTP win shall come. 30 GT Daytona Pro and GT Daytona cars are still fighting in this race. Half of the field really. Yellows could very well indeed breed yellows. Penultimate GTP stops and there was drama with the rattle guns or the air jacks at Ganassi dropping the car for the #01 too soon. But the deal is that either #01, #02, or #60 any of them could top up on the final stop or the final lap before we go green.
The Rolex 24 has been the breakout event for many drivers. Blomqvist and Castroneves as well as Pagenaud could win again. Now, the #25 BMW M GTP, 132 laps down spun perhaps on cold tires. What the heck?! Ah. Looped it on acceleration with Connor De Philippi in the car. van der Zande a former Rolex 24 winner and six Indianapolis 500 wins and 11 IndyCar titles between Sebastien Bourdais and Scott Dixon. We can see the overall trophy and the Rolex watch shown on the TV cameras before celebrations begin. Everyone is totally exhausted but you have to dig deep and go for it.
Blomqvist vs. Bamber as the race restarts. Blomqvist takes off and gets the jump. He will uncork that bonkers pace. Energy save may be a factor if it stays green for the last hour and a half. The Mercedes gets hipchecked through The Kink. His tires will be trashed! Oh my! #27 Marco Sorensen vs. #79 Maro Engel. Engel is chasing the Corvette of Garcia. Montecalvo, no, Telitz ahead in #12. #52 spins in the International Horseshoe. Nicolas Lapierre at the controls! Deary me! He is mad. He cannot believe what just happened. No fire in the hole. Alarm on the dash! Oh my goodness!
Clutch disengaged? Hit neutral. He is going to go down one lap. Full Course Yellow! Good grief! 12th Full Course Yellow! Drama madness again here at the Rolex 24! Act three coming to it's dramatic conclusion, just like a Shakespearean drama but on wheels. The field stacks up, The #02 is doing one race at Daytona. This is his only chance as they are racing in World Endurance later. Filipe Albuquerque is going for it now and he goes getting by van der Zande and by Bamber! Man, oh man! Strategy all over the shop. Planning, yes. But now, all out racing. Chuck the paper and the pencil out the window.
The #10 Acura ARX-06 is flying! They have four of the last six Rolex 24's. One big Acura effort? Really? Collaboration? Collaboration, my foot. Every man for himself. Bamber is reeling in Tom Blomqvist hand over fist! These GTP cars with the hybrid boost, they are going for it. England, New Zealand, Portugal, Holland. International superstar drivers. These cars sound amazing! Real race cars. The sound great and look great. The Acura's sound like an IndyCar. The Cadillac's sound like an old style NASCAR Cup machine.
An hour and 20 minutes on the board. This is now a sword fight. Noble knights, strike quick and true. Who has enough left in the locker to go for the Rolex watches? In GTD Pro, it's a fight too. Break out the swords! Mercedes, Corvette, Mercedes, Lexus. Hawksworth, Engel, Garcia, and here comes Sorensen and Ellis as well in GTD! Jack Hawksworth is moving ahead. Squeeze play, Corvette ahead, and Hawksworth says "oh no you don't, mate." Down the inside into the International Horseshoe. Hawksworth wants that Rolex watch.
GTD Pro and GTD are the same, all GT3 cars, but the driver lineups are different. Profession vs. amateur. Hawksworth belnds into the natural speed off the chicane. Last year GTD came down to the final lap between Laurens Vanthoor and Matthieu Jaminet. These are drivers now in the 963 GTP program for Porsche. In GTP, four cars on the lead lap. 60, 02, 10, and 01. MSR, WTR, and two CGR cars. Other teams like Penske and Action Express as well as BMW RLL will be back and will be in the fight too, especially my buddies at AXR. We will be in the fight. Count on it.
One hour and ten minutes to go. The difficult part with a GTP is diagnosing troubles with the systems on the steering wheel with individual systems. It is hard to find all the functions to make the car work. These cars are spaceships. On three hours of sleep, strategize that other drivers are going to get some sleep. It is tight with three drivers but it is even harder with four drivers. Get rest when you can. The air conditioning helps. Jeepers creepers. This racing is madness! Albuquerque to second, right behind Blomqvist. He gets a massive draft down the backstretch! Egad!
We see the massive battle in GTD Pro in replay. That was nuts! We have been racing for nearly 23 hours. The drivers are tired and right on the edge, but they know what is at stake. This is going to come down to the wire. Blomqvist leads by three seconds over Albuquerque. Blomqvist is the closer for MSR and Albuquerque likewise for WTR. WTR is trying to win for the fifth time in seven years. Crosswinds blowing across the straightaways as we watch Engel and Hawksworth scrapping for the win in GTD Pro and here comes Engel. Engel sold Hawksworth the dummy! Hawksworth is going to come back and has to tuck in into the International Horseshoe! Two V8 powered grand touring coupes fighting each other. Lexus vs. AMG Mercedes.
Keep your emotions in check with desire. You are a volcano ready to erupt with emotion. Rein it in. Engel moves down the inside. Textbook stuff there.
Rolex 24: Hour 22
Wow. Bourdais is right on Pagenaud's six and these two have raced each other in both IndyCar and sports cars just the same. Richard Westbrook has dropped seven seconds in the #02 entry. Again, only three GTP racers on the lead lap. Everyone else is a lap or more down. Makes me wonder how the rest of the season will go. Will we have a variety of winners? We are just going to have to see what happens, honestly. Nobody knows. Nobody knows yet who is going to win this motor race and who will win the grand prize of the Rolex watches. You have to earn it. That is what makes the prize so special. Like the Harley J. Earl trophy at the Daytona 500 or the Borg Warner trophy at the Indianapolis 500. Simon Pagenaud leads and now, Nick Tandy has gained a lap back.
Sebastien Bourdais and Richard Westbrook also back there. Acura (Honda Motor Company) vs. General Motors. Simon Pagenaud leads over Bourdais. I think Pagenaud got a lap back or was it Tandy? I think it was Tandy. They are praying for a Full Course Yellow. Pagenaud uncorks a 1:36.388 compared to Bourdais cutting a 1:36.6. Deary me. Bourdais has to get to and pass the traffic. Keep the genie in the bottle and don't do anything stupid. He over slowed it and locked the brakes. Remember, brake by wire on the GTP cars. Nico Varrone is your LMP3 leader. Tower Motorsports still pounding around with Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin part of the team, two IndyCar stars who race in the open wheel ranks for Team Penske.
Do we see three Penske Porsche's next year. Do we see two Action Express Cadillac's? I wonder. Just a thought. Do we see another two Ganassi Cadillac lineup or multiple Acura's? Ah. We can dream. Kyffin Simpson, too. He is really learning a boatload from those who have done it and who have been there. A Penske Porsche stopped on the road. Poor old #6. Control, Alt, Delete. Power cycle the car. Call tech help? Sir, have you tried turning it off and then on again? It is just like your laptop computer at home, just as I am typing my blog entries so you can read them.
Porsche #6 had to reboot again and then... kaboom! I think the engine just went bang. I think the gearbox went. Like change in the dryer or heaven forbid, silverware in your blender. Perish the thought! Beautiful weather in Daytona Beach as the #6 Porsche 963 goes behind the wall. The LMP3 class has a gap but there is more battling in each of the other classes. GTP leaders in the lane. MSR Acura, Ganassi Cadillac's as well. Earl Bamber into the #02 while Sebastien Bourdais in #01 and Simon Pagenaud beats them off the pit lane. Yikes!
Just a wee bit over two and a half hours to go. GTD Pro and GTD in the pit lane. The leaders in each class in. Roman De Angelis stays in the Aston while Maro Engel is in the #79 Mercedes AMG GT3. Lexus and the RC F GT3 are back in the GTD Pro fight. Pagenaud continues in the lead of this motor race. Pagenaud and Bourdais have raced each other and have been co-drivers. They are buddies off track as well. The race is coming down to the wire. We have started what is a normal sprint race for IMSA, for the WeatherTech Championship.
Pagenaud punches it and the green is out again! Earl Bamber restarted behind lapped cars. Bourdais all over Pagenaud like a cheap suit! Pagenaud defends as Bourdais has the preferred line into turn six and back up onto the banking. Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing/Andretti Autosport Acura just went by Earl Bamber. Bourdais slides wide as Bamber passes Filipe Albuquerque. The Lexus was shot out of a cannon and the Corvette bogged down while Maro Engel will get balked by the Aston Martin as well! Clag from the tires, offline. We are still in normal sprint race now. Engel is giving Barnicoat an ice cream headache right now.
The wings are flexing on the GT3 cars big style. Roman De Angelis is putting dayliht between himself and Dontje while Inception Racing in the #70 McLaren cops a stop and hold penalty for driving past the red light in the pit lane. Yellows breed yellows. Romain Grosjean completed his final stint of his first Rolex 24, and he has really enjoyed it. In GTD Pro, like last year, maybe the race could end in tears. There are similarities between sports cars and open wheel cars, but the scoop is it is like comparing apples and oranges. Tommy Milner wants past Maro Engel in the Mercedes.
Engel goes deep into the corner in turn one of the road course section. GTD is getting spicy as the leader feathers his way through the lapped traffic. This is a great race, still. Austin Cindric had to do a quad stint because of a stuck door on the LMP2 car he is driving for Rick Ware Racing. But now he and his teammates are still in the race but had the brake rotor fly through one of the front tires. These last two hours for the contenders, you put in a ton to this point. The Mercedes, the Corvette, and the Lexus could not be more different and yet, they are still fighting for it.
As far as drivers, the Rolex 24 is the World's Fair of motor racing. From IMSA, Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR and so on. We are coming up on two hours to go as Meyer Shank Racing are going for two in a row and they are going for three wins. Simon Pagenaud will complete a triple stint and then Tom Blomqvist will finish with a triple stint. Two Frenchmen going for it in LMP2. Matthieu Vaxiviere vs. Paul-Loup Chatin. We are within two hours of the finish, ready to take it home.
Rolex 24: Hour 21
Four hours to go. A typical enduro for Michelin Pilot Challenge left. We are tired and dragging a wee bit. Ben Hanley splits the gap. Hanley is a former LMP2 class winner at the Rolex 24. Hanley goes around the #64 TGM Aston Martin. Michelin Pilot Challenge TCR race winner Jon Morley is spotting for the AWA LMP3 team. Eddie D'Hondt, spotter for Jeff Gordon and Chase Elliott in NASCAR Cup, he is a spotter at the Rolex 24 sometimes as well. Two Formula 1 drivers who have some experience there and in sports cars are Esteban Guttierez in the #04 and Giedo van der Garde driving at TDS Racing. George Kurtz found out about Esteban Guttierez as he was an ambassador at AMG Mercedes as Crowdstrike sponsors Mercedes in Formula 1 and the Mercedes Formula 1 safety car.
Owner of CORE Autosport Jon Bennett who was a driver, has retired twice. Will he keep racing? I wonder. Three cars on the lead lap to fight for the win. Dixon, Pagenaud, and Lynn. Simon Pagenaud is reminded by the Acura GTP of the Peugeot 908 HDI FAP diesel LMP1 car he drove at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, goesh, 14-15 years ago or more. The diesel prototypes from Audi and Peugeot raced consistently together for a five year span I think between 2006 and 2011. Holy smokes. It is a gorgeous morning in Daytona Beach! 71 degrees! It was freezing cold in 2022. It is balmy in Daytona Beach on this Sunday morning, mate.
The #27 Aston Martin for Heart of Racing is doing routine service. They pulled rubber from the brake ducts and fueled the car. The boys at Mercedes are worried about the Aston Martin's performance. The Mercedes has the edge on the infield, but the Aston Martin has top speed on the high banks. Acura knocking on the door and McLaren have led too. Lexus are there. BMW have not had a great race and then Lamborghini, Porsche, and Ferrari, are all new and they just have not had the speed. Where on earth are the yellows? Six hours sans a yellow. The next race is Sebring, "Super Sebring" from March 15th-18th with the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech Championship. I would love to go to Sebring for those races but Sebring is hot and muggy!
In 2020, the year I was at the Rolex 24, green flag racing last seven hours and 48 minutes in a stretch. We will surpass the distance covered last year at 761 laps, 2,709 miles. The Cadillac drivers are told they can open the vents on the cars to keep cool. The #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac has a cool suit that Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims, and Jack Aitken can use. Our boys think of everything. Keep in mind, I am pals with AXR and their team even though I am just a humble blogger. I shall blog something about AXR and the race we had, once I can think of it a bit and see what to say even though the race has not quite been in our favor. We will recover, maybe.
We are, and so is everyone else, keeping the energy up before the end of this thing. The Cadillac has great throttle response even with the hybrid. Very interesting character to the new car. The great thing about GTP is the variety of engines. #01 is in the pit lane for tires, fuel etc. You have to love the sounds of rattle guns and air jacks going up or down. Meyer Shank Racing are splitting their strategy. This is Cadillac vs. Acura but it is also Dallara vs. Oreca. An Italian chassis vs. a French chassis. Massive accident for the #20 High Class Racing Oreca 07!
This is an LMP2 car that has backed it into the fence they are snakebit again at the Le Mans chicane! Criminy! Full Course Yellow, now. Nine yellows and this one after running under green for 5 hours and 45 minutes! Holy Moly Martha! Pit lane closed to extract this motorcar which is very secondhand after the crunch. Driver Anders Fjordbach should be OK, we hope. The right rear looks completely cattywampus and completely and totally smashed. Anders Fjordbach, the Danish driver climbs out gingerly under his own steam.
He just fired it in, and... smash! Thank God for the tire wall to absorb the energy! Jeepers creepers! Totally unabated speed. Ouch! It takes the air out of your lungs, literally. We shall hear from Dave Burns, James Hinchcliffe, and Brian Till, soon. We are now back to green after a great conversation with IMSA boss John Doonan about the new cars and now, Nick Tandy is trying to go for the lead and now, Nick Tandy's Porsche 963 is pushing hard splitting Simon Pagenaud. Jules Gounon and Tommy Milner get feisty through the Le Mans chicane! Wow! The Lexus is also on the same lap in GTD Pro! Penalty for the #35 LMP2 car fourth in class, the TDS car, I think.
Simon Pagenaud has gone to the lead of the motor race. Tandy in the Porsche on full send. He is two laps down. Pagenaud, Bourdais, Westbrook, Tandy. Why didn't both 01 and 02 pit and gone on split strategies? That is what everyone might wonder. Is Porsche showing their hand, bringing something to the table? Are they putting their chips down? The answer is yes. Pagenaud is pushing it hard. Head-to-head. #60 vs. #6. MSR vs. Penske. Pagenaud gives it up. Nick Tandy is taking the Penske Porsche Motorsports 963 to the tail end of the lead lap. Meyer Shank has won the Rolex 24. They have won the Indianapolis 500. We are closing in on th standard time of a sprint race at 2 hours and 40 minutes. Jeepers creepers!
Westbrook is now down by two some odd seconds. Bourdais is a second and a half down, I think. We have seen the team's backtiming this race from certain points and that backtiming is either going to pay off or backfire. Porsche's have had a tough old time with the 992 GT3R in GTD Pro and GTD. They are doing all they can, and Bachler had to dodge through the chicane after a car went off the road. The marshals have designed the tire chicane so you lose a bucketload of speed and you cannot gain any kind of advantage. No need to stop entirely anymore. It is not a stop sign. It is "stoptional", an optional stop. Tee hee hee. Lamborghini know they are going GTP racing next year. They will develop their new car with Romain Grosjean.
Jordan Pepper and Romain Grosjean are working together well. Pepper, Grosjean, Mirko Bortolotti, and Andrea Caldarelli. Drivers can reach a level they've aspired to for many years with the GTP opportunity. Manufacturer relationships are key. They are very beneficial for a driver. Jules Gounon has taken the lead from Tommy Milner in the Corvette. Gounon, Daniel Juncadella, and Maro Engel are going for it with Cooper MacNeil. This is Cooper MacNeil's final Rolex 24. It is his last race too and he has to be there to help the family business with WeatherTech who sponsor the series. He might be back. We shall see.
Rolex 24: Hour 20
Pierson and Vaxiviere are next up in the serial in LMP2 as we are now headed for the final quarter of this race, or at least the final four hours honestly. Cadillac leading the race for the #01 team as teammate Earl Bamber is now being interviewed. We have not seen many yellows all this time. Cadillac Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing have been really going for it for most of the race. The Sean Creech LMP3 car is pitting for extended service. Drivers eat, get their physio, and then take a short, quick nap. Drink lots of coffee and get a snack and watch your teammates. Sean Creech Motorsports have a shifting issue they thought was electrical but now it will not shift below third gear, working on the transmission and it is now stuck in first gear.
Wow. Parts being replaced at the rear of the LMP3 car. The Rolex 24 can be a cruel mistress and heartbreaking. It can be a good situation and then turn into a heartbreaking ordeal. Thomas Merrill is now leading LMP3 in the #17 AWA car sharing with Wayne Boyd, Nico Varrone, and Anthony Mantella, the Duqueine of theirs. Josef Newgarden and company are clawing their way back, six laps down. Newgarden sharing with his IndyCar teammate Scott McLaughlin, Kyffin Simpson, and John Farano. We have had more green flag racing than we thought. There nine official retirements of the 61 cars that started, so 52 are left. Cadillac, Acura, Cadillac, Acura, Porsche, BMW, Cadillac, Porsche.
Scott Dixon, Simon Pagenaud, Alex Lynn, Ricky Taylor, Dane Cameron, Marco Wittmann, Pipo Derani, and Felipe Nasr. Running new cars is always tough. Bobby Rahal is right. Rahal won this race as a driver in 1981 in a Porsche 935 driving with Bob Garretson and Brian Redman. So much of this race is in the dark. The BMW M Hybrid V8 is, like other GTP cars, in the middle of a true learning experience. Four hours and 40 minutes left on the board. Scott Dixon has three overall wins at the Rolex 24 as we ride aboard the thundering V8 Cadillac. 5.5 liters, normally aspirated. The muscle car of the GTP class. The Cadillac sounds like an older generation NASCAR Cup car.
Dixon is a watch collector. His manager, Stefan Johansson, a former race driver, builds watches. Johansson is a Le Mans winner, an IndyCar driver, a Formula 1 winner. Colton Herta and company at BMW are still going for it driving the #24 entry, the M Hybrid V8 with Eng, Farfus, and Wittmann. Herta shall score points for this race in the #24. #25 is in the pit lane. BMW have not built a prototype in almost 25 years since their amazing V12 LMR open top sports car that won Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans way back in 1999.
Big brake lockup on the right front of the #25 BMW! Yikes! That was through turn six on the bump transitioning to the banking! Cold tires ahoy there, look. Crowdstrike/APR pit for scheduled service. As Winward Racing continues to do very well in GTD. They have been strong in spite of all they have been through. The Winward team was assisted by Iron Lynx and we wish Lucas Auer well. The Aston Martin's seem to be better on fresh Michelin tires. Morad has not driven in IMSA since Laguna Seca last spring.
Morad I think is nervous about the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin currently in the hands of three-time Le Mans winner and Formula 1 test driver, Darren Turner from England. Cadillac #01 hits the lane from the overall lead, Scott Dixon at the controls being chased by Simon Pagenaud who now is leading for Meyer Shank Acura. Pagenaud now leading Dixon by 21 seconds and Lynn by 41 seconds while Ricky Taylor in fourth is a lap down. Jordan Taylor is a veryn smooth racing driver in the Corvette although he is also a very funny chap and I guess has a comedy routine and an alter ego.
This is a 3.56 mile, 12 turn course. The first 24-hour race was won in 1966 by a Ford GT40 driven by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby. Ken Miles was the main character in the "Ford vs. Ferrari" movie if you saw that. Hurley Haywood and Scott Pruett are both five-time winners and Andy Lally has just broken Haywood's starts record. Ted Giovannis is 77 years old and driving a race car. He is still going for it. Good on you, Sir. Driving with Owen Trinkler, and Hugh and Matt Plumb with veteran racer Joe Varde calling strategy.
In the meantime. So,on Pagenaud leads by 56 seconds over Scott Dixon. We have been green for the last five and a quarter hours. There is a long, long way to go yet. Many cars are begging for the yellow to come out and we have two full IMSA sprint races left. Pagenaud eases off the throttle and coasts into the corner for energy save. The field has run 33,000 laps in total! 117,00 miles! Insane! In the pit lane, the overall leading #60 Acura topping up on oil again like clockwork. That is part of a 24-hour race and the MSR Acura team have done that multiple times as the #10 Acura is in and Louis Deletraz will get in.
Andy Lally says he and Magnus Racing have been trying to get their lap back and it is tough to do in one of these enduro events. The Aston Martin is a solid race car but they need to turn better and do better at getting the power to the pavement. Andy Lally sharing with John Potter, Nicki Thiim, and Spencer Pumpelly. Look at variables for how to combine teammates and learn from eachother with different cars but in the same car it requires compromise as the Magnus Racing Flex Box Aston is in the lane with Spencer Pumpelly at the wheel of it. Scott Dixon remains in the lead of the motor race with just about four hours left to run before the checkers.
Rolex 24: Hour 19
The Porsche 963 has had clear fluid put in it and Shea Adam from IMSA Radio explains it is heat transfer fluid to cool the MGU, the Motor Generator Unit. The engine, the MGU, the battery, and the transmission all have cooling systems on the GTP cars. Points have just been awarded for the Michelin Endurance Cup as we get close to 8AM Eastern Time for the low temp tire but we did not have low temperatures. It is warmer and so the high temperature tire from Michelin will go back into use in a wee while. There is an award, the Trueman/Akin Award. Rick Ware Racing won the Asian Le Mans Series and were going to go to Le Mans before the cursed pandemic happened. Austin Cindric, his maternal grandfather is the late, great Jim Trueman. Renger van der Zande can take it easy in the lead of the motor race.
His co-driver Scott Dixon is now having the same experience. 600 laps completed at the Rolex 24. 2,136 miles. Gradient Racing team boss Marc Miller is in the #66 Acura NSX GT3 and of course he shares with Mario Farnbacher, Katherine Legge, and Sheena Monk. Miller and company are three laps down and we have just under the duration of the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen which is round three of the Michelin Endurance Cup in June. The Aston Martin Vantage GT3 has been a very solid package in GTD Pro and GTD. Jules Gounon continues leading GTD Pro over Antonio Garcia in the Corvette. Lexus #14 in the lane. Ben Barnicoat taking over from Mike Conway. This is a team sport, and if someone is tired and makes a mistake, that could be an issue.
We are set to have Leigh Diffey, Calvin Fish, and Townsend Bell back to the broadcast booth. Daybreak at Daytona is always uplifting. Dixon, Pierson, Barbosa, Gounon, and Morad are the class leaders. Cadillac Racing with Chip Ganassi Racing continue leading this motor race. The #01 car has just changed over to the harder compound daytime Michelin tire. The Acura's have had better energy usage. The #01 currently is a clean race car. Five hours and 40 minutes remaining. Another spin for the #32 Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 that came out of the garridge.
Now, that was a spin into turn one. The #3 Corvette C8.R is in the pit lane and Jordan Taylor takes over from Antonio Garcia. The #7 Penske Porsche 963 to the garage with Michael Christensen at the wheel of it. More technical issues after their battery change when we were with you yesterday. At the next race at the 12 Hours of Sebring in March, things will get to be better with age and with time. These cars are so new now. Funny at Penske because the #7 has seen all the issues and the #6 has not. The #33 LMP3 car for Sean Creech Motorsports, has Nolan Siegel in the class lead.
Joao Barbosa has been a great teacher for the new drivers in the car and he is happy about how the LMP3 entry is running, their Ligier chassis. Barbosa's children draw all over his racing shoes and started the tradition when they were very young. Barbosa has won four Rolex 24's overall and in class. Good morning, everybody. Yours truly is tired and bleary eyed but still going for it. What can I say? That is why this is endurance racing. We are heading to the finish but we have five or so hours to go as we welcome back the boys on the Peacock Pit Box. Marty Snider, Steve Letarte, and Jeff Burton. Trouble for the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin.
We are 18 and a half hours into the race. It will be time to push soon. But we have five some odd hours to go. Learn and make the car reliable. Find a way to find the extra wee bit of something. The Rolex watch is the reward. The story we are writing on paper, you will read it. But in the end, it won't matter as the winners will celebrate. We will move on to the next event, the next race. Scott Dixon and company want to put it in the bag. But so does Meyer Shank Racing. They want to go for two in a row. Ganassi have raced well and then, the sprint will come. On the primary Michelin tires, the #60 Acura might be a guided missile.
Chip Ganassi Racing came into sports car racing almost 20 years ago and turned sports car racing on it's ear. Team boss Mike O'Gara is prepping both the GTP program and the Hypercar program in World Endurance to race against Porsche who will also have a dual program in IMSA and WEC and others like Toyota and Peugeot in the WEC series. Marco Sorensen is second in GTD at the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, but they have just had trouble. An electrical niggle with the car losing power and having to do a reset.
Dixon to the pit lane in #01. They remain in the GTP and overall lead. Tire change, energy replenishment, taping a hose down in the cockpit, a fresh air hose. #01 has had settings and electrical gremlins and now he is down and away. Some team bosses are open books and others keep their cards very, very close to their chests. All teams are run differently, and motor racing is a rewarding but a stressful business. The sister #02 Ganassi Cadillac into the lane with Earl Bamber at the wheel of it nit there is a driver change to Alex Lynn. Tires changed; fuel added for energy replenishment. Two tires onto the car. Not four. Pardon me. It has been a long day, night, and morning so far. You now have to race the harder compound Michelin tires.
Four fresh tires for the #31 Action Express Cadillac. Alexander Sims driving, seventh in the overall. Colin Braun is at the top of the shop and in the limelight now leading Scott Dixon. Getting close to five hours to go. Happy Sunday at 7:30 A.M. Winward Racing have moved up 21 places from where they started after bringing in a new car. The Mercedes AMG GT3 in the production ranks can cut and carve the corners extremely well. The motor is front-mounted but the engine is very far back in the chassis. You know it has the power. 6.2 liters, naturally aspirated, V8 power. V8 power too in 5 liter naturally aspirated form for Lexus and the RC F model.
The heat soak in a GT3 car is unreal. Braking is like sticking your foot in a red-hot fire. Now then, the #60 MSR Acura is in pit lane for tires, fuel, and a driver change from Colin Braun to Simon Pagenaud. The Acura's, I think, have an energy advantage on everybody else. Each driver will have preference based on height for steering wheel position. Ben Hanley, Esteban Guttierez, Matt McMurry, and George Kurtz, they lead LMP2. George Kurtz and Colin Braun drove together a lot. Kurtz is holding his own.
This APR deal came together very late, Algarve Pro Racing from WEC and other series' with Stuart Cox, team boss.
Rolex 24: Hour 18
In LMP3, currently, Sean Creech Motorsports leads with Joao Barbosa driving. Barbosa has prototype titles and wins at Daytona in the Rolex 24. Barbosa, Pino, Willsey, and Siegel, the quartet. Willsey is a cancer specialist and surgeon who is studying new drugs to cure cancer. He has degrees from Harvard Medical School and develops cancer medications and cures. Joao Barbosa has won Daytona four times in 29 starts and Nico Pino is in his second Rolex 24. The #70 Inception Racing McLaren is in GT Daytona running sixth. Marvin Kirchhofer driving and Ollie Milroy is ready to get back into the car. There is so much excitement. It is hard to switch off.
Save the car and do not do any damage. In the morning, crazy stuff starts happening and you just have to be very careful. Renger van der Zande leads now over Tom Blomqvist by 12.3 seconds. Blomqvist now leads van der Zande by just over a second, barely as now Indy Dontje pits from the GTD lead. If you don't slow down to the pit lane speed limit you will cop a penalty. Driver change, and you hear the rattle guns meaning a tire change to new or scrubbed Michelins. Daniel Morad is in the car, down off the air jacks and down and away. Morad has a seat insert molded to his body for comfort. Compromise, compromise, compromise. That is what you have to do in endurance sports car racing.
I keep harping on it but it is true. Richard Westbrook to the lane in the #02 Ganassi Racing Cadillac forcing oil into the V8 under pressure from a bottle. That motor has a 90-degree crankshaft on it. GM has a twin turbo V6 motor, but Cadillac are known for a big displacement V8 and that is what they went for instead of going to V6 power. Cadillac, Porsche, BMW, and Acura all have their own motors. The daytime is coming soon. We'll see the sunshine in a wee while. The sunrise, anyhow. Red sky in the morning, sailor's warning? We'll see. At 8AM, swap back to the harder compound tires but with a reduced number for sustainability and longevity on these tires.
Indy Dontje is done with his stint at Winward for now. The driver change is really intense searching for every second. The procedure for that team is totally in place. They brought their 2022 car to this motor race and the setup seems to work well for them, and this team won GT Daytona at the 2021 Rolex 24. On this Sunday morning as the sun rises, the battle for the overall rages still in GTP between MSR and CGR. Acura vs. Cadillac. It is 7AM Eastern Time, 6AM Central Time and we have Renger van der Zande, Job van Uitert, Joao Barbosa, Antonio Garcia, and Danny Formal leading in class. Chip Ganassi Racing, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Sean Creech Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Racer's Edge Motorsports.
Alexander Sims is now back in the #31 Whelen Cadillac and so, after the gearbox change, we are moving forward slightly. Will we crack the top five? We have a long road ahead. Trying to keep up hope. In GTD Pro, Garcia in the Corvette is well ahead right now of Gounon in the Mercedes. 55 cars of the 61 that started are still pounding around. Richard Westbrook at Ganassi Racing wants more out of his car and more seat time. The tire allocation and double stinting is the biggest deal with these Grand Touring Prototypes. Porsche #6 now in pit lane as the sun comes up, the glowing brake rotors and flames from the exhaust disappear from view.
They will still toss flames and have the glowing discs but you cannot see it in the daytime hours. Big lockup, look, on the #02 Cadillac. Three GTP cars now on the lead lap. Out of the western horseshoe, Bamber locks the brakes. The #3 GTD Pro leading Corvette C8.R pits. Antonio Garcia at the wheel of it. There are cutouts of the bodywork above the tires as the #38 John DeAngelis driven Performance Tech Motorsports LMP3 car spins off and continues in the chicane. The cutouts in the bodywork keep the car on the ground and not flipping over backwards like the Mercedes CLR did at the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, Peter Dumbreck's infamous flip.
John DeAngelis is back in the motor race. This motor race is a carnival of entertainment and speed and we have seen the largest crowd ever at the Rolex 24 with great weather. The sun is rising and Renger van der Zande leads the motor race. He ran in Prototype Challenge with Peter Baron, who is now a new member of the team at Action Express. These new GTP cars have a seven-speed gearbox from Xtrac of course. An extra gear that I don't believe the Daytona Prototype International cars had. Lots of regeneration on the hybrid under deceleration. But you cannot hear it because with these cars it is seamless.
Less than six and a half hours to go. The brake by wire system may switch by the computer to manual braking but it depends entirely on the state of charge of the battery. It affects the entry, the mid-corner feel, the exit. CrowdStrike Racing continues to lead in the LMP2 division. Ben Hanley and company have gone through the night knowing they need to keep up their pace. Mikael Grenier went off the road in turn six, outbraking himself as Daniel Morad passes through the turn and onto the banking. Sun rising at Daytona but trouble in paradise for Mikael Grenier and the #32 Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3.
They are going behind the wall with very little urgency. What on earth happened? He locks up the brakes but there is a bigger issue. This could very well be a retirement. Game over? Drivetrain or engine? Oh boy. That is not good. Nolan Siegel has driven three cars this weekend. He raced Michelin Pilot Challenge and ran a test for Indy Lights and is now in the LMP3 car. He has been very adaptable and getting used to swapping over from an open wheel race car and into both a GT4 and a LMP3 sports car. Nolan Siegel will run with HMD in the Indy Next championship, the steppingstone to IndyCar.
As a young driver, you are a sponge, learning how to race. Renger van der Zande and Ganassi Racing continue to lead the motor race with Cadillac. It will be warm in Daytona Beach today. The heat may affect how the tires work for the GTP cars. Tire degradation will become more of a factor, but the rubber that has gone into the pavement, it will be grippier for the tires on the cars. The heat though is not a friend to these Michelin tires. The longest green flag stretch of the motor race has gone past three hours. Everything is peachy insofar as the weather. We had a tailwind that turned into a headwind yesterday. It is currently a calm breeze. The humidity will change both the aero and the engines.
The GTP cars are very sensitive to the wind and so are the LMP2 and LMP3 cars. It adds at least five miles an hour to the top speed. Job van Uitert is being harried for the lead by Esteban Guttierez. Guttierez gets squeezed by the #66 Gradient Racing Acura and van Uitert wanted to go for it but realizes discretion is the better part of valor indeed. "Super Mario" Mario Farnbacher tried to not be an issue but Guttierez got stymied for sure. You cannot move out of the way. The GT3 chaps and ladies cannot just press a disappear button and do the old spy car smokescreen trick.
The #01 Cadillac to the lane. The dive planes are under the headlamps on the Cadillac. The Porsche 963 does not have dive planes. Scott Dixon is into the car as the energy is replenished. That is the special fuel with the petrol, the beet root, and the cane sugar in it. A new era of GTP cars is awesome. Now, Acura are your overall leaders. Van Uitert continues in the LMP2 lead. Close quarters racing, look, between Van Uitert and Guttierez. Job Van Uitert is pushing the bye bye button or at least trying to press it down, turning the knob up with the throttle foot. Into full daylight at Daytona as they sweep and swap through the Le Mans chicane. Guttierez is bringing more power to try to get by Van Uitert, look.
The exit of the chicane, the Le Mans chicane, is key, just before the start/finish line. Guttierez seems to be better in the first half of the lap which is more beneficial for qualifying than in the motor race itself. Porsche have had some issues in GTP.
Rolex 24: Hour 17
An off-road excursion through the kink for Alex Riberas in the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. He may have suspension trouble having come off the banking and into turn one. That had to be a punctured Michelin tire. For Ross Gunn, and David Pittard they will be very disappointed and so will Alex Riberas. They are losing gobs of time. Work to do as the #23 car is dropping down the order, like a stone. We are about to end the 16th hour and it will be written into the book. Chopping and changing all over and especially in GTP and GT Daytona. 523 laps completed by Sebastien Bourdais leading by 24 seconds over Tom Blomqvist. 1,862 miles is the distance so far. Only three GTP cars on the lead lap. Brendon Hartley has now taken over the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura from Filipe Albuquerque.
In LMP2, TDS car #35 leads with Giedo van der Garde over Esteban Guttieriez, Matthiu Vaxivierie, Devlin DeFrancesco, and Alex Quinn. The #7 Porsche and the #31 Cadillac will have to catch up as best they can. In LMP2 it is Nico Pino leading Nico Varrone by 12 seconds while the other cars are down the order in the class. In GTD Pro it is Jules Gounon leading Jack Hawksworth and Tommy Milner. Mercedes, Lexus, Corvette, while the others are losing time. In the GTD class it is Indy Dontje ahead of Darren Turner, Maximilian Goetz, and Ryan Briscoe. Three GTP cars remaining on the lead lap. Bourdais, Blomqvist and Westbrook with Augusto Farfus in the BMW M Hybrid a lap down in fourth place.
The GTP cars are so new, and we have seen a lot of problems and could still see more. None of these teams are totally out of contention just yet. There was a spindle failure on the left rear of the #23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3. It is hopefully a freak incident. Aston Martin have done thousands and thousands of miles with their GT3 car. Ian James is really giving it over to Darren Turner, Marco Sorensen, and Roman De Angelis as the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 just made a scheduled pit stop. Bourdais and Westbrook should be on the same pit schedule and Bourdais hits the lane. Naturally aspirated 5.5-liter V8 for the Cadillac's.
A driver change, under green flag conditions. Bourdais won the Rolex 24 in 2014, ironically, with Action Express. Renger van der Zande will take over the #01 Chip Ganassi Cadillac. Blomqvist in the #60 Acura is back in front and will pit in a few more laps. We might see 800 some odd laps completed. We shall see. 2/3rds of the race is now completed. At the 16-hour mark, we did 525 laps. 765-770 laps may be completed, and it will not be recordbreaking nor will it be an 800+ lap race either. Blomqvist may be on an in lap. No. He is still on the track. He is 66 and a half seconds ahead of Renger van der Zande and the team is hitting their fuel number.
Sunrise is approaching and when the sun comes up everyone knows they are getting close to the end of the motor race. Push it. That is the plan. It is Happy Hour with a cold track and you begin cutting fastest lap totally in zombie land. It is time to go get it. You know you want to win the Rolex watch. We are very nearly through the night. Ideal weather all weekend. It was freezing cold in 2022. We are back with Dave Burns, James Hinchcliffe, and Brian Till in the broadcast booth. We have seen small issues with the GTP cars and thankfully, not too many major troubles.
We have had eight Full Course Yellows. You can get a lap back under yellow. The weather for this race has been very nice. Seven and a half hours to go. The sun is coming soon which is a sign of hope for some. Driver and crew fatigue. The sun reinvigorates and refreshes. The #3 Corvette C8.R is in the pit lane. Sunshine is Mother Nature's coffee, espresso, or Red Bull. Corvette screams out of the pit lane and back on track. The strategy does not change much but it does have to be slightly altered. No tire warmers in the IMSA championships. Glad to have you with us, on this early Sunday morning from Daytona Beach. Grab a coffee, an espresso, a tea, and some breakfast, and join us.
Class leaders are Renger van der Zande in GTP, Esteban Guttierez in LMP2, Joao Barbosa in LMP3, Antonio Garcia in GTD Pro and Indy Dontje in GTD. Canadian driver Indy Dontje is now at the wheel. Actually, I believe he is Dutch born but must be living in Canada and of course the car had a horrid accident in Free Practice for Lucas Auer who suffered an injured back. Daniel Morad came to fill in and the team had to head back to their Houston, Texas shop to get a spare tub. They got it and brought it back pulling two all-nighters. Wow. They are doing it for Lucas Auer. Winward Racing were longtime contenders in Michelin Pilot Challenge and then stepped up to the WeatherTech Championship and won on their first Rolex 24 appearance.
Darren Turner now is right on top of Indy Dontje in GT Daytona. 961 miles in 24 hours from Houston, Texas, to Daytona Beach, Florida. An amateur driver does not make their living racing, but even though they are businesspeople, they know how to drive. They really, really do. The GTD Pro cars used to have more outright lap time but now they are far closer to the GTD cars. All equal GT3 entries. The #78 U.S. Racetronics Lamborghini was just passed in GTD with Loris Spinelli at the wheel of it. Misha Goikhberg, Benja Hites, and Marco Mapelli, his co-drivers. The Michelin tires stay together compared to others and they don't become gigantic sawblades tearing the bodywork, fuel lines, and brake lines to shreds.
Ryan Briscoe and Racer's Edge Motorsports in GTD did a brake change recently and they were P1 in class but now the team is fourth in class with Danny Formal behind the wheel. The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 has just pitted. Acura's have been strong. Cadillac leads in the hands of Ganassi Racing with just over seven hours remaining. Tom Blomqvist is beginning to chase down Renger van der Zande at the top of the shop. The pit crew members are getting a few winks at MSR. He had a majorly committed lap to push it to pole at Mosport Park in Canada, a massively fast circuit, last summer. That brought the MSR Acura to the championship in 2022.
We just do not know what the new GTP cars will do. We have to check and see what will happen in future races. Horses for courses, I guess. But believe me, I am not a full believer in that idea. We shall have to see what is going to happen. We are not even at one yet. The race is nearly 17 hours old. In LMP2, true blue, we still see the #04 CrowdStrike Racing with APR entry at the top of the shop with Esteban Guttierez leading the class, former Formula 1 driver. It is easier for the LMP2 boys to get laps back probably than the brand spanking new GTP monster spaceships. Guttierez is running his first Rolex 24.
Rolex 24: Hour 16
Tandy wriggles through the Le Mans chicane. It is all action here at Daytona in the middle of the night and now, Pipo Derani is stopped on the road while Nick Tandy continues pulling out the fuel stint even more. Pipo Derani is in a world of hurt headed for the garage! This is not good for my mates at Action Express! In LMP2 we will check the order in a moment. Porsche #6 to the pit lane. Tandy is back on track. In GTD Pro, we see Daniel Juncadella leading the class, Jack Hawksworth in the Lexus, and Tommy Milner in the Corvette with Alex Riberas next up in the Aston Martin. So, with the #31 Whelen Cadillac, there is a gearbox problem. They are working on it.
We don't know if there is a problem with the driveshaft or the Xtrac gearbox itself. Action Express had a gearbox issue in 2020 and went through it to finish. Let's hope that there is nothing too serious. The Xtrac gearbox is a bespoke item for these cars. A brand-new complete gearbox is going to be installed. This is not what Action Express wanted at all, but it is to be expected with a brand-new race car that parts need to be changed. Less than nine hours remaining. Philip Ellis now at the wheel of the GT Daytona leading #57 Mercedes AMG GT3 at Winward Racing. Action Express have now lost four laps with this gearbox change, down to seventh in the overall and in GTP.
We shall have to dig and claw our way back to the front after holding the lead earlier in the going. Bourdais and Lynn in the other two Cadillac's run 1-2 for Ganassi Racing. With the GTP gearboxes I believe they are all bespoke units from Xtrac for the GTP cars. Seven speed semi-automatic gearboxes operated by paddle shifters. Tot the nalen, the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3. So, Phil Ellis is back out on track. Or it could be on the other drivers.
For the #31, the gearbox studs have snapped off where they join the engine. They will remove the gearbox and replace the studs. The motor is a 5.5 liter naturally aspirated V8. It is quite the job to fix then. Nico Varrone has brought the #17 AWA LMP3 car into the pit lane and the #79 WeatherTech Mercedes is also in for routine service. Cooper MacNeil, Daniel Juncadella, Maro Engel, and Jules Gounon. We have also seen the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin in the pit lane for service, the Heart of Racing Aston Martin with Roman De Angelis, Marco Sorensen, Ian James, and Darren Turner.
There is a penalty for the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca which is for not using the minimum fuel fill time on the most recent pit stop. They will lose ten seconds on their next pit stop. Nico Lapierre is now behind the #51 Rick Ware Racing Oreca of Devlin DeFrancesco. Eng and Tandy are scrapping for position. With the gearbox woes, Action Express have now lost 15 laps and are just up on the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963. Helio Castroneves has pitted the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura and I think it is Colin Braun getting into the car.
The #31 is back on track now and maybe we can get back into it! We are now behind Matt Campbell and the #7 Porsche which has also had a litany of woe. Jack Aitken has now taken over the Cadillac for Action Express and Whelen Engineering. Pit stop time for both Alex Riberas and for Tommy Milner. Some very close racing in LMP2! Ben Hanley leads in class by 9.3 seconds over Giedo van der Garde and Matthieu Vaxiviere. Three abreast with prototypes into the Le Mans chicane! Bobby Rahal is out on the pit wall watching his cars. It is hard to sleep well when the cars are running around.
Jack Aitken is now at the controls of the #31 Whelen Cadillac as we are in the morning hours now and will be approaching sunrise in a couple hours yet. Over eight hours to go and so we will be 2/3rds through this race in a short time. Manage the problems and deal with them. That is the key. Philip Eng has gained a spot after Pipo Derani needed a gearbox change. Jack Aitken now, is 14th overall and eighth in GTP. 16 laps must be made up by the #31 in eight hours and 25 minutes. More GTP cars coming and the same is true with the FIA World Endurance Championship which has been dominated in recent years by Toyota.
Le Mans this year is going to be amazingly wild. Bourdais, Tandy, Westbrook, Blomqvist, the top four. Cadillac, Porsche, Cadillac, Acura. Film and TV producer Jerry Bruckheimer is here. Maybe we will see IMSA in a movie. Look at the movie of the book "The Art of Racing in the Rain". That is a great sports car related movie. Patrick Dempsey and Michael Fassbender, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen, Gene Hackman, James Garner. They all raced and were actors as well. Indy Dontje is closing on Jules Gounon and you have the GTD and GTD Pro Mercedes AMG GT3's battling each other.
Darren Turner is also back there in the #27 Aston Martin Vantage for The Heart of Racing. The #6 Porsche 963 has spun! That has just happened in the infield, and they have damage. Wow. Nick Tandy has had a problem! This is the better placed of the two Porsche 963's. What kind of damage does that car have? The rear decklid, the bonnet, may be damaged. Wow. The pit crew is working on it, removing the rear wing and they do have a spare one they are bolting onto the car. The bones of the rear decklid were busted up and this replacement is being carried out during refueling procedures as well.
The front nose section is also being changed. Tandy clouted the curbs, took out the polystyrene brake markers, tearing up the grass and stopping on the infield. He hit the curb and the car shot off into the weeds. Out into the never, never. The LMP3 was compromised, and Tandy clobbered the curb. We still have eight hours and 15 minutes left in the motor race. Sebastien Bourdais is motoring around Daytona in the 1:37 range and now the Porsche is back on track with Mathieu Jaminet now in the car. Bourdais leads the motor race by 20 seconds over Tom Blomqvist in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura.
In five minutes, you are going to lose a minimum of three laps. Ben Hanley continues in the LMP2 lead. Recall that Nick Tandy had a massive shunt in qualifying in the Porsche 963 through the Bus Stop chicane. You just never know when a car might get away from you and that was how it is with plenty of race cars over the course of the automobile's existence. Tandy is now four laps in-arrears of Sebastien Bourdais in the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V LMDh. Giedo van der Garde has now taken the LMP2 lead from Ben Hanley. The Nico and Nico show continues in LMP3 with Nico Pino leading Nico Varrone in LMP3. Sean Creech Motorsports leading AWA. We are ten minutes away from 2/3rds distance at 4:30 A.M. and we will reach daylight in an hour and 45 minutes.
Damage to an LMP3 car and it is the #85 JDC-Miller LMP3 car with a rear wing that is askew. Luca Mars at the controls. He has run 25 laps of a 33-lap stint. Damage to the wing for the Mars/Bechtolsheimer/Van der Helm/Filippi car. One side of the swan neck is fractured and so is the right rear bullet, the cheese wedge carbon fiber piece on the right rear. Tom Blomqvist pitting for fuel and tires in the #60 MSR Acura and now, Porsche #7 will pit and the #79 WeatherTech Mercedes AMG GT3. Fuel and tires for Porsche #7. The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06 of Filipe Albuquerque is running off strategy.
Rolex 24: Hour 15
Wayne Boyd leads LMP3 over Nolan Siegel. AWA over Sean Creech Motorsports. Boyd is an Ulsterman from Northern Ireland. Sebastien Bourdais is chasing down Pipo Derani. Last year at this time, it was freezing at 35 degrees Fahrenheit in Daytona Beach. This year it is in the 60s. The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 is in the pit lane. Russel Ward, Philip Ellis, Indy Dontje, and Daniel Morad. The distance record for this race in the modern era is 833 laps set in 2020, the year I was at the race at Daytona in person. We are not yet at a record I don't think, because we have brand new cars racing of course with these great GTP cars. Wayne Boyd serviced and sent out of the lane in the second AWA LMP3 car. Orey Fidani, Matt Bell, Moritz Kranz, and Lars Kern in the sister car. A Canadian, a Brit, and two Germans I believe.
Pit stop time for Sean Creech Racing and for Inception Racing as we look at the pit lane in the darkness early on this Sunday morning at nearly 4AM in Florida. Criminy. We need a yellow as I need a coffee or something to keep going here. David Pittard and Roman De Angelis both pit. Nico Pino now takes over the #33 Sean Creech Motorsports LMP3. In the 1960s, Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez were young winners of this event. The #64 TGM Aston Martin has spun. That is the car shared by Ted Giovanis, Hugh Plumb, Matt Plumb, and Owen Trinkler. We hear that Formula 1 and sports car legend John Watson is listening in to the IMSA Radio Rolex 24 broadcast. Hello, John. We hear his voice regularly in a different series, in GT World Challenge Europe for SRO.
Yours truly, under this yellow, escaped to the kitchen for a brownie, a coffee, and a water. We have seen pit stops for GT3s and for the prototypes as the track continues being cleaned up as the boys from IMSA Radio are telling some great stories about McLaren and the late, great Bruce McLaren who built and engineered them. There is a book about Bruce McLaren and by gosh I need to read it. I need to read a lot of motor racing books but I am just too busy blogging the modern ones, I guess. #60 and #24 were in the pit lane. The #24 BMW GTP for Phillip Eng and the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura.
Nine and a half hours to go. The Cadillac's all pitted just two laps ago. Pipo Derani, Sebastien Bourdais, and Alex Lynn. 50 years ago, drivers like Derek Bell and motorcycle racer Mike Hailwood ran a Mirage prototype here and of course in 1973 Porsche won with Hurley Haywood and Peter Gregg in a Porsche 911 RSR. The best placed LMP2 is Ben Hanley in the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR entry with Ben Hanley at the wheel of it. Some say LMP2 cars could win this race overall. But I shall say, right now I doubt it. It depends because the GTP cars have lasted a lot longer than anyone expected them to.
It could very well be game over for the #64 TGM Aston Martin. Break out the marker of doom, again. Humina, humina, humina, as Jackie Gleason said in "The Honeymooners." It is time for a restart! Green flag. Okie dokie then. Tandy, Lynn, Bourdais, Derani, the top four. Pipo Derani wants by Sebastien Bourdais. 475 laps now in the bag. 1,691 miles. We are headed towards daylight very soon. Pipo Derani is prepared to go for it and makes it work hence why Action Express considers him their lead driver. #60 was in for a splash and a dash that was so quick, I missed it.
Philip Eng in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 also pitted for fuel. Side by side stuff between the Cadillac's which is this scrum between Lynn and Derani and Bourdais is in there as well. It is Sebastien Bourdais trying to keep Pipo Derani at bay and Derani did lose a spot. He won't take that sitting down and will get back to Bourdais soon. Alex Lynn is doing all he can to get by Nick Tandy in P1. Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 Acura ARX-06 is two laps down and wants at least one of those laps back. Daniel Juncadella has Jack Hawksworth right on his six in GTD Pro.
The #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura topped up with fuel or may have actually had a penalty. Porsche, Cadillac, Cadillac, Cadillac. The three Cadillac's have pitted already, and Nick Tandy is about ten laps away from having to hit the lane again. Filipe Albuquerque is deeper into his stint. Albuquerque is reasonably trying to get a wriggle on and now, we see Sebastien Borudais pressing his teammate who locks up and Pipo Derani is watching all this. Bourdais needed no second invitation to pass his teammate. 1.6 seconds between Tandy and the Ganassi cars. Two seconds back, Pipo Derani. This is really close racing at the top of the shop in GTP!
Bourdais passes a Porsche, but it is the delayed #7 963 entry in the hands of Felipe Nasr. Nasr in 14th spot, 16 laps down. The Nasr/Campbell/Christensen Porsche has had a fraught race thus far. The sister BMW M Hybrid V8 #25 has also had a horrid race today, Sheldon van der Linde, the South African, one of the drivers. Sharing with Connor De Philippi, Nick Yelloly, and Colton Herta. Wow. In the garridge, the 2024 GT3 Z06 spec Corvette. It will be hitting the track at the Rolex 24 next year but is now tucked away for the night in it's own garridge.
Garridge? Garage. That's the British pronunciation of course. Of the 61 cars that started this race, eight have officially retired. 53 cars remaining. The Z06 GT3.R is the new Corvette model for next year. It is still a mid-engine car. Doug Fehan, former Corvette program manager, I think he is still involved at General Motors but has time for a spot of golf every so often I suppose as well. Eight retirements and we shall go through the list but not in order. It is by laps completed.
#47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3
#74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan
#75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3
#11 Team TDS Racing Oreca 07
#92 Kelly Moss with Riley Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
#62 Risi Comeptizione Ferrari 296 GT3
#42 NTE Sport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo
#36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320 Nissan
That is eight retirements of the 61 original starters in the motor race. The #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 is still racing even though Nick Yelloly had to pull the car off in the hybrid safe zone behind the wall ahead of the pit lane, but the team could not get to it and the blue light was on meaning that the hybrid booster was still charged with massive electricity and high voltage. But they are in the race now albeit numerous laps behind.
The leaders are dealing with traffic as we watch both Sebastien Bourdais and Nick Tandy followed by Alex Lynn and Pipo Derani as we are closing in on the end of another racing hour and will be starting the 16th of 24 hours in this race very, very soon yet. Wow. This race is going down at quite the clip despite the yellows and the fact we may not break the 2020 distance record, the race that I saw at the speedway itself as a guest of my pals at Action Express. Oh boy! Sebastien Bourdais with two wheels in the grass out of turn six at the western horseshoe and now, Bourdais is reeling in Tandy hand over fist. Tandy's Michelin tires are grimey and beginning to squirm.
He was balked by an LMP2 car as well. Eek! He was actually on the wrong end of an LMP3 entry. Borudais had two wheel on the grass... two wheels on me wagon! Now then, 31 laps done in the stint and these chaps are wrestling these new hybrid prototypes like mad. This is spellbinding to watch! What did I tell you? I told you you all would get your money's worth! It is very exciting to watch. I have to have a dast pair of index fingers to type my thoughts on the paper here. This is fabulous motor racing! The tire life ain't an issue on the straights or the banking.
Pipo Derani slowing on the track and maybe there is a tire or something wrong. It is a puncture. Jeez! We will follow up on this.
Rolex 24: Hour 14
Use caution as we are still in the darkness. It is pitch everywhere even though the lighting here at Daytona is so good. Katherine Legge will be getting into the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3, and it sounds like she will be back in, as Marc Miller may not want to do a double stint. Sheena Monk and Mario Farnbacher are the other drivers in that car, obviously. Paddle shifting does not affect the drivetrain with how the driver shifts like the old H pattern manual gearboxes did back in the old days. Daniel Juncadella is reeling in David Pittard hand over fist. Pt stop time at Porsche for the #6 Porsche 963 at Penske Motorsports. Ditto for Action Express Cadillac and Whelen Engineering. Pipo Derani in that car.
There is a driver change, too, in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura and the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac. Audi at Le Mans, they had everything prepared for problems. A lot of these teams have that same approach. Pagenaud is in the #60. Dixon in #01. Alex Lynn has not pitted and has the #02 leading for Ganassi Racing. Dane Cameron has handed the #6 Porsche to Nick Tandy and Philipp Eng is the new driver in the #24 BMW M LMDh. Sebastien Bourdais has taken over from Scott Dixon in the #01 Ganassi Racing Cadillac.
Action Express came in and I want to say that either Pipo Derani stayed in or perhaps Jack Aitken or Alexander Sims got in. Cadillac, the only naturally aspirated, forced induction motor in GTP as the other cars are doing things with turbocharging. Much like the legendary days of LMP1 in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Porsche, Audi, and Toyota. Michael Christensen and company are looking to claw back as much as they can after the battery change yesterday. Juncadella in the pit lane for service. Penske Porsche have just one car left. One bullet left in the gun at least as a contender as the WeatherTech Mercedes is undergoing full service.
Ollie Milroy has pitted from second in GTD, actually fourth. This is the McLaren 720S GT3, and he was 33 seconds in-arrears of Marco Sorensen in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. David Pittard and Marco Sorensen both pit on the same lap for Heart of Racing, likely by design. These cars have done synchronized pit stops all race long. Driver change, I think, for the #27 and now both are down and away. Great synchronicity. No driver change. Pittard in #23 and Sorensen still in #27. They raced at the Dubai 24 Hours a few weekends ago but with a Mercedes AMG GT3 not an Aston Martin in the Creventic championship which is out of Holland.
We covered that motor race in video here on the blog after it happened of course. Again, my gosh, next weekend, we have the Bathurst 12 Hours. I don't know if I will cover all of that one. I am not sure yet. You can at least expect highlights in a condensed race report. Usually with that event I just watch it live and enjoy it and I suggest you do the same. Last year at Heart of Racing, they were champions in GT Daytona. Extremely stunning for that team for Ian James, Roman De Angelis and more. Ian James was able to put together a great team.
Of the 61 starters, half a dozen have now retired leaving 55 on the circuit currently I believe. Most of the retirements have been GTD cars. #62 Risi Comeptizione Ferrari, #92 Kelly Moss Racing with Riley Motorsports Porsche, #11 TDS Racing Oreca, #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3, #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier LMP3, and the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. It used to be that the fields were far bigger, and half the cars would be now out of the motor race when 70-80 some odd cars started this race. Just about staying awake at 2:00 A.M. We are still wondering how the GTP cars are going to continue doing even with limited testing.
Some of the cars have done 24-hour tests. The approach has been right to go at a metered pace and not thrash the car like mad for the first hours but in the closing hours we should see things getting spicy. Job van Uitert leads LMP2 while Wayne Boyd leads LMP3. New leaders in both GTD Pro and GTD. Daniel Juncadella leading in Pro in the #79 WeatherTech Mercedes AMG GT3 and now, Phillip Ellis leading the GTD class in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3, the two pole sitting cars in those classes from qualifying a week ago.
Job van Uitert and Nicklas Nielsen are having a humdinger of a battle for the LMP2 lead in class. Nielsen does the undercut on Job van Uitert through speedway turn one. van Uitert is a tough cookie. Nielsen's presence has been amazing in World Endurance and in IMSA and now, he might have an opportunity to race the new Ferrari 499P Hypercar in World Endurance soon. Pit stop time for the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Oreca with Paul-Loup Chatin at the wheel. I think Alex Quinn was also in the car earlier.
Chatin and Quinn sharing with Ben Keating and with Nicolas Lapierre. Chatin is doing a double stint. We have a seventh retirement and it is game over in the #36 Andretti Autosport Ligier after 371 laps. Game over. Over and out for Jarett Andretti, Dakota Dickerson, Gabby Chaves, and Rasmus Lindh. The LMP3 Nissan V8 engines and drivetrains, they don't do these long races save for 4–6-hour events. They race on the support package at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but it is only a 55-minute event and the European Le Mans Series which are four-hour events. By the way, yours truly hopes to highlight more ELMS races from 2022 if there is time to do so, maybe in the next week. We'll see but we have a long, long way to go in this one.
Pipo Derani is now still in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac. Pipo Derani does go by Sebastien Bourdais. Julien Canal from Le Mans, France, has the lead in LMP2 in the #88 AF Corse Oreca. Canal sharing with Francois Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxiviere, and Nicklas Nielsen as we return you to your regularly scheduled programming right here on The Sarcasm Channel. It will be a while before we see the sunshine in the sunshine state of Florida and today's forecast, I checked me forecast on me weather app in Daytona Beach and it shall be a gorgeous, warm and sunny Sunday. Six GTP cars all on the lead lap.
You can change tires and fuel the car at the same time. But be careful on the cold tires on a cool night because it is like driving on ice. You don't want to be an embarrassment and spin and be a chump instead of a champ. But no racing driver is a chump. I am a chump, sitting here, yapping about the motor race. That's all. A touch of sarcasm there. Don't take that seriously, folks. Ah. It's 2:30 A.M. on a Sunday morning and I am wired in the middle of the night. Acura, Porsche, Cadillac, Cadillac, Cadillac, BMW, Acura, I think. We have just over ten hours to go.
Filipe Albuquerque, it sounds like he has the fastest lap in GTP to this point. Nick Tandy giving the #6 Porsche 963 a good drive, 22 seconds behind race leader Helio Castroneves. Alex Lynn and Pipo Derani should be chasing him down. They are indeed. It is quiet from a traffic perspective for Castroneves in the lead and we have had a good chunk of green flag motor racing in the last wee while. So, we have been racing now for 50+ laps under green. Don't tempt yellows. Hashtag blame Skip if it does happen. Be prepared with that cream pie to throw it in me face.
Porsche 963 #6 to the lane for tires and fuel. Fueling takes the longest putting this VP R80 biofuel in the tank. Again, the stuff is made from petrol as well as sugarcane, corn and a few other things. It is clean burning. Pipo Derani has made a move up to third place. Pipo Derani brings the #31 Cadillac to the lane from third spot. Fuel only. No fresh tires as we are seeing a double stint as required and a clean windscreen for "The Dynamo" as well. The #10 Acura is taking fuel and tires and we see one of the BMW M Hybrid GTP's in the lane as well. Tires done on the #10 car and fueling going on.
#60 is back to the lane and they will be adding more oil with a pressurized bottle. The #01 Cadillac is in for tires and fuel but no driver change. This is the second half of the mandatory double stints IMSA wants. Meyer Shank Racing has the first pit box at the end of the lane. Actually, the first box at the top of the lane. A wee bit of engine oil pumped into the car with a canister and a hose connecting it. Duty done there and a close shave as the #02 screeches into the box for service! Egad! That was wild!
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