Mentally it is harder to drive but physically less demanding than during the day. Chaves and Jaret Andretti are only doing endurance races this year and not the entire season for 2023. It is the Nico and Nico show, and Nico Varrone goes off the road past Nico Pino in the Le Mans chicane. No damage and he continues. Pino scored the pole for the first time in a race in his career at all. Jack Aitken leads the motor race by just over a second between he and Colin Braun. A good GTD Pro battle between Alex Riberas and Jordan Taylor. Aston Martin vs. Corvette. Corvette has maybe improved their pace since qualifying last weekend. Action Express and Jack Aitken are in the lead and Alexander Sims will be next into the car. This is Sims' first time in a prototype. It is not too different. You are going faster and overtaking more.
The car is running reliably. The tires squirm more on the soft tires. Stay chilled and get through the night. Get to Sunday morning. That is our attitude at Action Express having driven for BMW and Mahindra in Formula E. Oh boy. Now, Colin Braun is coming. He is the shark while Jack Aitken is the minnow. Aitken has fresher Michelin tires though it looks like. Alex Riberas and Jordan Taylor, too, are fighting hard through the night lap after lap in combat in GTD Pro. Mike Conway is behind in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. Alex Riberas is losing grip on the tires. With the Aston Martin, it is edgier in the turns than on the straights even with traction control.
Hip and shoulder there between the #42 Lamborghini and the #62 Ferrari which was just in the garage to replace the floor on the 296 GT3. Alessandro Pier Guidi sharing with James Calado, Daniel Serra, and Davide Rigon. The Heart of Racing Aston Martin team is a solid one based in Florida with ex team members from both Panoz Motorsports and Alex Job Racing who ran Porsche GT cars for years and years and years. Team owner, Gabe Newell, he is a gaming star, founder of the Steam gaming interface. Jack Aitken is driving solidly and superbly fending off the challenge of Colin Braun. Now, we have reached the halfway mark.
We join Kevin Lee, Steve Letarte, Jeff Burton, and Parker Kligerman. Sounds good, chaps. Late night at the Rolex. Now the fun starts, mate. The GTP cars are still very new but they are holding their own at this point. Corvette #3 off the pace out of turn six and on the apron of the track. Well, well, well. You have to compete for 24 hours. The Corvette has power. The right rear tire is flat. Welcome to the darkness, ladies and gents. Slow down. Take it easy. That right rear Michelin is hanging by a thread. This is survival mode. Did he drop off the curbs. We are coming to the halfway mark in another hour and a half.
That tire carcass may require a Full Course Yellow. Find a lap under yellow. There is a long, long way to go. The hybrid technology on the GTP cars are unbelievable. Something is fluttering underneath the Corvette, buffeting with the air. The sand to the inside of the yellow curbs in the chicanes, the sand has been moved away and there are holes near those curbs. Be very careful. Corvette Racing has to employ a new strategy to get their lap back. Jack Aitken continues to lead Colin Braun and Matthieu Jaminet in the #6 Porsche 963. Roger Penske will probably stay up all night.
The #3 Corvette C8.R is in the lane doing a brake change after their flat tire. That is a quick disconnect on the brake line. They have a quick disconnect for the caliper, the rotor and the brake fluid. The Corvette C8.R is down and away. The #31 Whelen Cadillac to the lane for a driver change and Alexander Sims is now in the car. The #01 Ganassi Racing Cadillac is in as well. They too appear to be doing the driver change. #31 is doing all they can on double stinting their tires. Trouble for the #01 briefly before it pulls away on electric power and switch to the massive V8 engine.
We are joined by NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. He is at the Rolex 24 for the first time. He ran his sprint car at Volusia County Speedway with his dad this evening. Volusia County Speedway is a fast track. Scott Dixon will be lapped soon as the car stopped as the fuel hose was still attached to the car. A drive through penalty for the #01 and that is a very scary deal. Scott Dixon sharing with Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande. Alexander Sims now leads Colin Braun by nine and a half seconds. Mike Conway leads GTD Pro and Nicki Thiim leads GTD.
Conway leading Vanthoor although he has a daster lap. Thiim in GTD leads a sister Aston Martin by a certain margin. Meantime, Jarett Andretti, Gabby Chaves, Dakota Dickerson, and Rasmus Lindh in the #36 Andretti Autosport LMP3 car, they are in the pit lane, serviced and sent. Jarett Andretti in the car. Sebastian Alvarez is now in the LMP3 lead. Trouble for the #93 Racer's Edge Acura NSX GT3. The bonnet is missing. This is Kyle Marcelli in a car that is ;partly run by Wayne Taylor Racing. Marcelli, Ryan Briscoe, Ashton Harrison, and Danny Formal.
The #36 Andretti Autosport LMP3 car is off the road. Nope. Never mind. That is the #43 MRS GT Racing entry with Sebastian Alvarez at the wheel of it sharing with James French, Guillherme de Oliveira, and Danial Frost. MSR Acura are in the garage putting together a spare gearbox and MGU, (Motor Generator Unit). Braun is 5.3 seconds in-arrears of race leader Alexander Sims. Many GTP teams save for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport have an extra garage crew of people ready to make repairs at a moment's notice.
We are closing in on the halfway mark in this motor race. Criminy! Where does the time go?! Braun is chasing down Alexander Sims. This is getting spicy. Nico Lapierre, Joao Barbosa, Ross Gunn, and Marvin Kirchhofer are the other class leaders and meanwhile, we watch the replay of the bonnet coming off the #93 Racer's Edge Acura and a cluster of cars comes through and absolutely destroyed a 1/4-inch-thick piece of carbon fiber! Holy cow! #60 has taken over the lead from the #31. Braun passes Sims. Cameron in the Porsche is third followed by the Acura of Deletraz. So, Penske and Wayne Taylor are next up.
Earl Bamber is closing on teammate Scott Dixon at Ganassi Racing. Dixon, I think, went off at the West Horseshoe in turn five.
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