We have just passed halfway home here at the Rolex 24. The Rolex Daytona watch. That is what everybody wants. We have had a myriad of pit stops for energy replenishment among the GTP cars. Meyer Shank and Team Penske for instance. Under yellow, we have been making laps and yours truly has gone downstairs for my own energy replenishment. Water, brownies, and cookies if you must know. So, we shall join Jonny Palmer, Joe Bradley, Shea Adam, and IMSA Radio for the next few hours to get the analysis as we go through the night here at Daytona International Speedway now well past the halfway mark in the motor race but with a long, long, long way to go.
Hello to Jonny Palmer and Joe Bradley on IMSA Radio. A chance to reset indeed is what we have. We had a long green flag run and had only three yellows in the first six or so hours. But we have had three or four yellows since then going to the 400-lap mark. Dane Cameron leads in the Porsche 963, car #6. The #7 has had massive dramas. Pipo Derani in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac for Action Express and we saw major drama for the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing/Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06. We saw oil replenishment on the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura as well.
Time to go racing again. Joe Bradley in the pit lane. Welcome to Daytona and yes, we love these GTP cars! These cards are so visceral and now we are back to green flag racing! Dane Cameron in the Porsche 963 of Pipo Derani in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V LMDh. Pagenaud next and then Marco Wittmann in the #24 BMW M LMDh. They thunder into the night at 2AM. The Daytona restarts offer an opprtunity to dive to the inside through turn one. Many GTD blokes and ladies getting it wrong. Everyone is flying. Le Mans is great for restarts but so is Daytona.
Alex Lynn in the #02 Chip Ganassi Cadillac V LMDh and Lynn is coming back in a hurry scrapping with Simon Pagenaud to the kink. Pagenaud is caught flat footed through the kink. The GTD Pro and GTD cars have traction woes as well. Louis Deletraz in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing/Andretti Autosport Acura is doing all he can to get a lap back and now, Simon Pagenaud has passed Alkex Lynn. Pagenaud is giving Pipo Drrani all he can handle. Former teammates, these two. Derani and Lynn going hammer and tongs with their Cadillac's.
Job Van Uitert leads Alex Quin nand Nicklas Nielsen in LMP2. in LMP3 we'll check and see who is where. Maxi Gotz leading David Pittard in GTD. David Pittard leading GTD Pro ahead of Daniel Juncadella as well. Now then, Pipo Derani is doing all he can to pass Pipo Derani and he has. Porsche #7 laps behind, Michael Christensen doing all he can, drawing level with Pipo Derani. Christensen stepping up to the prototype game out of GT cars. We have eight of nine GTP cars in the order. Daniel Morad, fourth in GT Daytona chasing dowqn Aaron Telitz in the Lexus RC F GT3. Andy Lally second.
Leading in class in the Maxi Goetz. I think the race has settled back down a wee bit after the restart. Pagenaud is reeling Cameron in hand over fist. Cameron slams the door in Pagenaud's face. Simon Pagenaud seems to have the quickest car on the road in GTP right now. Dane Cameron's car is squirming around on ratty old tires while Pagenaud is on new boots. Through speedway turn four, Cameron and is drag racing the Acura! Pagenaud passes going 'round the outside of the GTD Pro car! There is a whole chunk of GTD Pro or GTD traffic ahead.
Two very quick GTD Pro cars were in the way of the leaders. The two Ganassi Cadillac's have now moved to third and fourth. Alex Lynn in #02 and Scott Dixon in #01. The GT3 cars are all built to the same regulations and how you are using a non-professional lineup with Bronze and Silver rated drivers. Just like GTE Am in the FIA World Endurance Championship. We should look at the #78 U.S. Racetronics Lamborghini in GTD. Keep your eyes on that one. Misha Goikhberg, Loris Spinelli, Benja Hites, and Marco Mapelli. Simon Pagenaud now leads Dane Cameron. Three Cadillac's behind the Acura and the Porsche.
Lynn, Dixon, Derani. Third through fifth has not changed and a lot can happen as we have 11 hours and 15 minutes left on the board. We have some dedicated teams in IMSA and in World Endurance and so, some teams will run three drivers at Daytona just like how it works at Le Mans in June. A penalty in Ben Barnicoat's future. Hmmm. That's an interesting obversvation for the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. Barnicoat sharing with Mike Conway and with Jack Hawksworth. Tom Blomqvist, pole man, set fastest lap at a 1:35.616.
A freak gust of wind under braking into the Le Mans chicane, that was how Nick Tandy crashed the Porsche in qualifying. In LMP2 it is Esteban Guttierez leading the class and in LMP3 it is Wayne Boyd as Connor Bloum serves a penalty aboard the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry in LMP3. Guttierez in the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca sharing with George Kurtz, Ben Hanley, and Matt McMurry. Then, Wayne Boyd has the wheel of the #17 sharing with Thomas Merrill, Anthony Mantella, and Nico Varrone. Boyd is the only LMP3 car on the lead lap.
Pagenaud, Lynn, Cameron, Dixon, the top four in GTP right now. Esteban Guttierez wil;l pit now afer a 25 lap stint. Nicklas Nielsen will take over the class lead. David Pittard and Daniel Morad lead GTD Pro and GTD. Pittard and Daniel Juncadella both flying. We saw David Pittard in the NLS Nurburgring Endurance Championship and Juncadella was a winner in the Spa 24 Hours in an all GT3 series in SRO Europe last year. Cooper MacNeil, a driver who has been at it for years, he is going to be moving away from driving a race car save for a handful, probably.
David Pittard had the Aston Martin wriggling around out of the Bus Stop chicane. But now, he is really being harried by Daniel Juncadella. The GTP blokes are flying on the bottom of the track. We are listening to the broadcast of IMSA Radio with Jonny Palmer and Bruce Jones at this moment. We are nearing another race hour's end. 13 hours down and 11 left to run.
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