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.
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