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.
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