Alex Lynn now is leading sharing the car with Earl Bamber and Richard Westbrook. Hartley is now chasing Aitken down for second spot. Only twice in the last 16 years has a three-driver lineup won the Rolex 24. There is pro's and con's to both. Three drivers is the most efficient. Four drivers, you don't get as many laps and someone gets to the short end of the stick, compromising the setup and the cockpit. On the other hand, if a third driver gets sick, it is hard. Colton Herta at BMW, he is going between both BMW M Hybrid V8 GTP cars. At Le Mans you have to do the race with three drivers. Ryan Harber, is BMW's Human Performance Director for both the BMW IMSA team and their IndyCar operation.
Harber is working with the pit crews while another Human Performance Director is working with the drivers, to minimize mistakes. Ryan Harber was a former AA baseball player as well. Last year at the Rolex 24 was brutally cold. This year it is far warmer. Last year was freezing. Hey, it is 3 above zero in Minnesota right now while it is 63 degrees in Daytona Beach as Alex Lynn outbrakes himself into turn one. Oooh! Never mind. That is not. That is Ben Keating leading LMP2. The entry speed into turn one off the trioval is absolutely unbelievable! The front brake rotors are glowing cherry red. Grip increases closer to the dirt as Keating is pasting the left side tires.
The #43 MRS GT Racing LMP3 car is third in class in LMP3 right now. That is De Oliviera leading Heriau as the Action Express Cadillac is in the lane. A double stint for Jack Aitken with new tires going on the car. A tad off strategy but not so bad. This is his debut with the car. A 31-lap stint for Aitken and he is back on track sliding into the Action Express team, having also started two Formula 1 races as Jack Hawksworth wants to do the over under on David Pittard. No dice there, mate. Use the traction control, but do not use too much of it. Some drivers like traction control and others want to use their right foot.
The Lamborghini was the meat in the sandwich driven by Misha Goikhberg. Korthoff Racing into the lane and Mikael Grenier is finished with his stint handing over to Mike Skeen. Mercedes, Aston Martin, and Lexus have the advantage. Three V8 powered, front engine cars. McLaren, Lamborghini, and Porsche are struggling with the mid-engine cars. Porsche 963 #6 is in the pit lane. Nick Tandy out of the car handing over to either Matthieu Jaminet or Dane Cameron. Most GTP cars have been running pretty flawlessly. Cadillac #02 for Ganassi Racing also in.
Richard Westbrook is into the car. He was with Ganassi Racing on their Ford GT program from 2016-2019. This trio will do the full FIA World Endurance Championship. Westbrook also raced a Cadillac DPi drive with JDC-Miller Motorsports last year. We are looking forward to the annual tradition. They are coming. The fireworks over Daytona International Speedway! Yippee! We are already 1/3rd of the way home. Tom Blomqvist in the #60 MSR Acura has gone back to the lead overall. Ben Keating, Gabby Chaves, David Pittard, and Ryan Briscoe are your other class leaders.
What an amazing fireworks show as Richard Westbrook leads Jack Aitken, Ricky Taylor, Matthieu Jaminet, Renger van der Zande, and Phillip Eng. Richard Westbrook went all in with sacrifices to get his career back on track, mortgaging his house to do it. Westbrook was supposed to run with John Church and JDC-Miller Motorsports, and he said he had a deal with Chip Ganassi and John Church said, "you've got to do it. go for it." Lots of trepidation about the GTP cars but everything is running very smoothly right now.
But in the darkness, things can change and do so in a hurry. With the tires, the pace difference from new to old tires at night it is like a NASCAR race. New tires are making a major difference. Be careful with the tires. Westbrook leads Taylor, Aitken, and Jaminet. Cadillac, Acura, Cadillac, Porsche. Full Course Yellow. Full Course Yellow now, for tire bundle repair in turn six. This is the fifth Full Course Yellow of this motor race. That tire bundle got separated and somebody made contact. Maybe, the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes went off the road.
Maxime Martin says the BMW M4 GT3 has been extremely slow on Balance of Performance compared to Porsche and Lamborghini and others in GT Daytona. Ashton Harrison has been doing well in the #93 Racer's Edge Acura NSX GT3 and now we have GTD Pro cars in the pit lane. We saw the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura GTP in the pit lane adding oil to the gearbox. We are under Full Course Yellow with nearly nine hours in the book. The new GTP Michelin tires are more durable and do not sacrifice performance. Michelin tires have won an unprecedented 25 overall races at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a race you will read about here on the blog, in June.
No comments:
Post a Comment