Game on in four of the five classes. Porsche in the fight and Felipe Nasr has pitted the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963. The out lap is tricky getting the tires up to temperature. The #74 LMP3 car was speeding along and now Jaminet is coming but Porsche in trouble. Nasr, a drive through penalty for working outside the pit box. Jaminet pouring the steam on Albuquerque. The #7 stayed out? No. Nasr stayed out? Penske appealing the penalty. Jaminet working over Albuquerque! Albuquerque defensive! Side bynside between Porsche and Acura. Porsche to the front. Wow. Jaminet leads the motor race. Albuquerque back to the front and off goes the Porsche. Nasr has four laps to serve the penalty. Big crash! What is it? It looks like a Lamborghini into the fence. Cannot find reverse. Oh dear. It is the #78 Loris Spinelli driven GTD car, the Arrow sponsored car for Loris Spinelli, Benja Hites, and Misha Goikhberg.
Maro Engel into the #79 WeatherTech Mercedes in the lane for the final stop. Corvette coming in as well to cycle back to the front of GTD Pro. Aitken looking to get by Nasr. Filipe Albuquerque and Matthieu Jaminet, pushing. #7 and #31 in the lane. A top up on fuel for the Whelen Cadillac. Aitken can get home the rest of the way in spite of the sensor issue. 11th Full Course Yellow. 48 minutes to go to the finish of this one. Stay with us. Moments ago the Porsche of Matthieu Jaminet leapfrogs the #10 Acura on pit lane. A clean track, and we have a 42 minute boxing match coming up.
Still under yellow. We have had quite the special, unpredictable motor race. Only one class where one team has an advantage and that is the #74 74 Ranch Riley Motorsports Ligier of Felipe Fraga a lap up on Matt Bell. 37 minutes left to race. There are five GTP cars on the lead lap. Five LMP2 cars on the lead lap. Six on the lead lap in GTD Pro andf 11 in GTD. Cinch down those belts and get ready. This is going to be a massively wild finish. Get ready to ride a bucking bronco to the end of this motor race, ladies and gents. A rollercoaster is what this is going to be.
34 minutes of racing remaining. Turner Motorsports tell us that they are not sure if they'll make it on fuel with their M4 GT3. We'll see what happens. Robby Foley taking it to the flag. Madison Snow is short on fuel and Fredrik Schandorff might be short on fuel. Jack Aitken leads the motor race with the #31 Whelen Cadillac. Green flag. Matthieu Jaminet second and Filipe Albuquerque third. Tread carefully. Jaminet is the shark. Aitken is the minnow. Jaminet to the outside. Aiken not giving up. Jaminet has more grip under braking.
Albuquerque in the fight. Albuquerque pushes Aitken and here comes Felipe Nasr! Jeez! Jaminet is flying and the #27 Aston Martin of Marco Sorensen has stuffed it in the wall. Three iwide in GTP. Albuquerque pushes through. Jaminet ahead of Aitken. Aitken fourth. Nasr up to third. #27 is back on track. But he is barely in it, snowplowing the dirt all over the shop. We might see another Full Course Yellow. Sorensen has a broken left front. The #25 BMW of Nick Yelloly is haranguing Jack Aitken. Scott McLaughlin leads Mikkel Jensen, Paul Loup Chatin, and Nolan Siegel.
Penske Porsche in frpont. Jaminet, Albuquerque, Nasr, Aitken. We have a long way to go yet. The Porsche's have come alive at Sebring. Felipe Fraga looking good in LMP3. Patrick Pilet leads GTD Pro and Madison Snow leads GT Daytona. Porsche in GTD Pro and BMW in GTD. Only 24 minutes to go. Don't go anyplace. Trouble in GTD for an Aston Martin! It is the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin of Andy Lally sharing with John Potter and Spencer Pumpelly. The floor under the car is totally busted. Filipe Albuquerque is flying trying to get past Matthieu Jaminet. 8/10ths of a second after 11 hours of racing.
All five new era GTP cars are on the lead lap. It is going to get crazy! GTD traffic ahead. Albuquerque wants to win and knows he has to send it. Scott McLaughlin now leads LMP2 by 2.2 seconds in the #8 Tower Motorsports Oreca. In IndyCar he tested but on the short course here at Sebring. A major penalty in GTD for Mikael Grenier in the #32 Team Korthoff Mercedes AMG GT3. Driver responsibility for the Andy Lally incident. Madison Snow leads Robby Foley in GT Daytona. Julien Andlauer in the Kelly Moss with Riley Porsche on the podium. Wow. Foley has three more laps of fuel in his pocket over Madison Snow.
Vasser Sullivan could get back to back podiums in GTD Pro. The GTP cars are in the mud with the GTD cars! It is a wrestling match. Decisive is key. So is commitment. Jaminet moving in. Albuquerque wide and almost and they hit! Albuquerque and Jaminet are out! Oh man! Both Penske Porsche's are in it. Jack Aitken to the top of the shop! Huge hit from Nasr on Albuquerque. Albuquerque tried to find a hole and the door was closed in the darkness. Albuquerque is upset with Jaminet. Wow. Wayne Taylor is absolutely shell shocked.
Wayne Taylor Racing has only ever won Sebring once. 15 minutes to go. Wayne Taylor says the Porsche pushed Filipe Albuquerque off the road. Penalties won't do any good. In replay, Albuquerque richochets off the wall and then Jaminet gets hit and the #7 of Nasr uses the sister car as a ramp! Oh man! Jaminet was stalled out. Albuquerque had no place to go. Jaminet boxed in in the traffic and then Albuquerque goes off and Nasr gets clobbered by the #91 Kelly Moss GT Daytona Porsche 911 GT3R. Antonio Garcia in the Corvette C8.R also gets clouted.
Just over ten minutes to go. Pipo Derani is going for his fourth Sebring victory, fifth overall. Seven and a half minutes to go. Jack Aitken has Nick Yelloly in the BMW behind. Half a dozen cars in the last incident. Six minutes to go. Jonathan Diuguid, Penske Porsche managing director says that the team was two laps down and had real hard racing with the #10. They don't want to wreck but it was hard racing. It is pitch dark as we go green. Green white checker.
Aitken takes off. Yelloly lazy getting back to power. In GTD Pro and GTD it is wide open for the last two laps. The GTD Pro and GTD battle is bonkers. Two and a quarter seconds advantage to Jack Aitken. Only two GTP cars left. LMP2 scrap. Oliver Rasmussen and Mikkel Jensen. Scott McLaughlin in it as well. Two laps to go. Madison Snow leading GTD by half a second. Patrick Pilet leading GTD Pro. Scott McLaughlin fending off Mikkel Jensen in LMP2. Nothing in it for LMP2. McLaughlin going for it.
Almost three seconds between Aitken and Yelloly in GTP. Someone is off and it is Jensen I think. Scott McLaughlin, three-time Aussie Supercar champ and three-time IndyCar winner. Snow might be in the clear in GTD. Pilet has a gap. Contact in the GTD cars. Last run for the #31 and my boys at Action Express are the winners! Sebring, 2023! Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims, and Jack Aitken give Cadillac and the V Series R GTP car, its first victory in modern GTP racing! Tower Motorsports wins LMP2 with the #8 car of Kyffin Simpson, John Farano, and Scott McLaughlin after winning the LMP2 class at the Rolex 24.
In LMP3 the winners are the #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan of Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, and Aussie Josh Burdon. In GTD Pro, Pfaff Motorsports #9 does it for their 101st class win for Porsche at Sebring. Klaus Bachler. Patrick Pilet, and Laurens Vanthoor do it. Paul Miller Racing win GTD for BMW with Madison Snow, Corey Lewis, and Bryan Sellers! Car #1 is #1.
Overall/GTP: #31 Derani/Sims/Aitken Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing Cadillac V Series R
LMP2: #8 Farano/McLaughlin/Simpson Tower Motorsports Oreca 07
LMP3: #74 Robinson/Fraga/Burdon Riley Ligier JS P320 Nissan
GT Daytona Pro: #9 Bachler/Pilet/Vanthoor Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R
GT Daytona: #1 Snow/Lewis/Sellers Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3
Yours truly is bushed after a great race today! We'll talk it all over tomorrow with post-race news and some reaction about my buddies from Action Express winning this thing. For now, from the orange groves of Sebring, Florida, good night, everybody and take care. Have a pleasant evening. Bye bye.
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