Derani has a flat tire. The LMP3 car gets on the curb spins, and Pipo Derani makes contact. The left front tire is flat. Safety car on the backstretch. Keep the car out to build a gap to the safety car to avoid losing a lap but the tire is going down. The tire is flattening. Wait until the pit lane opens. Action Express standing by to make repairs. The polesitter who led the majority of the recent part of the race. The tire is not smoking. I wonder if they can get in and perform emergency service. The tire seems fine and the bodywork is OK. A piece of bodywork just came off the car and the splitter is crashing on the ground. Ian Watt, Tim Keane, Peter Baron, and the rest of our staff at Action Express have the savvy for the strategy. Can Action Express overcome this adversity?
More carbon fiber coming off the car. Those are very sharp pieces. The car is continually being damaged. AXR needs a new nose piece. Action Express has replaced the nose but there is no sideview mirror. They are reshuffling, regrouping and we saw the other GTP cars coe back in for routine service. The #10 Acura of Ricky Taylor is now in the lead but there is trouble too for the #6 Porsche 963. Maybe not trouble. Maybe they are changing downforce. The mirror on the #31 is replaced. They have handled the situation very well and not getting flustered. Our boys at Action Express got a very lucky break. Action Express will have to take a penalty for emergency service. Alexander Sims is now in the #31. Scott Dixon has taken over the #01. Helio Castroneves in #60. Phillip Eng and Nick Yelloly at BMW, Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy at Porsche.
We are also seeing the GTD Pro and GTD field in the lane. Team Korthoff leading the pack. A driver change at WeatherTech Racing. Jordan Taylor in the Corvette is in. Taylor will make his NASCAR Cup debut at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, next weekend, the first Cup road course race of the year. GTD Pro and GTD cars do not get split. Clean bodywork for the #31 Whelen Engineering Action Express Cadillac and they are going to claw their way back. Pipo Derani says that everything is back on track.
Double stinting qualifying tires was a team decision and they were struggling with the LMP3 car spinning right in front of the car. Everything seems to be back together. New tires and a new nose. Thankfully just the front nose was damaged. Make decisions on double stinting the tires to have enough to the end. Begin with the most aggressive to put in more tires to the end of the race and the pace dropped off after pole qualifying. It seems Action Express is going to get back into the picture. Take the pain now and get back at it as we join Dave Burns and Brian Till in the booth.
We are 20 minutes into hour three and have seen mistakes. Here at Sebring, mistakes will cost you. You have to be vigilant and cautious at the same time. Matt Yocum and Hannah Newhouse on pit lane taking care of things. Ricky Taylor in the #10 Acura leads the motor race sharing with Filipe Albuquerque and Louis Deletraz. w31 drove through the pit lane and they will hae to do the drive through penalty, fixing the mirror. Alexander Sims will have to be patient. Scott Dixon meanwhile has the wheel of the #01 Ganassi Racing Cadillac. One tire compound formeveryone in GTP and today at Sebring is hot. They will squirm at the end of a double stint.
Ganassi Racing have single stinted their tires and they know the Acura's are dealing with tire degradation. Pipo Derani was told at the start by Seb Bourdais, "hey man, just do your thing." At some point in time the Cadillac's know they will have to pay the piper for double stinting tires and not single stinting. Green flag! Ricjky Taylor and Phillip Eng both get blinders of restarts. Castroneves in the #60 Acura is pushing. The tires are only now just coming up to pressure. Felipe Nasr at the wheel of the #7 Porsche 963 for Porsche Penske Motorsports. BMW and Porsche have more pace than they did at the Rolex 24. Penske ran two Porsche's in the FIA WEC race yesterday as Helio Castroneves locks the brakes and drives off the road but is back on.
Castroneves locked the brakes, straightened his hands, and now, Scott Fixon passes Ricky Taylor for the lead with a power move! There is still a long, long way to go. These are world class drivers who know what is going on but with 15-20 minutes to go, all bets are off. Philipp Eng in the BMW now right on Ricky Taylor's six. The BMW got a weight break and the Acura's had weight added. Cadillac and BMW both have Dallara chassis'. Acura are built by Oreca and Porsche has a Multimatic chassis. Acura's have better mechanical grip but the Dallara chassis for the BMW and the Cadillac is better over the bumps.
Kenton Koch leading GT Daytona in the #32 Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3. Cadillac #31 had a penalty for coming into a closed pit lane. Alexander Sims working his way back. The #11 car is penalized for not meeting minimum refueling time. Just brush off the penalties and focus forward. Face adversity and plow through it. The 12 Hours of Sebring is a far more difficult race to win than Daytona or Le Mans. High cars number per mile, the track itself, traffic, and more. Phillipp Eng all over Ricky Taylor. The BMW M Hybrids are hitting their stride here at Sebring compared to the troubles they had at the Rolex 24 in January.
BMW wants a win. They have two here at Sebring in 1975 and 1999. The BMW 3.5 CSL has been here and so has the BMW V12 LMR. The BMW factory drivers have come through the GT ranks but for the first time they are in a prototype. Eng all over Taylor like a rash. Eng is looking all over the shop to try and find a way around Ricky Taylor. All the concrete patches have different bumps and different grip levels. Asphalt to concrete to asphalt. The main runways from Hendricks Field have been untouched. The runways and taxiways are 10 to 12 feet square and six feet thick moving on the sandy soil. You cannot grind down the old concrete. It is impossible. Now then, Jordan Taylor has indeed taken over the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R from Antonio Garcia.
He says surviving in the heat is something the team knows and they have won Sebring numerous times before. They can be proactive and not have to chase the conditions. Side by side in LMP3 and a spun there for the #74 Riley Motorsports LMP3. Jarett Andretti did not leave room for Gar Robinson in turn 14 sharing with Josh Burdon and Felipe Fraga. Jarett Andretti to the lead in the LMP3 class. Jarett Andretti is doing some GTD racing in the sprint events in an Aston Martin. LMP3 shemozzle under review by the stewards. Glenn van Berlo had a great qualifying run, coming from GT machinery as does his brother Kay van Berlo.
Jordan Taylor leads in GTD Pro and Jordan Taylor will fill in for the injured Chase Elliott in the first road race for NASCAR. Jeff Gordon called Jordan Taylor to drive the NASCAR Cup car next weekend. He got a phone call on Thursday to get him certified and licensed as a NASCAR driver. He will test the car here at Sebring. He has also been the driver for the Hendrick Motorsports Garage 56 NASCAR car, but it is different from a current Cup car. The tire is totally different. The racing aspect will be a big deal. The physicality and pit stops are different as well compared to IMSA. It is a process drivers need to go through.
Scott Dixon is the leader of this motor race and that has not changed. Scott Dixon contnues in the lead of the motor race. Dennis Andersen leads LMP2. Jarett Andreti in LMP3, Taylor and Koch still lead the two GTD classes, GTD Pro and GTD. Dixon wants to win the Indianapolis 500 again. Romain Groxjean, a fellow IndyCar driver, moments ago he took the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 off the road. The committment of turn one here at Sebring is bonkers. Squeeze the brakes and shift down a gear and get right back to power. The bumps will come up different. This is the #63 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Iron Lynx for Romain Grosjean, the Frenchman, Jordan Pepper from South Africa, and Frenchman Franck Perera.
Andretti Autosport team manager Robin Pemberton says that Jarett Andretti is learning well from his teammate. Robin Pemberton has been in motorsports for a long, long time. Best thing to do as a young driver is to keep your ears open and your mouth shut. Write letters, knock on doors, and see if you can get a foot in the door. Be bold. Be daring. Keep your ears open and your mouth shut. Be willing to start at the bottom and work your way up. Ricky Taylor continues to hold of Phillipp Eng for second. Eng will know the part number of the wing of the Acura and now, Felipe Nasr goes to the outside. Eng has the preferred line over the Porsche into Sunset Bend.
Nasr knew he would get hung out to dry. Discretion very much the better part of valor. Scott Dixon is checking out. That #01 Cadillac seems to have the setup under it. It is very balanced and we see a spin for Dennis Andersen, the once LMP2 leader. Nolan Siegel goes ahead in the #04 Crowdstrike with APR Oreca sharing with George Kurtz and Ben Hanley. Anothe rprototype was involved. Andersen is sharing the High Class #20 Oreca with Ed Jones and Anders Fjordbach. He had to check up. You put the brakes on but only on the rear. It is like grabbing the handbrake on a road car. Ben Keating chasing Nolan Siegel.
We are seeing great young drivers in IMSA. Nolan Siegel, Seth Lucas, and more, sharing the track with Pipo Derani, Scott Dixon, and Sebastien Bourdais. This is history being made. APR Crowdstrike Racing are looking for redemption in LMP2 this weekend. It was 16 thousandths of a second at the finish in LMP2 of the Rolex 24! Wow! In GRP, the fight is on between Taylor, Eng, Nasr, and more. Eng and Nasr still battling and a slow car gives Tandy the momentum to run inside Felipe Nasr over the bumps. Let's not be silly, boys. Be smart. The GTD drivers cannot push a disappear button. They are going as fast as possible.
They cannot just move out of the way. Drive your line and be predictable. So, Nick Tandy is chasing Philipp Eng who is in turn chasing Ricky Taylor through the esses and into the Tower Turn. Ah. The esses are right here. The #8 Tower Motorsports LMP2 car of John Farano spins.
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