Lexus have been a pleasant surprise especially in qualifying in GTD Pro and the car is very compliant over the bumps, but they have been better on speed. I correct that. They have equalized ride and speed. The #14 Lexus is being driven by Jack Hawksworth, Kyle Kirkwood, and Ben Barnicoat. Parker Thompson was assumed to be driving for Porsche. No. He is definitely a Lexus driver. Parker Thompson had a stomach bug but is feeling better. We watch Paul Loup Chatin who is losing pace under safety car conditions. Did he drop down the order to reorganize? Maybe he missed the wave by. He is navigating his way into the right spot. Jordan Taylor says things are difficult with track temp and heat. They are coping with the heat as best as possible and trying to do some fuel saving and we are not even at the halfway mark in the race yet.
We will be at the end of this hour. Jordan Taylor of course will sub for Chase Elliott at Circuit of the Americas in NASCAR Cup in a few weeks. Mike Skeen, he and his team at Korthoff Racing, he is making things work pretty well right now. Teams are strategizing for the points for the North American Endurance Cup and we have already seen the first portion of points handed out and we will see more at eight hours and still more at the end of the motor race. Points for qualifying makes it even more crucial to put in banker laps to find your starting position for one of these endurance sports car races in IMSA and the WeatherTech Championshi-.
Daytona is usually clean and paced out. But Sebring, it is throw caution to the wind and so on. The old LMP1 cars would come and test here even if they weren't racing, to test for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Audi and Team Joest tested their cars here for days and days to try and break the car. 18 different manufacturers in the WeatherTech Championship. Time for a restart. The GTP cars are much heavier than the DPi cars were with a more robust Michelin tire. Gr the tire temperature and pressure into the sweet spots and of course the fly by wire system for the brakes. A pound of tire pressure is 50 pounds of spring rate.
That is 300 pounds of spring rate changing with the tire! Wow! We are almost half finished. Go! Back to green we are and now, Filipe Albuquerque is being chased by Renger van der Zande and Jack Aitken. Michael Christensen wants by Colin Braun with Sheldon van der Linde also in the picture. Here comes Jack Aitken trying to move past Renger van der Zande. The washboard surface of the hairpin is a real challenge. Colin Braun possibly on fresh tires could be vulnerable. Meyer Shank Racing are coming back into the picture, possibly. Wayne Taylor Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing, and Action Express, the top three.
Braun wide into turn two there, look. He was on the wrong trajectory behimd the BMW. Braun running fifth. In the GTD class, there are eight pro level GTD cars and 20 regular level GTD cars fr a total of 28, just over half the field. Alan Metni in the #91 Kelly Moss Porsche 911 GT3R in the class lead. Metni, Indy Dontje, Mikael Grenier, and Roman De Angelis. Kyffin Simpson says that working with co-drivers Scott McLaughlin and John Farano, things are working well and as the track cools, it will be better for the car's handling. The GTD traffic has been firm on whether they want yu to pass or not.
The sun is going to set soon and we will have cooler temperatures to look forward to as Scott McLaughlin is trying to chase down Ben Hanley and Devlin DeFtancesco I believe. Jack Aitken chasing Filipe Albuquerque. Renger van der Zande too. van der Zande has dominated. Scott Dixon as well. The Dallara chassis underneath the Cadillac seems to be a great match for their specific GTP car. It is far more compliant over the bumps. For the short course, turn right after the Tower Turn and back to the front straight. Frederik Schandorff is currently at the wheel of the #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 he is sharing with Brendon Iribe and Jordan Pepper. Coming over the seams on the front straight is like being in a paint shaker.
Jules Gounon, the Daytona winner, he won his third straight Bathurst 12 Hours as well back in February of course. Mercedes oves Gounon as a driver and it is clise, look, between Franck Perera and Patrick Pilet! Wow! Jack Hawksworth right in the middle of this lot. Holy cow! That was a great pass! That is shake and bake, duck and dive kind of stuff! Porsche, the meat in a Lexus sandwich. The McLaren 720S GT3 is more serviceable and Brendon Iribe had a quick but harmless spin earlier and now they are back in the fight. More individual fastest laps being set now. The ambient is still hot at 86 degrees! The lap times falling and pace increasing and the track will be quicker at night.
We do not know about rain. A potential threat in the closing hour or two. Near to the halfway mark here. The #7 Porsche 963 of Michael Christensen, he locked up at turn ten and went off the road. Drive through penalty for the #63 Lamborghini for blocking. That was an absurd level f ewaving. Filipe Albuquerque and Renger van der Zande pressing it and van der Zande goes long around the outside. Albuquerque times the run but van der Zande rolls around the outside and we are not even halfway home yet! Settle down, lads!
van der Zande wants a Captain Cook on Albuquerque. Traffic ahead. What will the stewards say? All eight GTP cars on the lead lap. Top five cars on the lead lap in LMP2 and LMP3. Seven GTD Pro's on the lead lap and 15 GTD's. The skies are darkening. Thunderstorms expected in the next hour and in the closing two hours. Cinch down the belts and get the rain tires out. Frank Perera serves his penalty and will have to take the pain for Iron Lynx sharing with Romain Grosjean and Jordan Pepper. Traffic all over the place.
The cars will behave differently depending on which driver is at the wheel. The same is true for a driver who does not know who was in the car last and there can be bad blood when you don't want it to be as Scott McLaughlin passes Paul Loup Chatin. van der Zande reeling in Albuquerque. We have to see about tire allocation for the GTP teams. Do they have to conserve and double stint? The Action Express Cadillac continues to double stint. Jack Aitken still at the controls. Aitken is making inroads on the top two. Tom Blomqvist at Meyer Shank Racing says they have done all the double stinting they need to do.
In GTD Pro, Jules Gounon continues chasing Tommy Milner for the class lead. The Mercedes is the heaviest GTD car on the track. Jack Aitken continues tomrun extremely well and is chasing Renger van der Zande. The Cadillac is a very robust car. Jack Aitken is continuing to push. The Cadillac is robust and it has good drivability with the normally aspirated V8 motor without the use of turbocharging. Ben Hanley's gap over Scott McLaughlin in LMP2 has ballooned to 17+ seconds. Gabby Chaves leads Dakota Dickerson in LMP3. Tommy Milner for Corvette leads GTD Pro in the Corvette while Indy Dontje leads the GTD class in the Winward Mercedes.
Jack Aitken is really pushing, flashing the lights at the GTD Pro and GTD cars. Manage time loss and minimize it in both prototype and GT classes. Know the tracks and the passing places. Danny Formal is under siege from Fredrik Schandorff in GTD. Colin Braun slicing and dicing in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura. Danny Formal had a small off but is back at it. He went from karting to Mazda MX-5 Cup a decade ago. Had a chance in Lamborghini Super Trofeo. He is a factory go kart driver too who coaches other younger drivers as well. Albuquerque gapping the field, pulling out a tremendoaus amount of daylight over the Cadillac's.
Of the 54 cars that started, only two have retired. 52 cars remaining on track. These cars are built to such a high level and the reliability has gone up. LMP2, look, it is a hammer and tongs battle between Scott McLaughlin, Paul-Loup Chatin, and Ben Hanley. Kyffin Simpson too, is still pushing. Scott McLaughlin made his first laps in the dark here at Sebring. How will he handle the night running? I think Kyffin Simpson will get set to take over from Scott McLaughlin. John Farano was the solo LMP2 champion last year in the WeatherTech Championship. Farano has met his drive time and so Simpson and McLaughlin will take it home.
Jack Aitken has gone by Renger van der Zande as the #7 Porsche 963 is in the lane for service. BMW #24 is also in the lane for service once more. Long race yet and lots to come. BMW have seen far better pace than they did at Daytona. With the #01 Cadillac, let's see what is happening. Renger van der Zande is having trouble with downshifting but I think it is intentional. What is that? I wonder. The downshift was purposeful but maybe he just let Jack Aitken by.
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