Into the second half of the race. Scott McLaughlin having a good run in the Tower Motorsports LMP2 car. The car is OK. The hardest issue for McLaughlin are the bumps in turn one and turn 17. Eoman de Angelis off the road in the #27 Aston Martin. Filipe Albuquerque in the pit lane aboard the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura. Albuquerque does a double stint. Jack Aitken is getting out and now Pipo Derani is back into the #31 Whelen Cadillac. Between 3PM and 5PM the track conditions are at their worst. Kyffin Simpson is back to second in LMP2 vs. Alex Quinn at PR1/Mathiasen. Side by side and Simpson holds it over Quinn. Roman de Angelis runs into the Lamborghini of Loris Spinelli and both spin. Renger van der Zande will stay in the #01 Cadillac. Has everyone done their double stints? Not yet.
Fuel only in the #01 camp. Penske Porsche in the lane and the #52 has gone off the road and back on. Alex Quinn, the 22-year-old British driver. van der Zande is chasing Albuquerque. Pipo Derani passes Renger van der Zande. Are van der Zande's tires off? Rear lockup and something is majorly wrong at the back of the #01. Hello, brake by wire and traction control. Regeneration on the rear wheels of the GTP cars not like the front wheel regeneration on the Hypercars in the World Endurance Championship. It is possible that the idea is to back down the traction settings. van der Zande knows he has to drive smart and is in survival mode right now.
The #79 WeatherTech Mercedes AMG GT3 is in the lane and Jules Gounon will hand over to either Daniel Juncadella or to Maro Engel. Augusto Farfus in trouble in the #24 BMW M Hybrid. He is pulling to the side of the road. Straight to the garage for BMW. Tommy Milner in the lane in the #3 Corvette C8.R. Tommy Milner could drive a road course race for the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Jordan Taylor has also going for a NASCAR drive and Kyffin Simpson has a huge spin and wreck! #8, big damage to that Tower Motorsports Oreca.
Kyffin Simpson had to pinch the car, tried to move, and spun, and poor old Augusto Farfus is completely stranded, completely conked out and very close to the pit entrance and the paddock area. We are getting into countdown mode. Into the second half of the race. It is hot, tiring, demanding. But you must be there at the very end. The attrition rate is low. 51 cars of the 53 starters still running. Green flag. The battle is on. Albuquerque, van der Zande, Derani, Dane Cameron, the sister Porsche is coming. Derani to P2. Something is amiss with the #01 Cadillac. Tom Blomqvist wants by the two Porsche's and the BMW.
We do not have all eight GTP cars on the lead lap after Augusto Farfus has gone to the paddock. van der Zande is dropping like a stone. Radiator woes and the engine went bang on the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8. Game over. So, Dane Cameron passes van der Zande and now, he has Connor de Philippi on his six. Blomqvist is pushing hard and has to move. Matt Campbell ahead in the second Porsche 963. Something very strange happening with the #01 Cadillac. It is clearly an intermittent problem on that particular car.
Look at this cluster buster for the GTD cars! Track denisty like craxy and there goes the beleaguered #66 Gradient Racing Acura! Oh boy. The #32 Korthoff Mercedes and the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin have violated something with fuel fill and fuel flow rate. That's odd. Many teams have run afoul of it in a few different classes. The #44 Magnus Racing Flex Box Aston Martin Vantage, with Spencer Pumpelly at the controls is hanging around and staying in touch. Pumpelly sharing with John Potter and Andy Lally. The #01 Cadillac is in trouble with a sensor for their tires. van der Zande has to let other drivers by.
#01 has fresh tires. Albuquerque leads Derani by a second and a half with Dane Cameron third. Genuine racing with just five and a quarter hours to go. Hendricks Field, the original name of this place, has a park in it now. Hendricks Field Memorial Park at Sebring International Raceway. That is fabulous. The original flagpole location during WW. II. for the bomber base is back. Great history and great recognition of those who have done so much to serve our nation. Traffic unreal as Corey Lewis is off the road at turn one exit. This is an ice cream headache for the trailing cars who are blinded by all the dust.
The #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 is out. Game over for Augusto Farfus, Marco Wittman, and Philipp Eng. But only two GTP cars have retired from the opening races we have seen. Amazing. This is the largest field we have seen at Sebring since 2014. Matt Campbell in the #7 Porsche 963 now in the prototype program. 120 staff to run the four cars, two WEC entries and two IMSA entries. Two Porsche entries in WEC and they finished fifth and sixth in the Hypercar class. Nolan Siegel at the wheel of the #04 Crowdstrike Oreca, leading in LMP2. Nolan Siegel is an Indy Next driver in open wheel racing as well as in sports cars. Kyffin Simpson seems to be coming back into the picture.
In LMP3, currently, it is Gabby Chaves leading in the #36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320 Nissan. Glenn van Berlo and Jarett Andretti the next driver being chased by Garrett Grist in the #30 JR III car he shares with Dakota Dickerson and Ari Balogh. Gabby Chaves was the 2015 IndyCar Rookie of the Year. Chaves has driven with the Deltawing team and with Action Express in the past. Massive front and reat end damage to the #8 Tower Motorsports Oreca LMP2 car of course. It is all cosmetic damage and so they are not worried about it. Kudos to the sturdiness of these LMP2 cars.
Scott McLaughlin will finish the race. Full Course Yellow. Debris on the road. Ah. What is that? We will reset and launch into the final five hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment