A lot of LMP2 teams will come over from Europe for IMSA because LMP2 will not be in the World Endurance Championship save for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We will see a dozen LMP2 cars next year it appears. We'll have to have a good look at the 2024 entry list again which we did talk about a handful of days ago. Cadillac and GM will perhaps come into Formula 1 but they have to reach an agreement with Formula 1 Management. GTP pit stops coming. Ganassi, Action Express, and Wayne Taylor Racing all to the lane. Scott Dixon in the #01. They are out of the championship mix for the drviers' cup. Jack Aitken and company at Action Express on the comeback trail, staying in front of the other contenders. Jack Aitken will do a double, or triple stint.
In the #10 Acura, Louis Deletraz takes over. Louis Deletraz earned pole yesterday as the third driver on the team and it is the #10 Acura to the lead over the #01 and #31. Still under yellow. Did Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport do a short fill? A driver change, at the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche. Jan Heylen out and either Zach Robichon or Ryan Hardwick in. The Lamborghini's are on fuel and driver change stops as Andy Lally takes over the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 from Spencer Pumpelly.
Andy Lally will do a double stint and Spencer Pumpelly should take the car to the end. I don't know if that is how it will be or not. Iron Dames in the lane for service and a driver change. Well, well, well. They have gained back a couple of laps. Doriane Pin handing off to Michelle Gatting. We are going back to green next time by. Louis Deletraz leads ahead of Scott Dixon, Jack Aitken, Tom Blomqvist, Jenson Button, and more. The Cadillac's are quick on the restarts and here comes Tom Blomqvist. Blomqvist under massive pressure from Felipe Nasr in the #7 Penske Porsche.
Some of the cars still do not have sufficient heat in the tires. Louis Deletraz scampering away from the two Cadillac's. Deletraz has more experience than Scott Dixon in sports car racing or at least I think. Paul Loup Chatin is chasing down the #04 of Ben Hanley. GTP and LMP2 may come down to single digits. This LMP2 battle is getting tasty. Chatin is closing in on Hanley. Quinn and Chatin are rookies at Petit Le Mans but Chatin has won at the Rolex 24 and has been an LMP2 champion. In GT Daytona, Doriane Pin has done so well with the Iron Dames. She likes Road Atlanta as a track and enjoys driving it.
The Lamborghini is a good car as well. Doriane Pin should finish the race. She is still a teenager but is incredibly fast! Kenton Koch, too, is spectacular in GT cars driving this Korthoff Preston Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Mikael Grenier and Mike Skeen. Zacharie Robichon is leading the GT Daytona class in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R with Jan Heylen and Ryan Hardwick. Patrick Pilet is back to the GTD Pro lead with the damage being completely fixed. Modular built cars, the wave by and pass around procedures in the rules as well. You can be down a lap or two and race your way back to the lead lap.
Patrick Pilet leading Jordan Pepper, the South African, in the #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. Trouble again for the #12 Lexus RC F GT3. Oh, never mind. They are back on track racing but just turning laps, 46 laps down. The #14 sister car in GTD Pro are not going to win the race but they've won the title. Jack Aitken chasing Scott Dixon down and Louis Deletraz still has the lead of this motor race. Aitken closing in and fast. Dakota Dickerson in the #30 JR III LMP3 car and the glare of the sun is only getting worse.
Dakota Dickerson a very talent driver who ran open wheel cars and swapped to sports car racing. He is a driver coach. Jimmie Johnson tested a Formula Regional (Formula 3) car with Dakota Dickerson as his driver coach. Felipe Nasr balks Connor De Philippi and that could raise the dander of the stewards. This is the 985 or the 85 on the north side of Atlanta. My gosh. Don't get hung to the outside as a GT driver because you are at the limit and the prototyupes are trying to slam the door right in your face. Bill Auberlen in the #95 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 just passed Trent Hindman in the #77 Wright Motorsports Porsche.
What will the Turner Motorsports BMW lineup look like next year? They may have just one car in IMSA next year. Alex Riberas saw a prototype coming and let him through. That does not always work out without being very dodgy. That is the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 he shares with Ross Gunn and David Pittard. At th top of the shop, Scott Dixon is reeling in Louis Deletraz with Jack Aitken continuing in third place. Three and a half hours to go. Things are starting to change with the performance of the cars and the shadows growing long. The track will begin cooling off.
The light will become an issue and the cars will come alive in the cooler air but the grip from the pavement on the track will begin going away. Deletraz in a huge cluster of traffic. Dixon gets bottled up behind the traffic. Traffic giveth, traffic taketh away. The GTP and GTD cars are almost equivalent in speed and now, Dixon is right on top of Deletraz! The #01 car just wants to win. Dixon has a Captain Cook but Deletraz stays ahead. This is a 200 mile an hour chess match. Traffic will not fully clear up.
Jack Aitken is clsoing in on the top two. The #31 Whelen Cadillac can still win the title. Dixon will not fight Aitken. Contact for the #10 Acura of Deletraz with a GTD car. Oh my! He got through and now, Aitken wants by Dixon! Aitken gets balked. Jack Aitken is right on top of Dixon but the #10 is gone. In LMP2 the battle is on between #52, #11, and #04. Paul Loup Chatin vs. Mikkel Jensen with Ben Hanley scampering away. The #6 Porsche 963 is spun and off the road. Major damage to the rear wing and suspension fdmage on that Porsche 963.
The wheel is askew. Left rear suspension trouble. Find a safe haven to pull off if you cannot get to the pit lane. Laurens Vanthoor has been able to pul, to drver's right and to a corner station. That was a diabolical situation as Deletraz still leads the motor race gapping three and a half seconds on Scott Dixon. The #31 Whelen Cadillac and the #25 BMW are still in contention. We will welcome back Leigh Diffey, Calvin Fish, and Townsend Bell in the broadcast booth here in a moment. Oh my! Now the #11 TDS Racing Oreca is off the road as well, look.
I think he's stuffed it into the barriers. Oh dear. The right front corner is gone! This is huge in a bad way. Mikkel Jensen has massive damage. Flying over the curb and spearing into the tire wall at corner five! Holy smokes! He just flat ran out of road. Game over for TDS and now Davide Rigon off the road in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 sharing with Alessandro Pier Guidi and Daniel Serra. This is wild, crazy, absolutely bananas. He got into the gray and went off the road. Miguel Molina in the AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 as well.
Deletraz threading the needle through traffic with Scott Dixon and Jack Aitken both in hot pursuit. Dixon getting a run on Deletraz. Dixon loses out a wee bit into turn ten with lapped traffic in the way. Cadillac Racing with Chip Ganassi want a win even though they aren't in title contention. Cadillac Racing want the manufacturers' cup. Porsche and Cadillac in the GTP manufacturers' fight. Renger van der Zande said this is one of the biggest, toughest races to win. This is probably the toughest one to win of them all.
Jack Aitken remains third, three seconds adrift of Louis Deletraz. Wayne Taylor won the 1994 World Sports Car Championship without winning a race. All these top teams want a championship in the inaugural GTP season. Ben Keating and Paul Loup Chatin now have an 83-point cushion for the LMP2 crown. Keating, Thomas, and George Kurtz are scrapping it out for the Jim Trueman Award and an entry in LMP2 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jenson Button gets tagged by Davide Rigon. That is the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 in seventh place.
The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing/Andretti Autosport Acura leads by 59 markers over the #31 Whelen Engineering, Action Express Racing Cadillac. The #6 Penske Porsche 963 is being towed away off the track. Game over. The #25 BMW Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 are on the lead lap again as well. Connor De Philippi is dirving. Right now, the #10 Acura has really had no worries. Their goal is a championship, but they have not won either. It is a three-horse race between the #10, #31, and #25. The car balances are changing.
The intensity is beginning to ramp up. These are hugely expensive race cars that are land-based fighter jets. This race changes massively as darkness falls here at Road Atlanta, changing the mode. There are no trackside lights at Road Atlanta, not like Daytona International Speedway for instance. This is an endurance classic. Getting close to the end of this event. Drivers will be going into survival mode. Again, throw caution to the wind. You have to use as much visibility to see traffic but can't because of the flashing headlights. For instance, the closing rates between the GT3 and the GTP cars. The GT Daytona class leader is Kenton Koch in the #32 Korthoff Preston Motorsport Mercedes vs. the similar #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Pit stop time for the #10 Acura. New tires and energy replenishment. Louis Deletraz doing a double stint for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global. Jack Aitken and the #31 Cadillac, he has clean race track, doing the overcut. They will be in next time around to gain time. We expect drama, but with the Cadillac's fuel efficiency, they could run well. Jack Aitken doing a great job lapping the #10 Acura and now, the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Tom Blpmqvist is coming up to speed. This is important for Jack Aitken as he will race with Cadillac and Action Express full-time next year with Pipo Derani.
Aitken almost ended up in IndyCar with Ed Carpenter Racing a handful of years ago. An hour from now we will be in complete darkness.
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