Daniel Morad still holding the lead in the GT Daytona class ahead of Fredrik Schandorff in the #70 Inception Racing McLaren. Gianmaria Bruni says that he had a great couple of stints compared to the other GTP cars. At the top of the shop it is Porsche, Cadillac, Porsche, BMW, BMW. Cameron, Aitken, Jaminet, Farfus, Martin. Ben Keating leads LMP2 from Felipe Massa, Pietro Fittipaldi, Matthew Brabham, and Christan Rasmussen. James Calado leads GTD Pro for Ferrari over Alexander Sims at Corvette, Jordan Pepper at Corvette, Dirk Mueller in the #65 Multimatic Ford Mustang GT3, and Laurin Heinrich in the #77 AO Racing Porsche, "Rexy". In GT Daytona, Daniel Morad leads in class currently and we will check the rest of the order.
Ah. Fredrik Schandorff has just been passed by Daniel Morad and then, it is Mike Skeen, Robby Foley, and Alessandro Balzan. At the end of this hour, we will indeed be halfway home. The infield crowd is packed. It must be a record attendance for the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Now, the Inception McLaren in GT Daytona is in the pit lane. Brendan Iribe, Fredrik Schandorff, Ollie Milroy, and Tom Gamble. Dane Cameron is now in the #7 Penske Porsche being harried by Jack Aitken. So the lead battle is still incredibly hot.
When Bill France Sr. had the idea to have an international sports car race here at Daytona, he did it right becausr the Rolex 24 is still that way today. This is a battle royal again between Dane Cameron in the Porsche 963 and Jack Aitken in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac. Cadillac raced at Le Mans with Briggs Cunningham. 361 laps now complete and Jack Aitken is trying to make a move and does, on Dane Cameron and takes the lead back! Holy smokes! They pass by the AMG Mercedes of Lone Star Racing.
Pit stop time at Winward Racing for the #57 Mercedes. Tirner Motorsports in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 is also pitting. There are 18 mnaufacturers in IMSA and all the OEM bosses are here to showcase their cars. An IMSA race is an auto show as much as a motor race. Jack Aitken is catching Romain Dumas in the #5 Proton Competition Mustang Sampling Porsche 963 to put that car a lap down. Romain Dumas just came back from the Dakar Rally in a privately entered Toyota pickup desert racer.
Fredrik Schandorff is chasing Russell Ward in GT Daytona and there is more traffic in GTP with the #85 JDC-Miller Porsche 963 of Phil Hanson. Mike Skeen dispatches the #19 green Lamborghini in GTD. The infield is far more technical than people give it credit for. The venues and schedule, manufacturers, corprorate partners, and everything in IMSA have been consistent as we are back under Full Course Yellow, and I need to figure out why. We'll know in a moment. Turn five troubles at the far end of the circuit. Stevan McAleer has damage entering a closed pit in the #66 Gradiemt Racomg Acira NSX GT3. The Vasser Sullivan Lexus #12 in trouble.
Debris in turn five off the racing line. BMW have jumped the Porsche as the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura is in and we have seen trouble again for the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3. A nose change for Acura #40 and headlight woes. Scrubbed tires and a new nose for the #01 Ganassi Racing Cadillac of Alex Palou. Plus, there has been another retirement and that is the #, well, I cannot remember what the car is that could a retirement. The #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 has made a pit stop as well.
Jack Aitken continues to lead the motor race. 1.3rd less tires are used because of double stinting tires. Now, the #78 Lamborghini for Forte Motorsports, they had a slight brake fire on the left side of the car. He moved the fuel probe and that was a fortunate situation even though there will be a penalty for leaving the pit lane with equipment attached. Jack Aitken continues to lead. We will have insomniac coverage on IMSA Radio with Jonny Palmer and Bruce Jones, coming up soon. Alex Palou has taken emergency service to do a splash of fuel. A splash of additional energy.
At Gradient Acura a tire ripped a headlight out of the front of the car. A retirement for the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3. John Potter, Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly, and Nicki Thiim, game over. Porsche in the lane for tires and fuel and fuel only for the BMW #25. BMW leapfrogs Porsche and now.Louis Deletraz is in the lane as well in the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global Acura, with pressurized fuel and a nose change. Scrubbed tires for the #01 Cadillac with a new nose as well.
No real damage to the car. They have changed the aerodynamics. Rexy also pitted. What will we do for energy sources in the future. Bio butanol fuel, celluosic fuel, and other things have been used. How are we going to make motor racing a sustainable endeavor without going fully electrified or wind powered? We have the hybrid systems which save fuel. Michaelin has 30% sustainable materials in the tires. We don't need to use more tires because they are durable enough through a double fuel stint. A fuel spillage out of the bowser for the #78 Forte Lamborghini! Yikes! These cars exceeedingly hot.
That will be a safety penalty for attached equipment. The cars are being cycled into order. We are 20+ minutes shy of the midway point of the race. Jack Aitken leads the motor race from the two BMW's behind the safety car followed by Dane Cameron in the Penske Porsche and the second one of Laurens Vanthoor. Then comes Louis Deletraz, Romain Dumas, Phil Hanson and Alex Palou. In LMP2, Ben Keating leads the class in the #2 car, We beed to check all the top runners in each class here.
GTP has Jack Aitken, Augusto Farfus, Maxime Martin, Dane Cameron, and Laurens Vanthoor. Ben Keating, Tom Dillman, Felipe Massa, Connor Zilisch, and Malthe Jakobsen as we go back to green. Alessandro Pier Guidi, Alexander Sims, Franck Perera, Michael Christensen, and Harry Tincknell in GTD Pro and Fred Schandorff, Mike Skeen, Ritomo Miyata, Giorgio Sernagiotto, and Russell Ward in GTD.
So, Jack Aitken leada as we see a swap of the Porsche's. Jack Aitken leads Augusto Farfus at the present moment. Jack Aitken did not pit earlier and they are going for Michelin Endurance Cup points. The official retirements, the #11 TDS car is out and we have more trouble for the #40 Acura of Louis Deletraz with no headlamps. Wow! Another Acura and WTR with Andretti entry with an electrical problem! Holy moly! Full Course Yellow. This is a mirror image of what happened to the #10! My word!
Louis Deletraz out of the car quickly. This will be a short yellow with a closed pit lane. Filipe Albuquerque got back into the car and what Deletraz is doing is getting the car into neutral. The lights are on and someone is home. Maybe the electronics are OK? My gosh. It just stops. The safe mode indicator for the hybrid is on. Deletraz was looking for a safe haven to stay on the hard standing. That is extraordinary. By criminy. He is back, going like the clappers for the prototype class split. Deletraz is booking it now. He is trying to get back to the end of the prototype crocodile.
The team grabs the skates to go to the garage but then comes back to the pit lane. #11, #88, #22, #44, #60 and #45 could be out. The #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG and the #20 MDK by High Class Racing Oreca LMP2 may be a retirement. Car #60, game over for the Iron Lynx Lamborghini. Good night. Schiavoni, Cairoli, Cressoni, and Grosjean, game over. Green flag with almost half the race finished. Right 'round the outside comes the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global Acura ARX-06. Jack Aitken leads Laurens Vanthoor. Cadillac vs. Porsche and then Maxime Martin leading Augusto Farfus in the BMW M Hybrid V8's.
Also in the scrap is Dane Cameron in the sister #7 Penske Porsche. It is game on in GTP and the Konica Minolta Acura is the only non contending GTP car with Marcus Ericsson at the wheel of it. He is almost 100 laps down. 100 laps means you are 356 miles behind the leader. Could we get inclement weather, there could be a challenge. Slick and wet Michelin tires, with soft, medium, and hard tires. Wet weather tires in the dry will tear themselves to pieces especially with these high track temperatures we are dealing with here at Daytona Beach where it is 73 degrees ambient Fahrenheit with 77% humidity.
In Ford Mustang land, two of the three cars have rear end and bumper troubles. The bumper won't seat properly. Damage to the left hand side of the #64 factory Mustang, the floor is busted. They are cleaning the car and using the lump hammer to get a hole drilled and put a zip tie in there to hold it together. So, the scrap is on in P2 between Tom Dillmann and Connor Zilisch. Zilisch was in Mazda MX-5 Cup last year. Felipe Massa followed by Malthe Jakobsen and Ben Keating. The battle is now on for the lead between Jack Aitken and Laurens Vanthoor.
The gamble #31 have taken to not pit, might backfire even though they are looking for track psotion and Michelin Endurance Cup points. One minute to halfway home.
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