#25 down and away. Tom Blomqvist and also the #40 of Colton Herta pitting. The Cadillac leaves before the Acura. Matt Campbell cycles back to the lead but will be into the pit lane next time by. They are doing tires. Medium compiund Michelin's all around. We are at 3:47 A.M. Eastern Time with over nine hours remaining. Tom Blomqvist should resume in the lead of the motor race. Alessandro Pier Guidi leads GTD Pro. Paul Loup Chatin leads with "Spike" the dragon in LMP2. Kevin Estre now leads the motor race over Tom Blomqvist. Porsche leading Cadillac, the sole remaining Cadillac in the race with the demise of the #01 Ganassi Racing Cadillac. Kevin Estre leads Tom Blomqvist by 13 seconds as we have less than ten hours to go. Into single digits of hours left to run. Alessandro Pier Guidi has a decent lead now in GTD Pro over Earl Bamber and Bryan Sellers. Actually, Pier Guidi pits and so, Earl Bamber now leads Daniel Serra.
Adam Christodoulou is the erstwhile leader in the GTD class in the #80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. We will have to check on the GTD order but now, Tom Blomqvist is chasing Kevin Estre. Tommy Milner taking over the #4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Milner sharing with Nicky Catsburg and Earl Bamber of course. Corvette #3 has one working taillamp. That's odd. The #70 Inception Racing McLaren is in the pit lane now. Scheduled service. There are many more lights at night here at Daytona International Speedway compared to Le Mans which has the Mulsanne straight, and a much longer circuit as we saw with Action Express racing there last year.
The #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 is in the lane. Frankie Montecalvo, Aaron Telitz, Psrker Thompson, and Ritomo Miyata. This is the GT Daytona leading car. Kevin Estre in the lead in Porsche #6 by nearly nine seconds over Tom Blomqvist in the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac. Sheldon van der Linde in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 has set fastest lap for any of the GT Daytona cars, Pro or regular. 1:40 dead. 1:40.094. The conditions at 4AM Eastern Time are perfect right now. Nine hours and 40 minutes on the board yet.
Sebastian Priaulx is next up from van der Linde in the BMW. Daniel Juncadella leading GTD Pro. The van der Linde's came from South Africa to Europe and have done extremely well. Kelvin and Sheldon van der Linde, with a great history. Kevin Estre is nearly eight seconds ahead of Tom Blomqvist. I wonder why, but I wish we had an answer to the Porsche, the Whelen Cadillac and my pals at Action Express. We'll see. Blomqvist may assume the lead on the next pit stop. It is a deal where Blomqvist is four some odd seconds ahead of Connor De Philippi.
Side by side stuff, look, in LMP2. Colin Braun racing Nico Pino. CrowdStrike by APR vs. United Autosport. This is good stuff here. Good stuff. Nick Boulle in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Inter Europol car has just pitted but it is Paul Loup Chatin leading the LMP2 class as a specialist in these cars, driving Spike the Dragon for AO Racing. Paul Loup Chatin also has won LMP3 titles before and he was a champion in LMP2 with Ben Keating last year on a different team. Back-to-back personal best lap timeS for Rahel Frey in GTD with the Iron Dames, 1:47.774. In the sister Iron Lynx Lambo, car #19 of Mirko Bortolotti is also going fast.
Ryan Dalziel passes Scott McLaughlin and now the New Zealand IndyCar racer also has Paul Loup Chatin running after him. Maybe it is, as you were, gentlemen. Maybe not. Colin Braun had damage from a clonk with Felipe Fraga. The team has not changed the front clip yet but they will, with new tires and changing over to Toby Sowery. Paul Loup Chatin in the lead ahead of Ryan Dalziel, Felipe Fraga, Scott McLaughlin, and actually, Colin Braun in the #04. In the overall it is Tom Blomqvist, Connor De Philippi, Colton Herta, Alessio Picariello, and Josef Newgarden. Porsche's #6 and #85 had late calls for pit stops. Pit, pit, pit, and Kevin Estre was on the right side ofthe circuit and had to dive in!
That is years of racing at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in the NLS GT3 cars. Estre will do a double stint. Richard Westbrook came in and handed off the #85 JDC-Miller Porsche 963 to Dutchman Tijmen van der Helm. Spike in the lane from the LMP2 lead, Paul Loup Chatin at the controls. The #18 Era Motorsports Oreca is also in. Same for the #2 United Autosport entry of Nico Pino, the Chilean driver for United Autosport USA. Christian Rasmussen now in the driving seat of the #18 Era Motorsports entry in LMP2.
Who has taken over "Spike" from Paul Loup Chatin? We'll see. "Rexy" reminds people of The Flying Tigers in WW. II. from the Far East. The Tower Motorsports #8 Oreca also in with Scott McLaughlin driving. He shares with John Farano, Michael Dinan, and Ferdinand Habsburg. Indy Dontje leads GT Daytona in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes but Kenton Koch in the Korthoff #32 Mercedes is closing in. No Balance of Performance in LMP2 because all the motors are the same and most of the cars are, all Oreca's with the exception of the sole older Ligier for Sean Creech Motorsports. The #04 CrowdStrike by APR Oreca in the lane.
George Kurtz, Colin Braun, Toby Sowery, and Malthe Jakobsen. A front clip change for the #04 as they were missing a dive plane. Stewart Cox at APR mentioned that. There was a great big shark bite out of the nose. At the top of the shop, Tom Blomqvist has over six seconds on Connor De Philippi. Daniel Juncadella's Corvette now has a single functioning taillight. Connor De Philippi is still in second place and Colton Herta I believe is next up in the sole remaining Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global Acura. Matt Brabham has taken over "Spike" leading Paul Loup Chatin and Ferdinand Habsburg while Tom Blomqvist leads GTP and overall, over the BMW of Connor De Philippi.
The campsites are still full. Connor De Philippi is now matching Tom Blomqvist just before everyone will need to pit for fuel, for energy replenishment. Kevin Estre will cycle back to the top of the tree. Christian Rasmussen has taken his brave pills and he makes his move on Matty Brabham. Era Motorsports passes AO Racing. Spike the Dragon back to second and Ferdinand Habsburg, the Austrian Prince, is coming fast. We are almost done with another hour while Mercedes runs one and two in GTE. Indy Dontje ahead of Kenton Koch. He is in like Flynn.
Tom Blomqvist still leads the motor race with the #31 Whelen Engineering Action Express Cadillac over Colton Herta and Josef Newgarden while Connor De Philippi pits. BMW RLL in the lane promoting Penske and WTR Andretti. The bonnet is up on the BMW M Hybrid V8 for some reason. Christian Rasmussen leads LMP2. Daniel Juncadella leading Daniel Serra and Tommy Milner in GTD Pro. Indy Dontje leads Kenton Koch and Ollie Milroy in GTD, the Inception Racing McLaren. We have another hour almost completed here. So, we are getting close to dawn. Corvette #3 into the pit lane and Daniel Juncadella takes scheduled service.
Tom Blomqvist pits from the lead. Gearbox oil top up at BMW is what that service was. It looks like routine service for Action Express and for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, Colton Herta at the wheel of it. He shares with Jenson Button, Jordan Taylor, and Louis Deletraz. The sister #10 WTR Andretti Acura pits but is buried down in 46th place. The #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, excuse me, #14, in the garage. Kyle Kirkwood at the controls currently. Not a good sight wit that car in the garage.
Porsche #7 in the pit lane. Scheduled service for Josef Newgarden from the race lead. Fuel only and a windscreen clean. Pipo Derani has taken over the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac and Kevin Estre moves back to the front in the sister #6 Penske Porsche 963. More woe for the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 now in the garage with Connor De Philippi. They were topping up with gearbox oil. Also in the lane, the #32 Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3. Mikeal Grenier, Mike Skeen, Kenton Koch, and Maxi Gotz. So we are approaching the completion of another hour of the motor race, 20 some odd minutes to 4AM Central and 5AM Eastern Time. Rexy, the #77 AO Porsche for fuel, tires, and a replenished drinks bottle.
It is warm and sticky in Daytona Beach even in the wee small hours of Sunday morning. Operational Requirements black flag for the #32 Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes, as the #8 Tower Motorsports car of Ferdinand Habsburg sweeps past Matthew Brabham in the #99 AO car, Spike the dragon. Habsburg is an Austrian aristocrat, not necessarily a prince. My mistake. Ferdinand Habsburg outbrakes his rival. Reward and no risk.
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