James Calado and Risi Competizione, could win this race in GTD Pro if they hold it together in the final five hours. Risi Competizione have an established relationship with Ferrari Club of France after one of their Le Mans appearances. Two of the four drivers won Le Mans for Ferrari after 50 years. A 12-year-old French boy hand wrote a letter to Giuseppe Risi. Gauthier Masson from Orleans, France. We will hear soon from Ben Keating about his stints in two different cars. Ben Keating at 52 years old, owns 29 car dealers, and has won Le Mans and Daytona, 14 times racing in this event and eight times doing double duty between two cars. This year with GTP and LMP2. Through the first 13 hours of the race, he accomplished a good chunk of time. He has to make sure he is out of the car for two hours.
GTP and LMP2 are more different than anything. The Porsche 963 is more complex, heavier, less tire, brake by wire and no feel for the brake pedal, slower in the braking zones and in corners than the LMP2 car. Jack Aitken is now almost 17 seconds out from Felipe Nasr leading in the #7 Porsche 963. Keating rides a bike to get his heart rate up, four hour bike rides with heart rate at 150 beats per minute. He is aware of what he needs to do to stay fit. He does commercials as well. He did one before the pandemic happened. He fell in love with racing when his wife got him a track day with a road car as a gift.
Ben Keating began racing 16 years ago and has won Daytona, Le Mans, and a championship. Ben Keating qualified his car at Le Mans and won the race in class. Full Course Yellow number 14 as debris appears off the Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier. The bodywork is toast. The engine cover is gone. The only Ligier in LMP2, a barn find. They are doing a full season in the 2024 WeatherTech Championship. Everyone can reset. Rain clouds have moved in. Not good. GTP leaders in the lane. Quick stop for AXR fighting for the win. Kevin Estre into the #6 and Nasr stays in #7 beating the Cadillac out.
Cloud cover, cooling track temps, watch out for the cold tires in GTP! Four and a half hours to go. Good thing we are under yellow currently. Single stinting tires from here on out. The track is being cleaned up. Ritomo Miyata was fastest on the simulator. GT Daytona Pro and GT Daytona in the lane. Paul Miller Racing and the Risi Ferrari have similar pace. Neil Verhagen will do a double stint. Indy Dontje double stinting in the #57 Winward Mercedes. Ferrari #62 being worked on in the right rear suspension and the right rear tires. Actually, they are doing rear brakes.
An issue with the brake line. Oh boy. Not good. This is for the Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3. Pfaff Motorsports in the garage for the #9 McLaren team. Four and a half hours left. James Hinchcliffe will race at Sebring in the 12 Hours and then in the Petit Le Mans at the end of the year as we go green. The weather is cooling massively. A bummer for the Pfaff Motorsports boys and girls. A tough break with the car arriving late and then having the teething issues all race long. They will be back. Get ready for a wild restart! Pneske vs. Action Express, game on. Proton Competition, too, will have something to say.
Porsche have the numbers with four of six. Acura #40 still in the fight and so is the #31 Whelen Cadillac. We have a race on our hands, folks. Trust me. All the talk and everything, it does not matter. It is go time, now. Six cars on the lead lap in GTP. Five on the LMP2 lead lap. Three in GTD Pro and many in GTD. Let's go! Felipe Nasr leading the motor racenand here comes Kevin Estre on Neel Jani! Estre elbows Jani out of the way. Here comes Colton Herta! Herta holds off Jani. Acura are going for four straight wins.
Nasr stretching his legs over Jack Aitken. Felipe Nasr feeling it with the Porsche. No tire smoke in GTP on the opening lap after the restart. The BMW's of Rene Rast and Augusto Farfus are still in the pack but not in the race. Technical woes. Steering wheel electronics on the #24 and a broken tow strap and a puncture for the gearbox radiator for the #25. Marcus Ericsson is at the wheel of the still running #10 Acura over 100 laps down and the #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R is back on track as well. Ferrari vs. Mecedes-AMG, Triarsi and Winward in GT Daytona. Not quite there. Onofrio Triarsi slams the door in Indy Dontje's face!
Don't push too hard. The #023 Ferrari is hanging in there. These cars are aerodynamically clean and here comes Dontje, the Dutchman. Onofrio sends it into the Bus Stop chicane. Ferrari vs. Mercedes vs. Lexus, manufacturer diversity. That is what sports car racing is all about. Dontje tries inside and gives it up. Triarsi is doing what he has to do to stay ahead. Ahead, the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. Here comes Indy Dontje with the Le Mans chicane looming. They are picking up a draft from Elliott Skeer in the Porsche.
Skeer is a lap down to these two chaps who are fidgeting and fighting for position. Mercedes has the horsepower in the trioval. Clear to the igh side, tries to send it and has to back it up. Triarsi is driving cleverly. Here comes Neil Verhagen, the GTD Pro leader. Verhagen has to deal with this situation. Onofrio Triarsi owns Ferrari of Central Florida. Felipe Nasr leads Jack Aitken by 2.7 seconds. Triarsi taking a shallow angle into the Le Mans chicane. What will Dontje do? Dontje is pestering Triarsi and Aaron Telitz in the #12 Lexus could say something.
Felipe Nasr, in the #7 Porsche, is cutting extremely fast laps in GTP. Dontje to the inside. Triarsi takes the car in deep on the brakes. Just four and a quarter hours remaining before the race ends this afternoon. Big slide for Triarsi out of the Le Mans chicane. Dontje through NASCAR three and four. Will the tire performance be there? Skeer is not creating a bottleneck. He has speed. Onofrio Triarsi finished tenth in last year's Rolex 24. His only previous start. Neil Verhagen has not cut into the gap and James Calado is sharp with the fresh rear brakes on the #62. Triarsi losing the balance on the Ferrari just a shade.
He does not want to open the door for Dontje. Side by side and now, Triarsi has the preferered line and makes the pass. Aaron Telitz wants a bite of the cherry and in GTD Pro, Calado passes Verhagen! Ferrari leading both. Right rear fender ripped off the #1 BMW which has been there for a wee while. GTP cars coming through. Now the #57 has a head of steam into the Le Mans chicane. Triarsi has to be careful as Jack Aitken and Kevin Estre slice by. The #57 goes sideways. Estre makes a move on Aitken. The pace of the Risi #62 and the #5 Proton Competition Porche has to lift.
This battle between #57 and #23 is bonkers. Tijmen van der Helm chasing Neel Jani in GTP. Estre went off the road and allowed Aitken to go by. Aitken up to second. Just over four hours to go. Felipe Nasr continues in the lead but Jack Aitken is giving it everything.
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