These are the moments where drivers can establish themselves. Fuoco nearly outbrakes himself into the pit lane! Oy yoy yoy! Tires and fuel for the stop. Bryan Sellers, the 2023 GTD champion, Mike Rockenfeller, Earl Bamber, and many more stars. Fuoco forces it on pit entry. You are looking for all the time possible, fine tuning. We have a long, long, long way to go yet. Pipo Derani is now second behind Matt Campbell. Tom Blomqvist looking for the hat trick. He says everything worked out despite a lot of yellow. The car is working well, taking care of the tires. The Porsche is quick on the restarts and can turn the tires on. That is the situation Action Express and my pals on the team, will be looking at.
Tom Blomqvist, when he is not racing in the enduro races in IMSA, he is a full-time IndyCar driver. The GTP cars have power steering and the IndyCars do not. We again have Leigh Differy, Calvin Fish, and Townsend Bell with you and Kevin Lee as well. Right now, the lead battle is Matt Campbell, Pipo Derani, and Renger van der Zande. Felipe Fraga, Connor Zilisch, and Tom Dillman the top three in LMP2. In GTD Pro it is Bryan Sellers, Laurin Heinrich, and Mirko Bortolotti. In GTD, Giorgio Sernagiotto leads Maxi Goetz and Jake Walker.
Car #20 off the road, the High Class Racing Oreca with Seth Lucas at the wheel of it. He just loops the car out of the International Horseshoe. Zilisch to the lane. Rene Rast in the BMW rounds up Renger van der Zande in the #01 Cadillac. Now, I have had to change the coverage over and in the last few moments, trouble in GTD Pro for SunEnergy1 Mercedes and car #75 with fuel pump troubles. We have not seen too much change in GTP. Pipo Derani is 14 seconds down on Matty Campbell currently. Connor Zilisch says he is learning to be patient and keep the car clean. He is learning how to endurance race after running sprint races.
Tom Dillman leads LMP2. We have swapped commentary teams again. Dave Burns, Steve Letarte, and Brian Till. We are just into this race and have a long way to go yet. BMW standing out in third place right now with Rene Rast. Porsche, Cadillac, BMW, the top three. Wayne Taylor Racing are running long stints for both cars. Longer stints are not so advantageous as far as making up time but it does open possibilities of what other drivers will do for single, double or triple stints. You are always looking ahead. Rene Rast and Renger van der Zande scrapping on the high banks.
Rast is pushing and makes the pass. What will the weather be tomorro before the checkers? The Porsche is the most sensitive to temperature change and likes the coool of the night. Renger van der Zande knows the Cadillac more than Rene Rast knows the BMW M Hybrid V8 right now. Matt Campbell ahead of Pipo Derani by 15 seconds as they make their way by Mirko Bortolotti in the #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo. The GT Daytona and GT Daytona Pro cars have different lights. The GTD Pro are white lights while GTD regular runs amber gels over the headlamps.
That is the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. Driver change at Turner Motorsports in the #96 BMW M4 GT3 with Jens Klingman getting in. Debris beginning to accumulate offline now. We could see a passing shower at 6AM tomorrow morning. We have found the two AWA Corvette GT3's. Anthony Mantella in the #17 and the sister car is still in there. An AI generated livery for the #17, dark blue and red. Let us not talk about Artificial Intelligence. That is a whole other kettle of fish, and no, mate, I don't like it.
Meantime, great pit selection for Action Express. In 2018 when they won the Rolex 24, they fixed an overheating issue before the victory happened. The boys really know how to make the strategy work. People are everywhere at Daytona. Most fans are in the infield but some at the green flag went to the grandstands. Check out the LED palm tree in the infield. #31 in the pit lane for service and we have a car stopped on course someplace. Ah, it is again, that blasted Sean Creech Ligier LMP2 having a spot of bother again, look. Penske Porsche in and we do have a Full Course Yellow. I wonder how long this one will last.
Nolan Siegel is in the Sean Creech Ligier, not under power. Rene Rast is the overall leader currently. Alex Palou is making only his second IMSA start while being an IndyCar champion for Ganassi Racing. Ganassi has three multiple time IndyCar champions and a two-time Rolex 24 winner. We continue under yellow flag conditions. CrowdStrike Racing by APR lead in the LMP2 class currently with Colin Braun at the controls. Gar Robinson and Riley Motorsports are going for it. Gar Robinson has a tattoo of Daytona International Speedway.
It is thought Colin Braun should be in the IndyCar championship and he workes with George Kurtz in a different sports car championship. Meanwhile, the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 is in the lane and both Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura's are in, the #10 and the #40. We are closing again on the end of another hour of the motor race and we are actually going to be 1/3rd of the way through very soon. Wayne Taylor Racing now has both of his sons back on his team.
Second in GTD Pro, the #77 AO Porsche, "Rexy" with Sebastian Priaulx driving. That is "Rexy" the dinosaur. We are back to green flag racing. Pipo Derani right on top of Josef Newgarden. Cadillac and Action Express vs. Porsche and Team Penske. Don't push too hard. Push, but don't push too hard. Renger van der Zande in third place followed by Dries Vanthoor and Rene Rast. Three wide on the banking in GTD! Jens Klingman splits the two GTP cars! Holy cow!
Everyone is bunched up on a restart, in the darkness to boot. The #21 Ferrari 296 GT3 has spun off in the International Horseshoe and is back underway. Simon Mann in the AF Corse car and Mirko Bortolotti tried blocking Klingman's way. Nothing doing. Te Mustang GT3 on top, he bails out of this kerfuffle. Discretion is the better part of valor. Then #34 Ferrari from Scuderia Corsa, too, in the fight. Sometimes you need to know when to give it up.
In GTD the battle is between Mercedes and Lexus. Maxi Goetz vs. Aaron Telitz in P1.
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