Don't lock into a prescribed strategy. Everything changes and the rain will really put a spanner in everything as it is about to arrive in force. Filipe Albuquerque leads but now, Nick Tandy is hammering away at Albuquerque! That was very close to contact! Albuquerque working through GT and LMP2 traffic! Tandy is 1.3 seconds faster than Albuquerque. They both have clear sailing through turn one and down the backstretch. Who is running more downforce? Albuquerque is quicker through the faster portions and now the LMP2 car of Hunter McElrea is in the way, the #11 car. Tandy goes by on the inside. Nick Tandy sends it into The Toe of The Boot. Don't get bottled up behind the Corvette as Tandy and Albuquerque touch! Tandy's tires are fresher. Albuquerque slows up into turn 11 but Nick Tandy is all over Albuquerque like a cheap suit!
Now, Dane Cameron is not close enough in the second Porsche because Nick Yelloly is now turning it on and applying the heat! Sebastien Bourdais fifth in the highest placed Cadillac with Jack Aitken back in ninth in the #31 Whelen Engineering Action Express car. Tandy is pushing like mad. Yelloly drops behind Cameron by a car length. Tandy is the fly in Albuquerque's ear. Watkins Glen is an aerodynamic track but in the next sector you want the downforce. The #10 Acura was under a major drought before they won in Detroit last time.
Albuquerque is checked up by a lapped car as the #86 Anders Fjordbach driven Porsche 911 GT3R of MDK Motorsports, is penalized for track limits and must serve a drive through penalty. Tandy flinging the Porsche through these turns, big commitment. Tries to slice past the #34 Ferrari 296 GT3. Weather might be coming very soon and Tandy tries the inside but can't pass. He is trying to surprise Filipe Albuqerque. They know each other's traits. This is a war on wheels. Inside an hour and 50 minutes remaining. Less than the standard IMSA sprint races we see.
In ten minutes, we could see the next rain tires, and everyone is bringing tires. Tandy screams past Albuquerque! Wow! Nick Tandy and Porsche to the lead of the motor race. Albuquerque won't give up easily. he won't roll over and have his tummy scratched. Rain in the distance and the skies are getting darker. We are going to be in the midst of another storm, perhaps, and maybe much bigger as Yelloly gets in the dirt passing by "Rexy" the #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R and the rain is bucketing down! Time to go to wet tires.
Penske to the pit lane and now is the time. #74 is off the road and so is the #11 TDS Oreca! Bang! It is like ice. Full Course Yellow. We are under Full Course Yellow. Driver changes going on. Nick Tandy traps his sister car and Matthieu Jaminet is trapped in the box. Oh, my heavens! You cannot reverse and the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini has just plowed into the barriers! Now the #13 Corvette, the #21 Ferrari, and the #31 Whelen Cadillac are all off the road. It is like stepping out of the shower onto a marble floor or driving on ice.
You cannot go slow enough even on slicks in these conditions. Jack Aitken stuck in the gravel trap. There is no ability for anyone to turn in the rain with so much water. The tires have no grip. These popup showers change everything. At the #74 Riley Motorsports Oreca team, Felipe Fraga made contact with another LMP2 car and got clonked in the side. The right front corner is damaged, and we are under a deluge. I don't even think the teams had a chance to get on the radio to their drivers and say, "watch out, it's wet!" The Mustang wriggled and Loris Spinelli got on the brakes too hard, you are locked up, nothing is working, and... ker-runch!
Wet, chaos, madness. The rain moved in, water dumped all over the road, and we have seen a bunch of crashes. We will be dealing with the rain in the next 20-30 minutes and there will be more water on the road. Drivers can deal with it with no worries. Attack where you can, plan, be patient. But when it is dry on one end and wet on the other, and the track changes corner to corner, that is extremely hard to deal with. Go practice racing in the rain especially in go karts. There are rain tires for go karts. Stay as dry as you can, everybody.
Late in the race last year, Bryan Sellers passed a dozen cars and moved up to second spot in GTD Pro. You cannot plan on this rain and your strategy is always evolving. The #6 Porsche of Nick Tandy went through his box into the #7 car's box. There is zero vision right now. There is more smudging and smearing on the windscreen. The rain seems to be getting even worse. Water puddles all over. On slicks and on a damp track there is no tire temperature, the car snaps and almost spins out. He lost five positions in one lap, did Filipe Albuquerque. There is too much water. You aquaplane, the steering wheel feels super light.
I don't think we'll finish this race, the full six hours. We might just have the five hours of Watkins Glen but look at this as the glass half full. We just have to wait and see what is going to happen here. OK. Maybe this isn't the end of the race. Deletraz and Taylor, are leading the race in both of the Acura's as the rain falls. Dr. David Ferguson from Michigan State University works with WTR Andretti on driver science. A mechnical engineer for the human body. Nutrition, hydration, and fitness. A cool driver is a happy driver. As they get hot they lose performance manifesting in slower lap times.
You combine the loads of the car, with how the drivers' bodies are performing. That is pretty remarkable, including an electrolyte and carbohydrate drink. These drivers are definitely athletes. Spencer Pumpelly at Magnus Racing sees co-driver Andy Lally in the wet. Spencer Pumpelly says that Andy Lally is the man to be in the car to get the race finished. Still an hour and 18 minutes left on the board. Magnus Racing only running the Michelin Endurance Cup in IMSA this year. We're under a red flag with the rain dissipating. The sooner people go to dry tires it might help.
The rain seems to be gone, but the wet tires could indeed fall off a cliff. When will the officials put the cars back on the road? We might have all of this take a while requiring slick tires. Your strategy will be dictated by the call made by IMSA. We could see a dry race for the final half hour. The red flag has been out for seven minutes. "Rexy", car #77. Anthony Putnam, five years old, he is a racing fan and a dinosaur fan and he passed away. Anthony's spirit showed through. The family made a "Rexy" hat after their son made a New Year's resolution to help people. He did.
Rest In Peace, Anthony. The cars are now stopped on the pit lane and we'll just have to see how much more we can get through. We have just over an hour to go. It has stopped raining and there's bright sunlight. So, we'll see in about five minutes what the plan is. The drive times will be adjusted, multiplying by two. The sheer amount of water on pit lane, it is completely soaked. Philip Ellis tells us that he likes running in the rain but not on a cold, slick tire. It has been complete survival mode. It will be very foggy for the drivers. Stay dry as we get set to get going again with the sun peeking out.
Kuba Smiechowski was in the #34 Inter Europol car, and he would have liked to stay behind the safety car. Racing in the rain is fine but Smiechowski does not like driving in the rain slowly behind the safety car. When the red flag appeared, it was an undrivable track but now things are going to change for the better. Smiechowski loves Watkins Glen calling it one of the best racetracks in the world. A lot of teams and drivers have just had to embrace the rain between Le Mans and here at the Glen. Drivers are not yet set to be called back too the cars as we will have just an hour left on the board. IMSA says there is standing water around. So, we need to wait another 15 minutes.
The cars are being uncovered for fresh air because it is so foggy with the cars because all the cars are closed cockpit. It is like taking a sharp razor, getting out of the shower and trying to shave with a fogged up mirror. That's extremely dangerous and so is driving in the wet with no vision.
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