Ben Hanley will close out the race for the #2 United Autosport Oreca. That LMP2 restart last time was bananas and now, we are going to get another one. Nicklas Nielsen, Felipe Fraga, Ben Hanley, Colin Braun, Paul di Resta, oh my gosh! Stay energized, do a reset. When we get the OK to race again, how much time will be on the clock? Teams might dive for the pit lane to get tires. Lots of factors ahead in the final portion of this event. The sun is coming out and the stream is rising from the pavement. Aaron Telitz says the rain picked up amazingly fast. Running through The Carousel and The Bus Stop, there was an epic downpour before trundling around again. Some blokes on slicks and others on wets.
The Lexus RC F GT3 is pretty well sealed up. Not much water getting into the car. Telitz has won twice at Watkins Glen. Adam Adelson was in fuel save mode and Jan Heylen is a rain meister. Elliott Skeer, too, is a trustworthy driver and a real pal to Adam Adelson. Renger van der Zande says that there was no vision in the rain and the #5 Porsche skidded forward straight into the wall and survived somehow, just like a boat. Watch out for the rivers on the road. The sun might clear up some of the water. This will be a sprint to the bitter end.
Renger van der Zande predicts fireworks in the last portion of this race as we have a street sweeper out on track. Under the red flag you cannot touch or service the race cars. The majority of drivers are on slicks right now. Maybe they won't be on an ideal tire and need to change things up. Four tires and a brush are ideal for right now. At the #40 Acura team, they are on wets. Same for #10. Wets on the #25. Heavily used rain tires for the Ganassi Cadillac. Porsche Penske, rain tires. Rians on "Rexy" the Porsche, same with the Corvette. Rain tires for the #7 Porsche. #14 Lexus on rains. Same for the #24 BMW GTP car.
The #120 Wright Motorsports has rains, #22 United Autosports, rain tires, rain tires for the #34 and #44. It is rain tire a go go. Slick tires, used slicks at AXR for Jack Aitken for the #31 Whelen Cadillac. The accelerator and brake pedals will have a grippy surface for the drivers' foot to hit them, like an Emory board. Drivers are in their cars, waiting for the restart. There are cars eligible for the pass around and they will be sent out before the safety car with the full field and then the pits will open for the prototypes and the GT cars. The majority of the field are on wet tires.
The sprint could be affected by the type of tire you are using the track will dry out quickly before we run out of time, and you will need to be on a slick tire. 56 cars started this race. I don't recall how many cars have officially retired. It is 80 degrees with 76% humidity. Very steamy here at Watkins Glen. It will come down to tires. At WTR Andretti, GTP energy will be aplenty. The tires will be the big deal. Every minute of cars out on track it will wipe the water away from the track surface. This will be mano e mano of who can change tires fastest.
The other factor will be drive time. I think everyone has been thinking of that when many teams ran afoul of it when it rained here at The Glen, too. Pass around cars have been sent and the safety car will pick up the leader and then, pit stop time as the clock winds down and we are back under Full Course Yellow. Lexus #12 will pit for slicks and Parker Thompson will take the car to the end. In GT Daytona, the #70 Inception Racing McLaren of Ollie Milroy is ready to change over to Fred Schandorff, going for slicks. Is there anyone short on drive time? What tires will be taken? Slicks, mostly.
There are dry places in the downhill spots on te circuit. The laces of The Boot will be the last to dry under the shade of the trees. Prototypes will be on and off quickly before the GT cars come in. The downhill side of the road is drying well but there is a puddle or two with the trees, protected from the wind. Be careful where the rivers still exist. Don't get on the brakes crossing the rivulets. The two WTR Andretti Acura's are 1-2.
Pits open and now we jave lots of takers in GTP. Deletraz asks what tires they will use and it will be slicks. Both WTR Andretti pit crews re going to work. Slick tires and four of them. Nodebate at Ganassi with slocks. Same for Porsche Penske. #40 will beat everyone to the pit exit light and it was extremely close! Wait for the last car to hit the last pit box as some of the LMP2 cars are in. The #10 drops from second to sixth place. "Spike" is in the lane in LMP2. Could there be a drive time issue for them? It is an hour and a half in LMP2 compared to GTD Pro and GTP.
Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti leads overall as the GTD Pro and GTD cars are in. Wright Motorsports and the #120 have had a great race today. At Vasser Sullivan, the #14 came in at an angle going around the sister #12. The #77 "Rexy" Porsche has a perfect stop and so does the Paul Miller Racing #1 BMW and trouble on the stops for the Mustang factory team! Oh dear. Half an hour on the board with "Rexy" going for a hat trick. Just over half an hour remaining as we said. Everyone is good on tires, fuel and energy rejuvenation.
Harry Tincknell in GTD Pro lost places hand over fist. The sister Mustang is in and the Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs have done very well. We have seen Corvette win in SRO but not yet in IMSA. In GTD Pro, the top three stayed out. Pratt & Miller Corvette, Heart of Racing Aston Martin, and Pfaff McLaren. Philip Ellis stayed out and has the lead for Winward Racing in GT Daytona. Every lap run dries the race track out more. This will be a qualifying sprint to the end of the race. Weaving scrubs the tires but the best way to get the temperature is dragging the brake against the accelerator. Laurin Heinrich is going to be going for it.
Green flag next time by. 25 minutes to go. It appears one of the prototypes has stalled and the right rear is off of the #10 Acura! Oh my heavens! Ricky Taylor has broken a wheel! Game over! So, their teammates in the #40 will have a major boost, perhaps. Ricky Taylor cannot believe it. Maybe the system just broke and failed completely while the crew member had nothing to do with it. Maybe too much torque on the rattle gun. Charlie Eastwood is at the top of the shop in LMP2 in the #8 Tower Motorsports car which crashed twice on Friday with both John Farano and Charlie Eastwood. They have cycled their way to the front in LMP2.
IMSA are adjusting the cars who did the pass around. Tom Dillmann leads over Scott Huffaker and the rest. Safety Car lights off. The safety car picks up the lead group of both the GTP and the LMP2 cars and we see in replay, Ricky Taylor losing the wheel. You picked a fine time to leave me, loose wheel. Filipe Albuquerque explained about the contact they had on the right rear with Dane Cameron in the Porsche and was experiencing brake shake as well. The contact with the Penske Porsche was why the wheel broke.
16 and a half minutes to go. Deletraz rockets away but here comes Felipe Nasr for the lead! Renger van der Zande is trying for second around Deletraz and he takes it. Now the sister Penske Porsche wants it and so do the two BMW's. Felipe Nasr and Renger van der Zande are pushing it. Matthieu Jaminet makes his move on Deletraz for third and the two BMWs are storming towards the Acura. Deletraz in a hornet's nest. Trouble with a penalty for Madison Snow for minimum full refueling time adherence failure as for passing under Full Course Yellow.
Renger van der Zande is chasing Felipe Nasr. The points delta in one race between first and fifth is 90 points. van der Zande and Bourdais are both looking for drives for next year as we see a late move by Felipe Fraga who spins off the road and collects the #2 of Ben Hanley! Yikes! In this replay, we see the Fraga pinches down to the inside of Nicklas Nielsen, Hanley locks it up and spins as someone biffed into the #04 car as well! The #2 Wynn's liveried car is in limp home mode with 12 minutes to go. There's damage to the right front corner and he'll have to bring it in as the aerodynamics are damaged and the tire will be cut down.
"Rexy" the #77 Porsche of Laurin Heinrich is now racing with the #14 Lexus of Jack Hawksworth. Ellis leading the GT Daytona class with the #57 Mercedes as Antonio Garcia is making a pass on that car. The battle for the lead is Tommy Milner in the Corvette #4 vs. Ross Gunn n the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin and Marvin Kirchofer in the #9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren. Gunn trying to pass Milner. No dice into the hcicane in the Inner Loop. The Corvette has more speed or more cornering ability.
Focus forward. This is like qualifying and every lap must be perfect. Now, Parker Thompson has caught Philip Ellis in GT Daytona. Lexus looking for two in a row, but he goes straight, and Heylen makes a pass. Milner cannot shake Ross Gunn yet. Sizing up his rival. Marvin Kirchhofer is coming in a big hurry as well, look. Renger van der Zande runs wide through the Toe of The Boot. van der Zande surrounded by Porsche's, Jaminet behind and Nasr in the lead as they have dropped Louis Deletraz and the sole remaining Acura like a rock. This is a two-horse race, and we will see a repeat winner. The stat of multiple winners through half the season, rip it up and toss it out the window.
All six GTD Pro cars are nose to tail. Corvette, Aston Martin, McLaren, Corvette, Porsche, Lexus. Nasr working through this battle with the GTD Pro cars and he is ding better than van der Zande in the Cadillac. He pinches it to the inside of the McLaren almost loses it! He is forcing it through! Yikes! Ross Gunn gets the run in GTD Pro as Renger van der Zande is running down Felipe Nasr and Matthieu Jaminet forcing the issue. Penske Porsche have displayed amazing consistency in 2024. No traffic. Mano e mano between Nasr and van der Zande.
The GTD Pro battle is still raging on. Milner vs. Gunn vs. Kirchhofer. It is a trio battling for the GTD Pro victory. Gianmaria Bruni in the #5 Proton Porsche 963 is slicing through and so are the two BMWs. Hawksworth has passed Heinrich. One lap to go. van der Zande is mowing Nasr down. Will he have time? Hook the big fish, but landing it in the boat, completely different. No mistakes. Make every turn count. In GTD Pro, Ross Gunn is the leader. Corvette #4 of Milner is out of gas. Will Gunn have enough? What about the McLaren and the second Corvette? Garcia runs wide through The Carousel.
Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron win it. In GTD Pro it will be Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas and Aston Martin winning! In LMP2, the #88 AF Corse car of Nicklas Nielsen, Lilou Wadoux, and Luis Perez Companc! Nielsen wins overall at Le Mans and LMP2 at The Glen in one week! GTD Pro goes to Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas. In the GT Daytona class, it is the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Philip Ellis, Russell Ward in Indy Dontje.
Overall/GTP: #7 Cameron/Nasr Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963
LMP2: #88 Companc/Nielsen/Wadoux Richard Mille AF Corse Oreca 07
GT Daytona Pro: #23 Gunn/Riberas Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR
GT3 Evo
GT Daytona: #57 Ward/Ellis/Dontje Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
So, the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen is in the bag. Now we move next to a sprint race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park featuring LMP2, as the headlining class, with no GTP cars making the trip north of the border. The GTD Pro and GTD cars will also be at CTMP, formerly Mosport Park. I will always know it as Mosport. We will see you there, in three weeks. For now, so long everyone, from the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. Bye bye.
No comments:
Post a Comment