Finishing Petit Le Mans is easier said than done. So much more to come as we continue the race today and there is lots and lots more for yours truly to write about. Jordan Taylor leads the motor race overall. Multiclass racing in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. The freeway driving in Atlanta is insane! Oh no! Dwight Merriman has spun, lighting up the rear tires on the #18 Era Motorsports Oreca LMP2 car, one of the title contenders. It is a blind corner, turn seven. Hard to do a hook spin when the tires are hot. Ferrari #62, the Risi Competizine Ferrari 296 GT3 is in the lane for service and a driver change. They were involved in a shemozzle in qualifying with the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 and their two fastest laps were deleted. This is the car shared by Brazilian Daniel Serra, son of former F1 racer Chico Serra, racing with Italian's Davide Rigon, and Alessandro Pier Guidi.
Pier Guidi of course, is a top driver for Ferrari's 499P Hypercar program in the FIA World Endurance Championship and one of the drivers who took victory for Ferrari in the centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans, last year. Risi Competizione always excels in these endurance races. The Ferrari has an advantage under braking and on tire wear. Pit stop time coming for the GTP cars including Jordan Taylor in the #40 WTR Andretti Acura. Tim Keane, the team manager at WTR Andretti on the #40 entry, says that they focus on a car that drives better in traffic. Jack Aitken runs in second in the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac, nine seconds behind Taylor.
AXR is a cornerstone team of IMSA, quiet and impressive, with six titles, and the last four titles taken by different driver lineups showing the teams' depth of talent. Action Express have not won in 15 consecutive races and even after clinching the 2023 title, they know they want to turn it around and get back into victory lane. We have also just seen the #77 AO Racing "Rexy" the dinosaur Porsche make a pit stop. Now, the #40 Acura is in the pit lane as well. They stayed out during the first Full Course Yellow, off sequence from the first stint pit stop. Just fuel going in the tank.
Try to double stint tires in the heat of the day before the temperature plummets at night. Louis Deletraz should be the next driver in the serial. Keep the car out front in clean air to manage the tires. Drivers have to deal with an ill-handling race car but, at some point in the stint you will have a driver click the radio and start whining and grumbling, "I hate this race car! This bucket of bolts is driving terribly! These tires are dead!" Of course, the reply is "keep pushing mate, keep pushing." Wayne Taylor Racing has a massive legacy including 122 podium finishes with 51 victories to their credit.
Unlike football where you get plays from the coach from the sideline, you can call audibles in football, but not in sports car racing. Although, you have options, and late yellows can allow you to do a reset. You have flexibility to play the game. Trust me, this is no game. Road Atlanta is both physically and mentally demanding as a circuit. Oh no! We've got trouble on the track, ladies and gentlemen. What has happened here? Ben Keating has spun into the gravel trap and possibly very well backed it into the guardrail because there is no rear wing, no rear tail section on that #2 Oreca 07 LMP2 car!
That looks to be through the high-speed turn six. Uh oh. The #4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R is also involved in this mess! Is there damage to that car? That is the second of the Pratt & Miller Corvette's being shared by American Tommy Milner, alongside Dutchman Nicky Catsburg, and New Zealander Earl Bamber. Oh dear! Ben Keating is sliding along the guardrail trying to get that #2 Oreca back on the pavement. Toed out, broken suspension, the car is crabbing. Tommy Milner's Corvette's right rear wheel is completely askew.
The GTD Pro cars have the wriggle their way past this wounded duck of a motorcar, this secondhand motorcar with tremendous damage. Clang! Big commitment as Keating loses it and the Corvette had no place to go except... crunch! Right into the side! Then, poor old Keating has a clatter with the guardrail! Perhaps there was a mechanical failure on that LMP2 race car as well. Jeepers creepers! Corvette still will not win this race at least with the #4 car. LMP2 pandemonium? Yes. Our prediction was correct. OK. Pit stop time is coming.
You know, motorsports, like other sports is very charitable, and so, VP Racing Fuels, IMSA, and Road Atlanta, are all doing their part for hurricane relief from the devastating Florida storms we have seen with Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. VP Racing Fuels are sending fuel and water as well. Go to the webpage for Samaritan's Purse and they will let you know how to donate and help. One of the drivers, Jan Heylen, he lost his house in the first hurricane with a year and a half old baby, with twins due in a few weeks, living in a temporary place right now. He is focused on his racing. He is so glad his family is safe. Everyone in our community has provided support including the AMR safety team, with 200-300 trucks on the road to help people in distress.
Duke Energy has their temporary headquarters at Sebring International Raceway in central Florida right now to dispatch and help out with the rebuilding and cleanup after the hurricanes. 350 bucket trucks. It has been such a rough deal with the hurricane, but Thank God there are so many people including racing drivers who are pilots. They've delivered water and helped out. Greg Biffle, NASCAR racer, using his helicopter to help people in North Carolina. Kenton Koch, too, is a pilot. Again, go to the Samaritans Purse webpage to see how you can help.
Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti has struggled for several years at Petit Le Mans. They are out front with Jordan Taylor aboard the #40 car. Ricky Taylor, his brother, is now at the controls of the #10 sister car, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global. It is time for the restart as drivers who are not in the car now, are being told what to expect by their teammates. Soak up all the info you can for the balance and the settings on the GTP cars like the anti rollbars, brake bias, traction control, differential settings, and more. We have an update now on one of the factory Ford Mustang GT3's. This is the #65 car with Dirk Mueller of Germany at the controls, sharing with Fred Vervisch from Belgium and the American Ford sports car and NASCAR veteran, Joey Hand.
A few GTD Pro cars were able to pit before the yellow for the LMP2 and Corvette accident. #65 couldn't pit and needed a full fuel load. We have a situation with the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus in the class lead and some assists were given to the #9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren and the #027 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. In GTP, it is pit stop time at Porsche Penske Motorsports for the first of their two Porsche 963's, the #6 car. They are doing a nose change after an early contact, bolting on a new nose and he is down and away. The GTP cars are very intricate, but they are also modular. It is like a Lego set.
It used to be the intricacies of the cars used to make these sports cars far more difficult to repair. But again, in this day and age, think of these cars such as the Porsche, the Cadillac, the Acura, the BMW, the Lamborghini, and even the LMP2 and the GT3 cars, like a Lego set. Green flag! The two Cadillac's are now chasing down Jordan Taylor. Sebastien Bourdais is a lap down in the pink #01 Ganassi Racing Cadillac while next up in second is Jack Aitken in the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac as well. The #01 Cadillac is pink because of GM's campaign with the American Cancer Society against breast cancer.
Trouble in paradise for the #77 "Rexy" the dinosaur Porsche with a tire rub. So, Rexy's foot is bothering him, clearly. Is it the right rear? Is it down or askew? Remember, the #77 car only needs to finish sixth or better to take the GTD Pro title. But there's drama in that camp currently as we speak. Of course, Aston Martin and Heart of Racing are their biggest competitor. Ah. He hits the rev limiter and the car is stuck in gear. The 4.2 liter flat six motor is surging, trying to find power. It would not shift after being stuck in third gear. He went to manual mode on the gearbox. It sounded like the pit lane speed limiter.
He is still having trouble. Now, there is a massive bunch of GT Daytona cars all together here. Lamborghini, Lexus, Ferrari, Porsche, BMW. Iron Dames, Vasser Sullivan, Conquest Racing, Wright Motorsports, and Turner Motorsports. #120 tags one of the rivals GT3 cars. Side by side stuff. It is possible "Rexy" might have an electronics problem. Are the electronics for the gearbox playing up? Once again, before we keep talking about how the race is panning out, let's quickly go to the points table as it stands in GTD Pro currently.
1. #77 Laurin Heinrich AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R (992) 3,122 points
2. #23 Ross Gunn Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin
Vantage AMR GT3 Evo 3,078 points -44
3. #14 Hawksworth/Barnicoat Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 3,029 points -93
It appears the #96 car tagged the #34. Turner Motorsports BMW vs. Conquest Motorsports Ferrari. In the AO Racing camp with "Rexy", Heinrich is being asked many questions telling him to give as much info on the car to see what is going on. Heinrich has flown Plummet Airways down to 11th. The third to fourth gear upshift isn't working. It is much less common to take the steering wheel off and replace it on a GT3 car than what we see with a GTP car or something like the high-tech open wheel cars such as an IndyCar or a Formula 1 car. It is stuck between third and fourth gear.
Laurin Heinrich is being driven crazy by the gear shifting problem. Understandably so. Up front in GTP though, the battle is hot and heavy! Four manufacturers in the top four places. Acura, Cadillac, Porsche, and BMW. Jordan Taylor, Jack Aitken, Matt Campbell, and Jesse Krohn. Almost an hour and a half of racing in the bag. Another Acura and a couple privateer Porsche's are behind, the JDC-Miller and Proton Competition cars. Aitken sending it chased by Campbell into the braking zone. Jack Aitken defending.
Campbell teamed up with Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron of course. We have another spicy battle down the order in GTP with the Lamborghini, the second Team RLL BMW, and the Ganassi Racing Cadillac. Romain Grosjean in the lime green Lamborghini blocking Nick Yelloly in the #25 BMW sharing with Connor De Philippi and Maxime Martin. Of course, BMW scored a 1-2 finish at the most recent IMSA event, the 6-hour endurance race that was the Battle on the Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway just a handful of weekends ago. Since then, there have also been races in the FIA World Endurance Championship where BMW also have skin in the game. So much sports car racing to speak about. Yours truly hopes to cover more WEC action for you. Stay tuned for that.
Romain Grosjean led at Indianapolis a few weekends' ago and was fast in night practice here at Road Atlanta. Now, it is side by side, mano e mano between Cadillac and Acura! Jack Aitken vs. Jordan Taylor! Aitken wants the lead is going to do anything he must do to get it. Aitken in deep, sliding across and makes his move. Jordan Taylor knows there's a long way to go. Now, the #10 Acura of Ricky Taylor, teammate and brother of Jordan Taylor. Jesse Krohn ahead in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 driving defensively. Jordan Taylor double stinting his Michelin's it might be that this set is beginning to go away.
Those tires might just come off that Acura in the shape of cubes. Again, eight and a half hours to go. A long race still to run. BMW and Jesse Krohn make their move on Jordan Taylor for position and now his brother is going to put the move on him! Well, well, well. He is completely out of tire grip and now has the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports "Banana Boat" Porsche 963 right behind. Protect the car. Stay on the lead lap. Minimize the losses. Jack Aitken now with Matt Campbell right on his six. OK. So much history with Toyota, as David Wilson, TRD President, has been around the company for 35 years.
Toyota has done so much across all kinds of racing. IndyCar, sports cars, Formula 1, NASCAR, off road racing with the desert trophy trucks, drag racing, you name it. We will hear from David Wilson in an interview soon. But first, we have a spin! The #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 has spun on the downhill run through the esses! Oh my gosh! That is a dangerous place to have a spinout! Sheena Monk at the controls, sharing with Tatiana Calderon and Stevan McAleer. But, this is incredibly dangerous! She is stuck there and maybe has not stopped rotating and ow has the leading prototypes screaming right past!
Jack Aitken in the Cadillac for Action Express and Matt Campbell in the Porsche for Team Penske will need to be extremely careful that they don't get collected! Oh, my heart! Yikes! They do. Just barely! Same for Ricky Taylor now coming on the scene in the #10 Acura! Hopefully Sheena Monk can find fire in the belly of the Acura NSX and continue on her way. Full Course Yellow. We are under Full Course Yellow. She has it refired and underway. Glad to see that we went Full Course Yellow. Good call from Race Control. As Monk turns in, the #9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo does not see her, and she tags the left rear corner of the McLaren which sends her spinning in that dangerous downhill switchback.
This will be a short yellow. Glad to see the two factory Ford Mustang's also got through there. It is like the draft at Talladega Superspeedway for the NASCAR cars when they race in Alabama. Racing is a wonderful sport. In IMSA and global sports car racing we have all the gorgeous, high tech, sophisticated cars that are works of art. But we also have the people up and down the pit lane dedicated to making the sport possible. TRD President David Wilson has seen it all including time with the Toyota GTP program with Dan Gurney and of course we have seen Toyota on a global scale in sports car racing, win several times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans as well in the LMP1 and Hypercar classes in FIA World Endurance.
It feels serendipitous for Wilson because the GTP series is where Wilson got started as an engineer, reflecting being a part of Lexus, Toyota, and TRD for over 30 years. He focuses on the hard-earned titles that test your willpower and mental toughness. He cites as examples, the 1992 championship in IMSA GTP 1.0 with Dan Gurney and All-American Racers, the 2002 championship in CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams, which is now IndyCar), the 2015 NASCAR Cup championship and the 2023 IMSA GTD Pro championship with Lexus and Vasser Sullivan Racing. Wilson is a great person, learning how to treat people the way they'd like to be treated.
Wilson also worked on the grassroots area of motorsports for Toyota. He will be a part still of Toyota's dirt racing program with open wheel sprint cars. So, his career is far from over. Maybe we will see Wilson write a memoir, an autobiography, at some point. Wilson is one of the quiet heroes of the sport. The Full Course Yellow has possibly saved Laurin Heinrich's bacon here. Now, let's take a good look again at the points scenarios in GTD Pro and reset this situation for everyone. The championship scenario is that for Ross Gunn and Heart of Racing with the #23 Aston Martin, they must finish third or better should the #77 AO Racing Porsche finish 11th or worse.
Currently, the #77 is in 11th in class after their troubles with the steering and the tires and what we saw play out just a wee while ago. Here are the updated points standings, the table of how the numbers are crunched at this stage with eight and a quarter hours of racing still to go.
1. #23 Ross Gunn Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo 3,138 points
2. #77 Laurin Heinrich AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R (992) 3,122 points -16
3. #14 Hawksworth/Barnicoat Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 3,029 points -109
This is an unmitigated disaster for Laurin Heinrich and AO Racing with the damage to the Porsche. Is the car, OK? It is time now for anothe restart. Jack Aitken flies away ahead of the rest of the field. He has three car lengths on Matt Campbell who is coming in a hurry and so is Ricky Taylor. Meanwhile, in GT Daytona, Manny Franco pulls right alongside Jan Heylen! Wright Motorsports Porsche vs. Conquest Racing Ferrari. Franco has nowhere near the same experience as Jan Heylen does. Franco's Ferrari is on the button early. Now, the #40 Acura pits, off strategy. Now, a new leader in GT Daytona as Frankie Montecalvo has taken the sister #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 to the class lead, sharing that car with Parker Thompson and Aaron Telitz.
Now, in GTD Pro it is a battle for the lead! The sister #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Kyle Kirkwood is being harried, or harrying, Roman De Angelis, the Canadian, at the wheel of the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, down the backstretch towards turn ten! The door mirror, one of them, has come loose from the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 after the earlier crash we saw for that car, the Italian trio sharing that automobile. That is the Lacorte, Sernagiotto, Fuoco car. Ross Gunn has moved back to second in points and now De Angelis has indeed passed Kirkwood but now he has returned the favor. Now we see a battle between McLaren and Corvette. Oliver Jarvis aboard the #9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3.
Jarvis is racing with the #13 GTD class AWA Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. That is the car shared by Canadian Orey Fidani, Matt Bell from England, and Germany's Lars Kern. Jarvis went side by side with Sheena Monk. Fidani in the Corvette goes off the road and then back on. Julien Andlauer now at the wheel of the #77 "Rexy" AO Racing Porsche. It is a very iffy situation if you go offline through the esses because Orey Fidani had his troubles in the same spot where we saw Sheena Monk come to grief earlier with the GTP leaders being forced to take evasive action. Now, the battle is still on in GTD and GTD Pro between Lamborghini, Aston Martin, and Corvette.
Antonio Garcia trying to see what to do. Jordan Pepper forces his way past the second #027 Heart of Racing Aston Martin and now, Garcia makes his move and more GTD shenanigans! Madison Snow at thw wheel of the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 bounding over the curbs! Traffic giveth. Traffic taketh away. Mike Rockenfeller at the wheel of the #64 factory Multimatic Ford Mustang GT3 is making his way by a couple of Ferrari's. One is the GTD class #023 Triarsi Competizione car and the other is the aforementioned #62 Risi Competizione car. #023 for Triarsi Competizione being shared by American team boss Onofrio Triarsi, alongside his co-drivers, American Charlie Scardina and Italian Ferrari driver, Alessio Rovera.
Vasser Sullivan Lexus has the #14 in the pit lane from the lead. They are off sequence as the GTD battle is going bonkers! Jan Heylen bobbing and weaving trying to find an alley in the traffic! Misha Goikhberg aboard the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini is in this scrap along with Franco and Heylen. Goikhberg, the Canadian, sharing with American Devlin Defrancesco and Italian Loris Spinelli. Goikhberg gets pushed wide as Jake Walker aboard the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 plays through. This traffic is insane! Poor old Goikhberg loses three places! He losess five places in two corners.
Sarah Bovy in the Iron Dames Lamborghini is also in this scrap! She was forced wide and now, the Lone Star Racing Mercedes also goes off the road! We are not racing in a sprint event, boys and girls! Cool it! OK. Julien Andlauer and "Rexy" are rebounding. Andlauer has the green dinosaur Porsche back up to ninth place in class in GTD Pro. They have to earn it but they are on the rebound as I said. The trouble is that their transmission issues are intermittent and nobody on the team can figure out what on earth is wrong. "Rexy" is not a happy dinosaur right now. Stay in fourth gear especially through right hand corners. A long Full Course Yellow, should we get one, will afford them time to do a reset and change the steering wheel if this is indeed an electronics gremlin.
Again, let's look at the updated GTD Pro points.
1. #23 Ross Gunn Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo 3,168 points
2. #77 Laurin Heinrich AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R (992) 3,142 points -26
3. #1 Snow/Sellers Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 2,969 points -199
AO Racing going through a checklist of possible troubles with the car. Now, he is short shifting past third gear and went, boom, boom, from second to fourth gear. Something in the gearbox when it is third gear is binding up. Is it a gear physically? Is it electronic such as a wire or a bad switch? It sounds like it is mechanical. Did a gear tooth break off? Again, the traffic is unreal. We have three Mercedes-AMG GT3's right in a row. Winward Racing #57, Korthoff Preston Motorsports #32, and Lone Star Racing #80. Scott Andrews, GTD pole man, behind the wheel, trying to make up ground after going off in the gravel earlier. The Korthoff Mercedes wriggling around and is very loose. Misha Goikhberg goes by in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini. Mikael Grenier, the Canadian, a talented Mercedes-AMG driver at the wheel of the car.
Sheena Monk is trying to find a way to get a lap back and now the overall leaders have hit the GTD Pro and GTD traffic! Aitken and Campbell are taking no prisoners and simply nudging the GT3 cars out of the way. The #3 Corvette goes off into the dirt and back on. Uh oh. Aitken to the outside of two GT Daytona cars, the #23 Aston Martin and the #78 Lamborghini! This is sketchy! What is going on here? Campbell decides discretion is the better part of valor while Aitken moves to the right to pass the GT Daytona traffic. There is a major speed delta and closing rate between the prototypes and the GT3 cars. Oh dear. Dwight Merriman has spun the #18 Era Motorsports LMP2 car once again.
I think that is his second spin in this race again at turn seven where he spun before. We can tell now that it is sensible to be single file through the downhill esses, but it is still a heart stopping moment when they get down there trying to do the serpentine through that section of the circuit! The traffic is absolutely maddening! The race track offline is going to get worse between the red Georgia clay and the marbles from the tires. t is going to become no man's land offline especially down through the esses. The speed delta is now 25 miles an hour between the GTP cars and the GT3 cars. In the old days in the former GTP 1.0 era the speed differential was a lot more, sometimes 50-100 miles an hour between a GTP prototype and what were then known as GTO and GTU cars in IMSA, under 2.5 liters displacement and over 2.5 liters displacement.
Matthieu Jaminet at the wheel of the #6 Porsche 963 for Porsche Penske Motorsports is now doing everything he knows to pass Nick Yelloly in the #25 BMW Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8. All the manufacturers have the pace here. Behind are the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 now with the Dutchman Tijmen van der Helm at the controls with Jesse Krohn, the Finnish driver, right behind in the sister #24 BMW Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 factory car. The #63 Lamborghini SC63 also forces his way through, the Iron Lynx machine. Grenier in the Mercedes #32 continues to hold up the pack and be the unwanted cork in the bottle. Poor old Grenier has some very slimy Michelin tires on the back of the car that are losing grip hand over fist with every lap.
Pitting under green is a killer. But now, we can see from the onboard camera with the #3 Corvette of Antonio "The King of Spain" Garcia, he is two cars behind the Mercedes right behind the #23 Heart of Racing Aston. Here is where we see how loose the Mercedes truly is. Grenier skating wide by at least two possible lanes there, look, on corner entry, because of those tires being completely knackered. Battles all over the shop, trying to find their happy place. #32 hanging on. Grenier must be going insane on the radio, screaming to the pit crew, "I need new tires!" Oliver Jarvis, Madison Snow, and Dirk Mueller all make their way by. McLaren, BMW M4 GT3, Ford Mustang GT3.
James Hinchcliffe will be doing double duty in the race car and the TV broadcast booth. This is like the classic saying in racing, "drinking from a firehose". It is fun to watch but nerve racking. So, we'll see James Hinchcliffe later in the evening after his stint. Pfaff Motorsports third in class in GTD Pro. Andlauer in the #77 remains ninth. He has a slim margin, a four-point lead to Roman De Angelis aboard the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. Jordan Pepper aboard the #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 is in the GTD Pro class lead. The South African is sharing of course with Frenchman Franck Perera and Italian Mirko Bortolotti. We are almost at the conclusion of another racing hour as Mick Grenier continues having his hands full swarmed by GTP cars and by GTD Pro cars alike.
No comments:
Post a Comment