Trouble in paradise in turn 12 as one of the Ferrari's is off the circuit. That is Brendon Iribe in the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, and he is back underway just in the nick of time as the pack scatters all over the road down the frontstretch! Iribe, the American driver, sharing that Ferrari with Fredrik Schandorff of Denmark and Ollie Milroy from England. He was wide and went over the curbs on the downhill, spinning over the curbs and hitting the gravel but thankfully kept the car out of the tire barriers! He will need a couple laps to settle in. Finally, and mercifully, the #32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 is in the pit lane for fresh Michelin tires. Hopefully tire wear is their only problem. The car ought to feel a lot better. Grenier had no rolling speed before.
A pair of Lamborghini's are battling each other. Jordan Pepper is currently the leader in GTD Pro flashing the lights to the #78 Forte Racing car. That is the car of Misha Goikhberg. Another GTD Pro points update for you here as we take a short race break before continuing to talk about what is going on.
1. #77 Laurin Heinrich AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R (992) 3,142 points
2. #23 Ross Gunn Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin
Vantage AMR GT3 Evo 3,138 points -4
3. #1 Snow/Sellers Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 2,969 points -173
Goikhberg lets Pepper through, wisely. Jordan Pepper says that the Lamborghini sticks on the brakes and feels they have a superior advantage over the competition. Jack Aitken is still being hounded for the lead by Matt Campbell. This Cadillac vs. Porsche GTP fight has gone on all day long so far at the top of the shop. Action Express Cadillac vs. Porsche Penske Motorsports. GT Daytona cars have antilock brakes. Drivers use the ABS differently. It depends on brake bias, tire wear, and programming the ABS between the different manufacturers just like the mechanical braking and fly by wire braking on the rear. In a GTP car it is like a giant tool chest on wheels whereas in the GT3 car it is a smaller toolbox.
The left rear Michelin off the #32 Mercedes, a strip of it delaminated and came down to the cords. This one is unusually highly worn. Is that an overinflated tire? It can't be. In the meantime, back at the sharp end, the privateer #5 Proton Competition Porsche 963 of Gianmaria Bruni is making inroads on the leaders, Jack Aitken in the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac and the #7 factory Penske Porsche 963 of Matt Campbell. We have a Brit, an Australian, and an Italian, the top three drivers. Bruni is a legend of this sport.
The privateer Porsche's have struggled on out laps on cold tires and especially at night. Proton Competition have Bruni, the Italian as their lead driver sharing with Belgian born Italian Alessio Picariello and Bent Viscaal from Holland. The first half lap out of the pits at night, when the sun sets, is diabolical because the car is wriggling all over the place. When you exit the pit lane you are at turn three. That is the problem because you are right before the downhill esses in what we in the racing world would refer to as combined load. You are steering the car and accelerating, mashing the throttle at the same time. This means that the tire cannot generate any heat at all and hence why a driver is squirming all over the place on the first lap out of the pits.
IMSA does not allow the teams to race using tire warmers and those electric blankets for the tires to keep them warmed up, I believe, they are really trying to outlaw them across the board in endurance racing for cost reasons. They say there is environmental impact, but I kind of doubt that. It is an electric blanket, producing heat into the tire. Maybe they are getting hotter than they need to be. It is a debate, because hot tires provide more grip and a little more safety and security than being on stone cold tires. I wrote an editorial about that some time ago referring to the FIA World Endurance Championship and wondered about the logic behind it.
The privateer Porsche's are able to run with the factory Penske cars. There isn't a large disparity between a customer team and a factory team, two full years into the program at Stuttgart. JDC-Miller Motorsports earned a podium at Indianapolis last time out. Through the Multimatic group in Canada who actually build the Porsche 963 for Porsche, there is a lot of data sharing going on between the factory and Penske's organization that works its way down to the customer teams shortly after it is obtained. They do a lot of simulator work and simulator data gathering which is provided to the customer teams. The chassis under the Porsche, the Cadillac, the BMW, the Acura are different. Dallara, Multimatic, Oreca, and Ligier. Dallara from Italy build the Cadillac and the BMW. Acura's cars are built by Oreca in France. Multimatic in Canada build the Porsche. Ligier, another French company, builds the Lamborghini.
It is a worldwide effort in GTP. #99 "Spike" the dragon and the #2 United Autosport cars in the pit lane in LMP2. Paul Loup Chatin at the wheel of "Spike" right now. He grew up in western France halfway between Le Mans and Paris. His family are farmers, and they grow potatoes and onions. What does he do when he isn't racing or helping out on the family farm? He goes skiing. There are many parallels between skiing and driving a race car. It is all about speed and also accuracy with hitting your marks. They are incredibly similar that way.
OK. The #52 Inter Europol/PR1 Mathiasen Oreca is in pit lane as well and appears to be having trouble. "Spike", the #99 AO Racing LMP2 car has a routine stop. The points leading #52 sees Nick Boulle staying in the car for a double stint. The LMP2 cars don't have issues on the out lap like the GTP cars do. RE: stone cold tires. At night, that will be an interesting situation to follow because the LMP2 cars will be faster than the GTP cars do. The deal is, the Michelin tire for the GTP cars is far more durable. It has more meat on the bone, or more sidewall and more tread area. Treads? Race cars, unless they are using rain tires, run slick tires with no tread of course.
Smooth sailing for the GTD championship leading Winward Racing Mercedes, car #57. Right now, the battle we are seeing up ahead is for GTD Pro with Roman De Angelis doing everything he knows aboard the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 to catch the leading #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini, Jordan Pepper at the wheel of it, sharing with Franck Perera and Mirko Bortolotti. This is the 27th renewal of the Petit Le Mans, a race that began in 1998 and put endurance sports car racing on the map.
The third-place battle in GTP and in the overall intensifies as Ricky Taylor aboard the #10 WTR Andretti Acura ARX-06 is hotly pursuing Gianmaria Bruni currently at the wheel of the #5 Proton Competition Mustang Samping Porsche 963. Mustang Sampling, their sponsor, is an oil and gas testing company that has worked with a handful of teams throughout the IMSA prototype paddock in the last handful of years. Bruni has been amazing at the wheel of that car. Bruni is 43 years old, but he can take it to the younger drivers. Bruni was a long time Ferrari factory driver before being poached by Porsche in the GTLM/GTE days as he has raced in both IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship. They paid him a handsome sum to make the move. Bruni, like other drivers in sports car racing, started his career in single seaters, in Formula 3.
Oh dear! We have a car spun off the road and it is the #74 Riley Motorsports LMP2 Oreca entry. Gar Robinson at turn seven is trying to get back on track. It is smart to turn the car on the grass and spins it around and gets back after it. That is the same spin deal that happened to Dwight Merriman earlier in the #18 Era Motorsports LMP2 entry. Screech! You just don't get much of an indication. He was sliding the tire, and he just tapped the throttle before the engine revved up and he spun. Before we keep going, I want to have a good look at the LMP2 points as they run right now.
Here is the situation.
1. #52 Boulle/Dillman Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07
2,227 points
2. #11 Steven Thomas TDS Racing Oreca 07 2,104 points -123
3. #74 Robinson/Fraga Riley Oreca 07 2,086 points -141
When that car began to yaw, it was gone. The LMP2 cars make a lot of downforce, for the mass they carry. Jack Aitken in the meantime has passed Matt Campbell and the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac has extended slightly, the gap, over Campbell in the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963. Traffic was involved in all of that. Now, Aitken is stymied behind the Proton Competition Ford Mutang GT3. He clears the GT Daytona car. That is the #55 car being shared by American drivers Corey Lewis and Ryan Hardwick, alongside Giammarco Levorato of Italy. It is where you catch the traffic. Passing is fine if you catch a car on the straightaway. You are going to be more apt to pass in a straight line. If you are held up by a back marker in a corner, that's why things get incredibly tricky.
Do they know I am here or not? Trust the side mirrors or the rearview cameras with the radar system. We have three driver lineups, and you will come across the same car all the time, but it will have a different driver at the wheel than who was in the car before, and their driving behaviors are completely different. Read the language of the lapped cars you are dealing with. Another driver who is in the car later, sometimes must pay for the indiscretion of their teammate in the form of a drive through or stop and go penalty.
We've got big news on the timing and scoring. But... wait! There's a spin at the top of the hill just before you dive downhill through turns three, four and five here at Road Atlanta! Two cars partake in synchronized spinning! Oh dear. There is a penalty assessed to the leader, the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac of Jack Aitken! What that penalty is for, we will dissect, plot, and diagram that in a moment. Ah. It is a drive through penalty for passing under the yellow flag. This will cost 32 seconds to Aitken, and he is coming in, serving the penalty immediately, a second ahead of Campbell in the Porsche and 24 seconds ahead of Romain Grosjean in the #63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63.
No argument from Action Express or Jack Aitken. Get the job done. Ah. Grosjean passes Aitken on the road. That delta is nearer to 30 seconds. That is massive and now Action Express will be playing catch up with seven hours and 42 minutes to go. There will be frustration. However, time may be on the side of the AXR team here with so much left in the race. We'll have to monitor their progress and see how things turn out. Aitken will be asking when and why. They remain on the lead lap. Now, we rewind back to the incident, the shemozzle we saw before with the LMP2 and GT Daytona car in that downhill turn.
Both the #11 TDS Racing Oreca of Steven Thomas, and the #45 GT Daytona class Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 get together and spin in opposite directions. That was a classic example of a GT3 car not knowing the prototype was there. That #45 Lamborghini being shared by American Graham Doyle, Canadian driver Kyle Marcelli, and Danny Formal from Costa Rica. Aussie Hunter McElrea actually at the wheel of the #11 TDS Racing Oreca was going for it, tried finding an open door and the GT Daytona Lamborghini slammed it in his face. #45 had rolling speed and #11 had no place to go. McElrea's hesitation caused the spin. Paul Loup Chatin, the rapid Frenchman is catching Hunter McElrea hand over fist.
Pit lane is getting busy for GTP pit stops as we see one of the two BMW Team Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMW M Hybrid V8's in the lane and the Porsche Penske Motorsports guys are also up on the wall ready to bring one of the two cars in for service, or maybe, both the #6 and #7. The BMW's finished 1-2 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last month. Some confusion with the tires between scrubbed and sticker tires. OK. Porsche #7 in the lane. That is Matt Campbell. Ricky Taylor also in the lane in the #10 Acura. Felipe Nasr will get into the #7 Porsche 963. Nasr and Dane Cameron have done a lot of development on this car.
Last year they were snakebit with weird issues. The Porsche is waiting on the fuel tank to be filled as the brakes smoke. We have seen a lot of brake smoke and occasional small brake fires on the Porsche's in both IMSA and FIA World Endurance all season. I don't know if other GTP cars or Hypercars in the case of the WEC have that issue. Campbell and Taylor down and away. Stewards bulletin number... well, the number isn't important. Drive through penalty for incident responsibility for Hunter McElrea in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca for the shemozzle with the #45 Lamborghini. The GTP leaders are all pitting. The BMW that had that bungled pit stop is now off sequence with the other GTP leaders as the #5 Proton Competition Mustang Sampling Porsche is in.
Gianmaria Bruni out, and it will be either Bent Viscaal or Alessio Picariello getting behind the wheel. Penske Porsche #6 in as well. These boys are trophy hunting. Left side tires only for Mathieu Jaminet, the Luxembourg domiciled Frenchman, or Luxembourg licensed Frenchman, in that car. Not as much energy or wear on the right-side tires. Penske and Proton both down and away as the beleaguered #77 "Rexy" the dinosaur liveried Porsche 911 GT3R (992) is now in the lane, too. Full fuel load is 40 seconds on all classes. For the #77 Porsche team, they are anxious, wondering if the transmission is going to hold out.
Half a set of tires to stack the advantage to the back half of the race is the right way to go. Yellows always expected along with the traffic. The speed differential is amazing between the GTP and the LMP2 and both classes of GT Daytona cars. Oh no! The nightmare continues for the #77! "Rexy" is stopped again at the top of the hill. No fire in the belly of the dinosaur. He is back underway now, or not. The transmission could be fried. With the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin gaining on them, it is a 26 point margin between "Rexy" and the aforementioned blue Aston Martin. Almost certainly, unless we see a yellow, "Rexy" and the AO Racing team will be in big, big trouble.
Now, we have another car off the road, spun. That is the #20 MDK by High Class Racing Oreca 07 LMP2 car, being shared by Danish racer Dennis Andersen alongside American drivers Seth Lucas and Scott Huffaker. Now the #77 is rolling, back underway. What is wrong with the car? It is slow, and he is shaking a wire to see if the electrical connection is causing the shifting issue. There is no compressor for the shifter, like a motorcycle. This is an electrical problem. There is no difference. You cannot see electricity leaking out.
A common mistake teams make is, in their haste to get the car ready for the race, they can zip tie a coiled cable for the shifting mechanism to the steering column by mistake, and this makes the electronics completely useless. Here is the points situation in GTD Pro as it stands.
1. #77 Laurin Heinrich AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R (992) 3,112 points
2. #23 Ross Gunn Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin
Vantage GT3 Evo 3,068 points -44
3. #1 Snow/Sellers Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 3,009 points -103
Heinrich is in major trouble, stuck only in first gear! This is very, very dangerous. They changed the steering wheel and might need a spare. The team is trying to fix the problem, but the efforts are fraught. In the meantme, the #31 Whelen Cadillac is in the pit lane for a driver change. Jack Aitken out, and Tom Blomqvist, "the machine" is in. He is a stellar driver and a machine in one of these prototypes. Tom Blomqvist has won Petit Le Mans two times on the bounce with Meyer Shank Racing and is going for the hat trick with Action Express if the Bob Johnson led team can get there today. They have a road ahead after the penalty, for Blomqvist and co-drivers Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken.
Tom Blomqvist started the year in IndyCar. Blomqvist, the safe bet is he will be back with Meyer Shank Racing next year when they return to IMSA with a two-car Acura GTP effort. What are Action Express' driver plans for next year? We'll wait and find out. Julien Andlauer, the Frenchman, now at the wheel of the #77 "Rexy" Porsche 911 GT3R (992), still trying to futz with that wire that has been causing transmission woes for them in the last few minutes. It seems that they are going to replace the steering wheel and unplug that coiled wire. They needthe spare steering wheel.
OK. Here is the wheel change. They have the wiring harness. On the onboard camera, you can see the mechanic frantically jiggling the socket wrench to try loosening the bolts between the steering wheel and the steering column. Be quick but not fast. Don't make a mistake and don't lose the bolt, dropping it into the foot well. The car is perhaps stuck in second gear. They are replacing the upper steering column r the actuator. There is a spare wheel. The teams practice these emergency service situations but a steering wheel change would not be on that list. Clunk. You can hear that a bolt or some part just fell down inside the foot well! Dear, oh dear!
Changing the steering wheel is not on the check list. Changing the steering wheel on a GT3 car is far more complex than the separate wheel that separates from the steering column and plugs in, say, on a GTP car, an IndyCar, or a Formula 1 car, because of course these GT3 cars are production-based cars, so the steering column is the same you'd probably have in a road going Porsche 911 from the factory in Stuttgart. In a GTP car, an IndyCar, or a Formula 1 car, the electronics come through the center of the steering column. They plug in with the wheel. GT cars are hardwired.
The mechanic must wear a full-face helmet just like the driver does. So, by rules, this is necessary for safety, but it is so hard to see what you are doing in that situation. Mechanics cannot just wear an open face helmet with a set of goggles over it like they used to. Andlauer staying in the car has to make the mechanic's job harder. We are going to have a points update here again for you, as the repairs continue.
1. #77 Laurin Heinrich AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R (992) 3,112 points
2. #23 Ross Gunn Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin
Vantage GT3 Evo 3,078 points -34
3. #14 Hawksworth/Barnicoat Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 3,029 points -83
You might get one or two mechanics to help. Up to four mechanics can help. It is harder for another crew member to reach across the passenger side of the car with the ancillary equipment and the roll cage there, to be of help. There is a harness that has been loosened up. Alex Riberas, the Spaniard at the wheel of the #23 Aston Martin, is in fifth spot in class in GTD Pro. That's not enough to make a dent or make inroads in the points situation yet. So, that gives a slight reprieve to the #77 team as they fix this gearshift problem.
Every minute Heinrich sits in the lane he loses time. He has lost four laps because of these repairs as the mechanic now is going to zip tie the electronics together but in doing so, be extremely careful to not pinch any wires or the whole system will go completely on the blink. Oh, my heavens. The #23 car has just gained more points. So, again, we've got an update here for you.
1. #77 Laurin Heinrich AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R (992) 3,112 points
2. #23 Ross Gunn Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin
Vantage GT3 Evo 3,098 points -14
3. #14 Hawksworth/Barnicoat Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 3,029 points -83
Drama always happens at Petit Le Mans in this ten-hour odyssey. Anything can and will happen as work continues on "Rexy" the dinosaur. Hey, folks. We have just under seven and a half hours to go. But stick with us throughout the day especially on television on USA Network and on the Peacock streaming platform for the coverage later tonight which begins at 6PM Eastern Time, 5PM Central Time, so you can continue following along with this race. You don't want to miss a moment. Believe me.
Championships indeed on the line. In the GTP class, the title fight is between the two Porsche Penske cars. Felipe Nasr now at the wheel of the #7 car and his teammate Dane Cameron has not driven the car yet today. Here is the championship scenarios in GTP with the two Porsche Penske cars duking it out. We've chuntered on about this constantly. But it bears repeating. For Cameron, Nasr and #7 to win, they must finish ninth or better to claim the title. For the #6 of Matthieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy to win, they must win the race, and their teammates must finish tenth or lower.
Winning is the object for the #6 car. Win or bust. Now we see the similar scenario in GTD Pro, and we have been harping about that, too, of course, because it has been a major talking point, or a major story in the last few minutes. The term "talking point" is way overused. Anyhow, Laurin Heinrich and the #77 team must finish sixth or better to claim the GTD Pro championship while, similar to the Penske Porsche GTP situation, the #23 Ross Gunn driven Heart of Racing Aston Martin must win the race in class and the #77 finishes seventh or lower.
Again, AO Racing is now four laps down. We can rip up those papers and toss the previously mentioned situation in the trash, or better, the recycling. The AO Racing organization must claw back five laps to even have a shot at the title. Now we move to the championship battle in GT Daytona which is a duel mano e mano between the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Philip Ellis and Russell Ward and the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 of Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley. #57 can claim the title simply if they finish 18th in class or better while the #96 has a harder road because they must win in GT Daytona and have the #57 Mercedes boys finish plum last in the running order if they have any hope of securing the crown tonight.
The one thing they must be on top of is, minimum drive time must be met, or they will be demoted to the back of the field. Ed Hall and the entire management group at Winward Racing are aware of this. So, they are minding their P's and Qs indeed. Here is the GT Daytona points situation as they run currently.
1. #57 Ellis/Ward Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 3,286 points
2. #96 Foley/Gallagher Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 3,096 points -190
3. #32 Mikael Grenier Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 2,771 points -515
It is highly unlikely that the #57 team will be making mistakes. Now, we need to double back to the LMP2 situation just for a wee while here. We're going to have a Captain Cook at the points table and we will also analyze the championship scenarios. First, the points table as it is now for the top three.
1. #52 Boulle/Dillmann Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 2,227 points
2. #74 Fraga/Robinson Riley Oreca 07 2,106 points -121
3. #11 Steven Thomas TDS Racing Oreca 07 2,054 points -173
Here are the championship scenarios. To win the title, Nick Boulle, Tom Dillman and the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Inter Europol team must finish sixth or better. It is that simple. For the #74 Riley team to win, Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson must win the motor race, and the #52 car must finish seventh or worse. The other title contender here who is I believe lower than #11 in the standings, is the #18 Era Motorsports Oreca 07. This is the Scotsman Ryan Dalziel who has a mathematical shot at the crown. He needs to win in order to do so and if Dalziel, Dwight Merriman, and Connor Zilisch are two win, the #52 must finish ninth or lower and the #74 must finish second or lower.
So, #18 is at best, a dark horse. Dillmann and company, there are ten LMP2 starters, and things can change in an instant. Nick Boulle is running well, in fourth, 22 seconds behind the class leader. Boulle has driven this car now for almost three hours. We have not seen a driver change for the #52 yet as Boulle and Dillmann, the points leaders in LMP2 have Polish driver Jakub Smiechowski, the son of the Inter Europol Polish bakery owner, as the third driver in the car today.
I think the team is trying to burn up Smiechowski's drive time early so they can get the title contenders with Boulle and Dillman in the car when the pay window opens towards the end of the race tonight. The traffic is unbelievable! But remember, as we talked about, there is a record starting field for this race with 53 cars. There is a record crowd of spectators here for the race, too. That's impressive in the state of Georgia during college football season, of course, with the Georgia Bulldogs college football team. The #40 Dex Imaging Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global Acura is in the lane, off strategy.
There is a driver change as Louis Deletraz gets into the car after Jordan Taylor has completed his stint. Colton Herta is the third driver in this car. Two Americans and the Swiss driver, this team, won the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier in March of this year. The windscreen is cleaned because of how the sun is in the sky this time of day and he is down and away. As the sun sets there are two spots on the course here at Road Atlanta up the hill into turn three and also into turns six and seven coming onto the long backstretch. By IMSA's itinerary we will see a Georgia sunset tonight at 7:30 P.M. Eastern Time. Drivers will put piece of tape on the end of their helmet visor and no visor (visor up) at night.
I think it used to be that drivers would run a tinted visor during the daytime and a clear visor at night. But I don't think that is the case any longer. The GTP drivers are driven crazy by the traffic, especially with the GT Daytona cars. The LMP2 cars are not too much quicker than the GT class cars, the GT3 cars in either GT Daytona Pro or GT Daytona regular. There is an eight mile an hour delta while the GTP cars are screaming down the hill. Oh! Trouble for the #11 again as he was trying to get to pit lane and got boxed out, or, he got squeezed. Hunter McElrea at the wheel of it.
Hopefully the Aussie has enough fuel in the tank. Was there car trouble there. Maybe he got a late call to pit and couldn't do it. He had been tracking down both Paul Loup Chatin and Lilou Wadoux. Lilou Wadoux Ducelier, the French lady racer, she is sharing the #88 Richard Mille AF Corse Oreca 07 with Argentina's Luis Perez Companc and with the Danish driver Nicklas Nielsen who is one of the lead drivers for AF Corse in Europe as they run the now two-time Le Mans 24 Hours race winning Ferrari factory Hypercar program with the 499P in FIA World Endurance.
In this replay, the #18goes wide off the road as the field flies over the hill. It is blind over the crest, and you cannot see pit in until you cross the bridge as Nick Yelloly makes it three wide with two of the GT3 cars! Yelloly at the wheel of the #25 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8. The British driver is sharing with American Connor De Philippi and Belgian Maxime Martin. Yelloly is fifth overall and fifth in GTP. He passes by the #47 Ferrari and one of the two factory Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3's. Paul Loup Chatin also gets dusted, driving "Spike" the dragon.
Hunter McElrea is now back in the pit lane. McElrea stays in the car for a double stint. Fuel only and clean the windscreen. Save your tear offs and clean the windscreen with the cleaner spray bottle. Stack eight to ten tear offs and then clean the screen. If you use too many tearoffs the view from inside the car gets very distorted. There is a sweet spot, like thick glass, or like if you haven't cleaned your eyeglasses. Meanwhile, there is big trouble with a cut down left rear tire for the #9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo in GTD Pro! That is the car of Marvin Kirchhofer from Switzerland, England's Oliver Jarvis (a former prototype driver) and Canada's James Hinchcliffe, a former IndyCar driver turned NBC Sports analyst for IndyCar and sports cars.
Kirchhofer at the controls with the left rear tire being cut down with two and a half miles up the road and there was contact with the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 in GT Daytona! That's Roberto Lacorte, the Italian, at the controls of #47. He is sharing that car with Italian Giorgio Sernagiotto and another Ferrari FIA WEC Hypercar driver and Le Mans winner this year, Antonio Fuoco, the Monaco domiciled and licensed Italian. Good thing the deflation of that tire happened quickly with the #9 getting into a tank slapper. The full tread circumference has come off the tire. That's probably the best thing to happen, because if that tread held on it is like a whip or a sawblade and just tears the bodywork to pieces.
Jordan Taylor says everyone is dealing with this hectic traffic with tire strategy or fuel levels. Keep the car n one piece and stay out of trouble. The #10 and #40 at WTR Andretti are 13 laps apart on their two separate pit strategies working towards one cause. The Acura, BMW, and Porsche teams have two-car teams while the private Porsche's, the Cadillac's, and the Lamborghini each have one. Marvin Kirchhofer has lost a full lap limping to the pit lane. Ferrari #47 will cop a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Plus, once the tire is changed, there will be a drive through penalty for the #9 McLaren for incident responsibility with the #47.
Pfaff Motorsports in a major hole. The bodywork seems OK. It has become slightly detached on the left rear corner but that's all. I think they are going to do one lap, come in and serve the penalty to be honest. Felipe Nasr leads the motor race, the championship leader, ahead of Matthieu Jaminet. In the middle of last year, Felipe Nasr when he moved to Porsche's prototype effort from their GT class effort the season before, he was not comfortable at the wheel of the 963 but then, something clicked mid-season, and he has been on a tear since the 2023 Road America race. Here are the GTP points standings as they run right now with seven and a quarter hours of racing to go in the Petit Le Mans and the season.
1. #7 Cameron/Nasr Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963 3,032 points
2. #6 Jaminet/Tandy Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963 2,869 points -163
3. #01 van der Zande/Bourdais Cadillac Racing Cadillac V Series.R 2,714 points -318
It is really a two-horse race between the two Penske Porsche's for the title. More GTD and GTD Pro battles. Porsche Penske are in a comfortable spot as the fuel energy loads are approaching halfway and he has 25-30 minutes left in the stint, does Nasr. We are closing in on the end of the third hour. Hello, again, to Kevin Lee in the broadcast booth with Calvin Fish and Townsend Bell. We have more drama and off-road adventures for the second Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo. This is the #027 car which is being shared by Mario Farnbacher of Germany, Canadian driver Roman De Angelis, and from Denmark, longtime Aston Martin GT class driver, Marco Sorensen.
That is De Angelis who went off the road and cost time, but he is fine. This second car will help the #23 and he got wide under braking not expecting the Lamborghini to turn in quickly like that and the Lamborghini had a head of steam for sure. Did he get grass stuffed into the radiator grille? I think this is Zacharie Robichon who has also been racing in FIA World Endurance. But I do not see Robichon on the list. The Aston Martin drivers are really excited about the new Valkyrie V12 GTP Hypercar coming into the frame for next year. A lot of drivers are hoping to have a shot at the wheel of that beast. 6.5 liter naturally aspirated V12 powered, no replacement for displacement.
Oh no! More trouble in GTD Pro land as the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 is off the road and spewing steam like a geyser out the top of the motor, out of one of the louvers on the bonnet. Ben Barnicoat at the controls, stopped at the exit of turn seven. No damage on the car. He is slowing and it seems there's water spritzing and spraying all over the windscreen. It sounds like the driveline is busted. One win and one podium for Vasser Sullivan in 2024 because of the intense competition. This could be terminal. Next year, Jimmy Vasser, James Sullivan, and the team will be testing the new Lexus GT3 car that is expected to make it's debut in 2026.
The Lexus RC F GT3 started racing in 2015 with Paul Gentilozzi. So, the car is long in the tooth and could run in historic races in HSR which is sanctioned by IMSA, or at Goodwood in England if they wanted to bring it over there. It is an early bath for the #14 car. Game over for Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat, and Kyle Kirkwood. I don't think Kirkwood, the IndyCar star, is even going to get to drive today. Felipe Nasr and Porsche Penske lead the motor race. Nasr and Matthieu Jaminet, well, he is nine seconds ahead of his sister car and nine seconds ahead of Ricky Taylor in the #10 Acura.
Nasr seems to have sliced through the traffic pretty cleanly. #6 gained a bunch of points at Indianapolis with a podium. Of course, the #7 suffered in that race with power steering problems. But then, in post-race scrutineering and tech inspection by the IMSA stewards it was found that there was part of the wiring loom that was not homologated correctly which changed the championship scenario entirely. The situation is that Penske (an ironic error for a team that is often so buttoned up and has everything pulled together, all the time), was a clerical error, a paperwork error, where the technical delegates and the stewards for IMSA did not receive their signed papers in time.
Someone in administration forgot to mark the folder with the paperwork in it with a Post-it note that said "important, please send to IMSA technical staff". The 14-point lead went to 124 points. The irony is that the #7 was never checked because it was outside of the top seven on that day due to the power steering problems. That's how the cookie crumbles, the ball bounces, and the mop flops. We are about to hear from Wright Motorsports and their drivers Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson. Boy, oh boy. Have those two been on a tear! If you follow this blog, you will know that they won the IMSA endurance race in GT Daytona at Indianapolis and followed it up with an SRO championship also at Indianapolis.
They are now racing here and are leading in GT Daytona. Elliott Skeer has an eight second buffer over the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo. Yikes! On revised gaps, Montecalvo has gained and is now only 6.7 seconds behind Skeer. Adam Adelson says this is a race of attrition and so staying on the lead lap during constant safety cars, and fuel saving, is important. He is happy with his stint and so did Jan Heylen. Elliott Skeer is currently driving. The tire degradation and the traffic are both a massive deal here. Prioritize tire management but know where your competition is.
Adam Adelson likes the high downforce nature of a GT3 car compared to a GT4 machine like those we saw in the Michelin Pilot Challenge finale here yesterday. Adelson and his family run the Sands Corporation in Las Vegas and just bought a stake in the Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team from owner and businessman Mark Cuban. Elliott Skeer is in a battle, but not for position, with the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3. Oh dear! The #120 did just tag the #66 car as it went by! Now the Porsche is being monstered on corner exit by the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari! Bent Viscaal at the wheel of the #5 Proton Competition Porsche 963, the Mustang Sampling black and gold liveried GTP car, makes a move.
There was a slight touch, and the #9 McLaren tries to make his move but can't quite pull it off. Meanwhile, poor old Skeer is hung out to dry! Then the #70 Ferrari 296 GT3 for Inception Racing came calling and made his move. That is the car shared by Brendon Iribe, Fredrik Schandorff, and Ollie Milroy. The #9 McLaren is also making up place as the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 gets turned around. Now, the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac is in the same camera shot. Did they come together somehow? That was possible contact between Tom Blomqvist at the wheel of the #31 and Jesse Krohn at the wheel of the #24 BMW. Renger van der Zande in the #01 Ganassi Racing Cadillac also gets clipped!
Man, oh man! Argy bargy in the GTP class! Now, van der Zande is stymied by the lapped #63 Lamborghini SC63 as well! He seems to be just fine. They are still a lap down due to the technical issue with the torque sensor that forced the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac organization to make an unscheduled pit stop earlier on. They have a fast race car but are without doubt on the back foot here. In this replay into turn ten, Tom Blomqvist locked the brakes on the #31 Whelen Cadillac and thus, nudged Jesse Krohn sending the #24 BMW spinning. I wonder if the stewards will have something to say to Tom Blomqvist about that shemozzle. Blomqvist did not have the grip into the braking zone and couldn't get it stopped before locking up and tagging the tail of the BMW.
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