There are many signatures on "Rexy", and there are signatures all over the car, from the fans. They are a fan-oriented team because they are letting fans take pictures of "Rexy", and there are also large blowup dinosaurs representing "Rexy". Keep in mind, the team also has the LMP2 car, the purple and orange one that is "Spike" the dragon. They have let fans sign the car with hundreds and hundreds of signatures to ride along with "Rexy". Now, we will hear from Nick Yelloly who has just finished his stint aboard the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8, the Rahal Letterman Lanigan GTP car. Hang on a second, we have a car backed into the fence! That is the #2 United Autosports USA Oreca LMP2 car, with Ben Keating behind the wheel right now, sharing that car with Ben Hanley, and Nico Pino.
Nick Yelloly says the team is trying to diagnose the car. There was a loss of power. It isn't clear if it is the engine, the hybrid unit, or a combination of both. It was a loss of power. The pace was good for BMW. Hopefully they can get the car back out. The traffic is absolute chaos with the GTP and LMP2 cars as well as the GT Daytona cars. This is the third contact with the wall that we have seen with the #2 car with Ben Keating in the fence again, 50+ laps down! Now, we are hearing a report too, that the leading #7 Porsche 963, the leading factory Porsche, has been caught up in a shemozzle of some sort.
Felipe Nasr coming through GT Daytona traffic gets stymied as the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 gets a massive wriggle on right in front of the leader! Nasr likely avoided it. Let's see. He did brake to avoid hitting the Ferrari and he had to reset and regroup. So, we are under yellow, Full Course Yellow, as the Porsche Penske 963 #6 is in pit lane topping off with fuel. A free pit stop is what that is. Everyone has their own fuel burn and we have been green for quite a while. In the old days, drivers did not fuel save, except in endurance racing like we are doing now, with five hours and 55 minutes of racing to go.
It is championship day in the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech Championship. We have Kevin Lee, Brian Till, and special guest, Colin Braun, in the broadcast booth, with Georgia Henneberry and Ryan Myrehn taking care of things in the pit lane. The #2 Oreca from United Autosports with Wynn's sponsorship is going onto the rollback. It is game over for the LMP2 pole sitter. Ben Keating, Nico Pino, and Ben Hanley, they are headed for the house. So, we see the sweepers sweeping up the tire debris, the marbles, the clag, whatever you want to call it, the rubber that rolls off the side of the tire. Picking that junk up on hot tires is a real problem especially at slow speed under yellow. You lose bucketloads of grip.
The GTP drivers will be very thankful the track is being cleaned up. When it isn't swept, the challenge is the marbles, and you've got zero grip. It is lower grip when clean. But you can get around the GT class cars even on a clean track. The pit lane will open soon, and we should see everyone in the pit lane. Kevin Estre through, in the #6 has stopped and he will cycle to the top of the shop. Now, the #7 and the #10 and #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global Acura's will need to come to the lane for service as well. Brendon Hartley is at the wheel of the #10 Acura currently.
The game is so complex now that the drivers are not really involved in strategy anymore because they are so focused on driving the car and focusing on traffic. The relationship between the engineer and the driver, a driver can give the info to the engineers to look at tire situations, track position, and so on. The #5 Proton Competition Porsche 963 stopped before the yellow and so did the #52 Inter Europol/PR1 Mathiasen LMP2 car got trapped and had to pit in a closed pit for emergency service. There will be a clean track to work with. The two Acura's are in the lane now. So is one of the Penske Porsche's. Louis Deletraz, Brendon Hartley. There are rubber marks from the tires also on the windscreens of these cars.
#10 goes for tires but this is a lengthy stop. They are changing the nose. No pit stop, from the #7 Porsche which pitted an hour ago. The sister #6 Penske Porsche topped off with fuel. Did they miss a call to the pit lane? Porsche is down to under 10% energy. #7 only has to avoid disaster to win the title. But wait! Don't go to that scenario again! We are talking about fuel and electrical energy which you are allotted only for the stint as the GT Daytona Pro and GT Daytona cars are diving for the lane. The #65 Ford Mustang GT3 factory car is in.
Vervisch joining Joey Hand and Dirk Muller in this car of course. A full set of Michelin tires going on and fuel going in. The Paul Miller Racing #1 BMW M4 GT3 is in the pit lane. Bryan Sellers is in his swansong with this team at Paul Miller Racing and BMW before changing over to a new team and a new opportunity for next year. Five hours and 45 minutes of racing remaining. Halfway home in 45 minutes. The Porsche Penske #7 car did not stop as the pit crew stands ready. Felipe Nasr was told to stay with the safety car and might pit. Richard Westbrook and JDC-Miller Motorsports have retired the #85 Porsche 963. Richard Westbrook, Tijmen van der Helm, and Phil Hanson, game over.
The #85 went behind the wall with power steering problems. Such a disappointment for Richard Westbrook, riding off into the sunset, retiring from racing. Day done for JDC-Miller Motorsports. Richard Westbrook stopped driving for six years, then sold everything he had, borrowed money, came to sports car racing, bought a Porsche GT3 Cup car, persevered, and within five years he was a Porsche factory driver and drove at the top level of sports car racing for 20+ years. I don't know if Richard Westbrook will fully retire. He could drive in another endurance race like the Rolex 24 or be at the race track in some capacity, believe me.
Oh dear. We have a tire down on the presumptive championship leading #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 in GT Daytona! The Winward Mercedes is in trouble with a flat tire, a flat left front. Here's the GT Daytona points situation currently.
1. #57 Ward/Ellis Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 3,216 points
2. #96 Foley/Gallagher Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 3,136 points -80
3. #32 Mikael Grenier Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 2,801 points -415
Oh dear! The #22 United Autosports LMP2 Oreca is into the fence! Bijoy Garg has stuffed it in, nose first! The sister car #2 was having issues that we saw, too, spinning. We see Garg trying to enter pit lane, carrying too much speed, sliding off into the grass, and... ker-runch! Nose first into the tire barrier at pit in, walloping the attenuator. OK. A couple GTP cars pitting, the #7 Porsche and one of the BMW's. There will be a driver change. Felipe Nasr getting out and Dane Cameron getting in. Tires going on and fuel in the tank. They will lose track position.
Cameron is down and away. Five hours and 40 minutes to go. So, we are closing in on halfway. There is a class split in GTP of course and all the cars can start right in order. I don't know if the #01 Cadillac, the Chip Ganassi car, got a wave by. This is four-dimensional chess because the GTP cars can drive past all of the GT Daytona and GT Daytona Pro cars, all of the LMP2 cars, and right up to the last GTP car in the serial. Four dimensional? OK. Three-dimensional chess. This is the class split. The GT blokes and ladies are trying to scrub their tires. If they zig when you zag, then, there's going to be big, big trouble. Sebring 2023, that happened.
Heartbreak for Richard Westbrook in his last race. The power steering went out on the #85 Porsche 963 right through turn one. The pump ran out of oil. It would take four hours to fix it and they wouldn't get out until the very end. So, they decided to retire the car. Richard Westbrook has had a wonderful time in IMSA for all these years, the cars and brands he has driven for, the people and the drivers he has worked with. He will miss it so badly. Thanks so much for the memories, Richard. Godspeed, mate.
Felipe Nasr says it was a strategy call as the Porsche Penske team are looking for endurance points, staying out of trouble. The car has been hitting their marks and staying competitive. Matt Campbell did a good job and then, Felipe Nasr says he got the lead and was able to manage the tires even with the sun and sliding around on the road. Everything is going to plan.
Porsche Penske already scored the points at the four-hour mark. #7 has a three-lap advantage over their sister car. All the teams are backtiming to the end of the race. Sports cars, unlike an IndyCar, are designed to have power steering, and really do need it, believe me. If the system fails though, that is worse than having manual steering to begin with like the IndyCar does. You have to overcome the systems that are meant to help. Some are assisted with mechanical pumps and others are electrically operated.
Bryan Sellers is retiring from driving as well. He is going to be in a program management role with DXDT Racing who will debut in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship in 2025. They are partnering with Corvette and Pratt & Miller. Sellers is looking forward to the future. Sellers could be driving in other championships and maybe still being a driver in the WeatherTech Championship. He might still drive as he has driven a lot with DXDT this year in SRO competition as well.
So, here's the last dance and who will be making changes for the future.
- Pipo Derani leaving Action Express.
- Chip Ganassi splitting with Cadillac.
- Wayne Taylor Racing's last race with Acura.
- Richard Westbrook retiring.
- Bryan Sellers' last race with Paul Miller Racing and BMW.
- Final race for Acura NSX GT3.
OK. We've got a restart! Green flag! Porsche and Acura mixing it up in GTP at the front. Porsche holding three of the top four positions and one Cadillac with Tom Blomqvist in the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac. Whoops! The #52 LMP2 car has spun approaching the downhill! That's the championship leader in LMP2! Jakub Smiechowski has lost it! Now, he regroups and points the car back in the right direction. It is so tough on these restarts as we see Tom Blomqvist in the #31 Cadillac harrying Alessio Picariello, the Belgian born Italian at the wheel of the #5 Mustang Sampling Proton Competition Porsche 963.
Cold tires for Smiechowski who spun that #52 LMP2 car. Maybe the Proton Porsche is in front, but I don't see either of the Penske Porsche 963's at the front of that train. It says Kevin Estre is in the lead aboard car #6 on the scoring pylon with Dane Cameron in the #7 in third. The top five should be Estre, Hartley, Cameron, Picariello, and Blomqvist.
1. #6 Estre/Jaminet/Tandy Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963
2. #10 Hartley/Albuquerque/Taylor Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06
3. #7 Cameron/Nasr/Campbell Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963
4. #5 Picariello/Viscaal/Bruni Proton Competition Mustang Sampling Porsche 963
5. #31 Blomqvist/Aitken/Derani Whelen Cadillac Racing Action Express Cadillac V Series.R
It could be that what we are seeing is that Alessio Picariello and Tom Blomqvist are both at the tail end of the lead lap. So, Estre, Hartley, and Cameron are the top three. Picariello and Blomqvist both pushing like mad to stay ahead and avoid going a lap down and the two of them make contact! Oh dear. Blomqvist is the last GTP car on the lead lap. Now we see debris on the road. In this replay, over the crest, Blomqvist might have tagged Picariello, or maybe not. Estre has cleared Hartley slightly. We've got some penalties.
#9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 in GT Daytona, failure to adhere to tire operational parameters and procedures.
#63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 in GTP, too many crew members over the wall on the pit stop.
#83 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 in GT Daytona, too many crew members over the wall on the pit stop.
The #9 penalty might have been being rescinded and it is now goone. They are shown a lap down. Another penalty as well.
#96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 in GT Daytona, penalized for not meeting the minimum refueling time.
James Hinchcliffe is now at the wheel of the #9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren. He is shown a lap down. Kevin Estre leading the motor race and is still in play with the championship with Dane Cameron in the #7. So, again, we have two more GTP cars trying everything they know to stay on the lead lap. You have Alessio Picariello in the #5 Mustang Sampling Proton Competition Porsche, and Tom Blomqvist in the #31 Whelen Engineering Action Express Cadillac. Again, here are the championship scenarios in GTP in the fight between the two Penske Porsche's.
Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr must finish ninth or better in order to clinch the second annual IMSA GTP championship in the modern era. For the sister #6 Porsche 963 Penske factory car to do so, Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy must win the race while the #7 finishes tenth or lower. Right now, #6 is leading and the #7 is in third place in GTP and in the overall. With all the traffic ahead, the leaders are hoping for another yellow. At Road Atlanta with cooler temperatures, it takes a few laps, two to three, for tire temperature to come in. You can take a lot of life out of the tire early in the stint by pushing.
Kevin Estre has to be smart and be patient. The two cars trying to stay on the lead lap, are not as worried about the tire degradation, (i.e. Picariello in the #5 Porsche and Blomqvist in the #31 Cadillac). James Hinchcliffe, driving the #9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren, they got hit early on at Daytona and had mechanical trouble. They had a fraught race at the 12 Hours of Sebring finishing many laps down, there. I cannot specifically remember what happened to them in the two six-hour enduros at Watkins Glen and Indianapolis. Here at Petit Le Mans, they are still in play in GTD Pro.
Right now, James Hinchcliffe is running slower than the class leader in GTD. He has clocked a best lap at 1:21.417 around Road Atlanta, while the class leader in GT Daytona, Adam Adelson in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R (992) has put in a 1:20.433. Pfaff Motorsports McLaren, though, they are still in play. We have perfect weather conditions, and we have not seen a lot of Full Course Yellows today. The better the weather the fewer you will have. Although, this year, with the 53-car grid, traffic density is greater than it has ever been in the 25 previous editions of this race.
Last year there were several yellow flags but this year to this point we have had just four. This race goes in phases with the yellow flags. Every team has their own wishes. The #77 AO Racing "Rexy" Porsche has not been able to get their lap back yet. 13 cars in GTD Pro and 19-20 cars in GTD. All the GT cars are one class as far as timing and scoring and getting laps back. 12 GTP cars, yes. 30+ GTD cars. Russell Ward and the #57 Winward Racing championship leading GT Daytona Mercedes-AMG GT3 is a lap down but they're languishing back in 13th place in class.
This means, the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 is mathematically in the fight. We have indeed had a retirement. Everyone must meet drive time of course, as we've talked about. Plus, you must pass technical inspection after the race, and the #96 car would have to win, 23 seconds off the lead, on the lead lap, with Robby Foley at the controls. With this in mind, here again are the GT Daytona title clinching scenarios. For the #57 of Philip Ellis and Russell Ward, they must finish 18th or better in class. It is that simple as far as the math. For Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW, they need to win and the #57 has to finish stone last in GT Daytona.
With that, here are the points as they run.
1. #57 Ward/Ellis Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 3,216 points
2. #96 Foley/Gallagher Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 3,056 points -160
3. #32 Mikael Grenier Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 2,821 points -395
#96 are on the lead lap, 23 seconds off the lead with Robby Foley in the car. With the GTP cars, there will be a multiple-choice written test. Just kidding. With the GTP cars, the driver is back in the loop because there are are so many tools the driver can work with, the teams have to have information and input from the drivers. It got to the point with the DPi (Daytona Prototype International) cars, that raced for five years from 2017-2022, where they had all the data and could make decisions in spite of the driver.
Everyone was in a learning phase last year in 2023 in year one of the GTP formula. Some of the drivers felt they were put back in the loop. Colin Braun says in year one, everyone was learning, the engineers and the drivers. As the drivers gave their teams and engineers more information, they could develop their tools, the teams, to help their drivers with what they needed, and they correlated each other between the drivers and the engineers, and the engineers had settings that could be changed and help out.
Let's now look at the LMP2 championship scenarios to remind ourselves of how that could go down as we get towards opening the pay window later tonight.
#52 Nick Boulle and Tom Dillmann win the championship should they finish sixth or better in class.
#74 Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson win in class and the #52 Boulle/Dillman car finishes seventh or lower.
#18 Ryan Dalziel for Era Motorsports wins in class and the #52 car finishes ninth or lower, and the #74 finishes second or lower.
I think the points standings have remained relatively unchanged in LMP2 since the last time we checked. Wait a moment. I stand corrected.
1. #52 Boulle/Dillmann Inter Europol/PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07 2,227 points
2. #74 Robinson/Fraga Riley Oreca 07 2,196 points -31
3. #11 Stephen Thomas TDS Racing Oreca 07 2,054 points -173
I stand corrected because Robinson and Fraga have been gaining, and they now sit just 31 points behind the lead duo in LMP2 of Boulle and Dillmann in the standings! Kuba Smiechowski has had a brief off course excursion as yours truly was busily pecking away at the keyboard trying to put the jigsaw puzzle of information together. PR1 Inter Europol are OK and still on the lead lap. Right now, though, Felipe Fraga is leading the class in LMP2. If they can win the race, they can win the championship. Nick Boulle says that he thinks Kuba Smiechowski got hit from behind on the restart. In replay, he spun. The team wants to close it out. Tom and Kuba have been driving superbly.
When the night comes, the intensity of the traffic will only get worse. Nick Boulle double stinted two sets of tires which wasn't easy. Single stints will be much easier to deal with. Laurin Heinrich says that the trouble with the #77 was a transmission cable broke not allowing the Porsche to upshift and so they were stuck in second, third, or fourth gear, and lost gobs of time. They took a long time to locate and fix the problem because they just needed to finish up front. He wants to wake up from the nightmare, but they are focusing on just getting the race done. They are five laps down. Here's the points scenario in GTD Pro coming to the halfway point in less than 20 minutes, in fact, in 19 more minutes.
1. #23 Ross Gunn Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo 3,138 points
2. #77 Laurin Heinrich AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R (992) 3,122 points -16
3. #1 Snow/Sellers Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 2,919 points -219
They are five laps down at AO Racing, hoping it comes back to them, they are five laps down but can do nothing at this stage. Heinrich, the 22-year-old German can become a champion in his first season in IMSA, but the electrical gremlins really have put AO Racing and "Rexy" on the back foot. Heinrich can go out and drive as fast as he can. He can keep pushing and hope for trouble for the #23 Aston Martin in the second half of the race with just over five hours to go. Do your job and see where the chips fall. This afternoon phase is so different from what we will see tonight because some other cars could come alive.
We have had a few retirements but there are still 50 cars on track. Felipe Fraga, Gar Robinson, and Josh Burdon are doing all they can to stay in the fight over the #52 car. Once again, we are going to look another time at the LMP2 points here.
1. #52 Boulle/Dillmann Inter Europol/PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07 2,227 points
2. #74 Robinson/Fraga Riley Oreca 07 2,196 points -31
3. #18 Ryan Dalziel Era Motorsports Oreca 07 2,058 points -169
Here again are the championship scenarios for each of these top three cars to be possible winners at this point in the LMP2 class for the title. #52 Boulle/Dillmann must finish sixth or better to claim the crown. #74 Fraga and Robinson must win the race in class and have the #52 finish seventh or lower. The #18 car of Ryan Dalziel sharing with Dwight Merriman and Connor Zilisch, must win the race while having the #52 finish ninth or lower, and the #74 finish second or lower. Felipe Fraga is the Pro in the #74. #88 and #11 have their Bronze-rated drivers in the car and the Silver-rated driver, Jakub Smiechowski, the "sneaky Silver", is still in the #52.
At the end in LMP2, every team will use their Pro driver. It gets pitch dark by 7:30 P.M. tonight. You will need two drivers you feel comfortable with running in the dark and the driver who gets the sundown stint has to have strong eyes because the glare of the setting sun is absolutely brutal. The finisher gets into the car in pitch dark conditions. The lighting and the topography here at Road Atlanta, the elevation change is so hard to deal with, uphill and down dale, as the headlights cannot keep up. Sebring and Road Atlanta have the light posts but, here at Road Atlanta you need anciliary lighting because of the topography.
Now we have a battle ensuing for the lead in GT Daytona between Adam Adelson in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R (992) and Misha Goikhberg in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. Kenton Koch is not far behind in the #32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes and so is Aaron Telitz in fourth in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson, in their first IMSA season, are racing at Road Atlanta for the first time. Skeer has been upgraded to Gold after being a "Sneaky Silver" for years, which Adelson still is.
At Turner Motorsports, they just had a drive through penalty. Now, we are hearing from Jake Walker, the endurance driver for Turner Motorsports, and Buddy Rice, the 2004 Indianapolis 500 winner and the 2009 winner of the Rolex 24 at Daytona with Brumos Racing and their #58 Riley Mk. XI Porsche alongside David Donohue, Darren Law, and Antonio "The King of Spain" Garcia. Buddy Rice and Jake Walker have been racing with Forty7 Motorsports in Lamborghini Super Trofeo and with Turner Motorsports and BMW in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup.
Jake Walker says this is the most intense endurance race in IMSA out of all of them, including Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, and Indianapolis. Walker is confident and confident in his co-drivers. Buddy Rice says the traffic is bonkers and nonstop looking backwards and forwards. Walker does a lot of racing. Colin Braun is now 36 years old and he started at 16 with Brad Coleman, Adrian Carrio, and Ross Bentley, 20 years ago, in 2003, at age 16! Good gravy! I'm old! It shows how long I have been following sports car racing! It's almost been 30 years!
A reminder, if you are following the race on Peacock, at 6PM Eastern Time, 5PM Central Time, you will need to make the switch and open a new Peacock stream for Petit Le Mans, Part 2. Let your friends know how to get into the different stream or check it out on your TV on USA Network. In the meantime, while we've been giving you these instructions, Misha Goikhberg has poked his nose ahead of Adam Adelson. How, pray tell, did he do it? Into the braking zone in turn 10A, he came from another county with a king-sized head of steam! That's how he did it. Adam Adelson had to know discretion was by far the better part of valor there.
Play it smart at this stage of the race with daylight still showing. That pass fits the totally overused phrase in motor racing these days that I am totally guilty of using. Lick the stamp and send it. Side by side contact into turn ten between the #13 AWA Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R and the #32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3. Kenton Koch bounds through the kitty litter and skitters across the grass and back onto terra firma! Well, well, well. That Corvette, Matt Bell, is a few laps down. Bell, the Brit, sharing the #13 AWA Corvette with Canadian Orey Fidani, and German former Porsche test driver at the Nurburgring, Lars Kern.
Kenton Koch was getting frustrated and the experienced Englishman, Matt Bell, wanted to protect his spot. We are not even halfway through the race yet. Kevin Estre leads GTP in the #6 Penske Porsche 963. LMP2 led by Felipe Fraga in the #74 Riley Oreca 07 LMP2. Alessandro Pier Guidi leading GTD Pro in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3. Misha Goikhberg, the aforementioned, leading GTD regular in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. Hello, again, to Calvin Fish joining Kevin Lee and Colin Braun in the booth with Ryan Myrehn and Georgia Henneberry in the pit lane.
OK. The championship situation in GTP, it is likely, almost certain that the #7 Porsche 963 will win the championship with no post-race penalty because we have seen two retirements from the GTP class which are the #25 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 for Connor De Philippi, Maxime Martin, and Nick Yelloly, and the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 of Richard Westbrook, Phil Hanson, and Tijmen van der Helm. #7 only needs to finish ninth even if the #6 sister car wins the race which is leading right now.
At Indianapolis, the Porsche #6 did not pass technical inspection because of a paperwork deadline error. Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr know the title is theirs and they can go race and try to win while the title will be the icing on the cake. They can go after it. They don't need to protect or drive in a conservative manner. The #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac made a pit stop and have taken themselves out of the fight they were in with the #5 Proton Competition Mustang Sampling Porsche 963, putting Pipo Derani into the car after Tom Blomqvist finished his stint. It is Derani's swansong at Action Express and he is a lap down.
Alessio Picariello has been able to stay on the tail end of the lead lap with the customer Porsche staying just ahead of the factory car, the #6 of Frenchman Kevin Estre. Proton and JDC-Miller have been able to stay in the fight with their customer racing programs with Porsche in GTP all year. They are on the back foot with resources and testing because they cannot attend the manufacturer test days that Penske can because they are the works team. As time goes on they are getting closer though and building a better notebook to draw from.
As time goes on, the #85 car and the #5 car are both getting closer and closer, building a better notebook to nip at the heels of the favorites. The competition level is incredibly high. Misha Goikhberg leads in GT Daytona in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3. The Canadian has four career class wins in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship to his credit, and the most recent of those came here at Road Atlanta in the Petit Le Mans last year, in 2023. All three drivers who won this race last year are back with this team to defend their race win. Misha Goikhberg, Loris Spinelli, and Devlin DeFrancesco.
Devlin DeFrancesco is not feeling well at all. Despite being sick as a dog, he has to be happy that his team is out there leading the motor race in their class in GT Daytona. They have been on a great run of form, second at VIR, fourth at Indianapolis, and looking to win again at Petit Le Mans. Goikhberg is running consistently now as we see Kenton Koch trying to make up time but still second in class. Koch is 5.7 seconds in-arrears of Goikhberg as I look at the scoring pylon on the left of the screen. Adelson and Telitz are not far behind either. In canvassing the GTD paddock before the race this weekend, everyone has said, look out for the Lamborghini because they could have an extra turn of speed.
When Misha Gokhberg is on his game, he can pull off audacious moves just like we saw him do in turn ten a couple laps ago. He is brave, not afraid to go for it, getting his elbows out. He's a real scrapper. Three-wide into turn one in traffic! Man, oh man! In a matter of seconds, we will be at the halfway mark in the 27th annual Motul Petit Le Mans. The crowds this weekend have been massive, of people coming to see the sports cars race.
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