Inside the final three hours of the Petit Le Mans, and of the 2024 season for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. Ladies and gentlemen, we are indeed coming down to crunch time. The pay window will open very soon, sooner than we might think, quite honestly. The battles in at least a few of the classes, but especially in GTP for the overall win are still hot, still simmering, or maybe beginning to boil at this point. IMSA sees record crowds and huge car counts. Gainbridge, Everfy, and other companies, are looking at the technological sector for the next generation. High school and college students have been here at the track looking at avenues to have a career in motorsports. Engineers, tire specialists, and so forth.
Automakers, tire companies, they are all looking for talent who want to put the skills they've learned to use. Plus, camera operators for the television broadcasts. Kids, if you are into playing motorsports video games, listen. You can take that knowledge, along with your studies, and get into motorsports. Believe me. Meanwhile, we are about to hear from Colton Herta who just finished a stint aboard the #40 Acura for WTR Andretti. The floor got ripped up a bit, the balance and center of pressure makes the car nose heavy and loosens it up. But they are still fast. They hit debris or a curb to cut the tire on the left rear. The car is raceable with Louis Deletraz at the controls. They want to get their lap back.
Herta not able to race at night, but he was loving it and enjoys racing in a sports car. He just did a triple stint under full green flag action. Jordan Taylor will finish the race out. In the pit lane now, the #11 TDS Oreca. Hunter McElrea, the Australian, at the wheel of it. The talent level of drivers who come to race IMSA endurance races, holy smokes! Are you kidding me? They're world class. Josh Burdon in the #74 Riley Oreca moves back to the lead and they must pit in the next, oh, 15 minutes. Back timing the race always changes. Meanwhile, things are pretty spicy in the GT Daytona class!
Side by side, give and take. #70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 getting simply nudged out of the way through turns 10A and 10B by a competitor, and no, I could not see which car it was. It was a GT3 car but I don't know which one. Difficult with the camera angle in the twilight. Boom! Roughhousing, debris flying. Ah. It was two Ferrari's having a clatter. #70 got biffed by the #023. He left no room at all driving him out to the turn! Oh dear! Look at the smoke! #99 in trouble! It's "Spike" the dragon for AO Racing. He's not breathing fire. He's coughing smoke. A tire is down on the right front! The right front is totally locked up or the wheel bearing is out.
The smoke looks to me like it is coming off the right front brake rotor. Trouble in paradise for P.J. Hyett, Paul-Loup Chatin, and Matt Brabham. I wonder if that is hot hub grease. Paul Loup Chatin opening the door wanting to make an escape. Paul Loup Chatin wants fresh air. That burning grease smell in the cockpit is really nasty! Blech! The wheel is locked, broken free with a pry bar so they can get the attachment for the rattle gun onto it. The car is on the air jacks for repairs. OK. They put the right front wheel on, snug it down with the impact gun, and lower the car off the air jacks.
Paul Loup Chatin will test the car for a lap or two then return to the lane to check everything. No real problem. Spike is a dragon. So, it stands to reason, that the mythical beast breathes fire and smoke at the same time. It's not Puff the Magic Dragon like the Peter, Paul, & Mary song. It is "Spike" the magic dragon, frolicking on the racetrack. Good evening, everyone. It is fully dark, nighttime at Road Atlanta. I'll say it again, just like the 1957 Nappy Brown rhythm & blues song lyrics. "Nighttime is the right time, to be with the one you love." Motul Petit Le Mans, coming close to a conclusion.
There's a change for the lead in GTD Pro with Dirk Mueller motoring to the top of the shop in the #65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3. Hold the phone here, folks. Mueller is in the pit lane because he has a stop and go or a drive through penalty for another tire pressure infraction. Well, well, well. This is the tenth tire pressure penalty we've seen. The erstwhile leader in GTD Pro, talk about a longstanding sports car rivalry, is the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 with the Brazilian, Daniel Serra, at the keyboard. Ford vs. Ferrari, just like the movie that had Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale playing his driver, Ken Miles.
This pit stop for #65 will be damaging. They are going to put on a pressured up set of rear tires and front tires as well. All four tires. Multimatic Motorsports out of Ontario, Canada, running the factory, works Ford Mustang GT3 program in IMSA this year, they won the Grand Sport championship in 2005 in the old Grand Am championship, a class that still exists in Michelin Pilot Challenge to this very day. They won three major endurance races with Mazda too, in the Daytona Prototype International era, winning the 2020 12 Hours of Sebring, the 2021 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, and here at Road Atlanta in the 2021 edition of the Petit Le Mans.
More GTP leaders in the lane including the #7 Porsche 963 Porsche Penske factory car. Matt Campbell pits from fourth spot. This car is the champion elect. Michelin tires, fuel, the tear off from the windscreen. Now the car is down off the air jacks. A clean windscreen and he is down and away. The exhausts and turbos glowing. Dear, oh dear. Matty Campbell has his hands full locking up the brakes on stone cold tires and can't get the Porsche to turn! Thank goodness he used the motorcycle chicane to cut across back onto the preferred line.
Out laps on stone cold tires in pitch darkness here in the red clay hills in Georgia are perfidious at best. The ambient temperature is 72 degrees but the racetrack temperature is plummeting. Watching Campbell again, in replay, the right front isn't rolling enough. He straightens his hands, straight over the grass and gets to the asphalt. He downshifts twice and taps the brakes. So, Filipe Albuquerque now leads Mathieu Jaminet in GTP and the overall. Paul Loup Chatin, the team thought something was amiss with the tire or the hub. The right front was stuck because there was carbon fiber debris stuck in the wheel well.
The tire was slightly damaged but maintained pressure. Heart of Racing, they have had a real emotional rollercoaster. The GT program is based in Sanford, Florida. Part of the team came to Road Atlanta early to escape the hurricanes while the other half stayed behind with their families in Sanford and Orlando, Florida, to try and make sure everything would be OK. No one had any issues or property damage or anything. Thank God! The #27 car is now back in the race after a scheduled pit stop. Let me tell you all something, our hearts go out to everyone who have dealt now with a pair of hurricanes in the last few weeks. Many IMSA teams are based in Florida.
Hello to James Hinchcliffe in the broadcast booth along with Kevin Lee. Hinchcliffe has been driving the #9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren throughout this race today. Hinchcliffe has not raced at Road Atlanta since racing Formula Atlantic in 2008. Oliver Jarvis is now at the wheel of the #9. The bubbling, warped windscreen tear offs are only on the passenger side of the vehicle. The team is staying the course, trying to bring the car home. A lot of teams not in contention for a class championship are getting a head start on the 2025 season. McLaren was not able to do any testing outside of race weekends.
Hinchcliffe last drove the Pfaff Motorsports McLaren at Sebring in the 12 Hours back in March. It is so tough with 53 cars on a four-kilometer circuit in the darkness. We are inside the time window of a 2 hpur and 40-minute IMSA sprint race. So much happens in the first half of the race and you make it to near the end of an endurance event, it is amazing. Some cars know they might still be in with a shot even being a couple laps down. The erstwhile leader, who still needs a pit stop, in GTD Pro, is the #3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R in the hands of Antonio "The King of Spain" Garcia.
It has been trouble in paradise for the sister #4 car of Earl Bamber, Nicky Catsburg, and Tommy Milner, as we welcome Georgia Henneberry back to the pit lane. Corvette Global Executive Chief Engineer Tony Roma is here and the productin Corvette has 1,064 horsepower, the 5.5-liter V8 with the same basic architecture of the race car. Flat plane crankshaft, twin turbocharged V8, the most powerful American built V8 engine in automotive history. 1,064 horsepower on pump gas.
Many engineers at GM, Chevrolet, and Corvette work on both the race car and the road car for the Corvette. The dive planes, the splitter, and then, this car has a split window, just like the 1963 Corvette, to vent heat from the engine. All of them are still built in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Corvette C8 road car is a gorgeous piece of kit. A sports car race is like Christmas for the fans with the race cars and the production cars that come to the car corral. As IMSA President John Doonan is fond of saying, the sports car races are the new auto show. The racetrack, not the convention center in the middle of the metropolis, is where they are being held these days.
Three-wide racing in GTD traffic as Ross Gunn is still in play for the title. He is back in the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin and currently, things are getting even closer than they were when we last checked the standings as they run. So, here's the scoop, everybody.
1. #77 Laurin Heinrich AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R (992) 3,122 points
2. #23 Ross Gunn Heart of Racing Team
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo 3,078 points -44
3. #3 Garcia/Sims Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller
Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette
Z06 GT3.R 3,024 points -98
Things are getting close in the top three in the GTD Pro standings in this fight between Porsche from Germany, the British Aston Martin, and the All-American sports car, the Corvette. The AO Racing Porsche was five laps down earlier with mechanical trouble and the shifting issues. As things stand they must finish third or better to win the title and they are currently fifth with two and a half hours to go. Antonio Garcia needs to pit in a handful of laps. Car #77 did well to fix the car, to solve their problems. Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims, they are mathematically still in this fight too. Daniel Juncadella, Garcia's fellow Spaniard, is the third driver.
The prototypes weaving, darting, slicing, in and out of the GT traffic. One eye on the road, one eye on the rearview mirror with two or three spotters on the radio to give the drivers heads up. Rearview radar cameras are standard equipment on these race cars these days. Oh dear! As I have been telling you all about this GTD Pro fight, we have cars off the road on the outside of turn one! The #88 LMP2 car is one of the cars that went off. That is the AF Corse entry, the Oreca 07 in the hands of Nicklas Nielsen, second in class right now.
He was in a battle for LMP2 with Josh Burdon, the Aussie, in the championship contending #74 Riley car. Nielsen had some possible contact with Burdon and got into the turn a little too hot. Just a slight trip through the dirt, over the moguls on the outside. GTP, LMP2, and GTD cars all jockeying for position trying to gain time through traffic down through the esses. GT3 drivers must be strategic with lifting so they don't get into big, big trouble. Inside two and a half hours and there are at least two classes where the titles have not been decided yet.
Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 Acura leads the race. It is Halloween season, spooky season. Talk about spookiness in the dark, those hidden ghosts that threaten to take a car off the road in the pitch-black Georgia night, they are out there. OK. I don't personally believe in ghosts, but, by the same token, one wrong move will take a driver and their car off into the weeds. There is nowhere near as much lighting here at Road Atlanta as there is, say at Daytona International Speedway for the Rolex 24 in January. Headlights do what they can, but you are moving extremely fast. Don't overdrive your headlights is what they tell you in drivers' ed. But, in a race car, with the skill of these drivers, that "rule" is tossed right out the window.
180 miles an hour at the fastest point for a GTP car. GT4 cars in Michelin Pilot Challenge, 150 miles an hour. A GT3 car, probably 160 miles an hour. Matthieu Jaminet second in the #6 Penske Porsche 963. We'll see pit stops in 15-20 minutes. Matt Campbell is a lap down to the rest of the top running GTP cars and I think Louis Deletraz is as well. Ross Gunn has moved to fourth place in GTD Pro. They need to get to second with Laurin Heinrich and the #77 Porsche running 11th even though they are five laps down. They are still in the fight. Math is a bear. That is why I do what I can with yusing a calculator for these endurance races.
Nick Tandy's son Felix Tandy has a passion for motor racing. He is seven years old and is racing go karts where everyone gets started. Kids and adults who love racing, love it for their whole lives. His dad knows he can't let his son down and his daughter, Felix's sister, is in gymnastics. Spotters hang out right where the fans are, are working as spotters telling the drivers where they are. Use binoculars, stopwatches, and the radio, telling the driver what obstacles are out there. Turn ten is a great passing zone and a great spectator spot.
Things are going to ramp up as we close in on the finish of the race and the season here at Petit Le Mans. The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes has all but wrapped up the GT Daytona championship as we have Kevin Lee and James Hinchcliffe taking care of things in the booth right now. We have three cars on the lead lap in GTP. Filipe Albuquerque in Acura #10. Mathieu Jaminet in Porsche #6, and Sebastien Bourdais in Cadillac #01. Matt Campbell in fourth aboard Porsche #7 and in fifth, Jesse Krohn in BMW #24, both are one lap down. Don't count anyone out. We also see the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac, and the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global Acura, they are both in the fight as well.
Marvin Kirchhofer at the controls of the #9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren, fighting handling issues right now and fighting a top speed issue, down on top speed compared to other GT3 cars. Marvin Kirchhofer, a factory McLaren driver who raced in Europe and is now stateside and hopes to continue with Pfaff Motorsports and McLaren. Loris Spinelli aboard the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, he currently leads the GT Daytona class by over 25 seconds ahead of the #55 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 in the hands of Corey Lewis. Misha Gokhberg drove the #78 to the GT Daytona class lead.
Lewis has now been passed for position and now Mikael Grenier in the #32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 is second with Parker Thompson in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 in third place. Spinelli is their ace driver who will take the #78 to the finish, a multiple champion I think in Lamborghini Super Trofeo and other Lamborghini equipment. No risks. Proect the car and protect the tires in case of a Full Course Yellow and a restart. Parker Thompson trying to reel in Mikael Grenier. Thompson is better on fuel than Grenier or Spinelli it appears.
The #52 Inter Europol/PR1 Mathiasen Oreca is now fourth in class in LMP2 with Polish racer Jakub Smiechowski at the wheel as we hit 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time in Atlanta, Georgia. Petit Le Mans is a Grand Slam event. The GTD Pro title fight is really beginning to close up! This is unreal! OK. Check this out. The margin is down to... four!
1. #77 Laurin Heinrich AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R (992) 3,122 points
2. #23 Ross Gunn Heart of Racing Team
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo 3,118 points -4
3. #3 Garcia/Sims Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller
Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette
Z06 GT3.R 2,954 point -168
This is tough sledding in GTD Pro! Now, we move to have yet another Captain Cook at the LMP2 standings.
1. #52 Dillmann/Boulle Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen
Motorsports Oreca 07 2,227 points
2. #74 Robinson/Fraga Riley Oreca 07 2,166 points -61
3. #11 Steven Thomas TDS Racing Oreca 07 2,104 points -123
Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson are ahead on the road with the #52 a lap down and there are four other cars on that same lap. We knew coming in that the GTP class was mano e mano between the two factory Penske Porsche's. Here's the standings currently.
1. #7 Cameron/Nasr Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963 2,962 points
2. #6 Jaminet/Tandy Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963 2,869 points -93
3. #01 van der Zande/Bourdais Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R 2,814 points -148
With no post-race penalties for drive time or technical infractions, the #7 Porsche Penske 963 of Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr will be the GTP champions in 2024 within the next two hours. They need to finish ninth at minimum. 11 GTP cars started the race and two of them have retired in the form of the #25 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 and the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963. Game over for both of them. #7 is fourth in the overall one lap down and they need a yellow to get it back. Porsche 963 #7 and the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3, they have clinched the Michelin Endurance Cup championships in GTP and GTD Pro respectively.
At the eight-hour mark, leading the way in LMP2, Hunter McElrea and the #11 TDS Oreca, they can clinch the Michelin Endurance Cup in LMP2 in a matter of just seven minutes when this current hour ends. The leader, Filipe Albuquerque is in the pit lane for scheduled service in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 with Filipe Albuquerque driving. Now, one of the two Cadillac's is off the course and that is the #01 Chip Ganassi car, the Cadillac Racing pink V Series.R with Renger van der Zande, the Dutchman, at the wheel of it.
Renger van der Zande is back on track, and now, the #21 Ferrari 296 GT3, the AF Corse entry in the hands of Simon Mann goes off the road. That was up in corner number five. Simon Mann sharing this Ferrari 296 GT3, the Swiss driver, teaming with Francois Heriau of France and Spaniard Miguel Molina who is the Ferrari driver in one of the factory 499P Hypercar entries in the FIA World Endurance Championship and who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year with AF Corse and teammates Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen, also in this race in different cars of course.
Renger van der Zande went off the road in turn seven. He just spun all by his lonesome coming onto the back straightaway. Was he helped? He ran wide at turn six and just overcooked it. That was weird because it spun and he actually spun on cold tires. Simon Mann in the Ferrari, through the esses, went off in the dirt, ran wide and then went back through the grass picking up shedloads of debris offline. The air temperature has dropped, and the ambient temperature has dropped so it is like driving on ice especially in the GTP cars. I wonder if a GT Daytona car nerfed the Cadillac from behind.
The best battle on the road is in GT Daytona and that scrum we saw a wee while ago with Parker Thompson in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 absolutely hounding Mikael Grenier in the #32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes. Alexander Sims driving the #3 Corvette in GTD Pro has a ringside seat for this battle right out his windscreen. Thompson doing everything he knows to stick the pass. Be diligent and make sure you know you can let the prototypes by. Thompson flashing the lights at Grenier as the Lexus man runs wide.
Mikkel Jensen is an LMP2 star in IMSA in addition to his duties as a factory Hypercar driver for Peugeot in the FIA World Endurance Championship as well. TDS will win the Michelin Endurance Cup in LMP2. Congratulations on that honor! They are going for the LMP2 class win and it is hard to follow the strategy. Their pace is great, and the TDS car is running very well. Hunter McElrea will finish his stint and then Mikkel Jensen is going to bring the car home. With the darkness, the dirty track with no yellows to clean it, how challenging are the conditions? There's a lot of marbles out there. We will finish hearing what Mikkel Jensen has to say, in a moment. We have just crossed over another racing hour. Less than two remaining in IMSA WeatherTech 2024.
No comments:
Post a Comment