As the sun comes up over the track here in Daytona, we are starting to get a better idea of how things are going to shake out at the end of the race. The big news involves the front-runner Daytona Prototype cars. There are six cars on the lead lap this morning, and Corvette is sitting up front. Provided nothing major happens to any of these runners, expect to see a solid six-way battle for the finish in a few hours.
The green racing action wouldn’t last for long though, as one of the Audi R8s stalls out in the infield around 830 and brings out another safety car. From there the action picks up another notch with what seems like a leader swap in multiple classes during every lap. After a long stint behind the Porsche works team in GTLM, Chevy manages to pull both cars ahead to secure a one-two for the time being and the ESM Ligier manages to overtake the Chevy’s up front for 1st place overall. In the middle of all that mess the #911 Porsche suffers problems and heads into the garage, Chip Gnassi’s #1 car gets stuck in the puts for several laps for a problem, and then driver Patrick Lindsay exits the track at an odd location and drives through the public infield, dodging fans the whole way, as he tries to get his 911 back to the garage for repairs.
There was some great green-flag racing for a couple of hours, but Ford’s #67 GT stops in the middle of the course and causes yet another safety car period. With this new safety car, and the subsequent period of pit stops, we ended up with some penalties on the grid. One of the BMW M6 cars is nabbed for speeding in pit row, then Chevy gets dealt a huge blow when one its GTLM-leading C7.R gets nailed with a 60-second stop-and-hold for running the red light at pit exit. Even worse, the #23 Porsche 911 in the GTD class gets pounded with a three-minute stop-and-go for improper wave by. Unless something major happens, that penalty should take them out of podium contention.
Moments later, Chevy encounters more problems when its race-leading #5 prototype flies towards the pits and dives into the garage for an unplanned repair. The car had destroyed a rear axle, and was starting to damage its transmission. The half-shaft was smoking when they pulled it out.
In the middle of all this, the Ferrari 488 GTE cars that had been languishing towards the rear of GTLM picked up pace, with the #68 finding itself in second behind a C7.R and ahead of the #912 Porsche 911.
Fatigue is also setting in, and everywhere you look in the pits, mechanics and team members are sleeping, pounding Red Bull, and tentatively watching the monitors to make sure their car is still doing well.
The race will end in just a few hours, so be sure to come back for our final race recap, complete with new photos and videos.
