If you were to ever watch an endurance race, this should be the one to introduce you to what makes this series great. It has ben nine hours since the first flag dropped here in Daytona, and somehow the racing is still insanely close. As in less than ten seconds separates the top ten cars, close. Endurance racing is all about playing the long game. Just stay consistent, and keep tings moving. You don’t take risks, you don’t pressure other cars, and you don’t do anything else that could hurt your chances of finishing the race.
But thanks to a handful of incredible drivers, coupled with a series full of very competitive manufacturers, we have had hours and hours and hours of super close racing.
Just after we left the action last time with the Deltawing crashing into the #8, things got crazy again. After the safety car went back in an the race went green, Chip Gnassi’s #2 car goes for a spin and stalls on track. Despite being a frontrunner, and stalling just off the racing line, every other racer in the field manages to get past without incident.
Talk about dodging a bullet.
Then, as another hour clicks by on the clock, we have the arrival of another safety car. Just moments after the Deltawing is confirmed as a non-finish car, another Prototype Challenge car spins and stalls on track. IMSA wastes no time calling for the yellow flag.
Since the sunlight began to dip, the Corvettes had been holding a dominate lead in the GTLM class, but thanks to a few small errors, and some interesting pit stop strategies with the various yellow flags, Corvette Racing finds itself parked behind Porsche in the standings.
It takes less than ten u for things to shake up pretty dramatically elsewhere in the field when CORE Autosport, the team favored to win the Prototype Challenge class dives into the pits earlier than expected. The team captain tells race officials and news people that their car has suffered some series drivetrain issues that will likely force them to retire from the event.
Then like clockwork, an hour after the last major track incident, the BAR1 Motorsports car spins and brings out yet another safety car. At this point we are looking at five safety cars in just over six hours of racing.
It appeared that Mazda was having issues with their remaining racer, and they decided to pit under the safety car in hopes of minimizing laps lost. They ended up replacing the ECU and got the car back on track, but it was down for nearly 20 minutes. That is quite a lot of ground to make up.
From there we have a pretty clean race for almost an hour, and then end up with three big issues and two more safety cars within the span of 40 minutes. The first safety car comes when just before 10 pm, another Prototype Challenge car spins. Soon after that, one of the Daytona Prototype cars fighting for the overall win (#5 Action Express) comes in to a corner to hot and spins, but is able to get moving quick enough to avoid a full-course yellow. Sadly, it only takes another 10 minutes or so to see a Viper spin and hit the wall at the Western Horseshoe, drawing out the safety car once again.
Things finally seem to be settling down around the track, even if all the cars are still incredible close in the standings, and then things get crazy again. The defending champion Ford Prototype suddenly exits the track and heads straight toward the garage, leaving everyone to wonder what is happening. A few moments later we get confirmation that the car had lost all braking power, and it was in the garage for a full caliper swap on all four corners. After leading several laps in this race, the defending champions head back out into the race a full ten laps down on the leaders.
Then once again, right on time, another safety car is called out as yet another prototype challenge car goes for a spin. The incident happened just as I sat down to write this, so details are scarce on the incident, but I can already hear the cars speeding back up in preparation of a green flag.
Nine hours, nine safety cars, more than ten lead changes, and we aren’t even half way done yet. I’ll be back in the morning with a full update on what transpires over the rest of the evening. Keep it locked here on AutoTalk.com for more details, including a full look at the end of the race tomorrow afternoon.
