Just as the race entered the final hour, both the leaders pitted, Action Express first, followed by WTR the next lap. For AE, Fittipaldi got out and Barbosa got in for the final run to the checkered.
With 53 minutes to go, the GTLM leaders pitted, followed by the 912 Porsche and the 91 Viper. Good to go to the finish… 50 to go, the 4 Vette and the 93 Viper pitted to. Also good to go.
In GTD the 73 Park Place Porsche went behind the wall with no headlights.
To be honest, with 40 minutes to go, there aren’t any real tight races for class lead. All of the class leaders are 10 seconds or more. At least some interest was added by Action Express pitting for a splash of fuel, but in doing so, they dropped back a lap on the Taylor Corvette.
34 minutes to go and Jordan Taylor makes his final stop. No drama.
The lead in GTLM is down to 9.8 seconds, Henzler over Christensen. Next time by 7.4. Then it was like Wolf was told to pick up the pace. The gap increased and more or less stabilized, traffic dependent to about 9 seconds.
With 20 minutes to go, Michele Rugolo stopped for a splash from the class lead, they had last stopped with 1:22 to go and that dropped the Spirit of Race Ferrari to 4th in class.
Yellow, 17 minutes to go. PC class leader Sean Rayhall into the wall hard at turn 4. It looks like the Krohn Ferrari may have been involved too, but it came to the pits on its own power. That elevates the Jeannette/Montecalvo entry to the class lead, 5th overall. This might be it, they may not be able to restart the race at all. Rayhall is OK, though badly shaken after a very heavy hit.
Green though with just over 6 minutes to go. Taylor over Barbosa by 2.7 at the line on the start. Henzler over Christensen by 1.7. On the restart, both van der Zande and Braun got past Jeannette in PC while in GTD, it was Haase by .7 seconds over Riberas and a following hoard of Porsches.
The top 3 in GTLM were separated by just over 1.1 seconds with about 2 laps to go.
With 5 seconds to go, the leader crossed the line, meaning 1 more time across the line for the GTLM battle.
Checkered flag after 400 laps. Taylor over Barbosa by 11 seconds. In GTLM, Henzler held off Christensen by .9 seconds. Porsche 1-2 in class, with Viper 3rd.
In PC, the order held, van der Zande over Braun and Jeannette. A gutsy drive by Jeannette and Montecalvo was rewarded with a podium finish. 5th overall for Starworks. For CORE the Patron tally was 3 wins and a second place. Not bad at all.
The GTD class ended with Haase holding off Heylen by 3 seconds, Alex Riberos dropped to 5th on the final lap after starting the final lap on Haase’s tail, was there contact out there in the dark? That was the first win for Audi this season and also first win for Paul Miller Racing.
Points wise Kuno Wittmer ended up winning the GTLM drivers chase, by 5 points over his most of the season teammate Jonathan Bomarito. Porsche won the manufacturer championship.
GTD, Dane Cameron won the class by 9 points over Paul Miller Racing and AJR, with AIM in 4th.
That’s all for tonight…
GH
