The Cadillac DPis were well in control for much of hours 2-6 after both Acuras suffered unexplained but seemingly unrelated rear punctures, Will Stevens suffering a half spin at T1 and left to complete almost a whole lap at much-reduced speed costing the #10 two laps.
That came after Helio Castroneves suffered a left rear puncture and he too had much of a full lap to stagger back to the pitlane.
Also with dramas was the #48 Action Express/ Ally Cadillac, the early leader losing pace after Jose Maria Lopez suffered an assault from the rear by Sebastien Bourdais in the #01 Caddy at T1 into the third hour.
Whilst the impact seemed at first to have had little effect, Jimmie Johnson later confirmed that the initial visual check on the car had not revealed some more significant damage, the car later getting a replacement rear end and nose section on consecutive stops, this after a brief off-track excursion from the multiple NASCAR Champ.
At the 8 hour mark, the car was still on the lead lap and well in the hunt with only the #10 Acura off the lead lap at that point amongst the DPi field.
On pace and pitstop rotation both Ganassi-run Cadillacs and the #31 Whelen/ Action Express car spent time at the front with the #48, back in the hands of Kobayashi regaining the lead as the 8 Hour mark approached.
The race lap record meanwhile had been bettered more than once in the early running before Kevin Magnussen banged in a 1:34.000 on lap 231, deep into the 8th hour.
Also potentially significant, Ben Keating’s required 2 hours of minimum winning were burned early in the race in the #5 JDC Miller Cadillac – its an allPro battle here on in!
LMP2 meanwhile was a closely-bunched fistfight with five of the original 10 starters very much in the hunt for much of the first 8 hours.
Before getting into that some good news after the early race incident for the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca – the Corner Worker seen on the ground after the incident is reported as “going to a local hospital for evaluation. He is awake with stable vital signs.”
After the #29 Racing Team Nederland, #20 High Class Racing entry and #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports cars duelled for much of this section of the race, a switcher following cautions saw the #8 Tower Motorsport’s and #68 G-Drive by APR cars cycle around to lead.
Rui Andrade would head the class field at the 8-hour mark in the #8 Tower Motorsports car.
Multiple incidents would affect some significant runners before 8 hours was up. The #36 Andretti Autosports car stopped on track with electrical issues having dominated proceedings early on, the car was released but pulled off to the escape gate after T1 as it left the pits again.
There were significantly more serious issues for the #6 Muehlner Duqueine, the car caught up in a big GTD shunt that involved the #39 Carbon by Peregrine Lamborghini which suffered miraculously little damage after three-way contest at T6 as three cars took to the banking, the #75 SunEnergy1 AMG of Kenny Habul seeming to lose grip and slide into the path of the Lamborghini and the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin of Alex Riberas. The already significantly damaged Aston was then tagged by the #6 Muehlner Duqueine of Ayrton Ori.
Both GTD cars would be out on the spot, the Duueine would be recovered to the pits, emerging two hours later but off the track again on its out-lap with more front end damage!
The #38 Performance Tech Ligier was fortunate to escape damage after a lurid spin out of T2 for Garrett Grist somehow saw the car JUST miss the barriers.
The top three at the 8-hour mark were all Ligiers, the field suffering badly from minor niggles and minor offs – the #74 Riley/ Robinson car leading in the hands of Michael Cooper, Jon Bennett well in touch in the #54 CORE Autosports car with the #33 Sean Creech car also on the lead lap.
The 8 Hour mark saw a switch around in both GTD class after 3minute 30-second penalties were handed to the then leading GTD Pro pair of the #14 Lexus and #97 Weathertech Racing AMG for an improper wave-by procedure.
That left the less of the GTD Pro class in the hands of the battling trio of the #62 Risi Ferrari, #2 KCMG and #9 Pfaff Porsches, all three of which have had time at the front of the class field, all three running fast and consistently
At the other end of the GTD Pro field there were multiple cars in trouble, the #23 (see above) terminally so, the #4 Corvette a long-term pit stopper, the team unable to restart the car after a routine stop.
The #79 WeatherTech Porsche has seen the inside of the garage more than once with reported mechanical and electrical issues including a failed air jack system.
And the #24 BMW Team RLL M4 GT3 has had a miserable debut too with rear bodywork issues followed by the loss of the rear diffuser, an issue which hit at least one customer car at the Dubai 24H – the car is currently 37 laps down to the class leader.
GTD too has seen drams in addition to the pair of cars eliminated as outlined above.
The race’s second Full Course Caution came out after a big off for Kyle Washington in the #34 GMG Racing Porsche inherited third hour, the car suffering heavy front end damage and out on the spot, Washington released after a short visit to the medical centre for evaluation.
Early issues too hit – literally, the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus hit by the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 of Roberto Lacorte after the Italian spun in T1, both went behind the wall for lengthy suspension repairs and have rejoined many laps down.
The early leader in GTD, the #59 Crucial Motorsports Mclaren was extensively delayed too after contact from the #14 Lexus stopped the 720S GT3 out on the circuit – it would be recovered and would rejoin but laps down.
There was a perhaps unlikely overall GTD leader after the third hour FCY as Till Bechtolscheimer seemed to get a lightning pit stop – it later emerged that the driver had misunderstood a hand signal by a crew member as the ‘go’ – it wasn’t – the Acura would lead for a short while but then shuffled back in the order when the car pitted again to get the remaining required fuel. It was still though a good performance into the second third of the race from the Gradient crew, running sixth on class at 8 hours.
Two GTD class cars received the same 3:30 stop and hold penalties as the GTD Pro pair described above after a wave by issue, the #19 TR3 Racing Lamborghini and #44 Magnus Aston Martin both dropping out of the leading group as a result.
The class lead was held by the #57 Winward AMG ahead of the #16 Wright Porsche, #32 AMG, #21 AF Corse Ferrari, and #95 Turner BMW with the Acura 6th.
