The surviving #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R leads the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona with 14 hours remaining after Filipe Albuquerque powered by the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac at a restart.
The Whelen Cadillac took the lead on the run to pit-in 20 minutes into the hour after Aitken reeled in and battled with the #7 Porsche of Nick Tandy through the infield.
The Briton was agressive under braking to the pit entry line and got his nose ahead. Both cars, which have been running on the Medium tires, changed drivers at the stop with Laurens Vanthoor taking over the wheel in the #7 and Fred Vesti climbing in the AXR Caddy.
The #31 crew’s stop was quicker too, meaning Vesti emerged from the pit lane 18 seconds ahead.
“We want to set our stool out as the car to beat,” Tandy said after getting out the car when asked about the intensitiy of the battles.
“Track position, you see it on restarts, that track position is massive. Yes we’re looking after the car and tyres, but we want track position so it’s worth fighting for when it’s neccesary.”
Behind the #31, the #24 RLL BMW sits second with Philipp Eng now aboard after taking over from pole-winner Dries Vanthoor. The #7 is down to fourth after Laurens Vanthoor pitted the car again under an FCY later in the hour along with a number of other cars in the class.
This promoted the #6 sister Penske Porsche to third. Meyer Shank’s #60 Acura is fifth.
Further down the order there was a spin in the hour during FCY conditions for the Proton Porsche and the #25 RLL BMW ended up dropping two laps down after a rear-left brake change during the car’s 12th stop. Both M Hybrid V8s have now benefitted from rear brake changes.
LMP2 meanwhile, is still led by the AO Racing ORECA, Christian Rasmussen has been metronomic since getting in, showing flashes of pace. The Crowdstrike by APR ORECA has cycled through to second after the most recent round of stops, ahead of the #88 AF Corse 07.
There were three dramas in the GTD ranks during the hour. The first was an off for the DragonSpeed Ferrari at the International Horseshoe, with Thomas Neubauer sliding off the track on cold tyres and into the barriers.
Thankfully the damage was minimal and he was able to rejoin the circuit immediately.
Moments later though a Full Course Caution was called when Salih Yoluc suffered a spin in the DXDT Corvette and became stranded after running in close proximity in the GetSpeed Mercedes on the back straight. Thankfully he was eventually able to get the car fired and continue.
As the yellows came out the #48 Paul Miller BMW M4 GT3 EVO, which is more than 40 laps down after its involvement in the Turn 1 pile-up earlier on, was captured by cameras heading back behind the wall for more attention.
Up front, the #4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg is leading GTD PRO after stops under FCY, with Sebastien Priaux in the #64 Multimatic Mustang in close attendance.
Before the caution, the #65 Ford Mustang GT3 with Frederic Vervisch at the wheel was P1, but has since dropped to fourth
GTD is being led by the sole-remaining Heart of Racing Aston Martin. Zacharie Robichon is currently at the wheel.
The pace car went to pit lane with 5 minutes before the end of the hour but the green flag was waved off, the pace car rejoining and making its way to the front of the pack.
It was one more lap under caution before the Green flag finally flew, Phillipp Eng grabing the lead after a tardy restart from Fred Vesti in the #31 Cadillac.
The #10 Cadillac in the hands of Filipe Albuquerque would grab second from Vesti on the first green flag lap, Kevin Estre also passing the #31 – up to third as the 10th hour wwas completed.
Image courtesy of Jack Webster
