On the lap after the race returned to Green, Phillip Eng pounced, taking the lead from Albuquerque, Estre still holding third with Julien Andlauer initially up to fourth in the Mustang Sampling Proton Porsche, then third ahead of Estre at the Rolex 24 At Daytona
In GTD Pro Sebastian Priaulx pounced for the lead, going by Nick Catsburg’s Corvette, the #64 Mustang to the fore, soon joined by the sister #65 car in the hands of Dennis Olsen.
In LMP2 Paul di Resta restored smiles at United as the #22 took the lead, shuffling Christian Rasmussen back to third with Toby Sowery into second in the #04 Crowdstrike by APR car.
17 minutes of the hour were gone before the Full Course Yellows were out again, Fred Vesti hard into the SAFER barriers in NASCAR 4 after an apparent failure at the left rear of the car on the oval, major damage to the front end too from the impact with the wall, Vesti desperately trying to get the car restarted but the trailing debris from the front, and the original fdamage from the failure at the rear made the task impossible, the car requiring recovery.
Through the pit cycle again under caution and the #85 JDC Miller Porschge of Pascal Wherein cycled through to third.
GTD Pro at the restart was back into the hands of the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW, ahead now of the #65 Ford with Priaulx in the #64 dropping back through the pit stops.
In GTD Elliott Skeer again took the #120 Wright Porsche to the lead with Seth Lucas in the Korthoff Competition second – but under pressure from the Cetilar and Inception Ferraris, the AMG would drop behind the two Ferraris before pitting.
A raft of penalties would see the #25 BMW GTP car dealt a 3 minute and 12 second stop and hold after being found to have performed and improper wave by procedure.
There were pit lane penalties too for both GTD Pro factory Corvettes, the #3 for driving over parts on pitlane, #4 for another pitlane infringement – drive throughs for both dropping them from the top of the class to 8th and 9th in class
The stricken #31 Cadillac meanwhile was back to the pits with work starting immediately on the damage front and rear
There was trouble too for the #14 GTD Pro Vasser Sullivan Lexus, the car on pit road with evidence of a very grassy moment – the RCF GT3 too would go behind the wall.
To the end of the hour, pitstops under green saw a reshuffle in the top places – Nasr back to the lead in the #7 Porsche with Scott Dixon in close formation in the #60 Acura.
Antonio Felix de Costa was now leading in LMP2 aboard the #43 Inter Europol Oreca with Paul di Resta (#22 United Autosports) and Toby Sowery #(04 Crowdstrike by APR) completing the top 3.
Madison Snow still led GTD Pro in the #1 Paul Miller BMW with Klaus Bachler holding second in AO Racing’s #77 ‘Rexy’ Porsche and Denis Olsen’s #65 factory Ford Mustang.
Skeer topped the GTD order on the hour followed by Fuoco in the #47 Cetilar Ferrari and Fumanelli still aboard the #70 Inception Racing 296 GT3.
