Into the final three hours of the arc and we’re in the midst of the the 14th Full Course Caution.
All four classes are very, very close – P has three cars on the lead lap, 2 in PC, 2 in GTLM and 4 in GTD.
11:20 Green Flag Taylor is away and clear at the restart.
There are no significant changes in the order despite large bunches of mixed class traffic forming. The #42 Oak Morgan is, finally, back into the top 10.
11:25 Bourdais is up to second overall and closing on the leader – Taylor though responds and ekes out a few more tenths on the next two laps.
In GTD Townsend Bell is fending off the close attentions of Spencer Pumpelly – Level 5 458 leads Flying Lizard R8 and it’s nose to tail – Bell gets no rest whatsoever over the next lap and finally Pumpelly makes his move, last of the late brakers into 5 and holding the line into and through 6, the Ferrari clearly a lot faster in a straight one but the Audi way, way better under braking.
Tommy Milner meanwhile is losing a little ground to the Porsche in GTLM.
11:31 The lead battle is intense – Bourdais with a 1;39.77 elicits a response from Taylor of a 1:39.8, the fastest lap of the #10 cars race thus far.
In PC Mark Wilkins has the legs on Kyle Marcelli at present, the gap under 10 seconds but fairy static.
11:34 Trouble for the Corvette, the #4 car smoking visibly on the banking, Milner pits immediately and goes straight behind the wall – a bitter blow for the Vette.
11:38 Bill Auberlen inherits second in GTLM, and 8th overall with the Corvette still in the garage and also moves the OAK Morgan up to ninth. Yacaman is under 30 seconds behind the BMW and considerably quicker.
Both the Corvette crews are working on the #4,as the problem is identified as the gearbox.
11:39 Jordan Taylor pits from the lead and drops to third.
The #91 SRT Viper of Ryan Hunter-Reay moves up to third in GTLM.
With more than a lap in hand at the head of GTLM, the remaining two and a half hours are all about strategy for Porsche.
11:50 Taylor unlaps himself from Bourdais as John Martin pits from second.
11:52 Pumpelly leads GTD from Bell by 5.5s, but Mika Salo is closing in on Heylen for third.
11:54 Bourdais pits from the lead at the end of Lap 628.
11:56 Drama in PC as the second-placed #7 Starworks FLM of Kyle Marcelli stops along the back straight with flames billowing from the rear right corner. The driver is out okay but the fire needs several extinguishers to bring under control and Full Course Yellow (15) is inevitable.
12:02 The GTD leading Audi has to make an emergency stop for fuel for the second time and will almost certainly lose the class lead as a result.
12:05 It looks like Flying Lizard may have got away with it – the timing screen still shows the #45 in the class lead by 37 seconds, which strongly suggests that the race leader was between the first two GTD cars at the caution.
12:07 Klaus Graf has to evacuate the #6 Muscle Milk Oreca in the pitlane after a quick electrical fire. The German is instructed to get back in the car after the crew deal with the issue. Westbrook takes the #90 SDR DP up to fifth as the P2 drops to sixth.
12:09 Both Taylor and Dixon pit and the WTR Corvette gets away first.
Two hours to go.
The #4 C7.R has returned to the race with a new gearbox.
The top four in GTD make their stop – Salo moves up to third ahead of Heylen, while Pier Guidi takes over the #555. Pumpelly, though, has to make a third visit to the pitlane and drops to fourth; presumably a penalty for the emergency stop.
12:23 The race is poised to go back to green, but the #93 Viper of Rob Bell grinds to a halt in the infield and has to be recovered.
12:25 The order ahead of the green is: P- 5, 10, 9, 02, 90, 6; PC – 54, 25, 7, 38, 52, 8; GTLM – 911, 55, 91, 93, 55, 4; GTD – 555, 72, 58, 45, 35, 22
12:27 Green
Official statement from members of the #99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Team on Memo Gidley:
Statement from Bob Stallings, owner of GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing on Memo Gidley:
“As you can imagine, we are devastated about what happened yesterday on track, but are hopeful that our friend and teammate Memo will make a full recovery. We want to thank the safety team at Daytona International Speedway for being so diligent in getting Memo out of the car safely and to the hospital. Memo is receiving excellent care from the staff and doctors at Halifax Health. We want to thank everyone for the messages, thoughts and prayers for Memo.”
Statement from Alex Gurney, co-driver of the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance® Corvette Prototype
“We’re extremely relieved that our friend Memo is recovering. That was one scary crash that could have had a much worse outcome. We were able to see him and speak with him this morning. He is one tough guy, and he’s going to pull through this. I told him to take the rest of the day off.”
Statement from Jon Fogarty, co-driver of the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance® Corvette Prototype
“I was able to talk to Memo this morning, and it’s great to see that he’s in good spirits. His positive attitude and physical fitness will be a huge asset in his recovery. I am just super grateful that he is okay and getting better, that is all that matters.”
Statement from Darren Law, co-driver of the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance® Corvette Prototype
“I am happy that my friend Memo will make a full recovery. It was a hard hit, and it is a testament to safety of the car, our team that built it, and the safety advances of the series that he was able to come of out of it like he did.“
Statement from Andy Jordan, Senior Vice President of Marketing for GAINSCO Insurance
“On behalf of everyone in the GAINSCO family, we are keeping Memo in our thoughts and prayers.”
12:30 Lap 639 Taylor loses a couple of tenths on the restart lap and trails Bourdais by 4.3s.
In GTD, Pumpelly has already found a way past Salo and is ten seconds adrift of Heylen.
Bell’s transmission problems in the Viper promotes Dirk Werner to fourth in GTLM in the #56 BMW. He is, however, seven laps behind the third-placed #91 Viper of Marc Goossens.
12:36 Lap 642 Bourdais dips below the 1:40 barrier to extend his lead over Taylor beyond five seconds.
90 minutes to go
12:49 At this stage of the race, all the key gaps are increasing rather than contracting.
The #01 Ganassi Riley is a confirmed retirement and things aren’t looking much better for the 07 Mazda, which has stopped out on the back stretch.
12:55 Taylor has pegged the gap to Bourdais at just over ten seconds. Elsewhere, Pumpelly is under a second behind Heylen in the fight for second in GTD.
13:00 Pumpelly retakes second in GTD. The #45 Audi is now 15 seconds behind Pier Guidi’s Ferrari.
13:03 Bourdais has a huge lock-up as he approaches the pitlane at the end of Lap 658, but manages to control the slide before crossing the line.
13:04 Taylor pits, Angelelli takes over. Barbosa takes over the lead Corvette DP.
13:06 John Martin pits the #9 from the lead and hands over to Brian Frisselle.
13:11 With an hour of the race remaining, Barbosa holds a 17 second lead over Angelelli. These final 60 minutes could be epic!
13:14 The GTD leaders are expected in at any moment. Markus Winkelhock will be taking the Audi to the flag. Pumpelly heads down the pitlane first.
13:16 Pier Guidi in now. The car is turned around quickly and apparently without a driver change.
13:20 At the end of Lap 668, and with 52 minutes remaining, Angelelli has reduced the gap to Barbosa to 11.6s. The last two laps alone have seen a second and a half nibbled away.
In GTD, the gap from the #555 Ferrari to the #48 Audi is 15.5s.
13:22 The #02 Ganassi Riley is in pitlane with the engine cover off. After a few seconds the car is pushed behind the wall. This will promote the #90 SDR DP to fourth and the #6 Oreca to fifth.
After 670 laps, the lead gap is under 10 seconds.
13:26 45 minutes to go and the lead gaps are 10.378s in P and 11.888 in GTD.
Olivier Pla is up to seventh overall in the Morgan.
13:31 The top two cars make their final stops fuel only for both cars. The Action Express car does better out of the stop and extends its lead from 10 to 13 seconds.
13:36 The gaps at the head of P and GTD are both in the mid 13s. However, it is the GT battle that looks most likely to get closer.
13:42 Barbosa’s lead extends beyond 15 seconds as the race enters its final half hour, while Winkelhocks efforts in GTD bring that gap down to just over 11 seconds.
13:46 With the #02 still behind the wall, the GTLM-leading Porsche is about to go sixth overall.
In GTD, the gap is down to 8.9s. the Audi looks to have the necessary pace, but does it have enough fuel?
13:50 Full Course Caution (16)
The cause is a tap with the tyre wall for the #22 Porsche. Leh Keen is able to get going again without delay, but the caution is called instantly. In this writer’s opinion, that was a woeful call.
We now wait for the caution to sort itself outbefore we have however many minutes of green racing to the flag. The building tension has fizzled away, however, and it all comes down to a final sprint.
At the risk of editorialising, a race like this should not be decided by such an ending – it’s all about the story over 24 hours; not two laps, or whatever. It’s hard to dismiss the suspicion that this is for ‘the show’.
Anyhow, here we go.
14:02 Green, with eight minutes to go. Barbosa times the restart perfectly and builds up a huge lead before Angelelli can pass Graf.
14:05 The gap in GTD is so close that the 555 ferrari and 48 Audi have side-by-side contact in the Bus Stop. The R8 comes off worse with rear-right damage. Winkelhock is faced with nursing the car home.
14:07 Joey Hand suddenly finds himself just a couple of seconds behind the Porsche after getting back the lap during the caution. Hand is a man on a mission, but finds his momentum checked by the traffic.
14:10 White flag.
Pier Guidi is suddenly behind the Audi in GTD after cutting the Bus Stop, but the #45 can’t hold off the 458 across the line. There is then a fantastic side-by-side fight through the infield before the Audi is forced onto the grass. The Level 5 car takes the flag, but is immediately handed a stop/go plus 75s for avoidable contact, handing the victory to Flying Lizard.
Almost unnoticed, Joao Barbosa hangs on to take his and Action Express’ second overall Rolex 24 victory, as Angelelli can’t find the extra pace in the time remaining to close the gap.
Colin Braun takes PC for CORE Autosport and Pilet claims GTLM for Porsche after holding off their teutonic rival.
Whatever your opinion on the final caution call, the finale produced was certainly dramatic. Congratulations to the P, PC and GTLM winners, but we would be very surprised if further discussion did not take place before the GTD winner is confirmed.
We’ll have a quick post-race round-up on DSC shortly, but that’s it for our live coverage. Thanks for following.
MH/GG/SA
