The pole-sitting #4 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3 holds control of the led by one lap at the conclusion of the first day of running in the CoTA 24 Hours. Cooper McNeil, Felipe Fraga, Jeroen Bleekemolen, and Ben Keating have done well to put that car in a good position to bring home the win when the race resumes on Sunday morning.
“We’re very excited about the way the race has gone, but we’re not even at half-distance yet” Ben Keating told radiolemans.com’s Joe Bradley. “This track has a lot of character with all those bumps, and it’s so hard on the car, harder than it used to be. We’re being really careful and we can’t be too abusive.”
Due to noise restrictions around the track, the race is run over the course of two days with 11 hours on Saturday and 13 hours on Sunday.
The #90 TokSport Mercedes-AMG GT3 ended the day in second, but off the lead lap. The #90 Mercedes and the #4 Mercedes have been the strongest cars through the first half of the race.
A further lap behind the top two cars is the #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R. Just outside the top three is the #85 CP Racing Mercedes, which leads the A6 AM class.
The only A6-classed car to have dropped back significantly is the #70 TokSport Mercedes-AMG GT3. The car suffered a mechanic fault related to oil pressure. It is currently classified last in the A6 class.
The #101 Red-Camel Jordans Cupra has the lead of TCR. They have a two-lap lead on the #114 Autorama Motorsport Volkswagen.
Third, in TCR is the #188 AC Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS TCR. They are on the same lap as the #114 Volkswagen.
In GT4, the #388 ST Racing BMW M4 has a one-lap lead on the rest of the class. The #450 RHC Jorgensen BMW M4 is currently in second and is one lap behind the #388 BMW.
Helping BMW to a 1-2-3 in GT4 after 11 hours is the #451 Sorg Rennsport BMW M4 GT4, they are three laps behind the leader of their class.
The #906 Kelly-Moss Road and Race entry lead the Porsche 911 Cup class by ten laps.
Most of the cars that have dropped down the order suffered from various mechanical gremlins as there has been very little car-to-car contact up to this point in the race.
The remaining 13 hours of this year’s 2019 24H CoTA will begin tomorrow at 08.00 hrs local time at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Featured image courtesy of 24H Series
