The Paul Miller Audi is in survival mode with gearbox issues. It will not feature anymore as it has lost a couple of gears and to add insult to injury, they got called to the penalty box for speeding in pit lane.
The 4 Corvette did get back on track, but they lost 4 laps repairing the damage.
GTD continues to be a 93 Viper vs. 22 AJR Porsche battle, with the Viper.
Up front things have shuffled a bit. Angelelli is still leading, but he is now leading Karam by about 3 seconds. Fittipaldi has dropped to third, but has Scott Dixon all over him.
11:33: Pit stops up front vault Dixon into the overall lead. With 2:32 to go, Dixon comes out of the pits.
Sage Karam is heard over the radio that he is feeling some clutch issues in his Ganassi Ford. It appears to be affecting the car mostly upon acceleration which is affecting his lap times. This has allowed Bourdais to catch and also pass to gain 3rd place.
Karam pits and the team will troubleshoot/work on a system reset, as well as tires, fuel and a driver change. Hand will take over when the car is released. The stop cost the 01 3 laps and they will be assessed a drive thru penalty for too many crew working on the car.
While the clutch issues were the focus of the attention, pit stops occurred in GTLM, with the result being that the BMW took over the lead, Werner over Garcia.
Both of the GTD challengers pitted at the same time and with 2:12 remaining the Viper won that battle and stayed in the lead, stretching it to 20 plus seconds.
The lap times for Hand are in the 1:46-48 range, all they can do is hang on.
The MSR Ligier has been behind the wall for 30 minutes with suspension damage.
To be honest, this race has the feeling of falling apart. Instead of building towards a climatic finish, it is starting to feel like this race will just sort of end. The battles in each class look like they are falling apart. GTLM is down to 2 cars, Prototype is down to 3 and GTD is also down to two. That is so much less than we were expecting earlier. And to be honest those battles are almost over.
12:09: 01 behind the wall, down to 5th overall and dropping.
12:14: The 60 returns to the track down in 13th with Negri in the car.
12:17 the leader pits as well as the 5. Max out of the car and J Taylor in. Meanwhile Dixon continues to motor around attempting to make up as much time as he can before he too dives into the pits. With 1:48 to go, Dixon pits. The team puts on fresh sticker tires and sends him away. It was close on the track, but the fresh, cold tires prevented Dixon from challenging.
Garcia appears to be closing the gap to the class leading BMW, now -3 seconds.
The once leading Ganassi 01 has now dropped to 7th overall, behind the leading GTLM cars and will likely be caught by the Whelen/Action Express Corvette and possibly the Corvette Racing No. 4.
12:35: The 01 returns to pit lane and then the track, but Hand reports that “we still have a problem.” Back in and again behind the wall.
The GTLM leading BMW pits and has a rough stop with trying to change the rear tires. That moves Garcia to the class lead and pits with a 87 second lead over the BMW.
Meanwhile up front Dixon is applying pressure and closing the gap to Taylor.
12:41: AJR 22 pits from the GTD lead, but the Viper almost immediately reclaims the lead.
1:25 to go and both Taylor and Dixon make it through a bunch of traffic, only to come across another gaggle of cars.
The 01 has fallen to 13th overall, and is now classified as a retirement. It will continue to freefall now.
13:05: Taylor pits from the lead. Meanwhile the 02 is trying to save fuel to save a splash or reduce the time needed for a splash.
13:07: Dixon to the pits. Fuel and tires. Dixon comes out with the lead but also with cold tires. The gap was Dixon up by 1.2 seconds at the line.
