IMSA | Daytona, 12th Hour: Cadillac-Porsche duel, Acura in trouble

Halfway point at the 24 Hours of Daytona and the protagonists of this first event of the IMSA SportsCar Championship are already immersed in darkness when we reach the halfway point of the event.

It's 1.40am in Florida, but between late afternoon and Saturday evening the twists and turns and changes in the rankings continued, with several drivers paying the consequences of their mistakes or running into problems.

The guys from Sean Creech Motorsports are up to all kinds of trouble, with the Ligier #33 spinning three more times, causing new Full Course Yellows in a couple of these, thus neutralizing the race. One, among other things, risking hitting the Acura #10 and with the BMW #24 behind it narrowly avoiding it.

A contact between the Mustang #65 and the Ferrari #023 forced the 296 to return to the pits at Triarsi Competizione to repair the damage to the rear.

Those who suffered the most among the 'stars' were the Acura #10 and the Cadillac #01. The power steering broke on the ARX-06 and Filipe Albuquerque noticed it from the strong burning smell which anticipated a shutdown of WTR Andretti's LMDh, which was brought back with difficulty to the pits for repairs.

The V-Series.R of Chip Ganassi Racing instead was the protagonist of a long run in the central part of the track and hit some debris, forcing Sébastien Bourdais to return to the pits to fix things, sliding to the bottom.

The #44 Aston Martin, the #45 and #60 Lamborghinis, the #9 McLaren and the #75 Mercedes also ended up inside the tent behind the pit lane wall to resolve technical problems, inevitably losing positions among the GT3s.

In the meantime, the penalties to be served for different reasons continue: a Drive Through was observed by Mercedes #80 and Corvette #17 (acceleration with car still raised at the pit stop), Lamborghini #78 and #60, Mercedes #57, Ferrari # 21, Porsche #120 and #86 (start of the Pass Around phase too early during an FCY) and Aston #44 (fire extinguisher incorrectly secured).

The GTPs were also caught out: Drive Through for the Cadillac #01 (excessive speed in the pit lane) and Acura #10 (too many mechanics working on the car), but above all Stop&Go of 10″ for the Porsche #6 for failure to respect of the parameters imposed on the powertrain, something which had already been given to her previously with a warning, also to the 963 #5.

Despite returning to the race after the accident at the start, Misha Goikhberg's 'bad' day continues with the Forte Racing driver restarting from the last stop with the fuel filler still attached. The Huracan stopped a few meters ahead and the mechanics had to put out a fire on the side by removing the torn pipe.

A new FCY was decreed almost halfway through the 12th hour to clear the track of debris, at which point the #34 Ferrari slowed noticeably. Also on this occasion, most of the competitors took the opportunity to stop in the pits, such as the Acura #40 which replaced the nose and worked extensively on the right side of the car.

A few minutes after the restart, it was the red-black ARX-06 that caused a new neutralization, right at the end of the hour, when Louis Delétraz stopped on the side of the track for a reset, managing to restart a lap and a half later .

Shortly before the penultimate FCY, with a nice overtaking Jack Aitken had regained the lead of the race and in GTP with the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac, overtaking the #6 Porsche of Dane Cameron (Team Penske), who in turn was overtaken by mate of #7 Mathieu Jaminet.

Aitken is now followed by Laurenz Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche, after the Belgian passed the #24 and #25 Team RLL BMWs, with the #7 works 963 fifth.

A lap late for the CGR #01 Cadillac in sixth, after having overtaken
the private Porsches of Proton Competition #5 and JDC-Miller Motorsports #85. The Acuras of WTR Andretti were further behind, with the #40 ninth and the #10 almost a hundred laps behind.

In the LMP2 Class, the Oreca #2 of United Autosports is leading the #52 of Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen and the Era Motorsport #18, followed by the Riley #74 which now has Felipe Massa at the wheel.

A lap to make up for APR #04, AO Racing 'Spike' #99 and Tower #8 who are between fifth and seventh place, while DragonSpeed ​​#81 who is eighth is two laps ahead of the leader. The list is closed by SCM's Ligier #33.

On the other hand, the Orecas of MDK by High Class Racing #20, United #22, AF Corse #88 were KO'd, joining the #11 of TDS Racing in the last few hours.

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

#62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3: Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado

In the GTD PRO Class, the Ferrari #62 of Risi Competizione with the Calado/Pier Guidi fighters took the lead, overtaking the Corvette #3 of Pratt Miller Motorsports.

The #19 Lamborghini of Iron Lynx is on the virtual podium followed by the #77 Porsche-'Rexy' of AO Racing and the #64 Ford Mustang of Multimatic to complete the Top5.

The BMW #1 of Paul Miller Racing is sixth, which together with the Corvette #4 remain the only ones with full laps with the leader, while the Mustang #65, the Aston Martin #23 of Heart of Racing have one to overtake, completing the Top10 with the Lexus #14 of VasserSullivan who, after returning from the accident in the early hours, accumulated 37.

Also back are the McLaren #9 of Pfaff and the Lamborghini #60 of Iron Lynx still in the pits, the Mercedes #75 of Sun Energy 1 out.

In GTD, the McLaren #70 of Inception Racing took the lead, but the Mercedes #32 of Korthoff/Preston Motorsports and the Lexus #12 of VasserSullivan were always threatening behind it.

The Ferrari #47 of Cetilar Racing moved up to fourth, passing the Mercedes #57 of Winward Racing, the Mustang #55 of Proton Competition was sixth, with the Porsche #120 of Wright Motorsports and the BMW #96 of Turner Motorsports behind it.

The Ferrari #023 of Triarsi Competizione also climbs up to ninth, but above all by returning to the lead lap, something that the Lamborghini #83 of the Iron Dames does not have, tenth and chased by the Ferrari #21 of AF Corse.