DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – As the sun begins to rise in Central Florida, the race looks to be coming down to a battle between the Cadillacs and Acuras. All nine of the GTP cars are still running at this point, but only three are on the lead lap.
Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Colin Braun is back in the overall lead with six hours to go. He was 66.444 seconds ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, although the 18-hour mark was reached during a round of pit stops. Teammate Earl Bamber is in third, then Ricky Taylor is a lap down in fourth. BMW M Team RLL’s Marco Wittmann has scratched and clawed up to fifth.
During the caution at the halfway point, Acura planned to flush the systems of both the Meyer Shank and Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport cars. The Shank flush went off without a hitch. On the WTR Acura, a bracket necessary to add oil to the car broke, forcing the team to go behind the wall for a quick fix. That cost them two laps.
The Action Express Racing Cadillac was right in the hunt until Pipo Derani was hit by a GT car in West Bend right at the end of the 15th hour. The contact broke the left rear suspension and put him off the track. Derani was able to limp his Cadillac V-LMDh to the garage, where the team lost 25 minutes replacing rear end parts.
The Porsche No. 7 spent additional time in the garage early this morning, dropping another few laps. They are now 19 laps down in 10th overall.
The LMP2 class has a decent battle in play. TDS Racing’s Job van Uitert led at the 18-hour mark by a lap over Crowdstrike Racing by APR’s Ben Hanley. AF Corse’s Nicklas Nielsen was third, then Rick Ware Racing’s Austin Cindric was a lap down in fourth. PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports’ Paul-Loup Chatin was fifth.
In LMP3, the class lost two cars right after the 12-hour mark. The MRS GT-Racing No. 43 well and truly expired to bring out the yellow, putting them out. During that caution, the Andretti Autosport No. 36 of Dakota Dickerson stalled on-track. That car has also been retired.
In recent years, the class has been decided more or less on reliability and 2023 is no exception. The FastMD Racing team just went to the garage with a gearbox issue, leaving just a couple of teams in the class that haven’t spent time back there so far.
Sean Creech Motorsports’ Joao Barbosa continues to lead the class in 17th overall, two laps ahead of Andrew Wojteczko Autosport’s Anthony Mantella. Performance Tech…
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