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We’re nine-plus hours down and 15 more hours to go in the 56th annual Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.
Ricky Taylor, who was questionable whether he’d be able to race after being bed-ridden the previous three days with a bad case of the flu, has come out of sick bay in a big way.
Taylor, driving Team Penske’s No. 7 Acura DPI, leads Joao Barbosa and Juan Pablo Montoya in the No. 6 Team Penske Acura Dpi.
After nine hours, which came at 11:30 p.m. ET, the leaders are:
9 hours and still on a record pace! Running lap 306 of the #Rolex24 @DISupdates
— #IMSA (@IMSA) January 28, 2018
Leaders:
P: @AX_Racing No. 5
GTLM: @CGRsportscar No. 66
GTD: Montaplast by Land Motorsport No. 29 pic.twitter.com/fHbbzZW3pt
PROTOTYPE:
- No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac Dpi, Whelen Engineering Racing, Cadillac Dpi, Joao Barbosa
- No. 7 Acura Team Penske, Acura Dpi, Ricky Taylor
- No. 6 Acura Team Penske, Acura Dpi, Simon Pagenaud
GTLM:
- No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT, Joey Hand
- No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, Ford GT, Scott Dixon
- No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE, James Calado
GTD:
- No. 29 Montaplast by Land Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS GT3, Christopher Mies
- No. 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports, Mercedes-AMG GT3, Adam Christodoulou
- No. 86 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian, Acura NSX GT3, Katherine Legge
There’s still another 15 hours remaining in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway.
Fireworks over the #Rolex24! 🎆 pic.twitter.com/2F7L3JYBQ3
— Daytona International Speedway (@DAYTONA) January 28, 2018
Since our last report after the first six hours, here are some of the more notable things that transpired between hours seven through nine:
SLIP SLIDING AWAY
Don Yount crashed into the tire wall early into Hour No. 7. Yount was entering the bus stop when his No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 got away from him.
The car didn’t suffer much damage, but then when Yount got going and headed for pit road, he overshot his pit stall. IMSA officials forced team members to push the car back into the pit stall, costing about 30 seconds.
The car was examined, some adjustments were made to the front end suspension and Yount was back on-track.
TANDY WRECKS HARD, SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO NO. 911 PORSCHE GTLM
Just a few minutes into the ninth hour, Nick Tandy and the No. 911 Porsche 199 RSR GTLM of the Porsche GT team hit hard into a tire wall.
The car spun around and hit the wall again, then kept spinning after bouncing off the rubber, suffering significant damage.
After the car came to a stop, Tandy quickly hustled the car to the garage for repairs. But given the damage to the front and rear of the Porsche, it’ll be a while before it gets back on-track – if it gets back on-track.
FROM FASTEST TO SLOWEST IN A POOF
The fastest car on the track at times became the slowest on the track when the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac Dpi-V.4 Prototype of Wayne Taylor Racing, driven by Renger Van Der Zande, blew a right rear tire and had to limp to the pits.
Unfortunately, damage caused by the shredded tire was extensive, prompting the team to push the car back to the garage after attempting to make fixes on pit road.
Several cars have lost right rear tires to punctures and blow outs across all three classes – Prototype, GTLM and GTD.
The No. 10, which had Zande, IndyCar star Ryan Hunter-Reay and Jordan Taylor, was among the strongest of the race, but it’ll have to come back a long way to make up for lost time as the race moves into the middle part of the race from Hours 9 to 18.
Quick work by the @WayneTaylorRcng to get the No. 10 repaired and back on track! #Rolex24 pic.twitter.com/XMbWDCrYpM
— #IMSA (@IMSA) January 28, 2018
It’s the third tire failure for the team in the first nine races – all in the same area – and this one was by far the worst.
“This is now the third failure and it’s not even as if the tires are well-worn,” team owner Wayne Taylor told FS1. “It’s something I certainly have no idea of what’s going on.”
The car went back on-track just three minutes before the start of the ninth hour, but was scored 10 laps down to the leaders.
CADDY CATASTROPHE
The No. 10 wasn’t the only Cadillac that suffered problems.
The No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Cadillac Dpi Prototype suffered a serious mechanical failure.
The @SpiritDaytona90 in the garage. Currently diagnosing an issue with the No. 90. #Rolex24 pic.twitter.com/W6KqQypHc3
— #IMSA (@IMSA) January 28, 2018
The car was brought back to the garage for repairs, when the following bad news occurred a short time afterward:
Unfortunate update about the @SpiritDaytona90 as the 90 suffered a misfire that was too deep in the motor to be rectified so the car will not continue. Team had been hoping for a third successive #rolex24 podium
— Sunday Group (@Sundaygroup) January 28, 2018
ALONSO TAKES OVER 3 LAPS DOWN
The No. 23 United Autosports Liger LMP2 suffered a tire issue in the eighth hour that caused significant damage, dropping it three laps off the pace.
The incident occurred just before Phil Hanson turned the car over to 2-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso. While three laps down is significant, Alonso has the talent to make up a lot of ground, especially if issues happen to other Prototypes running ahead of him.
Alonso is expected to drive at least two, maybe even three more segments in the remainder of the event.
KEEP FIGHTING, NO MATTER HOW MANY LAPS YOU’RE DOWN
Wright Motorsports’ No. 58 Porsche 911 GT3 R day started off with a bang – but not in a good way.
The No. 58 made contact with the Turn 5 wall on the driver’s side on the pre-race lap, sustaining heavy damage.
In fact, it was already in the garage to begin repairs before the green flag even dropped. It ultimately returned to the track, but 106 laps behind the GTD leader.
The team had been heavily favored to potentially capture the GTD title, given the driver lineup of Patrick Long (who had been behind the wheel when the wreck occurred), two-time and defending GTD champion Christina Nielsen and Mathieu Jaminet.