| January 26, 2020 Staff Report IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing / JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi rose through the ranks between Hours 6-12 to lead at the halfway mark of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener, the prestigious Rolex 24 at Daytona. Loic Duval was behind the wheel at Hour 12 before turning the car over to Joao Barbosa just following the conclusion of the second of four segments of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup at Daytona. Sebastien Bourdais is the third co-driver of the car. The trio of drivers for the No. 5 now have seven points towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, two behind the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi for Wayne Taylor Racing. The No. 10 Cadillac holds strong through the first half of the race, finishing first after six hours and second after 12 hours. In the LMP2 class, the PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports squad bolstered its lead in the Endurance Cup standings, finishing first in both segments completed thus far. With 10 points, the team has three more than the No. 81 DragonSpeed ORECA LMP2, which was running second at the halfway point. While the GTLM battle is still as tight as ever, the No. 24 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE remains strong. In fact, the finishing order following the first segment of the Endurance Cup was replicated during the following segment. The Nos. 912 and 911 Porsche 911 RSR-19s for Porsche GT Team finished the segment second and third, respectively. Fourth went to the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R and fifth went to the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE. The No. 24 BMW’s lead in the endurance standings is now two points over the No. 912 Porsche. Following one cycle around the clock, there’s still no telling who might come away with a Rolex watch in the GT Daytona (GTD) class. Two Lamborghini Huracán GT3 teams are tied with eight points apiece – the No. 44 for GRT Magnus, which finished first at the six-hour mark, and the No. 48 for Paul Miller Racing, which led at the 12-hour mark. Making the biggest jump in GTD was the No. 88 WRT Speedstar Audi Sport Audi R8 LMS GT3, which was initially eighth in the endurance standings, but with a second-place result in the most recent segment, now has six points and ranks second. They’re tied with the No. 63 WeatherTech Racing Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3. The Rolex 24 At Daytona will air live on NBCSN through 3 a.m. ET, before moving exclusively to the NBC Sports App from 3 a.m. – 6 a.m. From there, it moves to NBCSN until noon, before the NBC Network takes over for the dramatic final two hours. The race can also be streamed live in its entirety on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold. IMSA Radio coverage is available at RadioLeMans.com and IMSARadio.com plus SiriusXM. NOTES:Should Corvette Racing’s 100th IMSA win come at the Rolex 24, it will be by the efforts of the No. 3 Corvette C8.R. Its sister car, the No. 4 of Tommy Milner, Oliver Gavin and Marcel Fassler, went behind the wall during the second quarter of the race due to an oil leak. The team continues to work on the issue to get back out on track. A costly penalty for the No. 77 Mazda Team Joest Mazda DPi dropped it from the lead to the bottom of the DPi class charts about 10 hours through the race. Tristan Nunez was deemed to have made a pass under a yellow flag, mandating a drive-through penalty. Making impressive gains, the No. 77 was up to third at the 12-hour mark.The yellow flag that led to Nunez’s penalty was a result of the No. 19 GEAR Racing powered by GRT Grasser running slow and stopping in Speedway Turn 4. The car was towed back to the garage with the team believing the issue was related to fuel pressure. The car returned to track during the 11th hour of the race. |
