#93 just pulled in under a FCY. The crew went straight to the rear right wheel. Hoping it’s not a big deal. Time remains is 9:29 hours.
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2023 Daytona Rolex 24
- Thread starter RSO 34
- Start date
#93 is back out with Briscoe at the wheel and in 5th place according to timing and scoring. Whew. #66 is in 8th.
Local time at the track is 4:40am. Sunrise is at 7:14am. That will be the turning point for many cars. These drivers are amazing. Crazy to think they run their cars as if this is a sprint race. Attrition is starting to take a toll. 8 cars are officially out. I witnessed one that blew a piston out the side of the block (LMP3 I think) and a Porsche 992 was on fire early in the race. 2 of the 4 Ferrari 296s are retired. One of the BMW GTP cars is behind 132 laps because of a battery failure that took about 30mins to replace. The battery pack weights about 125lbs and is the volume of about 6 shoe boxes. One of the Cadillac GTP cars just pulled into the garage with a gearbox or driveshaft issue (can you say torque?) The Acura GTPs both require oil changes about every 3-4 hours and sit in the pits about about 5 mins to complete or add oil. Apparently, this was expected. Overall GTP is doing well for their first race, but they seem too sketchy of a tech today. Most of the GTPs go through a full reset when pitted. About 30 mins ago a non-factory team Aston Martin stopped on track and had to be flat bedded out. Otherwise, not much else going on. 
Car #93 has moved up to 4th place and #66 sits at 8th.
coming up on the final 8 hours of racing. Both NSXs remain in the same positions. Only excitement occurred when car #6 GTP Porsche went off track and did some evening lawn mowing destroying not only the splitter, but the car spun around tearing off the rear diffusor and back deck. Too bad too because it was the faster and leading of the two. GTD has covered 485 laps. Briscoe in #93 has reeled in the 3rd place car and now is within 40 seconds. Car #66 is 2 laps down from the class leader.
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7 hours remain. Sunrise in 45 minutes. Formal is back in #93. Briscoe was just interviewed and praised the NSX. They are running ~74 seconds behind the class leader and just on the lead lap. One FCY and they are back on the tails of the top 3. Farnbacher is pushing the #66 to its limit. They remain 8th in class but over 2 laps down from the class leader. GTD has completed 517 laps so far. There's been no yellows or DNFs this last hour.
Only 6 hours remain in the 24. Couple of highlights. A GTD AMG GT3 Mercedes dropped out, Car #32. This benefitted NSX #66 who moved up one position to 7th in class. #93 is still in 4th. Farnbacher had his hands full exiting turn 1 in to 2 when two LMP2 cars was all over his backend trying to use him as a pick. By turn 3 he was able to move to the side to allow them by. Otherwise, its light out now. The last stints on soft tires ends in 60 minutes. Expecting a bunch of pits stops before then.
21 hours have ticked away with 3 hours to go. The top of the hour saw a pretty hard crash by car #20, LMP2 generating a long FCY. Fortunately, the driver was okay. This resulted in bringing many cars back together for a more competitive finish. #93 and #66 are back together again at 6th and 7th in class, respectively. 643 laps our complete the the GTD class. 10 cars are now retired from the race.
yet another Full Course Yellow (big surprise). One of the Aston Martins had an incident ending in a failed rear left wheel assembly. The field again bunches up. 3 GTP cars are on the lead lap. About 30 minutes ago the remaining GTP Porsche, #6 first pulled over stalled, performed a cntl-alt-del, fired up and after a lap or two blew the petrol motor spewing smoke. It drove back on the EV motor and went behind the wall to the garage. LMP2 also has 3 cars on the lead lap. LMP3 has only one car with 2nd place a whopping 14 laps down. GTD and GTD Pro are the most competitive in my opinion. Many cars on the lead lap. The Acura NSX GT3s are battling. Briscoe is back in #93 and sits at 5th in class. Farnbacher is piloting #66 potentially to the finish and is up to 7th in class. There's 1:45 hours remaining.
The latest yellow ending minutes ago was caused by GTD car #57 when the Corvette GTD Pro #3 hip checked the #57 in to the wall on the left side exiting turn 1 breaking the rear left suspension. Good news for Car #66, they just moved up to 4th in class on the restart. Then Farnbacher just passed car#12 for 3rd place. Farnbacher is about 3 sec behind the leader with 23 minutes to go. #93 is now in 5th chasing after Farnbacher for the first time in what 12 hours of racing?
Quick update...well that was naughty. #66 was pushed and passed back to 5th and #99 with Marcelli at the wheel is back up to 4th ahead of #66. The FCY has caused massive traffic in the infield track. Everyone seems to be making dives into the corners to get a position and bumping into other cars to make it happen. #93 is 9 seconds behind the class leader now.
oh noooooooo......car #93 was just shown in pit with damage to the front left. They are now down to #6 and exiting pits. #66 is back up to 4th. Farnbacher is 4 seconds away from a podium finish.
NSX GT3 #66 4th in class and 22nd overall
NSX GT3 #93 6th in class and 26th overall
exciting finish in LMP2. Car #55 with the draft passed car #04 right at the finish leveraging the draft. I estimated he won by just over 3 feet or 0.01 seconds.
Acura GTP #60 won their class. IMHO easily had the dominate car in the field. Acura GTP #10 came in second after recovery from a lap down.
NSX GT3 #93 6th in class and 26th overall
exciting finish in LMP2. Car #55 with the draft passed car #04 right at the finish leveraging the draft. I estimated he won by just over 3 feet or 0.01 seconds.
Acura GTP #60 won their class. IMHO easily had the dominate car in the field. Acura GTP #10 came in second after recovery from a lap down.
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Just finished the replay yesterday and while I've never been a fan of the track it was a pretty good race. The LMP2 finish was awesome and great results for Acura. Anyone else expecting a BOP coming for that car?
They need to solve the gear box issues to even find out how much superior it is to the Cadillacs! They ran a great race despite brake issues on Thursday and then discovering they need to do an oil change or at least top off every 3-4 hours during the race. Acura spent a ton of money on this new design and despite the last minute gremlins it was amazing to see the ultimate performance.
