Max Angelelli, of Italy, bring the Konica Minolta Corvette DP down pit road during the final practice session before the IMSA 24-hour auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, Jan. 29, 2016, in Daytona Beach, Fla.
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Attrition has depleted the field at the Rolex 24 of Daytona during the overnight shift, leaving just four cars on the lead lap with just over five hours to go in the endurance race.
Pipo Derani has taken over the top spot from Christian Fittipaldi, with the No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM Ligier JS P2 Honda out-powering the Corvette DP and stretching into a lead.
But the tragic loss of Wilson in a freak IndyCar accident previous year at Pocono Raceway also provides a source of inspiration and motivation for Allmendinger, who teamed with Wilson, Oswaldo Negri and John Pew to win the 2012 Rolex 24.
Brendon Hartley, of New Zealand, drives during the IMSA 24-hour auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016, in Daytona Beach, Fla. The No. 02 eventually was knocked from the race when Kyle Larson appeared to have a brake issue that sent him crashing hard into a tire barrier. With the clock winding achingly close to that 24th hour, both of Action Express Racing’s usually-bulletproof Corvette DPs spent time in the garage with ultimately-repairable problems.
Ryan Daziel, Marc Goosens and Ryan Hunter-Reay completed the lead lap runners in third aboard their Visit Florida Corvette, a further minute adrift of the Taylor entry. No details were given about Angelelli’s issue, but the Taylors had thought fumes were seeping into the vehicle in the waning hours of the race. Words cant describe it. Sharp won in 1996 as a co-driver for Wayne Taylor Racing. In the course of a 12-month period, the Ganassi team won the 2010 Daytona 500, the Indy 500, the Brickyard 400 and, in January of 2011, the Rolex 24.
Since the DeltaWing’s debut in 2013, reliability has been an issue, but Legge remained optimistic about her team’s chances in this year’s race. The incident happened just as I sat down to write this, so details are scarce on the incident, but I can already hear the cars speeding back up in preparation of a green flag.
Sharing the ride with Derani were Scott Sharp, Ed Brown and Johannes van Overbeek. It was Derani who did the bulk of the work for ESM, driving the Honda-powered Ligier to the lead nearly every time the 22-year-old got behind the wheel.
Bomarito was leading in the Mazda Prototype but Olivier Pla in the Shank Ligier-Honda was the quickest man on track. But, Ricky Taylor was not feeling well when he exited the auto and Jordan Taylor said he thought fumes were leaking into the cockpit. “I think that a winning performance once again. It was a strong package this weekend”.
The top qualifiers in the other two classes: Johnny Mowlem posted the eighth-fastest lap overall and tops in the Prototype Challenge class, and Norbert Siedler had the best lap in the GT Daytona class. The two Corvettes crossed the finish line almost neck-and-neck to give the team a 1-2 finish – Corvette Racing’s first 1-2 at Daytona in its history.
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“You just have to think differently in these races”, he said. “I knew I was going to have a battle on my hands”. Then when he caught me, he tried to pass me around the outside in Turn 1 and he was nearly sideways. “What gets me in the right frame of mind is about having a good time and enjoying it. As soon as you get uptight, that’s when your muscles get uptight and you make mistakes”.
