Saturday, January 30, 2016

After Eight Hours, Negri Leads 24 Hours of Daytona.

One-third of the 2016 24 Hours of Daytona has been completed. Here is a run down of the four classes after eight hours.

Oswaldo Negri, Jr. has the #60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier-HPD in the lead despite the #60 having a slight incident early in the race when John Pew ran into the back of the #2 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier-HPD of Johannes van Overbeek at the bus stop chicane. Nergi, Jr. passed the #02 Ganassi Ford-Riley of Tony Kanaan for the overall lead on the most recent restart. Ricky Taylor has the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP up to third while #02 of Kanaan is in third. The #10 team will be a man down for the rest of the race as Jordan Taylor is unable to continue due to illness. Jordan did complete one stint. Kanaan is trailed by the #90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP of Marc Goossens.

Filipe Albuquerque rounds out the top five in the #5 Corvette DP for Action Express Racing. The #31 Action Express Corvette DP of Eric Curran is sixth. Andy Priaulx has the #01 Ganassi Ford-Riley in seventh and van Overbeek has the #2 Ligier-HPD in eighth, the last car on the lead lap.

The #912 Porsche of Earl Bamber leads in GTLM ahead of Jan Magnussen in the #3 Corvette and the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari of James Calado. The #4 Corvette of Oliver Gavin is fourth. Toni Vilander is the top Ferrari as the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari is fifth ahead of the #911 Porsche of Kevin Éstre and #100 RLLR BMW of Kuno Wittmer. A lap back in class is Augusto Farfus in the #25 BMW. Two laps down is the #68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari of Daniel Serra.

The debut for the Ford GT has not gone to plan. Both cars have suffered from mechanical issues but both are still running. Ryan Briscoe is 22 laps down in the #67 Ford while Dirk Müller is 11 laps behind his teammate in the #66 Ford.

Tom Kimber-Smith leads in PC by two laps in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca. In second is Brendan Gaughan in the #20 BAR1 Motorsports Oreca. Kenton Koch is third in class in the #85 JDC/Miller Motorsports entry. Kyle Marcelli is fourth, also two laps back, in the #38 Performance Tech Oreca.

Thirteen cars are on the lead lap in GTD. The #48 Paul Muller Racing Lamborghini of Mirko Bortolotti leads the #16 Change Racing Lamborghini of Spencer Pumpelly. René Rast has the #44 Magnus Racing Audi in third with the #23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Porsche in fourth. Rounding out the top five is the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche of Norbert Siedler. The #6 Stevenson Motorsport Audi of Andrew Davis is running in sixth.

The #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche of Nicky Catsburg is seventh, ahead of the #98 Aston Martin of Richie Stanaway. The top Ferrari is the #51 Spirit of Race entry of Peter Mann. In tenth is the #22 Alex Job Racing Porsche of Leh Keen. Antonio Pérez has the #007 TRG-Aston Martin in 11th with Christina Nielsen in 12th in the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari. The last car on the lead lap in GTD is the #33 Dodge Viper of Jeff Mosing.

Notable retirements include the #54 CORE Autosport Oreca, the #0 DeltaWing and the #70 Mazda.