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15 minutes to go and the 55 is in a solid 2nd place.
about 4.5 - 5 seconds back but has a 35 second lead on the cars behind him.
can he catch Helio?
probably not without some help from traffic but the big story right now is why the heck did JPM brake check the #10 car going into the pits?
oh crap!
ferrari takes out the Acura and we have a full course yellow.
if they can clear this mess up fast enough, Tinknell might have his shot to challenge Helio. This could be a wild finish.
ah well, that was an intense minute and a half of green. I was thinking back to the 24 when Tincknell clipped Castroneves that this was the time to try moves like that.
what a great race from start to finish yesterday. I don't think anyone expected the chaos start they got right off the bat but in a way it almost seemed to set the tone for the 6 hours. Frantic was a good word the announcers kept using.
Heartbreaking to see the #77 go out like that, they ran such a great race with those drivers pushing hard the entire time to keep the car competitive and when they did take the lead it was a commanding lead. Ugh, the mechanical gremlins strike for the first time in 2020...
But where did the 55 come from?!
they didn't seem to have the pace (or were they sitting back the whole time intentionally? that's hard to believe) and almost seemed as soon as the 77 had issues they stepped up and hard charged towards the front. Great driving by those guys to turn what almost seemed a wasted race for Mazda into a 2nd place finish!
j_tso: thoughts on that pit lane collision between JPM and the WTR car?
that one was weird because it did seem like JPM brake checked the Caddy. OR was the WTR going too fast? Briscoe says he had hit the pit lane speed button already and was well within the speed so what the heck prompted that.
Obviously team owner Wayne Taylor was PISSED about it because it did knock them off the podium and essentially elevated the Mazda into 2nd place.
It looked like JPM brake checked Briscoe to me. Or he was slow to get back on the gas after activating the pit speed limiter, which I find doubtful.
I think the last pit lane shuffle helped the 55, it went from 5th into 2nd. Maybe the drivers were also told not to wring out 100% from the engine because the 77 had an engine change the night before, but then the 77 had the brake issue so they just said go for it.
a little update on things to come for the IMSA Weathertech Series. We know the current DPi platform is set to be retired soon but with the huge COVID impact to the series there had been rumors that the prototype class would possibly be delayed by a year to help teams transition.
Well, John Doonan spoke to that recently.
LMDh Regulations Finalized; Still on Track for 2022
Final regulations, suppliers confirmed; platform still on track for 2022 debut…
by John Dagys
The ACO and IMSA have finalized the LMDh technical regulations, confirming the hybrid powertrain and costs associated with the new formula, along with the intention to still launch the platform in 2022.
Announced during Friday’s annual ACO press conference, IMSA President John Doonan and the sanctioning body’s technical director Matt Kurdock and his ACO counterpart Thierry Bouvet, along with ACO President Pierre Fillon, confirmed key details in a video presentation.
As previously announced, LMDh cars will feature a 500 kW (670 horsepower) combined power output at a minimum weight of 1030 kg with a downforce-to-drag ratio of 4:1.
The cars will share a common wheelbase of 3150 mm, with a maximum length of 5100 mm and width of 2000 mm, with the allowance of upper bodywork stylization by manufacturers and no changes allowed to the floor.
The manufacturer-supplied internal combustion engines will produce 630 hp, coupled with a 50 kW (67 hp) electric motor, to be supplied by Bosch.
The entire hybrid powertrain, including a battery system produced by Williams Advanced Engineering, will be cost-capped at 300,000 Euros ($355,000 USD).
The LMP2-based chassis, meanwhile, will cost 345,000 Euros ($409,00 USD), including the X-Trac-supplied gearbox.
The ACO and IMSA estimate the total cost for a LMDh car, minus the engine is 1 million Euro ($1.86 million USD)
***Mazda Motorsports director Nelson Cosgrove revealed the No. 77 Mazda RT24-P had two unrelated issues in the race at Road Atlanta, with the car having sustained a broken oil line due to a suspected vibration as well as a broken rear brake quick-disconnect fitting at the bell-housing.
***Cosgrove said both failures have been analyzed and corrected ahead of this weekend.
LOTS of series news I need to get caught up on including timing of LMDh debut, LMP3 cars joining the series next year, Porsche pulling out of this weekend because of covid, etc etc but that talk is for another day.
right now it's race weekend!
Acura continues to lead in practices with qualifying happening tomorrow morning and than race day.
I'll be travelling all day tomorrow so I will miss the race but it seems the cars are pretty evenly matched so it should be a fun race. Tinknell is coming off his LeMans win but has never raced at Mid-Ohio
sorry I haven't been as active lately, but it's RACE DAY!
Pettit LeMans is traditionally the season ending race but in the craziness that is 20202, we're doing it today with 3 races still left in the season.
as what should come as a shock to nobody, Acura is once again on the pole and locking out the front row. Those guys seem to really have figured things out after a rough start to the season and are definitely the team to beat. Mazda looked really strong in qualifying but was edged out in the last few minutes and will start in 4th positions.
The only BoP changes made to the DPi class was a 3L fuel increase for Mazda. I know that doesn't sound like much but I got the feeling the last 2 races that the drivers were having to go into fuel conservation sooner than other teams so this might free them up to being able to maintain top speed a bit more.
Race starting in about 10 minutes and hope you guys are tuning in.
front left brake rotor replaced on the 55, looks like they're putting the car back together
fortunately this is a LONG race so they could still claw their way back in, just gotta get the car back out there and turning laps asap and hope for a few lucky cautions.
Did you read about Mazda going to 1 car next year?
I'm watching on and off today. Does not appear to be 55's day. After the brake rotor replacement it had contact with the Weathertech Ferrari and went off track.
yup, I assume it'll run under the #55 given how much history that has with Mazda.
Pairing up Tinknell and Jarvis should be really fun to watch as those two have proven to be incredible drivers in their respective cars. Bummed Bomarito won't drive full time as he's an OG from back to the SpeedSource days but glad J-Bomb will still be brought in for endurance races.
Nunez is odd man out though...
I'm hoping this is a move to save some money while they start building an LMDh car
not sure what's going on with the #6 but what WAS a 22 second lead is now down to about 1.5
#31 cadillac has been hard charging but I almost get the feeling that the Acura is losing pace.
Mazda 7 seconds back.
#77 has been ALL OVER that 31 but the Cadillac doing a good job of using traffic to keep the Mazda behind them.
encouraged by the pace the 77 seems to be capable of.
Long way to go still
