After the #71 AF Corse-Francorchamps Ferrari 488 GT3 grabbed the race lead following the first pit stop sequence, it seemed to be smooth sailing for the car shared by Daniel Serra, Ulysse De Pauw and Antonio Fuoco. The trio had built up a lead of over 20 seconds on the #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 […]
The post Craft-Bamboo Racing Grabs Indy Lead At Halfway first appeared on dailysportscar.com.After the #71 AF Corse-Francorchamps Ferrari 488 GT3 grabbed the race lead following the first pit stop sequence, it seemed to be smooth sailing for the car shared by Daniel Serra, Ulysse De Pauw and Antonio Fuoco.
The trio had built up a lead of over 20 seconds on the #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Raffaele Marciello, Daniel Juncadella and Daniel Morad – and were firmly in control of the Indianapolis 8 Hour race.
However, as De Pauw went to lap Pierre Ragues in the other AF Corse Ferrari there was contact between the teammates with 20 minutes to go before the halfway point of the race.
The #51 Ferrari of Ragues spun around in the first corner before resuming, but the damage was done as Race Control gave a drive-through penalty to the No. 71 Ferrari for incident responsibility.
At the four hour mark, Juncadella now had the overall race lead in his Theodore Racing-liveried Mercedes, over De Pauw by over 20 seconds, with Jules Gounon in third place in the #33 Winward Racing Mercedes.
The #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of John Edwards was fourth, and the #1 K-PAX Lamborghini Huracán GT3 of Andrea Caldarelli was fifth, rounding out an all Pro class shutout of the top-five.
Harry Gottsacker in the #38 ST Racing M4 was running in sixth place as the sole representative of the Silver Cup class, ahead of the #51 Ferrari of Ragues, and the #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari of Cedric Sbirrazzuoli in seventh and eighth places, respectively.
Running in ninth place and leading the Pro-Am class is Kenny Habul in the #75 SunEnergy1 Racing with Akkodis ASP Mercedes, ahead of Alessio Rovera in the #23 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari by 26 seconds.
The two-car Am class suffered large setbacks with the #08 DXDT Racing Mercedes leading the class in the majority of the first few hours of the race, before going to the garage with mechanical issues – believed to be a wheel speed sensor issue.
That handed the Am class lead to the #88 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini which has been assessed no fewer than three drive-through penalties for various pitting rules infringements. Currently, World Challenge veteran Jason Daskalos is at the wheel of the Zelus “Bullnicorn”.
With maximum driving stint times of 65 minutes, the second hour of the race effectively started after the entire field made their first scheduled pit stops. De Pauw took over the #71 Ferrari after Serra made a heroic charge from 18th place on the grid.
The #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari was running in second place overall in the second hour of the race, but has suffered issues with the ABS system failing.
Moving to the Pro-Am class, Michael Cooper had the class lead at the start of the second hour of the race in the #43 RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3. However, that car fell to seventh in class as Erin Vogel and Taylor Hagler both were innocent victims of collisions from other drivers as they had their turns behind the wheel of the car.
The first retirement of the race was recorded by the #6 US Racetronics Mercedes – as the car suffered from extensive vibrations owing to the car having a broken splitter.
Mercedes’s woes would continue as the #39 Stephen Cameron Racing entry would also retire with engine damage after a collision damaged the oil pan.
But the biggest hit came to the #04 CrowdStrike Racing with Riley Motorsports Mercedes, after Ben Keating collided with Vogel and suffered radiator damage as a consequence. Now 43 laps off the overall lead and mired in tenth place in class, George Kurtz and Colin Braun may have suffered a fatal blow to their Pro-Am Championship hopes in GT World Challenge America.
Combined with power steering issues for the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3-R, which is 19 laps off the overall lead and ninth in class, and Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher are poised to make a move towards the Pro-Am championship in the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura.
At halfway, the #93 Acura was running in 11th overall and third in class.
Images © Travis Hinkle, Doug Mathews / Penske Entertainment Group
The post Craft-Bamboo Racing Grabs Indy Lead At Halfway first appeared on dailysportscar.com.