3 Hours: Disaster For Lexus!
In a heart-breaking incident, both AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC-F GT3 entries are out of contention for the race win after sliding into the barriers at Turn 17, Sunset Bend, after the #4 Corvette C8.R had a water leak that coated the track surface.
Townsend Bell and Kyle Kirkwood were left powerless as both of their cars slid into the tyre barriers. Bell nursed the #12 Lexus back to the pits, but the #14 Lexus needed to be recovered by a flatbed truck. It was a dramatic end to what was an otherwise calm two-hour period of mostly green-flag racing.
From the replay: The No. 4 dropped oil down the back straight and into Sunset. Then the two Lexus came through. #IMSA #Sebring12 pic.twitter.com/brc7zPQv68
— Ryan Kish (@KishRM) November 14, 2020
At the front of the field is the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. who has recovered from an early-race penalty and moved into the lead of the race with Ryan Briscoe at the helm. Juan Pablo-Montoya in the #6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05c is in second. The #5 Mustang Sampling w/ JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-V.R. is in third.
All of the gaps between the runners have been eliminated as a result of this Full Course Yellow, it’s the race’s third after debris caused two other breaks in the action.
The #911 Porsche 911 RSR of Earl Bamber leads the way in GTLM. All five cars still running in that class are on the same pit stop cycle. The #24 BMW M8 of Augusto Farfus is in second. Jordan Taylor is in the #3 Corvette C8.R.
The #4 Corvette, whose water leak led to the incident for the two Lexus entries, is five laps down with Oliver Gavin still behind the wheel. He was in the car when things went initially awry.
In GTD, Darren Turner in the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 leads the class. The #63 Scuderia Corsa Weathertech Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 of Jeff Westphal is in second.
The last two hours had already been busy in GTD, even before the dramas for Lexus. The #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, which looked great in the first hour, has dropped down the order with Ryan Hardwick unable to find the pace that Jan Heylen did.
The #11 GRT Grasser Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3, which led the class earlier, suffered a mechanical failure. The car was repaired and is back out on track eight laps behind the class-leader.
The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA 07 still leads in LMP2. Simon Trummer is now in the car after Patrick Kelly started the race. Jakub Smiechowski in the #51 Inter Europol Competition ORECA 07 is in second.
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