Porsche’s Kevin Estre leads Petit Le Mans, the IMSA Sportscar Championship finale, at the halfway mark, with the #10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 of Brendon Hartley six seconds back.
Estre, in the #6 Porsche 963, started the race eighth but has moved through the field to lead as the race enters its second half.
In third is the sister #7 Porsche of Dane Cameron, less than a second off Hartley.
The race began with polesitter Jack Aitken, in the #31 Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R, retaining the lead from Nasr’s teammate Matt Campbell, onboard the #7 Porsche 963 at the start.
The first full course yellow of the race, 20 minutes in for a stranded GTD car, saw every GTP machine pit apart from the #40 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 of Jordan Taylor.
This meant J. Taylor led the race, from Alessio Picariello in the #5 Proton Competition Porsche 963, who had taken the lead thanks to fast work in the pits, and former leader Aitken.
J. Taylor, who had yet to stop, then built up a lead of well over 10 seconds. Aitken finally found a way past Picariello at turn 1, and immediately set about catching J. Taylor, who soon pitted for fuel, falling back to the rear of the GTP field.
Soon after the Acura pitted, another full course yellow meant the other GTPs pitted, with J. Taylor now back in the lead, with Aitken second and Campbell third.
However, the cars that had just pitted had new tyres, while J. Taylor had rubber that was now well over an hour old. Aitken soon used his superior grip to pass J. Taylor, with Campbell doing the same shortly after.
The Acura then dropped through the field as the Acura’s tyres fell off the grip cliff.
Aitken now led from Campbell, but was given a drive through penalty for a pass under yellow flag conditions. This promoted Jesse Krohn, in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, into the lead of the race, from J. Taylor, who had since pitted for new tyres and fuel, and Jaminet in the #6 Porsche.
Krohn then pitted, with J. Taylor pitting again on schedule, promoting the two Porsches into the lead. J. Taylor’s brother Ricky Taylor, in the sister #10 WTRAndretti Acura, is third, with Bent Viscaal fourth in the #5 Proton Porsche.
Both Porsches duly pitted, dropping down the order temporarily, but regained the lead as cars in front completed their scheduled pitstops.
The fourth full course yellow of the race was called with just under six hours remaining. Every GTP except the leader at the time, Nasr, pitted at the same time, with Nasr pitting a few laps later.
This meant the #7 Porsche, now with Cameron at the wheel, dropped to third. Estre took the lead, with Hartley gaining a spot thanks to Cameron’s Porsche dropping to third.
In fourth is Colton Herta in the #40 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06, but the star IndyCar driver is almost a lap down.
Keating out of LMP2 contention, Fraga leads
Over in LMP2, Felipe Fraga leads in the #74 Riley Oreca 07-Gibson, with Luis Perez Companc second in the #88 AF Corse Oreca 07-Gibson, and Scott Huffaker third in the #20 High Class Oreca 07-Gibson.
Polesitter Ben Keating, in the #2 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson, retained the lead at the start, but he was partially responsible for the second full course yellow of the race, colliding first with the #20 High Class Oreca 07-Gibson of Dennis Andersen, then rejoining the track at turn 6, at speed, and hitting the innocent #4 Corvette C8.R of Tommy Milner.
Since then, Fraga’s #74 Riley Oreca and Perez Companc in the #88 machine have been battling for the lead. Fraga has a 35 second lead over the Argentinian, with Huffaker a further 30 seconds back.
GTD Pro/GTD half way summary – words by Mo Rehman
Meanwhile in the GT field, Iron Lynx’s #19 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 led from the third racing hour with Mirko Bortolotti driving.
Franck Perrera took over the wheel nevertheless working with the team’s off-sequence pit stops.
Speaking of which, many fuel strategies were in play though that did not stop the battling across both GTD fields.
It was a difficult day for the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 which officially retired, having both won last year’s race and the reigning GTD Pro champions.
After ‘Rexy’s’ heartbreaking troubles earlier on cost laps and track position for the #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3.R, their rivals were at the opposite end.
Heart of Racing’s #23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo was piloted by Ross Gunn.
They demonstrated better reliability thus far over their championship rivals.
Gunn eagerly fought for third position with the only actively-running #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Alex Sims.
Behind them, a fight for fourth established itself with Bryan Sellers (#1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4) fending off the #65 Ford Multimatic Mustang of Frederic Vervisch.
Caution resets settled gaps throughout GTD
At the turn of the fourth racing hour, a caution deployed for Keating’s off-track recovery, the dispersed gaps in particular of the GTD class reset for the fourth time.
Five-and-a-half hours remained when Alessandro Pier Guidi led the restart in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 which won the Daytona 24 Hours season-opener.
He set off slightly too well after he received a warning for his gap on Romain De Angelis.
Even still, the #62 Ferrari asserted better race pace having pitted a few laps earlier than Angelis’ #23 Aston Martin.
The #23 was in better form than the #77, and ran on-course – thus far – for GTD Pro title glory.
Meanwhile the #027 sibling Aston Martin of Mario Farnbacher kept on tail of Vervisch in the battle for P5.
Despite having incurred a left-front tyre puncture under yellow, GTD-championship leader Russell Ward fell down the order.
The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 team needs to finish P14 or above, and Ward situated himself in P13 after the restart.
At the lead of GTD, #120 Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson conducted a smooth restart on Manny Franco’s #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari having quickly established a 2.3 second gap.
In fact, Misha Goikhberg’s #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini challenged Franco for P2.
His charge soon earned him the lead with a solid inside-line move on Adelson at the bottom of the hill.
Risi Competizione heads GTD Pro
At the halfway point of the 27th Petit Le Mans, Pier Guidi led GTD Pro for Risi Competizione with 200 laps completed.
Heart of Racing’s #23 Aston Martin was in second in the hands of De Angelis, followed by the #64 Ford of Christopher Mies.
Perrera’s #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini held fourth place, as the #65 Ford of Frederic Vervisch was in fifth.
GTD was headed by the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini, followed by the #32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG of Kenton Koch.
The other active Lexus, the #12, ran in third with Aaron Telitz at the wheel.
