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Petit Le Mans halfway report

The race has been action packed thus far.

#10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP: Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Max Angelelli

#10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP: Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Max Angelelli

Action Sports Photography

#10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP: Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Max Angelelli
#27 Dempsey Racing Porsche 911 GT America: Patrick Dempsey, Andrew Davis, Joe Foster
#01 Chip Ganassi Ford/Riley: Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Scott Dixon
#93 SRT Motorsports Viper: Rob Bell, Dominik Farnbacher, Jonathan Bomarito
#5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP: Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Sébastien Bourdais
#35 Flying Lizard Motorsports Audi R8 LMS: Seth Neiman, Dion von Moltke, Alessandro Latif
#90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP: Richard Westbrook, Michael Valiante, Mike Rockenfeller
#19 Muehlner Motorsports America Porsche 911 GT America: Mark Kvamme, Daniel Lloyd
#25 8Star Motorsports Oreca FLM09 Chevrolet: Eric Lux, Sean Rayhall, Tom Kimber-Smith
#4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, Ryan Briscoe
#87 BAR1 Motorsports Oreca FLM 09 Chevrolet: Martin Plowman, Marc Drumwright, Tomy Drissi
#42 OAK Racing Ligier HPD: Gustavo Yacaman, Alex Brundle, Ho Pin Tung
#0 DeltaWing Racing Cars DWC13: Andy Meyrick, Katherine Legge, Gabby Chaves
#0 DeltaWing Racing Cars DWC13: Andy Meyrick, Katherine Legge, Gabby Chaves
#93 SRT Motorsports Viper: Rob Bell, Dominik Farnbacher, Jonathan Bomarito
#5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP: Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Sébastien Bourdais
#44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America: John Potter, Andy Lally, Marco Seefried
#88 BAR1 Motorsports ORECA FLM09 Chevrolet: Tom Papadopoulos, Johnny Mowlem, David Cheng

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP currently leads Petit Le Mans. The first caution of the race came after just 13 minutes when Eric Lux spun and stopped in his 8Star machine. 

Championships clinched

By starting the race, the No. 5 Action Express Corvette clinched the Team's championship. Both Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi clinched the driver's title as well.

Also, the No. 555 AIM Autosport Ferrari secured the GT Daytona Team’s Championship in the four-race Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup.

Prototypes fall

Early mechanical dramas put the Oak Racing Ligier multiple laps behind. They worked their way back up to seventh, but contact with the DeltaWing sent the car flying off into the tire barrier outside of turn one.

The No. 9 Action Express Corvette ended qualifying stuffed in the door of the SpeedSource Mazda. Today wasn't much better. They retired after contact with the No. 33 GTD Viper. The aforementioned Mazda is also out of the race due to engine issues. The No. 88 BAR 1 Motorsports entry went back to the garage after making contact with a barrier as well.

No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette DP stalled in the second hour momentarily before getting back going again, but it did bring out a full-course yellow. Power steering issues dropped the No. 09 PC down the order, which was running second at the time of the issue.

The Spirit of Daytona DP is in serious trouble too, which we will get to in a moment...

Contact under caution

During the fourth full-course caution, a very bizarre incident took place on pit road. One driver looked down at his belts for a moment and when he looked up, chaos ensued. The No. 4 Corvette, No. 911, and No. 62 Ferrari were all involved.

During the ninth caution, the Spirit of Daytona car got clobbered by the Flying Lizard entry as they went down into turn nine, causing major suspension damage to the No. 90. Mike Rockenfeller was furious and understandably so.

Racer leaders

P - No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP

PC - No. 52 PR1 Motorsports Oreca FLM09

GTLM - No. 912 Porsche 911

GTD - No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW 

Caution summary

Caution #1 - No. 25 8Star Motorsports PC spins on the exit of turn seven.

Caution #2 - No. 42 Oak Racing P1 stops with mechanical dramas.

Caution #3 - No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette DP stops on track momentarily 

Caution #4 - No. 45 Flying Lizard GTD and No. 87 BAR1 PC have separate issues.

Caution #5 - No. 55 BMW Z4 GTE stops after contact with No. 01 Ganassi DP.

Caution #6 - No. 88 BAR1 PC makes contact with barriers at the third corner.

Caution #7 -  No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports PC stops on track on the exit of turn seven.

Caution #8 - No. 91 SRT Viper goes off the course and is forced to pit.

Caution #9 - No. 33 SRT Viper GTD crashes on the exit of turn seven, nearly flipping due to the odd angle.

Caution #10 - No. 42 Oak Racing P1 crashes into barrier following contact with the DeltaWing.

Retirements

There have been ten retirements thus far.

P - No. 42 Oak Racing Ligier

P - No. 9 Action Express Corvette

P - No. 07 SpeedSource Mazda

PC - No. 88 BAR1 Motorsports Oreca

GTLM- No. 55 BMW Z4 GTE

GTLM - No. 62 Ferrari F458 Italia

GTD - No. 27 Porsche 911

GTD - No. 18 Porsche 911

GTD - No. 30 Porsche 911

GTD - No. 71 Porsche 911

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