Rolex 24, Hour 8: Albuquerque takes charge for AXR

A pitstop to switch from Mike Conway to Eric Curran saw the leading #31 AXR Cadillac drop to third, handing P1 to Castroneves.

He tried to hold off Filipe Albuquerque but gave up the place 10 minutes before the seventh hour was up and the #5 AXR machine rapidly pulled away.

At the next round of stops, Penske got its man out quicker, obliging Albuquerque to repeat his maneuver. This time, however, Castroneves wouldn’t let him go and he sneaked back in front a couple laps later, and stayed there.

The Brazilian held a seven-second lead when he pitted on Lap 259, taking a new nose with dive planes but double-stinting his tires. But as the eighth hour approached completion, Castroneves had fallen 20s behind Albuquerque.

Renger van der Zande took over from Jordan Taylor, who set the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Caddy’s best lap just before the end of the seventh hour.

Van der Zande claimed third from Curran and cut his deficit to the leaders to under half a minute. However, he likewise double-stinted his tires and slipped back into the clutches of Curran.

His lack of pace was compounded when another right-rear puncture obliged the #10 to pit early again. Van der Zande re-emerged sixth, then charged back up to third - albeit a minute behind the leader.

Juan Pablo Montoya ran fourth in the second Penske Acura, 80s off the leader but ahead of Curran and Scott Sharp in the #2 ESM-Nissan.

The #23 United Autosports Ligier picked up a right-rear puncture just before the Bus Stop while Phil Hanson was at the wheel, so he had tumbled to 10th even before he reached pit road and handed over to Fernando Alonso.

The tire carcass damaged the engine cover and the two-time Formula 1 world champion resumed in 11th, three laps down.

GTLM: Ford domination continues

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Joey Hand and Richard Westbrook ended the eighth hour running just half a second apart and with their Ford GTs some 75 seconds ahead of closest rivals, Oliver Gavin and Antonio Garcia in the Corvette C7.Rs.

After some sterling work by Patrick Pilet in the #911 Porsche, Nick Tandy was at the wheel in fifth place trying to recover the lap deficit to the flying Fords, with Davide Rigon sixth in the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488.

GT Daytona remains the property of the #29 Land Motorsport Audi R8, currently with Sheldon van der Linde at the wheel.

He runs a full lap ahead of Ben Keating’s #33 Riley Mercedes, which is half a minute up on the Grasser Lamborghini Huracan with Rolf Ineichen at the wheel.