2020 IMSA Prototype Challenge At Daytona

welcome to EMSA sports car racing in the MC prototype challenge on NBCSN from a very soggy Daytona International Speedway thunderstorms in a cold front coming through the area but that is not dampen the spirit of the crowd on hand a lot of Scouts here as well as it's a big weekend for the Scouts and the prototype challenge car is lined up on pit lane welcome everyone Brian's Hill along with Jeremy Shaw will have several guests with us in the booth for this three-hour event from here at Daytona the season starts out with a three hour race where is Daytona International Speedway just east of Orlando that's where it is the Disneyland for adults let's call the world center of racing about an hour east of Orlando Florida a road course built into the Daytona International Speedway three point five six miles around good places for passing both of the horseshoes the International and the west and then heavy braking into the bus stop that's where you can get the job done and can you draft through Speedway three and four back around to the start/finish line for a victory here at Daytona you want to start the season off on a good foot if you can take a victory here it gives you the championship lead as you hand head into the rest of that five race stretch to the championship at the end of the season a challenge for all of these drivers and of course they want to put on a good show because they're here in front of the EM so weathertech teams and that is the big league drivers in the silver and bronze categories you got some young drivers Jeremy Shaw some experienced drivers as well and it really is going to be a tough for these guys today let's look at how they'll start there'll be well 18 cars entered unfortunately only 17 will start the race number 10 car of gyropod and Stevan McAleer they had some fuel system problems that manifested himself yesterday evening and in qualifying this morning that car will not start the racer a huge blow to their championship aspirations so starting at the back in the 17th position combat 86 for one motorsports is Dave house on the eighth row of the grid its Greg Palmer in car number three for junior three racing and alongside him Steve stone skull and the third in caliber 46:40 TT CT Motorsports row seven is car number 61 for conquest GRS racing that's Danny cook and Jim Cox encounter 35 the Riley Motorsports entry row six degree is Bruce Hamilton the third for Wolverine in car number sixty and Joel Janko in a 47 Motorsports car number forty-seven come between the Gilbert quarter of Motorsports entry for John Brownson alongside him is Dean Baker in number 54 for MLT Motorsports row for Stephen Thomas making his professional racing debut this weekend are doing very well to qualify the car number 11 for k2 our most was in the eighth position alongside him is Dan Goldberg in car number six that's performance tech Motorsports the - Sean Creech Motorsports entries will start together on Row 3 number 30 is nourish Hussein alongside him is Lance will Z in Canada 33 in the fourth position on the grid David grant for 47 Motorsports in caliber 40 alongside him Cameron castles in car number 75 for performance tech Motorsports that's the top place to leisure a chassis on the grid on the front row it's all Norma m34 Neilson racing european team making its North American debut encumber 17 an excellent qualifying effort for Rob holders but on the pole position in caliber 64 for k2r Motorsports his first ever pole position just his six professional race that's Naveen Rao who will start on the pole position you talk about the different chassis Jeremy three different chassis is represented in the field today the Norma chassis the lije and then the Ave Riley so three very different types of cars they've got different aerodynamic signatures different straight-line different mechanical grip signatures as well and that mechanical grip today I would think would be at an absolute premium you want to be able to get that Michelin grip of that rain tire to the ground especially in the infield the aerodynamics well they'll take care of some of that downforce of the grip on the high banks but when you get to breaking when you get to the infield you're gonna want that mechanical grip the aerodynamics also helping in the braking zones but this is going to be a very very treacherous 3.56 miles of asphalt here with the rain coming down for Naveen Rao not a lot of experience you said it and he's about to get baptized by fire or rain I should say because this is very different than last year last year we saw rain and qualifying in a dry race this year completely the opposite dry this morning for qualifying and then some monsoons just a little while ago a lot of standing water on the racetrack kind of slowed to a little bit of a drizzle but still treacherous conditions yeah very very much so and for nubian rau I mean like I say this is just his six professional side he didn't do the final race of last season at Michigan Raceway Road Atlanta but he's back for a full campaign again this year in a 64 car this made the switch relatively late from Alicia to a Norma and in fact they've only done a couple of days of testing in this car crucially how a perhaps one of those days was in the wet so he does have some wit where the driving experience White's still on on the pace car as they come through the tri-oval and past the stand it'll be interesting to see if the officials decide to go with a single-file start here or a side-by-side start but they're going to give the field another look at this racetrack because these drivers literally throughout the weekend have not seen it with the water on it yet you want to take a bit of a reconnaissance lap I would think and try to determine where the puddles are where those streams are think about this water runs downhill you get to the banking and if in the heavy rain that water is going to be coming down the banking and a pretty good clip this frontal system coming through there's going to be more rain coming through as well so the drivers are just trying to get an idea of what they're gonna have to work with I would think the other thing they're gonna try to do is get some temperature and the brakes hard to get temperature in the michelin rain tires right now but at least you have got a reconnaissance lap so that what you can figure out where things are you notice that the clock has started so the race officially has started now so we'll start this race under yellow it will be a single-file start because effectively it's a restart when the officials decide to get this going really probably one of the best people to talk about these cars this racetrack the weather conditions and everything else who better than a defending champion in the class and unfortunately Austin mckusker your standing up here with us in the booth and you're not behind the wheel of a car right now I know you've got big plans for the season we'll talk more about that in a moment tell us about what's going through the driver's minds right now in this condition but pretty much keep it clean for there's there's silver drivers to pretty much take it home is what they really want to do just stay clean although all the way through their stint you drew up here last year in the rain what's the infield like what's the banking like a lot of people think oh my god 170 plus miles an hour around the banking which one's more challenging 60 or 80 miles an hour in the infield or 170 on the banking the pancakes not it's not really that crazy to be honest it kind of carries you all the way through but you know you just got to worry about the puddles in the infield and the bus stop definitely because you're carrying a lot of speed through there so you really got to worry about that it's definitely a mind over matter thing there isn't it because the banking you think well that's going to be really really scary but you're the downforce of the car even in the rain you can pretty much hold it flat all the way around the banking part definitely yeah it's amazing for somebody with experience but there's quite a few guys in this field who don't have a lot of experience with several making their professional racing debuts this weekend so for them you know they don't know what it's like that you don't know that you can do what also because what some of that Austin because Austin mckusker is second nature for these guys it's most definitely not oh absolutely you look back through and that's the great thing about the prototype Challenge category it's for drivers to work their way up or for other drivers without a lot of experience drivers who don't make their living driving race cars to come and experience prototype competition but with a little less horsepower about 425 horsepower or so a little less horsepower a little less speed if you want to call 178 miles an hour or less speed but it gives them that opportunity to learn but they come here without a lot of experience with that high speed in that close competition so definitely a big learning curve looking through Stephen Thomas back in the number 11 car one of those drivers without a lot of experience he just started racing 13 months ago he's a very well-established attorney lights are off no lights are still on on the safety guard well established attorney out in Los Angeles and 13 months ago he decided got a taste of racing in a car event and said I want to do this hired Ross Bentley who's one of the better coaches very well known for some of his book speed secrets hired Ross Bentley to work with him in over the last 13 months I think he's driven just about anything with four wheels on it Ross hasn't working very hard but think about this 13 months after you step in a car the first time on a racetrack you're at Daytona International Speedway behind the wheel of a prototype Austin I mean that that's a big come it's definitely a big jump I mean it's into me 13 months you jump for it to one of these own how long did you drive before you got hooked the hydro cars for Friday three to four years before I jumped into the front and before that were you in car I was in karting since s 7 years old yeah exactly it's it's a steep learning curve that's for sure but you look carries he's got one of the best coaches in the business in brought Bentley and his co-driver this weekend Thomas Merrill he's a he's up he's an accomplished driving coach himself so he'll be off the radio to his to his co-driver and telling him exactly what the things to look out for the things to be careful on you say the coaching that he's had over the last three months he's he's got a pretty broad range of experience under his belt already for one who's so new to his racing career lights now off off on the safety car went from a pace car to a safety car after the green flag officially flew in the race started so it's now a safety car but the lights are off leads the field and I think that's a great call by Tom Snyder who's the race director here for prototype challenge to make this a single-file restart by going green in the beginning behind the pace car that gives them the opportunity to head down into turn one and gave them an opportunity to look at the racetrack for a couple of laps what's going through the drivers heads right now Austin they've had a couple of laps to look at they've not seen this track before in the rain it's all brand new what are they thinking how can you say get through the first lap don't put any foot wrong and then just as you're as the laps progressed you know you just start pushing the car you know you adapt as quick as you can I remember the first race brain race I ever did long time again I was a silverstone actually was quite a big race and get the first few laps I started on the way down the field he was a long distance race and and the first three looks like I kind of just drove around on the inside of the racetrack trying to avoid all the square could believe how little you could see through you I've been watching racing for that but it's still quite experienced when you get out there there's blanket and spray in front of you so for some of those drivers it's gonna be a new another new test about to go green lights off on the safety car from here at Daytona International Speedway the first race of the new year for any series in the International Motor Sports Association that series prototype challenge has received across the pit lane and we will go racing after a heavy rain falling here in the last 15 to 20 minutes and now the beam Rao on the pole waiting waiting waiting and looking to normal chassis huge [Music] Wow a good dinner 12-car links out in front but now the Treacher is breaking down into turn one lights flashing the rain lights on the back of these prototype three machines and four awesome McCusker down in that break zone in the wet the drivers are they happen to deal with that transition off the banking and into the black [Music] we must take it that David wanted a second case I think it is for 47 motorsports say he started in the on the outside of the second row and drop holders he's slipping back way down through if he had not already back to what sixth or seventh place and he's certainly taking him a long time to get up to speed in these conditions [Music] be interesting because on an original start you're not allowed to pass before the start/finish line grant certainly did that but this was not the original start so this should be considered to restart his move I would think would be then legitimate it seems legitimate to me I mean we'll see what Race Control says about it but hopefully that no like you said it was actually David Grant his brother Keith sharing that 40 enormous chassis they ran in the Leja the last couple of years so this is a different chassis for them it's a different feel talking to them earlier it's a completely different aerodynamic signature in the normal chassis that's something they've got to get used to they've had a couple of spins a little whoopsy here and there throughout the weekend but no problem at all for david grant there as you look at the start naveen round just blasting away from everybody at the start across the line and there's the move by Grant down into the inside across the line is green flag waves Island rust right now here it seems to be pretty plain under what are definitely treacherous conditions but one wrong [Music] the second thirty-first really cases that come up to the childless house this is David grant in the second position and right behind him is Cameron castles in third position and lots we'll see is right there as well in that red white and blue or white red and blue strong creeps motorsports in his yay and you look at camera castles here's a guy who once again does not make his living driving race cars but you would think he did with the number of cars that he drove last year in that blue with the yellow highlights the number 75 believed chassis he ran in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America which is an emphasis series you man in the class at Sebring he's driven all kinds of sports cars in a problem for the 35 that is Jim Cox in the Ave Reilly chassis that we talked about the only one in the field no harm no foul he's back under way but we were talking about Cameron castles and the great job that he's doing he is just determined to immerse himself in Motorsports and get as much education as he can and I think that education across a broad spectrum of cars has really suited him well and it's taken him from being a pretty good racecar driver to a good racer and there's a difference there guys who were putting in race cars but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're good racecar driver yeah you're absolutely right off he's driven all sorts of different cars and I think that for me in many ways there was a real breakthrough made by Cameron in the West actually at vir not last year but the year before think it was yeah the year before he really had a good strong run in the wet there so it's good to see these C's maintain his actual form here in the early stages of this crazy [Music] there's lost a position as they head on for banking and right behind it that's in the gold Okamoto sixth century wow what a great start dad got burgers maybe he's gonna look expensive in the audience alight prototypes but it was out of top-line competition for quite a few years championship last season in a BMW but he's driving really nicely now in the early stages into the pit lane comes Carl of a 44 David run as a drunk drive through penalty to jump start no there's the conversation that we had and it was trying to determine whether they would consider it a restart or a start obviously grant paid the penalty there must have gotten the call off the bus stop and hesitated a little but looks like he chucked up that caused Cameron castle's to have to check up as well I believe and in so doing will see was by Goldberg was by in the blink of an eye and that's a place where you don't want to get caught out coming off the bus stop because it's a long run back to turn one I'm almost particularly unfortunate ever David grant was a fact that he was he was on the outside he was just football you should have been on the outside he was a single-file start admittedly but he was it was such a slow start by Rob modus what's he supposed to do he sees the green flag coming out he wants to get over he could see already that Naveen rau is on the gas and pulling away and he's so kind of trapped there so he knows where to to to put the hammer down and try and chase him down and unfortunate he's got a penalty for that new truck the fastest lap of the race on that last lap but too much 11-point for those for Dan Goldberg in car number six and problem for house run that's turn six I believe on to the Super Speedway and six car number six motels except if he had a problem ie contact or just losted on his own as he comes through there let's take a look Oh tight quarters indeed look at that there's the bean rao and we'll see bye and a problem looks like the six car spins on its own but will see a powerful move up the inside alongside to being around in the lead now indeed through Superspeedway turned four and into the tri-oval how cool is that and what a super enthusiast his last world he's tripping up so beautifully here he run the the Michelin encore at Sebring at the end of logic or I should say was supposed to run the Sebring encore within this team with with Oliver asked you the last year's Indy Lights champion moving up to IndyCar this season with it with the Smith SP but found our team but unfortunately they weren't able to start the race because of her a problem before the start so last we'll see now is difficult I've thought this weekend in that kind of a 33 bits another a veteran driver in Anthony Lazzaro and answer they will be absolutely thrilled to see that car out in the front it the early stages of this race a great effort there by Lance wheels you just set the fastest lap of the race to mid 6.1 the only guy who was below the only other driver below 2 minutes and 10 seconds on that last lap with a third and fourth-place cars of Cameron castles the caliber 75 in third place and right behind him Dean Baker's also moving up very nicely indeed new caliber 54 have you side from the 9th position you talk about Anthony Lazzaro as you see a problem for the 30 off the pace Lazaro has kind of resurrected his career of great coach he's been coaching a lot lately he said you know I had a chance to drive last year and it just kind of reignited the fire inside of me I went back I went to the gym I got more in shape and I'm fired up I'm back in it as the 30 now stopped last March was saying and he hit wait Boyd I came in here with super high expectations for that's the teammate is for sure creeps motorsports and number 30 and number 33 but number 33 car seems to be fairly serious trouble and that's not what Lance will see as the leader wants to see he's got 1.6 plus seconds in hand the line and down the racetrack that could bring out and indeed it does a full course caution that lead is now gone work so hard for it all of a sudden you're mulling around the what are your spirits do a little bit of a break but you're only 15 minutes into the race it's good for David grant I'm sure they'll be excited but for the leader it's usually not the best you know he he did come from I don't know where he started but he came from a little bit further back now he's up in the lead so I'm sure you won't have a problem stretching again there is the safety team to the number the stricken number 30 cart that had been running here in the eighth position prior to this problem stopped out on the racetrack and we'd run down the order then six laps completed we are better part of 20 minutes already into this race it's Lance we'll see who leads for Sean Creech Motorsports is an initiate car number 33 in second position the pole sitter at Naveen RAL for k2 our Motorsports than the normal car number 64 in third position for performance Tech Motorsports another Lygia that's currently 75 and behind Camry castles is Dean Baker in the car number 54 that's for MLT Motorsports another leisure and rounding out the top five Rob HOTAS who started on the front row of the grid in car number 17 another Norma m30 safety crew working on getting the stricken number 30 off the racetrack that brings out the first full course caution here at Daytona International Speedway just 18 minutes into this three hour event and for Lance we'll see I'm sure he's disappointed but what he knows is he's got a good car underneath him so when you think about that Austin okay I know I can do it I know I took it there so he's got a clean shot on the restart when it comes so perhaps thinking stop so bad gives him a chance to breathe yeah definitely not so bad you should just kind of take easy on that first lap make sure that the second place of route doesn't get in front of him and then pretty much put his head down lined up behind the BMW safety car Lance will see with a strong move on Pohl Center Naveen Rao to take over that lead just before the full course caution came out it'll be interesting to see when we go back to green if he can extend the lead it should be a very long yellow I would think the number 30 stalled at the exit of the International horseshoe safety crews on hand they'll get that car at multiple places to pull it off right now and get it out of the way and then we can go back to racing the very first race in the 51st season of M so sports car action here in the United States the Imps a prototype challenge at Daytona there's more coming your way [Applause] [Music] plants will see in the 33 that beautiful red white and blue leash a leads the field behind the safety car Naveen Rao then Cameron castles that's the top three and interesting it's a leash a chassis in the front then enormous chassis then a leash a they're in third place and Austin you had a chance to drive the Norma chassis I believe the leash a when you drove the Norma what did you think the strengths and the weaknesses of the leash a and how did you how did you play the streets of the Norma up against what you thought were the weaknesses of the leash a it seems to be a little bit better in the higher speed corners and at the brake zones it has a little bit more of a straight-line speed but that you get into the leash a and it has a little bit quicker steering it seems to heat the tires up a little bit quicker so in this condition in the rain on these Michelin wet weather tires I think that the leash a will definitely get up to speed quicker than the normal but the normal will event take a few more laps to get going the interesting these Michelin train tires seem to be a very good tire not a lot of standing water right now I think that's what you want as a driver but you talk about temperature I think maybe for some of the fans that are standing down in the infield and the fans that are watching whether that's through the internet or at home temperature isn't something that they're used to talking about in tires but it really on a rain tire it's critical is it not yeah it's very critical I mean you don't want to overheat them and then you don't want to make sure they're not cooling up as well so you definitely want to make sure you have to heat the tire and the right tire pressure and everything there there's the 40 car David Grant behind the wheel that drive-through penalty for the JumpStart he's back up to 10th and obviously this full course caution will help David move that car back towards the front yeah and here's a look at the initial start and the thing that's kind of somewhat interesting to me is that I almost considered this a restart say yes the start had happened and per the rules that I just looked at in the rule book you're allowed to pass once it goes green so perhaps David Grant had pulled out a line before the green flag way I mean I think I think I think he probably thought that the second-place car had a problem because he could see Naveen rau driving away and the the number 17 car it was second in line just didn't accelerate at all the flag has to wave to signify and perhaps it was the move before at the flag I don't know I don't think he went before the flag I think he went before the start/finish line because that that's the critical thing that the star of the race is not a start/finish line that's ok on a restart which this wasn't this was the start yeah so that's that's the argument anchor Pierre well the bigger argument now is the fact that the numbers the number 17 car just didn't accelerate at all that's the green came out you and I could sit here and talk about it all day long what what would the driver he'd be pulling away out front he is by the way the qualifying lap record holder here at Daytona International Speedway that is Austin Miguel Austin 14 years ago right there and forth then you just saw it it's kind of hard to say because rau really got a good start you would think that the second-place guy had a problem and I mean I would have thought about going around I would have think that it would have been fine to go around it but I guess not obviously of course the race control yeah that's how I would have always better to ask forgiveness than permission it doesn't seem forgiveness this time work yeah no but the good thing for David is three hour race still two hours and 37 minutes to go the full course caution comes out brings him right back to the field he's got a good car underneath him it looked like in those first couple of laps so all is not lost by any stretch of the imagination I remember last year when cars elected not to qualify in the rain and started at the back and worked their way to the front it's a three hour race you got plenty of time yeah you got plenty of time and he's just got to keep his nose clean make the right passes at the right time but you know chip his way through it more and more pit stops hopefully pick up a couple spots there and then go from there we'll see what Lance will see is able to do when we go back to racing from here at Daytona International Speedway round one of the 2020 EMSA prototype Challenge series and around 1:00 for any emphasis series in 2020 safety car across the line one more time light still on will be interesting to see if the lights go out this time as we look out on to the Daytona International Speedway road course no sign of any safety vehicles no sign of the stricken number 30 interesting pit stop going on now for the 61 and is this a strategic move or is there a problem with this car George steak owes Danny you know they're gonna they're gonna fill that car and we're over half an hour we're over we're what 25 minutes into this race and basically I think that the the these cars with the reduced fuel tank this year from up 100 leaders down to 85 the significant reduction in fuel at size 15% they can't go as long on a tank of fuel as they could before they're definitely gonna have to make three pit stops during this race window to make that stock was about 25 minutes or so we've had that elapsed now so they can make that clock under yellow the stoop they still have to meet the minimum time from pit entry to the exit of 115 seconds but they are allowed to refuel that car under yellow flag and that I think could be a good very good call at number 61 team at sea the Eric bachelor is the team principal there of conquest GRS racing and Eric bachelor has been around this sport a long long time you wonder in the lamp in delights championship himself a few years ago I can't remember who finished second in the championship that Aniyah Brad Taylor can you I remember that he won them any like you do remember that do you yeah I do lights out on the safety car right now and that means we're going back to green at Daytona let's we'll see what kind of chassis does he have underneath them is how good is that leash ain't gonna be on the Trump of the green for David Grant is he gonna be a little more my before he pulls the trigger we'll have to wait and see and for Naveen Rao who got little loose I think into turn six checked up maybe lost the car a little bit because he had a substantial lead heading into turn six and then we'll see just house that got the inside line got the lead in that move what's the beam gonna do he knows he's got a good driver to hand the sixty-four over to in his co-driver so what's he gonna do is he gonna think hey I just got to keep this car I'll keep it here in second place for Matt bell we know Matt Bell a very very talented racecar driver so right now you're thinking the teammate side of things is really important in it Austin and this thing you think it hey I've got a car I've got to be able to give it to my teammate so he can go yeah definitely I mean this is more of a pro they're starting to raise we want to be able to get your your cards that's exactly right and that's one of things has changed for this season last year you could there's two categories of driver the International scale from platinum but gold silver and bronze only silver and bronze drivers are allowed to race it in this championship last year though you could run two silvers which is what to austin mckusker alongside now did last year with a fellow silver rodrigo felucca but for this year there has to be at least one bronze driver in each of the cars so there's change the dynamic slightly and as Brian was saying earlier on it is the bronze rated driver who has to start the race and to qualify the car the safety car is in and that means every driver in the car right now the green at all another big jump at the start picks up several positions we'll see holding on to the lead down into turn one but some good side-by-side action I think Rob potes Stephen Thomas side-by-side across the line Baker in there as well and right now Cameron castles with a great run off turn two beginning to put pressure on to being around [Music] 54 Dean Baker camera castles in the exciting stuff and then we saw the number 61 car make a pit stop maybe that hasn't worked in its favor because that car has surged back now on the race track but it's at least a half a lap down to the rest of the field because it had to serve that minimum pit stop time of 115 seconds because it did take on fuel that car is now 53 seconds behind the leader as they go onto that line with [Music] [Music] or just in front of him now I believe the leaveners steven-thomas trying to move forward after that penalty on the initial start bit of a problem in turn six again getting the power we'll see did not and that's allowed Cameron castles to look to the outside side by side into the braking zone for the bus stop and castles around the long way it gets the job done impressive stuff how difficult is that to do Plus that standing water Cameron councils [Applause] the mean Ralph says thank you very much don't take it right back move that was by camera castles around the outside you just got by purple by the way in Sector two to the Buster position castles takes a deep breath get things back under control and just behind them David Grant working his way up from 10th on the start he's gotten past the 17 of Ron POTUS he's got past the 6 of Dan Goldberg he's moving forward another full-course caution would help him immensely [Music] to good use as he's moving his way forward think he's been able to mentally put that the snake behind him and just focus forward and that is where he's headed right now the next car in line for grant his deep Bakker in the 54 well up the road look at this battle the 17 yeah opponents in the six of Dan Goldberg moving back up through the field to get off of that spin at turn six a little while ago so he's now having dropped to as low as actually dropped as low as 13th position but that fault to gogo from South Florida Lance will see maintains the point out front one seconds ahead treacherous conditions here at Daytona International Speedway good battles all the way around they tone an International Speedway round one of the 2020 EMSA prototype Challenge series Lance will see out in front the beam Rao and Cameron castles have been having a great go of it the castles with that little slip-up in the 54 to close back up on the rear wing up castles a good battle going on here now for third and fourth Yanis Ryland today we did serve that drive-through penalty after jumping the start being at Kodak rejecting the start he's being closed off by a Naveen Rao who's clearly now coming more comfortable in these conditions a couple of things to think about rain you're gonna get better fuel mileage but fuel mileage can be an issue when you drove lost your Austen a hundred litres in the fuel cell teams running well beyond an hour an hour 15 minutes at some point time now Daytona will use fuel because you're at full throttle for a lot of the time but the rain brings fuel savings does it not and this year you need that you've got an 85 litre fuel cell they took 15 percent of the fuel away and that means the sticks are gonna be a lot shorter as far as fuel goes yeah definitely and there's a lot of caution period it took a while to get the race is starting than that that first caution period saved along with you I heard of a couple of teams talk about how to do it maybe a fourth stop a quick splash but I think that that eliminates that now I think they're gonna be down to three stops Lance will see his lead 1.8 seconds at the line the last lap at this but last time by down to just six tenths of a second so we'll see must have had some type of a problem maybe a little slip-up like we saw Cameron castles the racetrack changing right now literally every lap and that's allowed that trio of Devine rau Cameron councils Dean Baker to close back up as I said just six tenths of a second at the line the last time I when you make those little mistakes how difficult is it to put it behind you because it literally is behind you need to leave it back there do you not yeah definitely you got a you got to put it behind you you got to focus forward that's what you got to do but I think these are the Norma takes a little bit and so branded conditions definitely changing I think it stopped raining right now a track it's still pretty wet out there but you can see that the I think it's drying out just a little bit and look look there's a lot of blue sector times even some purple sector times blue being personal improvement Street to the cars purple being fastest overall to make a mere volunteer it's the 64 but your pole sitter and once again a strong move by Cameron castles under braking in that lesion chassis in defending champion with us here in the booth by Hill and Jeremy Shaw rikes very well it's got a good aerodynamic signature as far as downforce go right now it seems to be able to use that to his advantage I mean he had a little bit of a slip-up get by Rao and to restart but now it seems like he's got his head down and he's pushing the code against Wilson now Cameron castles up to second place and on the radio for Lance will see they are going to let him know there's a new second-place contender in camera castles has his sights set squarely on the rear wing of that 33 in front can Cameron castles close down to take the lead here at they talk 1.8 second lead for Lance we'll see last time five at the line but it was over Naveen RAL because shortly past the start/finish line second place change Cameron castles jumped into that position and it looks Jeremy Shawn like he's able to started making ground immediately on Lance we'll see our leader yeah he made up a couple of tents in the fourth sector on this type he's made up another tenth of a second in the second sector as Cameron castles on the race leader so he's doing his darkest now to reduce that gap he seems to got through the bus-stop a little bit better at this side that he did a couple of laps ago but is a super battle out in these top four positions I saw this kind of equidistant to partner now maybe a second or so in between each of the top four cars but D Baker in fourth position he kind of fitting for for MLT Motorsports he's doing a fine job to hang on there big gap back today be gratis maybes all his way all the way back into fifth position we've got quite a deficit to make up to this foot to check for cars dan goldberg indeed has gotten past David Grant so right now with the conditions changing on the racetrack you're kind of exploring every lap and Austin I uh boy said to young drivers if it's shiny it's lit and these changing conditions without rain falling on the racetrack heavily you could see some areas that seem to be a bit dull other areas that seem shiny is that pretty much the case here if it's shiny is it slick yet usually like that that's just the way we think about it you know there's probably gonna be a dry line for weeks to I think it if it stops raining it looks like it has definitely gonna be looking for a dry line but you don't want to make sure you don't over heat those Michelin tires how challenging is that the hope because as the dry line begins to form you don't want to overheat the tires but you need the rain tires to make the pass win because to pass you have to go offline and offline is wet so those are some of the most treacherous conditions you can drive in definitely what there's a dry line and you're trying to pass someone that there's no and obviously the off line is wet at that point it's you just got to make the smartest decision and not make sure you don't brake too late you know make yourself yeah pretty much new fastest rate slapped last time were after Cameron castles in the second place machine that's kind of a seventy five performance tech most what's in South Florida that blue and yellow car new color scheme from last year for Cameron castles and boy what a good job he is doing he's really he's obviously super confident we saw that with his move around the outside into the bus stop but having a bit having a big slide on the exit he's clearly got the confidence back after that there were moments and he's now trying to track down locks rules are you still leaves his race but on this lap he was purple in Sector one fastest of all four large wheels he but still the yes second-place car is definitely inching closer across the line we go let's second then between LA Woolsey and Cameron castles more the Sutton the thought best carpet and be around he's a full four seconds back Cameron castles carving the way at the lead that Lance will see has and if you're from the north and you're watching this we were talking about if it's shiny it's slick it's like walking outside on a freezing day and you see those warm see patches you know that's black ice and that's what this racetrack is like these drivers try conserve that soft michelin train tire and trying to avoid as you want to try to find a puddle every now and then to get the temperatures down to help cool but at the same point time you're trying to keep your competition off your rear wing and that's exactly what Lance will see in that beautiful red white and blue 33 is trying to do the camera castles has closed the lead to within a second and it's that Evan flow that battle you're going to tip toeing on that black nice is to take the garbage out and right now Lance will see wants to get to the curb first thing get back but it is a very very delicate balance out front it is two two two two bits point one in wet conditions that's pretty darn good [Music] to run in the rain but I don't want to lead in the rain we still have two hours minutes to go are you content to run second place and let the air go find the dangerous spots so you can play off they have or do you want the lead do you want to be out there in front every moment that you can I like to lead as much as possible really aren't you yeah but maybe sometimes in qualifying or practice you kind of want to be the last night track that's what it's gonna be the tries but in a race condition if you want to lead as much as possible go now that's the spray and watch the cars through the trial all right now as we'll see comes past the line once again and you can see that definitive spray it's not as bad as it was before but the visibility of these cars a lot of people would think well you're not an open-wheel car so at least you can see but you got a Windsor it in front of me [Music] you know that we have a winter wiper but it doesn't seem to work that well usually so you got to make sure you have a lot of rain-x on there and a lot of everything so it's slicks off the windshield what about the fall inside there's it so I think most of these cars have to actually be in windshields so you don't have to worry about that so that's the biggest part no you don't have that right now Cameron castles lost a half a second we talked about the give-and-take here at Daytona International Speedway in hips a prototype challenge well there was that little loss either Lance will see had a good run off of a corner or Cameron castles tried something that didn't work and just that quickly a half a second is gone and you if you think well it's a half a second it's not really that much but a half the second is probably 40 50 feet down the racetrack at these speeds and that that's the difference to being close enough at the end to perhaps having a draft get you by to the start/finish line but we've got a long way to go to three hour races in the 2020 Empson prototype Challenge Series three old race here at Daytona International Speedway in a second one at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park later in the season the rest of races an hour from a driver's perspective does that change your outlook on a race or do you just focus and do your job which is go as fast as you can and don't hit it definitely go as fast can it don't hit anything but this strategy comes into play a little bit more than three are races and like you said with [Music] yo loads it Oh comfortable morning some sudra battles all the way through this field and this it's there's a long way to go off to see in this race and was played a watch out there as well on a race track but a great lap here for large movies never been able to extend his lead over Cameron castles there wasn't any faster slapping rate up last time around for last was it but another one minute 2.2 these turn very consistent laps each of the last three times around has been fast we've been inconsistent I was one we were gonna start seeing pit stops because we got to two hours and 18 minutes to go which means we're past the 40-minute mark that's the minimum drive time for these drivers and we're beginning to see pit stops unfold part of that strategy to get that bronze driver out in these very treacherous conditions get your silver driver in give them the opportunity to perhaps make some hay if you've lost a little bit of ground you see the 17 sitting there Rob POTUS will be climbing out of the 17 that Norma chassis he'll hand over to Garrett breasts a very talented racecar drivers from Ontario Canada only 24 years of age and Chris one here at the hips a prototype challenge category the pose has been a long time in series third and 2018 over in the European limo serious Oh has a lot of experience around the world most importantly in these L&B three machines a problem Stephen Thomas we talked about not a lot of experience a driver only been driving for 13 months but I think he's done an exemplary job here in some very difficult conditions in this first 43 minutes of competition here at Daytona I completely agree with you brian is running in the eighth position there and holding off some some drivers with a lot of experience behind me looks like he's made a mistake there but he's able I think to get it going again so that certainly could use that number 46 car as well was the first car on to pit lane Steve's : before handing over to Scott I forget the second I think it'll be Scott driving that car now and this was the first professional race for Steve Scott please don't wait sing in his youth and some historic racing but this is the first professional now if he and Scott - oh he's a I definitely am very very talented youngster we'll see what he can do at the wheel that can't be 46 we talked about the different drivers in the FIA which if so runs under FIA international rule drivers are listed as either platinum in those or are the factory drivers gold drivers drivers who've won championships they make them living driving race cars silver driver typically younger drivers that are trying to work their way up or there is an age level that you get to motive automatically and that's another story altogether and then the bronze drivers guys who do not make their living driving race cars becoming rods often you and your brother ego won this championship under different rules - silver drivers in the car how's the silver driver when you're out there now I mean obviously you're gonna be out there with a lot of other silvers but as the series runs through different racetracks throughout the year you're gonna find yourself mixed up and it's a different dynamic because you're driving with a driver with a different experience level that changed the mindset of a young silver guy like you if the rules change like that [Music] she's gotta be aware of your surroundings sometimes you wanna get past them as possible that's that's what I usually have to think about when I'm trying to pass a bronze driver just think about it like that well it's not about this corner right now is it it's about the end of the race and you got to get there I often times talking in drivers are you can you talk to you say okay well that's what you were going to do here but what were you going to do at the next corner once that happens because maybe you didn't really want to be in that position you know so it is you've said I think multiple docks to know something about thinking [Music] not a sprint races so you gotta get three hours to do it all and you know it's not gonna hurt you you know wait a lapper a couple corners to get by another driver you know it's like we said it's an endurance race so you got to think about the long-term I think the interesting thing to Lance we'll see Cameron castles castles now a slip back to just over two seconds behind we'll see so seems like either we'll see has some better legs underneath them right now or camera castles perhaps has burned those Michelin tires off trying to chase down wills II out in front and a problem down on pit lane we saw the Amon Riley machine in and the right front wheel has departed that car and is now on the grass down on the infield here's a look at Naveen Rao sliding off one thing shows you just how tricky it is out on the racetrack right now the 54 Dean Baker the car in trail and into the West worse you I believe and a little bit of slide Baker looks up to the inside and now the run down to turn six this is where that slide for Rao happens Baker looks up the inside and now it's just a matter of who can get that 425 horsepower to the ground and get on to the super speedway that was close yeah very much yeah it is and good drive nothing by both of them to get away with it but that the the key to to Lance will see at the moment over Cameron castles is his consistency last was he again another a personal best lap last time around to miss one point three four while he pulled out a couple attempts over camera castles certainly capable they're going quicker and has for much of the race had the fastest lap rattle three of the last five laps he had set a new fastest lap off the race but this last time and it was David Grant in kind of a 40 in the fifth position who said the new best time in this race two minutes point three three five that's almost exactly one second quicker than Lance Woolsey and the lead of this race for short creeps merciful slots goes across the line one more time again slightly quicker one minute to it's one point zero two four laughs this super consistency deluxe look he's no spring chicken out those 58 years of age but he's got a huge about it experience and all of his experience he's been put to good use right now living around the pole-sitter now on pit road and was wondering how long these leaders were going to stay out do you think that lands will see in-camera councils are turning good laps right now so run up to the end of the fuel load run up as long as you can if they're making good time on the racetrack why not lead them believe them out it'll be interesting to see speaking of leaving cars out one of the officials are just letting this pitstop sequence take place because they know that cars are going to be needing to pit right now because I'm looking at the wheel and tire sitting down on the grass berm just on the way into turn two that came off the car of Jim Cox when he came in for a pit stop the right front wheel departed and it's sitting down there that's a happiest simply sitting very close to the racetrack and you wonder if the officials won't elect to go get that at some one time and the only way to go get it I would believe would be to go full course caution I don't think you want to send a worker out that close to the racetrack when cars are streaming by at 170 plus miles an hour there that wheel sets you can see it is in very close proximity to the racetrack you dive down to drivers left and the braking zone there to turn one and it's a long way for somebody to sprint to go get it your young officer you would you who did you make that sprint that kind of shape says I'd have to think about it then certainly for you and me Jeremy we're not gonna run out there's another and once again locks wheels he improves his time two minutes point three this is super driving by lines and now by camera castles whoo-hoo went a little bit quicker himself two minutes point one and four or five we got the first soft two-minute lap off the races set by Scott Huffaker in kind of 46 he's away at the back of the pack is actually a lap down now in the 15th position in California have you taken over from Steve Schoen but - Scott - at the fastest man on track of 159 quits 76 three so lunch Morsy there that's against super consistency these last few laps to me to two point two two it's two point one two mitts to point to to is one point six and 1.3 1.0 and one point O two minutes point three this time around super consistency in all three leaders they're lapping with very almost identical times number 33 to lead around 1.6 seconds at another 75 deep Baker in third place and counting 54 for MLT Motorsports both lead those three drivers doing a nice job there's a pit stop for the Gilbert court Oppo sports car number 23 that raised that car was started by John browser Anthony Simoni who will take over we are both the number 23 car Lance will see still leads here the first driving stent for him here at Daytona International Speedway in round one of the 20/20 hips a prototype Challenge series and he has been out for quite a while closing in on 52 minutes now and certainly the rain has helped that because you can't use the throttle as aggressively as you normally would but that's quite the stent and if it stays in these conditions teams are going to start looking at this if he can get close to an our teams are going to start looking at this going instead of potentially having to do an extra pit stop that they've all come in here maybe they'll be able to do it without that extra stop to really I think the engineers trying to look right now and they may even be saying to some of these drivers hey save fuel save fuel even in this first step you're trying to get a little further down the road an engineer tells you to save fuel but oh by the way I want you to maintain your speed yeah it's definitely difficult you don't hit it's hard to complete grasp your hands around but you know if you're good enough I'm sure most of these guys are I think they can figure it out you know a lot of lifting coasts and a lot of late breaking not really break like lifting off from again that break later you know definitely gonna be a mighty important you thought slap races Hasan if Garrett grits decal for seventeen who's taken over from POTUS that was the front row starting car back in the ninth position now is Garrett and he is a lap behind the leaders so he'd say of course he has domain already made one pit stop the leaders have not so he's got that in his favor and risks the Canadian is - it's a very quick lap says that move they change for the lead last words he makes a slight slip and Cameron castles is now through into the lead in car number 75 with Gary gross of marker a little bit earlier today the engineer on the 33 for Lance Woolsey and Anthony Lazzaro one of the best engineering minds in the paddock whether that's a prototype or even down in WeatherTech time an IndyCar NASCAR a guy that is incredibly smart when it comes to engineering and I was wondering if at some point in time they weren't going to start pulling reins back on some of these drivers said perhaps stretch fuel a little bit but for Lance we'll see there's the answer Gary gross a pucker did not tell him to do a 360 coming on to the banking in turn six that's what gets Cameron captions by but at this point in time with that position given odd I wonder if Gary's pumps those numbers like we said thinking if we can just get him a little bit further we can eliminate a pit stop and and if your engineer calls you and says hey let's save some fuel I don't care if you have to lose a position this that the other how difficult is that for a driver to let it get a couple of people go going hey the benefit the award may not come right now but it's going to come in two hours and six minutes yeah you never have to trust your engineer that's you just once you do that a lot of trust that you [Music] towards the end of the race she can eat carp on the lead lap at the moment number 75 leads how many castles have just taken the lead over Lance war ZD Baker in third place the car - 54 - Goldberg 40-caliber 6 David grant he can't a 40 in the fifth position behind him Steven Thomas still doing a very nice job his first ever pro race in sixth position in car number 11 there the cars on the lead lap Greg Palmer he can't the three and Dave house in caliber 86 then the first car a lap down but the fastest car on the racetrack is Garrett Grist in karma 17 a one-minute 57.9 he taught last time around the race leader Cameron castles two minutes played nine in fact Chris will be coming out behind the leaders pretty soon the next few laps he's going significantly faster round 1 of the 2020 it's a perfect challenge series continues from Daytona International Speedway with Cameron castles out front to 1.9 second advantage over Lance we'll see last time out of the line and I think back to last year we talked about Cameron castles driving anything he took his first victory in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo championship at Road America and was absolutely elated if they can keep this 75 car out in front here at Daytona International Speedway what would that mean to them Jeremy it would mean an awful lot because the first weigh-in is always hugely important for anybody but for 30 lives does most notice spins that Dave House no down in turn one just at the entry to turn two outside right now so that's good that's the last car on the lead lap Dave house and car number 86 what a story Dave is my hero he's 76 years of age if he could believe it but you'd never know that from Saratoga in California he's just a good guy people you've been tailed back in his proper working days and he has a winery he does heli skiing you name it dave has a real adventurer and he and he said his teammate Paul the hey combined agent under authority those two because it's the only combination I can think of but that's older than you and beat Jeremy so I think that I'm behind those guys but think about that one what do you want to be doing at 76 I want to do exactly what I need to do exactly what he's doing not that there maybe made them late so that career first threw himself at he asks pretty great stories all throughout the prototype challenge category and that's what makes this series so great young drivers experience drivers and drivers who are just sportsmen here for from our moment that's what's great about it and that's what's great about this race round one from Daytona International Speedway Dave house back underway after his problem in turn one but out in front Cameron castles somewhat trouble-free over the last several laps it's not that he hasn't put a wheel wrong throughout the first 58 minutes of competition here he's had a little mistake here there he's been in great battles for the lead the second place for third place now he finds himself out in front after Lance will see you with a problem coming through turn six on to the super speedway castles took advantage jumps to the point and I hadn't seen things like if this racetrack changes Austin you and I were talking about it the racetrack will literally changes every single lap now without more rain falling on it it's different as these 17 cars go by drive out a little bit more every time you come around another 3 plus miles it's at the racetrack definitely bounded down I just gotta adapt as quick as you can and make sure you don't make those mistakes but his best rap he's now stopped two minutes one 59.6 for Cameron castles the quickest car I'll track that last time around a twist if we just saw a glimpse of Guerra Chris trying to get past Lance was he looks like he didn't make it though did he now he caught up though with Lance was he last was of course running second in this race Darren Criss is a lap down having all day that car Ward you made a pit stop and there behind them chasing that black car Dean Baker another really really good one for Dean this is another time where it's difficult with the pit stops go through and as a driver you look at the mirror and there's somebody right there who wasn't there before considerably quicker and you really have to do that mental check they just came out of the pits they've got better tyres they've got more fuel that's their hotshoe driver but they're a lap down it's all okay definitely it's all pay you got to kind of run your race go from there but if you're gonna be racing them and towards the end of the race you kind of want to make it difficult for just gotta run your race and make no mistakes it's very different than sprint racing because you don't really have that epic fight as much as you do in these long races especially in a long race track like this especially back to your go-kart days when you didn't make pit stops and stuff like that if there was somebody behind you chances are because they were qualified behind you or are they're coming up to pressure you but this is a different ballgame what you said you've got to run your race if one more time there you go when thinking right yep it's the endurance racing so definitely definitely no sprint race once Woolsey he's he's not gonna let the Garrett Chris make a move on these six he's really upped his game as Lance now two minutes point it's Reed was his best lap of the race so far in canto xxxiii running in the second position he's three point three seconds behind Cameron castles began turned last time with the two minutes point five through our race leader Cameron castle but now Chris it's gonna be getting a little bit frustrated here if he can't find a way past Lance we'll see there's a mistake for the fourth place car that's David Cook excuse me and the third place dog Dean Baker this had a grassy excursion there and he was running just a couple of seconds behind large walls he he was chasing that pair locks was it and Garrett Christa burden no Chris and we'll see not on each on the same that Christie is a lap down but it's a mistake there for the Dean Baker and that is David grant is next in line in the fourth position to use eight seconds back as I came across the start/finish line well for Dean Baker when you talk about driver lineups a problem for the 33 will see getting the wonder he's got the best out of those michelin rain tires as he struggled the last couple of laps getting power down especially coming off of some of these corners be interesting to see if that drops him back Dean Baker was 6 seconds behind him but I may have been more than a six second mistake and as what we were saying Austin it's one of those deals where the race not changing every single up this is where he had the problem the last time it's the same thing turn six comes in gets on that slick pavement looks like there's sealer down there yeah the cargo is just just can't really bit too much speed of thinking to the corner Austin you say yeah without a doubt I mean a lot of Derrick Chris behind and he's just trying to get every little bitty pin out of the car just overshoot it overcooked it a little bit going into turn six I'm sure he's a little bit mad about that but he's got to put his head down and try and recover what he can in this step he has indeed and as Cameron counsels good posture complete that 360 to see the few more pit stops got him six was in last iron also number 11 car is into the pits as well that is Steven Thomas who got himself up into the fifth position before he brings that cars to hit lane for Dean Baker we were talking just before we saw the problem to Lance will see he's got to remember he's got quite a hot shoe to hand that car over to Dakota Dickerson who won the f4 championship and now a problem close were in the bus stop that's the 40 that's a free play coming into the bus stop I think grant gets kind of checked up by the cars in front of it might have to get on the brakes a little harder than he wants to and around it goes once again seems to have escaped harm but it has lost positions on the racetrack or time on the racetrack I should say we'll have to wait and see if there are positions lost pit stops going on we'll see out Anthony Lazzaro climbing behind the wheel of the 33 and they win more an hour in that car on that fuel load and that bodes well for their strategy to the end what was going to have to be a short pit stop at the end that may not have to be there anymore obviously if the racetrack continues to dry fuel will be burned with the higher speeds Lazzaro struggling with the belts a little bit you can't spend a lot of time sitting still but at the same time it's not as fast as you can possibly go like we would see in the weather tack or the Michelin Pilot series there's a minimum pitstop time from the pit end line to the pit out line it's a hundred and fifteen seconds so almost 2 minutes that you can spend in there but it's not spent sitting still it's spent from the line at pit in until we cross the line and out well around the corner yes but it's at least 45 seconds just to drive through that without stopping your pit box then we've shown the car down and getting going again plus the pits on itself it gives you about 66 seconds stationary before you need to be on the move without losing any time relative to other pit Stoppers best news what's going on with that 33 car I saw a crew member look at the left wheel wheel bent down picked something up dejectedly slammed it down on the wall and the car still sits there in Anthony Lazzaro from my vantage point he's out of the car he's climbed back out of the car well I think you know he certainly made some contact me the table area that during that spin he then brought the car back into the picture is that damaged that to be right rear corner it doesn't look significant and I'd moved and the piece that he said on the wall is just in front of the fuel rig it's it looks like some type of like not it's not the single one will not it's right there in front of the crew member that's holding the hose for the Furyk it's sitting on the wall it's not a big piece but that's the peace agreement slam dejectedly on the wall shook his head and shortly after that that's when Anthony Lazzaro climbed out of the number 33 that's so disappointing and as I said Anthony Lazzaro really trying to resurrect his driving career a guy that probably has more heart than just about anyone I've seen over the years I remember in his Atlantic career in his Toyota Atlantic career when it first started him showing up at a race at Milwaukee Wisconsin with a pickup truck Atlantic car wheel trailer at the back of it he won that race over bigger teams that were out there and consequently moved on in his career and has had some good opportunities along the way crew member now trying to explain to Anthony what the issue is Camry counsels go as possible of time and again good consistencies now from Cameron he's read it can't be comfortably settled out but now hopefully his feels is the first car lap down Garrett Chris he's now up to 4th position overall remembering Darren riffs that car has already made one get stopped in four position still a lap down but not for very much longer because Cameron castles as they go through the the East Horseshoe is trying to say that keep remained one lap ahead yes David glances down at the second base account of a 1454 is on to the pit lane that's a third place car and don't you see a spin for number 54 we saw several old spinners never seen that one tell you what I'm impressed with Cameron castles certainly has been driving well we talked about that earlier we qualified into who would be by mitching his race win and Lamborghini Super Trofeo at were America last year but it's an hour and six minutes since this race started and of anyone that's out there camera castles has not only been going fast and racing strong he's done it and been miserly on fuel now an hour and seven minutes since this race started and castles still out in France I'm not necessarily surprised I mean there's been there's been a the race start on the course in the first two laps under course and then we have another full course caution between that six and nine so that certainly helps you do tend to use quite a bit less fuel in the wet than you do in the dry so I'm not surprised he's able to to get keep going this one but I don't think any out there for much longer I would think so either there are three cars then have to stop that's the 54 Baker and actually he jib just stopped the 40 of grant and the 75 of castles and castles leads yet another lab here at Daytona across the line closing in on an hour and eight minutes on this first fuel open portal for the lead I say for the latest optimally castles needs to be aware that the 17 car Garret grist is a lap down and that was hard fought down in turn one castles hell dogs and I think for Derek drifts he realized there is no reason to get tangled up in that's right I have to Cameron castles he just took his SAS slappable race his first stop a two-minute lap along 59.4 for Cameron Cameron castles and a yes he picked a little bit deep for turn boy but he got away with it and he maintains the lead and that one lap gap he'll be in the pits I'm sure within the next lap or two us really sad news there that it's even number 333 car being pushed away heartbreak for them and you look at the car and I really don't see a lot of damage and obviously a suspension component could be bit perhaps that's why we saw the somewhat erratic driving by Wolsey and those last couple is what made the car so difficult to control right now Cameron castles in control of this race an hour and nine minutes in he leads her here they try the International Speedway round 1 of the 2020 it's a prototype Challenge series you have to wonder for Cameron castles does he have fuel in the trick bottle 55 the Li Jie chassis that leads here in Daytona castles he in just one other car David Grant have yet to stop on this first you'll set 15 percent less fuel on board the prototype Challenge car is then last year and yes the rain gives them better fuel mileage because don't you can't use the throttle nearly as aggressively the 425 horsepower or so in the back of these p3 cars you can't feed them the entire time because you can't get grip but impressive stuff to maintain the speed to run out in front and still have some of the best violets on the racetrack right now for Cameron castles you would expect to see him handing that car over to 26-year old Max Han ready reasonably soon no not the great lap don't work for can I point five for Cameron councils they're in the lead of this race and he's still keeping count risk behind him there aren't two of the cars that have not yet stopped natural fat but they're both already a lap down to the leaders Greg Parma in the Junior junior 3 motorsport entry car number 3 he's running in the fourth position has not yet stopped neither has Dave House we saw had a spin earlier on in caliber 86 but now we do see the pit stop for the second place car David Grant will be into the 47 Motorsports team pits to hand over to his brother Keith right until Jeremy Shaw and defending him suburban type challenge champion one of the two drivers Austin McCusker here with us and I know Austin you'd rather be driving one of those cars right now but you've watched this first out lacrosse of racing as David Grant in for looks like fuel loan and there's going to be a driver change your impression to this first hour plus I mean it's definitely been exciting as we thought going into it but with the rain seems like it's definitely the foots name that's that Lance will seek our go out which was you know I think a challenge for the wind today and then the Matt Belk are having a problem I think those were some too too big contenders but we'll see now if there are all the pit stops are done where everything shakes out see where the second or third states go yeah it's pretty interesting because all of the cars and half pitted Garrett risks that is in third place overall and he leads the next car that has pitted is Johnson George now who's taking over from George and can counter the 47 but he's a fool what four teeth nearly 50 seconds behind character is so huge lead over the rest of unit 4 for gouge the fan benefits over here now finally comes up number 75 car leader Cameron castles on the pit road we saw the 33 of Lance will see Anthony Lazzaro push behind the wall moments ago not the only car that's found and need to certainly mention the 10 as the 75 begins its pit stop the 10 Robillard racing Joe Robillard Stevan McAleer did not qualify he's not take the green flag and that is a massive disappointment for that team they came here this year looking for a little bit of revenge Stevan McAleer led this race with cooked last year in latter stages when they lost the wheel in the infield horses and that really dashed his championship hopes McAleer the only driver with two victories on the season that team the only team with two victories on the season and yet dropping out of this race really impacted their championship hope so when you look at the 33 going behind the wall or the ten not able to even take the start that does not bode well for their championship hopes it's not over but it certainly is a huge setback in the odd thing about the 10 an engine problem and they found what they believed to be a sand like material in the insect they'd have fuel pressure problems that have been getting worse and worse and worse throughout practice and then eventually qualify it looks like somehow someway there's some type of debris in the intake of that engine and that is not good news not able to take the start here at Daytona as the 75 completes the stop heads back underway remember 115 second is the minimum time that you can spit on pit road and how difficult is that the time austin I forget whether it's 115 or 3 minutes it's up the line into the line out so how does that actually get done because there's gotta be some guessing in some extrapolation from the time you drop the car and roll to the time you cross the line to pit out and Gaby there's in our cars last year we had a timer so giving it would hit a you know point going into the pit lane and then once you stopped in your box it would you know count down so what you should leave and then once you get towards the end it'll give you a green light or a red light if you're going to go over or time allotted that you have sent to that timer so usually you know you just try and leave what you can get the exact time yeah so there is there is some help for you as the driver but it's doubted it to the to the team to set that count near to calibrate that property to make sure he doesn't read one we've seen the company cars have had penalties for a pit stop being too short the camera castles was able to retain the lead after making that pit stop to hand over to max Hanratty in canvas 75 the gap as they came across the line was 24 seconds but of course remember 17 Koreans second place was at full speed the numbers 75 were just cruising down the pit lane at the maximum allowed 60 kilometers now so that gap is going to be a lot less than that by the time they both get up to speed David Grant he made the pit stop one lap before camera castles and zooms in third position is now ahead still and count the three which is a great partner here yet Stockton Austin running in the fourth place and behind here door from Georgia car number 47 and then the young is Stoney and Tristan Venus in cannabis 60 he's taken over from 3,000 I've shown some really good laps they're not number 60 car the question is when you look at how far the 75 when can they do it on just one more stop they went so far it looks to me like if you do the math to the end of the race perhaps just one more stop for the 75 yeah I complete you here and also another 40 can see we've been up the 54 car as well I don't think there's probably going to be anybody else that couldn't make it far without that extra pit stop but something's going up pretty quickly but that gap grass is through into the lead of the race where is MaxEnt ratty there we go boy that was a very conservative out that for at max and rocky and a 10-second lead then for Garant grist as they start lap 33 so 32 laps now completed into this three hours we've got one hour and 45 minutes remaining so that's exactly halfway through the race it's net with a now 40 44 to go let me do that now okay [Music] fine mass was known by strong suits yeah an hour minutes to go would be would be halfway through this race so it's ten minutes away from that that was a new best lap by the way for Garrett Crist in car number kind of a 17 the new race leader at the best lap of the race harder that was set just a few laps to go by Anthony Anthony cermony in Carver 23 he's running down in 12th position that number 22 that haven't had a few difficulties early on in the race but Anthony is charging hard trying to make up some ground always it's interesting to see how they cycle through and how the order is going to change you're going to have different drivers in the cars now it's going to take them a while to adapt others like Garrett Gris have been in the car a little bit longer he knows the race truck right now he knows those conditions he knows the grip that he has other drivers who've just gotten in regardless of how talented regardless of how experienced are gonna have to learn the racetrack and that's going to take time yeah I mean some people will adapt a little bit quicker than others but that's definitely the name of the game but a lot more the silver drivers did now so I'm sure the two black lines will drop a little bit quicker it looks like there's [Music] there's no rain coming as far as now we'd find the offensive the last car to makeupit's up no name but three cars not yet bidding has it so number three remains in for its fourth position has not yet made a pit stop but Dave house in Canada 86 he finally gives up that top 10 position as he brings that the one motor sports car into the pit characteristic showdown front than max hand ready David Grant and third in the number forty car than the three of Palmer John into George in the forty seven forty seven motorsport remember he Joel Jenko and one the Michelin encore challenge with the help of Tristan Muniz that was an unofficial round of the championship at the end of the 2019 season so they're coming off of a great run it'll be interesting to see what Jonathan can do how far he can move forward and when you think about that 47 car that's one of the cars that has three drivers in it so Jonathan George will hand over on their stop to Kyle Kirkwood one of the Team USA scholarship winning drivers and a driver extremely talented in open-wheel cars somebody who has certainly higher aspirations and open wheel cars but he's got a pretty good batting average in sports cars he ran a Michelin encore challenge in 2018 one sports car race one victory so that really not about average I could be batting a thousand right at me too [Music] so Chris out in front right now then hand Randy it'll be interesting to see what Hannity can do because obviously Cameron castles a very good car underneath him was putting down some really good laps in the ladder going hand ready five or six races with performance 10 last year best before at Sebring on debut third and him some prototype challenge competition with extreme speed back at 2018 so a young driver 26 years old who has experience in this type that's I think probably extremely critical in situations like this you might have good rain experience in a GT car or even a formula car but when you come here if you're comfortable in the car that you're in because you've got time in it does that kind of help eliminate some of the other challenges that you face set up to go fast definitely the poor time in the car [Music] it seems like definitely seems like err Chris has done it got a good second place yeah so Garrett grifter leads rates another 1 minute 57 good consistency from Garrett his last wheel actually we've been within three or four tenths of a second which on this sort of treacherous track is good guy he leads out by 23 seconds over max Andrade who's still trying to get himself fully up to speed in that number 75 car - me too - last time around for max I campers he was well in the group knew exactly how the track and evolve should start the race [Music] these conditions tough-ass so it's David Grant then in second place is closing quickly on Cameron castles and then back about 24 seconds to jars from Georgia caliber 47 you'd be driving that car as Bronto was say a few moments ago with Joe Jack who started and the car Kirkwood who they fit new definition stick to that casters is still very much in contention he might be fifty seconds off the lead at the moment but still don't you certain going to be in contention behind them number three carbon speediest one run long is he gonna try and make it on one hits up another free car I think the key to the victory of this race may be for the 75 which according to the map that we've seen they can do it on one more stop Garrett Gris was in that car considerably earlier do you think they're gonna have to make two and that could very well be the difference in this race the question [Music] thirty-eight minutes down the road is that ability of Cameron castles to save fuel is that going to be the key to bring them the victory his first with the perfect challenge yeah so we've got a long long way to go to find that out and that the answers to a lot of questions have been asked right now as a good crowd on hand here this weekend that's all we're always really good to see a lot of campers here from the Scouts of America and they have been prowling the paddock with intensity over the last couple of days was really cool to see part of course of the traditional war before the 24th the test for the imps of WeatherTech sportscar championship prior to the Rolex 24 lat take place here in three weeks time plus a big weekend of action here at Daytona International Speedway and here in the imp prototype challenge at Daytona we're seven minutes away from the halfway stage a Garrett Crist leads this race in that car number 17 for Neil's race in ocean racing European team making its North American debut this weekend on debut it has been so far characterized and France in the number 70 she loved right do you have a problem on our last time as a two minute all of a sudden is a two minutes point three if we do a 57th consistently when we ran across to some slower cars or whether he had a quick spin I don't know I'm not sure then there's the question of did they suddenly change strategy but they I think it's too late to Chuck change strategy it's too late to say hey we need to save fuel so we can try to pick it off one yeah no there's no way out of Arnold yeah yeah absolutely he was one of the first cars to make a pistol after 16 laps oh he's already been out there for quite a long time and he's been out there now for probably 35 minutes ready he'll be getting ready for his next bit stop in fact yeah yeah Garrett gross still shooting his way through traffic that's all well and good but I think from a camera he's doing good laughs but it's got the radio call from his team saying do what you're doing run your pace we've got this keep running your pace we've got this now put Cameron castles back in at the end I would think Cameron's turn to great laps in the beginning so probably give him the opportunity to take it to the checkers but Garrett Chris either needs to go and go really he'll be really fast so that they could get that other pit stop done that we think they're gonna have to bake or I don't think you could slow down enough to save enough fuel to do it with what more stop the way that the 75 looks like they may now I completely agree with you that either gotta turn them loose and take any restrictions on them that you had and just let him go like staying yet but I think still I did not lost that was a was a course in case you're trying to say if you either hear a pop or somebody spun in front of him whatever it was I didn't see it on the on a racetrack but it was certainly a an uncharacteristic slow lap from the Guerra Chris Max and rocky meanwhile it was a two minutes point six last semi of the max that was a couple of seconds quicker than his previous lap so he is now properly in the groove is max Han riding he's able to hold off Davey grant in third position but remember the drivers that are in cars right now it was in the 40 car david grant that started so he's been out on the racetrack longer than anyone else if anybody knows how this race track has changed and the nuances of it over the last hour and a half it's David Grant because he's been in the cars it's the drop of the green so as far as knowledge goes and comfort with the racetrack right now he's comfortable because he's been in the car longer than anyone else and perhaps that's why he's been able to keep close to max Han ready right there on the rear wing basically less than a second behind the 75 we saw such a great run for Cameron capsules earlier in 275 and right now unable to pull away from the 40 and I think perhaps David grant just getting more and more comfortable as time ticks away but eventually he's going to have to pit for another stop you can see right now just how close grant is yeah but max right Mac Max and right he's really stepped up these last couple apps in slack was a fifty nine nine for max and lighting that's only yes within a half a second of the best fact that was taught by Cameron cast a little while ago so max is now fully in the cruisers from Norwalk in Wisconsin and he's charging hearties meetings he'd stabilized that gap back to David granted the roads about a second [Music] max was put into the groove now the track is drying out continues to dry out the pace will be increasing and that last lap for our red cedar gaffers back in the year 58 again so that's two minutes better a two seconds better than these previous lap how do you work the strategy now if you're the 47 team Johnny did George you're 16 seconds back in third place but you know you've got in Jonathan a good race car driver you know as far as Kyle Kirkwood goes you've got a really good race car driver to put in there Kirkwood sliding in that seat practice it is like it never been out of a prototype car and using that formula car experience to his advantage Dakota Dickerson is right there I wouldn't expect it he would the 54 to the checkered flag so as the racetrack changes you've got some really good drivers that are gonna be these cars but I think that the driver may not win this race I know that that's hard for you Austin would not give it's a credit to a driver I think it may be engineering that does it I know that you'll say it was actually Cameron castles who save the fuel that allowed the strategy to work but and write them so I mean we can sit in the cockpit you got to do the job the engineer is asking you to do but it may be that strategy yeah definitely I mean it's an endurance for instance trash [Music] that's like we're saying about the lower fuel loads I think that's going to be a big thing about the strategy and a big thing for the rest of the season and all because when we talk about fuel once again if you're just joining us the fuel considerably different the fuel own considerably different 15 percent less fuel on board from 100 litre fuel capacity to 85 litres so 15 litre reduction and that changes delete the vast end which of course then begins to affect the number of pit stops that you're going to do in a race unless you can use strategy to your advantage and a little bit of mother nature to a lot of mother nature actually because that very damp racetrack at the beginning limited the amount of horsepower the horsepower takes fueling you've got to feed the ponies and if you're not feeding them you can save that fuel that seems what the 75 was able to do for Garret grist out in front of the 17 from Neilson racing right now good to see that team here in prototype Challenge competition but they're either going to have to lay down some laps or perhaps just tell me for a full course caution and get some fuel mileage that way max hand ready there in the 75 has a goodly ga underneath in that blue yellow flashing to the bus stop right now camera capsules a great job but in very different conditions in that first hour or so of this event and then David Grant consistent in the 40 little mistake here there at the beginning in very difficult conditions has been consistent since then and has been consistently close to the 75 of max hand ready I think he's dropped back just a little bit then Jonathan George of the 47th Dakota Dickerson in the 54 that is the top five but still an hour and a half to go as we reach the halfway mark here in round one of the 2020 season of it's a prototype challenge here at risk doing everything he can I think they probably turned him loose out in front their strategy not really working the way they wanted to the 75 of max Hanratty seems to have the strategic advantage as far as fuel goes we'll have to wait and see how that plays out David Grant out in front right now so the 17 out in front that's a norm of chassis then the 75 that's a leash a chassis and then David grant in another normal we saw the battle between the Dorma and the leash a last year lucky to have with us fortunate to have Austin was cut McCusker defending champion in the category though your plants are not to be here this year but I said earlier it's not that you're not driving tell the fans at home and out in the infield today what it is that you're gonna be doing in 2020 yeah so it's still gonna we're still going to be in an LP 3 prototype but we're gonna be switching over to the European law series six rounds all throughout Europe it's a it's gonna be a split class racing so there's gonna be lmp2 and GT e--'s on the track with us so it'll be it'll be a wake-up call it'll be more like the WeatherTech Series but more of the European Way you're it's the European series of what weather tech kids but they reason that but that's what the Germans competition so we're excited to get 2029 going how's your German yeah but a very different deal you're gonna be driving at Helens III based machine as we see Anthony simonia in the 23 on pit road just inside the top 10 but a lap down it's an LMP 3 machine but as you said now it's combined with everything else so you're not alone in your class on the racetrack you've got other cars around you call big of a change is that gonna be for you the car you're driving is comfortable but your surroundings will be different in addition to the fact that racetracks that I assume you've not been on yeah the circuits yet so that's that's gonna be a big wake up call it then you don't have lmp2 cars coming at you you know 10 to 15 seconds a lap faster so you're just gonna have to keep your eyes up and make sure you make no mistakes it just be you know so aware of your surroundings even more than you are in this category in support of the Challenger well good luck and that obviously that is a huge opportunity for you and I think a lot of other people your age your Halloween 21 yeah they're in college to go into school and you're going to school this is a different kind of glass definitely a different kind kind of class it's a racing though learning curve yeah and an enjoyable one not so enjoyable for the 61 right now lady cook with a problem yeah that's Jamie's been doing a nice job there through this 10th tee it's taken over from George takers we started the car he was running quite nice he was up inside the top ten for a portion of time but looks like he's slipped back again now he's just actually been in the pits to make his second stop of the day number three car also came straight back in again after just a couple of laps so that must be a problem for the for the Junior 3 motorsport every car number three meantime with we're past the halfway point in this race and gap Christie's it's ending dudes means now out to about a half a minute over max Hanratty but maxy at the wheel at number 75 car he is improving his pace with every lap last time rounds of 58.7 that was his best lap of the race and he's able to pull away now from number 40 of David Grant in third position the sister 47 Motorsports entry of Jonathan George and can't 47 is in fourth and he is closing quite rapidly on David garage is now just 2.3 seconds between that third and fourth base car and right behind there may be a few seconds it's Dakota Dickerson we're a few laps to go turned the fastest lap of the race and a 56.7 this time around though is John from Georgia says the new fastest lap of the race of 56.5 one zero for the a florida-based brazilian racetrack really beginning to dry out a little bit a new wonder if that's playing into the hands of some of these teams you talked about the lap times the janja George and Dakota Dickerson are laying down but the gap that Mac's hand ready is beginning to gain between himself and baby grant and grant falling back into the clutches of Jonathan George perhaps that 40 car set up a little bit more for consistent rain throughout the day it has the track dries it begins to change and when we talk about setting cards up for the wet or the dry if you've got one set up for the wet if it starts to dry especially with high speed corners like some of these not the most fun thing in the world to drive is it definitely not you're gonna struggle it's beginning to do you start to see a little bit of a dry line on the speedway portion of the track there's really no spray coming off the LP three prototypes at the moment so we'll see who set up what's the biggest change that you can make you want to see teammates goodness gracious me running in the third and fourth position number 40 car handle number 47 well that's not good news Johnson George he just set in the 47 car had just said the fastest lap of the race David Grant he's just turned his best lap of the race in number 40 in one minute 59 but they managed to come together on the back straight and unless we can get that car going again pretty quickly that is going to be a full course caution that was a pretty good thump and yeah one of those deals where it looked to me and what I have to see if we can get a replay of it that Johnny did George look to the inside got down you and I talk about this often off the dry line and gets on to the paint see the painted stripe drivers laughs and with those left side tires incredibly slave cannot say enough about how slick the paint is if you think about it like sandpaper the asphalt has a good texture to it but when you paint it it fills in those bums that sandpaper like material that grainy and it just picked up too slick like linoleum in your kitchen if you spill water on a tower terrazzo tile and it looks like that's what happened to Jonathan George perhaps he got it there Grant moved a little bit in the 40 and George kind of fainted left to make sure that he gave his teammate plenty of room but what he did got off the paint with the left side and on the brakes the car just got away from him and it made that impact with his teammate and it was a significant significant plant I thought for a moment that the right front suspension on the 47 was damaged but it must have been just the pot work that I saw there isn't time machine before your second car would be a miracle because it wasn't pretty hard hit and really unfortunate and the cake Clark did absolutely nothing wrong there he was he was you know pushing as hard as he couldn't just said his best map with the race but it was even came off worse in that incident between the two teammates that is not the conversation that you want to be having post-race and as we watch right now the 47 through the plus stop actually the car looks like it's tracking true it's straight the bodywork staying down even after we saw it way up in the air and certainly aerodynamic forces are going to help it stay down but it shows just how started stout these cars are but for David grad he's on pit road poor courts attacked on that car too but a significant hit on the left rear I'm sure that straight-through is something that we could say about the 40 team checking it over right now obviously some damage on the right front body one don't know if there's right front suspension damage as well you spent plenty of time in these cars and I'm going to assume that perhaps may have made contact with something along the way or they pretty sound you can see picture here that body workers on the new year the terrible kind of make it out of it but I best it's a shame they were really done a nice job Amelia in the third position breasted is he still the new fastest lap by the way on this lap a couple of 23 it's still Anthony Simoni Eaton caliber 23 to send you fastest lap and races in the 12th position and he's not he's not giving up yet five point six seven nine then the new standard in this race and race leader last time and so this is the replay again there's that solid hit it's actually the yes yes it was it was the other way around yeah so yes a joke don't do it had made the past and around the banking and it was said they were driving trying to get that position back through the inside you got to to make that so that's why we see the damage on the right front we got the numbers backwards once they spun around and went through we thought it was the opposite leg but combi state leads the 40 that got that on the paint it doesn't really matter who did what other than what god of damage but you can tell once again their danger there's danger everywhere around this racetrack you get that dry line often you and I talked about that the dry line is good when you get off of it becomes tricky you get to that paint talked about just a moment ago and it becomes a huge huge challenge the challenge for here at risk right now maybe going fast enough to get far enough in front of the 75 if you just saw it go behind backs hand ready because they seem to have the good strategy right now Dakota dickerson in the 54 putting down some impressive laps he's gotten past Jonathan George after he and David Grant had their contact and their disagreement at the bus stops of the country Dickerson now is moving got a wonder will they be able to do this with one more stop I don't think so based upon we saw they stopped it looks to me like in the catbird seat right now is the 75 but still a long way to go they talk with an hour and 19 minutes left to go and they have the prototype challenge championship not just about speed but about strategy as well in any form of racing but [Music] speed skill experience they all come into play and strategy maybe the big deal today because this weather has really mixed things up the building castles in the 75 [Music] is what is so impressive that is what ultimately yeah Cameron castles and Max Andrade a victory here and they talk about what we'll have to wait and see meanwhile Garrett Christie's dr. tuskin system that's at the front of the field 150 7.7 that's about his average over the last hour Harford us black foods extended to 36 seconds John George however despite that incident there's a coin back the gap that had resulted from his external on with number forty forty car his teammate he's closed the gap from thirteen second just four laps ago he's more than half it's 6.2 seconds between Max and Randy in the second position and the Jonathan George they in for but only four seconds behind him is to go to dickerson in that number 54 MLT Motorsports guy he's taken over from Dean Baker and he's charging a lot get in the fourth position the last year's us f3 champion is used for scholarship money the day you gained there to move into the prototype actually race with this MIT team last season Dylan Murray last year to do all the ways that they did most of them and he very much impressed dr. Mike on the rest of the MIT Motorsports team to go his off board for the field campaign this year leading up well now 60 minutes remaining in the fourth position as count 54 first I challenge action continues from Daytona International Speedway Garrett grist out in front in the number 17 where he has taken over from Rob POTUS in the beginning and really charged to the front has been laying out some spectacular brain Tigers from that lesion chassis based upon the conditions that existed at the time that Garrett risk got in but no [Music] you're looking at the racetrack from the customer at one point in time this is a 17 a 17 team say and let's put slicks on this thing and see what we can do you're looking at the racetrack what were your home 17 I try and wait it out as long as I could what they take for our tires and see what the you're young and brave you can see for us to say and that's why I ask I mean you've got the experience so you're the guy that knows risk/reward is it worth it maybe the time that I'll gain is important ultimate comes her defending [Music] the chef Brian's hill character shot with you a smile with an hour and 15 minutes left to go from here and round one and mother nature really mix things up with that day blurs the drop of the green or the schedule dropped the green the race started behind the safety car because of the weather conditions and then the green flag came out after the second time by behind the safety car single-file start is about finding speed but saving fuel on a penalty for the number forty David Grant incident responsibility with the 57 and so he's going to have to visit MIT Lane and that the way from the JumpStart they when the first time had already formed over several laps [Music] yeah hour and 15 minutes to go I'm trying to look my eyes aren't that good they're older than yours and you're wearing glasses off what's that tire that's sitting there at the of the 17 and how to stick her on it yeah I'm seeing the sticker I think but it's going up the wall yeah yeah I mean time 75 car with doctor tool truck I look like Joe put this aside to his out according to Dean did you stay off the road I don't know if he did looking at the 17 sitting there he's down and this is a deal where they're waiting on the head stuff time Slick's and they had stickers did they leave him on the hot michelin rains did they put new Michelin rains I don't think they would have put new ones on so I think they left him on the ones that he was off with an hour and 13 minutes to go they're gonna have to make Gator stop so the question is stay on the lanes until but you're the slaves this now is the battle for the lead is back sanity back five cars it was camping castles roof leaking former pit stops so max this is the first IMAX himself has actually led this race but look there right behind him is Jonathan Georgia car number 47 and he has been the quickest car on track much of the last few laps and he is so good to make a move once again here max Andretti was his next victim on that so he hopes at least as a head into the bus stop just over [Music] 47 putting pressure on max Hanratty the leader we've had strategy we've had mother nature we've had speed we've had problems expected motorsports in this first hour and 45 minutes that we still have an hour to go and Max and ready five seconds back the last time by the line we'll have to see where Dakota Dickerson is this time Dickerson and Gehrig rest even after that pit stop still being shown in the top five the full course caution could completely change the complexion of this race oh it's far from over at this point in time and you're thinking that max Hanratty and the 75 could do just one more stop we're thinking that Garrett Crist is going to need another in Jonatan gorge and is unfolding we're here to quiz I just keep asking questions because there's so many that pop into my mind when I watch this watching these cars slide around right now and I'm thinking the michelin rain tire is tired it's it's beginning to wear out when a rain tire begins to go is it predictable does it happen suddenly is it controllable one of these drivers happen to deal with right now it's pretty cool you can do integrating definitely put it you just the Amana cream in the car keys the ballot stay the same so you start to almost go slide inside [Music] we have the 47 going to 47:29 ten minutes to go unless they can run a pretty miserly run they'll have to make another stop so that answers that question for us I think you're gonna have to get inside an hour before you think that these guys can make it with just one more stop so that's certainly good news for max and Randy 58.8 last time around however his seller Jonathan George filling his mirrors is going to be Dakota dickerson any moment now because to go to Dickerson Dean caliber 54 he's just turned his best lap of the race a woman at fifty five point five in car number 54 and as the 47 stops you'll see Jonathan Gorge climb out and climbing in the 47 20:18 f3 America's champion 404 mm champion in the pro 2000 champion in 2019 and as I said somebody has a thousand two batting average that was 2018 Michelin Sports got an encore at Seabury but he shared victory that round so very comfortable and Skaar very quick he's going to get back into the fight and expect him to be a player in all of this by the time it's over with as well right now Dakota Dickerson that Carter seems to come alive and for max Han ready he's got to be thinking what do I have to do I just got rid of one and now I got another one that's closing in on me still a long way to go not still more than an hour we haven't gotten inside an hour to go yet and this could easily come down to the final laps to go to dickerson F for champion f3 champion working his way up literally working his way up because with each one of those Championships came a scholarship to use the f4 scholarship to pay for his f3 ride he used his f3 championship to bring to this program so that he can compete here in sports cars he's a young driver who's probably looked at it and said I don't think my opportunity in IndyCar exists anymore so I'll turn my attention to sports car racing and he turned his scholarship 23 years old amazing to say that he might look at it and say my IndyCar career probably died but I'll look at sports car racing but a very intelligent thing to do is making the best of it right now there's no longer a second between max handwriting and Dakota dickerson there's not even an L mp3 chassis between the two I don't think barely is that right and Mac's a naughty boy is he stepping up here new best lap for max last time around 150 6.55 miss tristin here's a lunge that was Danny inside had to go into Dickerson Wow decisive not a hesitation at all by Dakota Dickerson that is the champion move right there and it was strong like I said it was decisive look at the opening said it was there and said without question I'm going place the 54 there strong move off the corner and Dakota Dickerson is gone yeah that was a great move by Dakota was he's a long long way back there going into the sauce at the West horseshoe but boy he sees there that give me a Mac sorry just slipped a little bit why didn't he we just said his best lap away he's sitting out thinking out braked himself just a little bit there from that Dakotas Dickerson saw the opportunity and wait for it that was the powerful yeah I mean it seemed good yeah himself or he just kind of pretty much to go to through well I mean don't you think he left it a little bit deep if you're max Hannity he was the Froome in your ear saying don't worry about this don't worry about this don't worry about this they know that the 54 is gonna have to make two more stops and they've got one but Jeremy you're saying this [Music] because none of the rain behind that may or may not move in behind us wouldn't have needed to stop if he was just in a few minutes so they must feel that they can get on in fact I think or I think he'd be gone I'm sure now he'll they're going to slick tires yeah well look at what I was going to say as Dakota dick has made that move is that you just had a new fastest lap of the race by Tristan beavers a young estonian in combi 64 while the racing he had just made the pit top three or four laps ago he's taken over from Abu sounds and eating and Tristan drove the middle stage in the race but I think he just come in on that 25 we like repeat lap 50 and he's just said that fastest lap and race I'm pretty sure he will be on slick tires the number 17 team will have seen that and responded by putting slicks on and that's exactly what you said earlier Austin I don't want to be the first person but the first person that does that you see that it works I think the 17 was actually at the pit for a penalty I saw that it said it was fast dad said it was faster than folks that's what I'm so if you if you don't serve that in that case it'll change Todd I didn't swap that thank you you have to come in if you're short of the 115 seconds you have to come back in and say for the period of time that you were short and that sounds all well and good if you're a couple of seconds short while I only have to sit for two seconds yeah that's fine but it's a 40 second Delta or so up and down that Lane 45 seconds just to drive through the pits so got a figure that's really a 50 second penalty it's not up an two second penalty Oh alright so there we change the complexion of the race one more time now we'll throw penalties into the mix and I think it varies on the race argh I think it's behind the race feed and I was mogera Chris yeah so we're he's easy he's in fourth position but he's a lap down now to the race leader's to go to dickerson he took his best lap in the race last time out of 50 5.0 but now in sixth position cannabis 60 is twisted Vedas 150 1.83 to another fastest lap and clearly he has dipped most definitely all those slick tars in the world of racing character 16 still a long way to go an hour and three minutes and I find it in Max Hanratty once again you were talking about breaking yourself a little bit earlier when we saw Dakota Dickerson get by that time I think made the proper decision as he got into six it looked like he couldn't slow the car down so maybe he kept his hand straight a little bit Austin but I think the tire wall got real big real quick yeah it came up real fast and break the straight lines much as possible but he came close to that terrible big breath dodged a bullet there did max Hanratty stays in the fight in second place 2.8 seconds the last time by the line was the difference between he and the code Nickerson expect that margin to extend after that near miss from ready in turn six still a long way to go as I said an hour in two minutes from Daytona International Speedway round one of the 20/20 hips a prototype Challenge championship and there are pitfalls around every corner this race far from over impressive blonde by Dakota Dickerson here at Daytona International Speedway the young open-wheel standout moving sports cars full time in 2020 in the Imps a prototype challenge category has taken the 54 cliche to the front of the field and some difficult conditions right now max Hanratty running in second place but strategy may be the deciding factor in this victory Dean Baker a good run in the 54 in the opening stance and some of the difficult conditions as a problem is that the 46 46 bright orange garbage problems they're off the racing surface and out of the greens that should not bring out a full course caution but we as we were saying of Dakota dickerson a great run for him but it may be strategy and the ability to save fuel that brings a victory to the 75 still an hour and one minutes ago before that plays out but that's the car that seems to have been played by that team right now Dickerson in front and Max Hanratty then the six of Blake Mount 17 of Garrett gris-gris a lot down but good fights all around this racetrack and some different strategy being played some teams with a three driver format others with two the vast majority with two driver formats that's what we have in the lead right now I think it's one of those things the three driver format in this three hour race with the new fuel windows the way they are at the minimum drive time makes it kind of challenging at times a certainly under green flag conditions to make sure your drivers getting the lap times that they need Vitas there in the 60 car that you think is probably on slick tires and then kind of Kirkwood just behind Kirkwood in the 47 on that stop when they hand it over to column but and full-course caution who that's uh tell me what that is good news for mr. number six well it should be a blake mount because he was actually in the pit lane as the full course caution came out however by pulling into the pit lane he is falling off the lead lap so in fact i think it's a really unlucky break for the number 6 car well I'm looking for the problem that brings out the full course caution I don't know if it's the stranded car that we saw a little bit earlier anyway you look at it it bunches up the field but for Dakota Dickerson this could be a defining moment depending how long it takes to clean this up and he's saving up you come in now to make a pit stop for sure I think we'll see holes he'll pitch up at this school and then the complexion of the race changes once again the strategy advantage that the 75 had then goes out the window they worked hard for that advantage and it may now go away now it's gonna come down to mano-a-mano and a hard-fought sprint to the end yeah that's a hard-fought sprint I mean it's it's definitely beneficial for Garrett Chris coming in now so you know he was he was on that on that cusp of having to do another stop so it this might output that over Wow look at them right there to see the standing water to the right side of the racetrack into the braking zone and turn six you don't want to hit that on slicks so go into slicks I mean it seems to be the thing to do yes often but I mean there's still a lot of there's their danger all around here if you do that no it's going to be slips yeah I'm looking at the lap times now and it seems to be about four seconds quicker [Music] on a problem for the six goodness and goldberg be shown outside the wheel that cars just made a mess up it was running in a third position does it have all four wheels on it obviously you can't see the right side of it when you see helling spine because I just saw a car go by I couldn't tell where he was until I saw the traffic go by so he is spun and there you go coming back out on the racetrack if he's on slicks he can't get any bike right now in the grass you talked about that earlier Austin hard to get the car back on the racetrack if you've had a problem and hard to get those slicks up to temperature if you head back out now let's go back and talk about the difference between Norma Cassie's and Li gh a C's and how quickly they come up to speed and cloud cover temperatures falling throughout the day relatively cool racetrack I would say advantage at least for the first couple of laps no lesion [Music] the lije seems to bring the tire temp up pretty quickly compared to the normal where it takes at least you know two to three laps but like we saw last year at mid-ohio the Phylicia outperformed the normal because of the cold temperatures and the tire temperature was able to drive into the Michelin tyres in a short period of time so be interesting to see as you guys said so inside it'll be inside 57 minutes easily before the pit lane would open in there and have an opportunity to do pit stops Dickerson Hanratty both in Li gh a C's Garrett Gris did the first of the Norma Chasse ease and then the 60 of Vitas behind him another one of the Li gh a C's then Kyle Kirkwood in the 47 that's enormous chassis as well I believe no that's Alicia this is in wholesale pit stops we will see now so pit lane is open yeah and this will give some times we only have three cars to meet up in that the big winner from this full course course no question about it it's kind of a seventeen who actually was back on the lead lap he was three cars on the lead lap right now number 70 450 475 and 17 the number 75 countries that did not make a pit stop I don't see him on pit road question is how close do you play these pit stops Austin I mean there's this minimum time how close do you try to get into a hundred and fifteen seconds you know they're guys that'll do 118 seconds because they don't want to run afoul of it because running afoul of it is a pretty significant penalty you got to come back in and you've got to sit for that difference that's a huge penalty we talked about that but if you give yourself too big a margin you stand a chance of losing positions on pit road I mean I think the sweet spots gonna be right at a second to a second and a half between her after at the 115 seconds so you don't want to be right at it because you know the timer or just yourself could be a little having a little bit of a margin of error but you usually leave about a second a second of a gap rain tires off the 54 michelin slicks going on for Dakota dickerson we would assume that that has been the same for any tire change out on pit road we saw Garrett Grist in the 17 back underway and now Dakota Dickerson heads off down pit road I'm not quite sure what number 75 car a wouldn't have made a pit stop now unless there's a fair bit you need a lot of caution to get to the end of the race without needing another stop I can't see any way so I wouldn't really understand why he wouldn't make the stop under yellow and get that fuel stop done if you come in to make a pit stop under green flag conditions if you don't take on fuel then you can just do whatever you need to do and get back out again you don't have to spend the mint the mint otherwise minimum around 115 seconds but if you do fuel it is a minimum of 115 and I will I can think of no reason why you wouldn't want to make that minute and 15 stop under yellow last year of course you couldn't get under yellow that's one of the rule changes for this year now you can make up its ups under yellow flag conditions and and that's I don't understand why the number 75 car would not have been in along with everybody else what it does do however is not allowed too many cars to get back onto the lid the lead lap by staying out there so I can kind of see the benefit there because only the top three cars number 54 75 and 17 were on the same lap the number 60 car which is a lap down and also did not make a pit stop this time around and again I'm not quite sure why that what it is other than patent rooster Vedas where it was telling some fantastic laps in that number 60 roller racing news yay but any strategic advantage that you had which is a strategy earlier is is out the window when that yellow came out it completely changes everything so it's gonna be a dogfight to the end you want to be on equal footing with everybody else why would you pit with everybody else right yeah absolutely yeah exactly I I don't see my number 75 car with you know with only three cars on the lead lap he's gonna make sure he keeps his lap advantage I guess so but most of the field be certain gonna be that that's gonna be a big hole to dig out now at versus number 17 and in number 54 so maybe they just realized okay look we're not going to beat those guys but we've still got a good chance of beating everybody else if we maintain our Harley like we can't use either coming now there we go 75 is in he leaves the field the rest of the cars that are gonna make their pit stop Hanratty into his pit box [Music] cameron castles not climbing back on board so Hanratty will take this car to the checkered flag 52 minutes 45 seconds to go once again 115 minutes the minimum time that the car can spend on pit road that is from the line at pit end to the line and pick out the corner can be somewhat leisurely the crew can take their time and make sure that they're doing the proper job and getting everything buttoned up the way that it needs to it's considerably shorter than it was about you have the glassy or the minimum that some time was three minutes three minutes yeah but yeah that time goes by pretty pretty quickly when here don't really have that much time in the market goes by pretty quickly yeah I it's just it's curious to think that I mean they had played the strategy so well and you wonder if you know they have a radio issue that when it was there a mistake kind of understanding the rules as to what whether they could pit under yellow at the beginning you know new rule changes bring their own challenges for the the teams and such was that in do you just miss the radio call with you know you don't know but it seems to have been a relatively costly mistake and in fact the 60 of Vitas gets out in front of the 75 and it's just another card you're gonna have to work your way around for Garrett wrist the keys on what weather tires - I don't know it's Kristin slick sir believe that he is well we thought here but you said but that's right you don't have gives a penalty stop so you're not allowed to pit and if you serve you penalty not allowed to do anything else that's for sure so effect wasn't real to be quick pit stop so effectively the 17 needs another sound yeah miss yes absolutely because the last stop didn't quote count yeah it was a penalty yeah [Music] interesting so is the 17 while the 17 is obviously on the racetrack is the 17 in contention is he a competitor if you're sitting there as Dakota dickerson are you asking your crew right now exactly what's going on and whether that car really actually exists or doesn't exist yeah I mean you know what I mean yeah it's awesome you know you don't want to be you don't want to make you don't want to make a stupid mistake if the guys are not in contention for the actual point of the race [Music] this is kind of an unknown so you with 50 minutes inside 50 minutes to go we got a little time to ascertain exactly what the situation is put your crew to work have them crunch the numbers because these crews keep track of everyone up and down pit lane and then they'll give Dakota dickerson the order of yeah you got to get by him or no he's not he doesn't matter we think he's gonna have to stop so kind of one of those things we'll have to wait and see with just over forty nine minutes to go here from Daytona International Speedway [Music] lights out on the BMW safety car as it accelerates away leaving Garret Gris at the head of the field here in MC prototype Challenge competition it has been a wild one so far and coming down to 49 minutes to go and a green expected this time by expect more action on the racetrack because there are a lot of questions left to be unanswered the main one right now is does Garrett Gris need another pit stop because the last one he made was serving a penalty can he make it to the end as the green flag flies racing resumes look like the 47 of Kirkwood trying to get around the high side as they head down into turn one side by side through one and two got to be a little slick offline and almost every one of these machines right now on slick Michelin tire and water moved as carrot drift gets shuffled back yeah and spec toss I'm pretty sure that on Concord was caught most likely had the kaldane either locked down couple of forty-seven buddies that point [Music] but that's the move for the lead right there Dakota Dickerson gets by Garrett Chris and I don't know if Chris got handcuffed a little bit by the move of Kyle Kirkwood but now the 60th Vitas is there as well no Kassovitz behind the wheel of the 16 now he's attacking Garrett Griff bringing with him 264 Matt Bell and look at that they come over on the outside air breath the meat in the sandwich they just said see you Garrett we're out of here dan seems like not making that pit stop [Music] yeah I split up full dry now isn't it the year the race track record it drive conditions is a I had 144 bikes and got nowhere near that yet we're 5050 one is the best lap away so if I won at the fifty one point three but there's still some such slick track six spots out on the race out there particularly in the middle of bus stop that's gonna make things pretty tricky and if you're wondering why Garrett Gress didn't just dive to pit lane on the restart and get that problem taken care of he can take the green flag on the racetrack and go pass the stripe complete the green flag lap the point you can come in so expect the senior I would imagine [Music] for the 61 Georgia State goes with a spend you say earlier that he had never raced to the rainbow boxes of my fire here at Daytona International what a place to get your first brain experience a little problem on those gold Michelin tires is he has out on the racetrack Kasim ensign in the 64 now Dickerson this is for the lead Kasim it takes the lead from Dickerson a Power Move under braking into the International horseshoe and things are really getting mixed up here in the final hour of competition at Daytona a powerful move just like Dickerson had put on one of the other competitors a little bit earlier on I think [Music] does the exact same thing or I should say the 64 does the exact thing timing and scoring getting mixed up right now showing those guards now down the lab we thought they were on the lead lap at my timing and scoring now showing mitts and Bell no no no they're dead they're dead definitely lap down scoring is showing though is number 50 number 70 car made a pit stop on lap 56 which I don't think he did that's very strange quite frankly better there's no doubt that just the top three cars brought the lead lap or top four cars now with their car Kirkwood have you made that pass he also believed that his first car one lap down is Matt Bell in Congress 64 along with Tony James cast number 60 number lovely of Steven Thomas who's apparently taken back the wheel of the car [Music] number 23 is Anthony Salone he also is just one lap down to the race leader's was different than what the official is that you were looking at Jeremy I thought that battle was for the lead and showed them all on the same lab at one more time but you couldn't Dickerson perhaps we're out there saying these guys don't matter right now let them go I'm not gonna fight that all the battle that they want what kind of odd the same clapping that's why I didn't see the -1 beside their name but right now because Dickerson out in front then Garrett Gris then max handwriting Kyle Kirkwood in the 47 but some great racing out there [Music] hey go ahead Matt bail you've got a three and a half miles to get and press too hard but at the same point in time for Dakota Dickerson you don't want to sit Donald and just let him by because that allows Garrett grist to kind of close back in just a little bit crisp Big Show just one point four seconds behind but confuse it I mean we're still thinking that era dress needs to make another side yeah you'll be trying to stretch this fuel now so he'll not be too worried about pace I think he will need to save fuel to get the interest without making all the bits off in that number 54 car so even though Dakota Dickinson is leading over over Garrett Grist I think he's just got to be cool and calm and stick to a game plan here probably no threat for that timing needs to get the correct fuel consumption to get to the end without having to make another pit stop click within as slick as it is that 56 minutes for the eleventh Thomas we talked about a newcomer to this series and really to racing just 13 months [Music] just a little bit right there one of the best battles on the racetrack is the fight for fifth we saw that earlier between Chinese cabinets and Matt Bell [Music] but speaking of leaders to cover dickerson right there than streaking away out in front the 64 and the 60 of Bell and Catholics three and a half seconds now from Dakota Dickerson back to Garrett grist and good ways back to max Hanratty the treacherous conditions early on and I know Austin mckusker probably winning the championship last year and a lot of it at the end of the year the only race you didn't leave the championship after all what's this one for the rest of the season you guys were in control you sat on top of the charts all the way but at the end of the season to imagination but to me I wanted that that's races that you guys were just willing to not risk too much because the championship was boa important for two countries Dickerson out in front right now and with that 17 car seemingly needing another stop 24 seconds back to max Hanratty now does the driver focus on the job at hand and yet still played the game a little bit cautiously you don't want to do this like that but you don't want to back too far off your game kind of fall over to the place and seeing mistakes might be more prevalent yeah usually when you back off a little bit the mistakes don't come as as much you know the mistakes [Music] taking a step back the same base is Hanratty the end of the race you'll be fine [Music] a bit of caution comes out [Music] really show your cards then number 60 car yeah that's a shame because that was really beautifully with Turkish Guardsman say he was looking victorious second successive podium finish in this race and Tony's Department imitating car 124 points using the pizza meant if it's not drawing that caution person this can't be a scheduled stop but the guy on the charge right now foresaw Dakota dickerson he is down in the woman fifty point nine six I was his best lap and race last time he's extended his lead over Garrett Chris no there's six seconds that's the difference between slick tires and wet tires that we believe grist is on but meanwhile the fastest lap race bike a bike zero and the scenario changes again and it changes because of the 61 car right there George stinkos has made contact debris out on the racetrack State goes stall at the apex there and that brings out full course caution that's the apex of turn six and one more time this mixes up the cards it brings everybody closer together fraternities chasm it's who's sitting on pit lane and with work on the car that's rust rating for him he worked his way back to the lead lap would have moved him closer to the leaders on the meet on the restart Matt Bell is going to be closer now so is Kyle Kirkwood well yeah Kirk was he's he's the man now no question about this brought him the right factors in the game although Scott Kirk with Matt Barr certainly and Anthony Simone is however he is a lap down still to the race leaders and we're going to have five cars on the lead lap when we get this full course caution but completed five five good cars with exactly Dakota Dickerson number 54 car Garrett Grist number 70 but Chris is going to have to service penalty so it's cool service I'm sure he's going to have to make a pit stop now there's a good opportunity to make it under under caution see you're only four to the back of the pack of cars on the lead lap so behind Grist right now max Hanratty income 275 cars we've just talked about him he'd cut up 47 at that fell in number 64 the same flap and this is the frustration for new drivers like Georgia State goes right now but I think has done a very nice job throughout the weekend and difficult conditions in in a situation that he's not accustomed to he's driven this car a little bit in some other events that were not emphasis ancient so he knows the car a little bit but a lot of pressure on him he's had a problem he spun the car down there through the grass and it appears the car may be stuck in here and for the people at home this is not a manual transmission car as we know with a stick shift its paddle shift and that brings its own challenges as far as getting it in and out of gear this is it not Austin yeah I mean there's a an air compressor and a unit that actually takes it's not the best place to be stopped on the racetrack now and of course with it stuck in ear it doesn't roll easily so the safety workers can't just pull it out of the way that may mean this is a little bit longer full course caution than we would expect and if that's the case that closes down the time of green flag racing at the end and makes it just that much more exciting and more pressure pack because you don't have the time to get the job done George steak owes reaches back inside his number 61 Lee GA chassis tries to make some fix of the safety crew can go to work and get it out of the way and we can get back to green flag racing just over and a half an hour to go in round one from Daytona International Speedway in the car that leads the prototype challenge right now is a street car not what you want to see another full course caution back to green flag racing before long from Daytona [Music] behind the safety card the Kota Dickerson probably taking a chance to talk to his crew on the radio saying all right give me the scenario here tell me what I've got where are my competitors how far in between what kind of laps were we running before what do I need to do I mean is that what's going on without it now I mean this is really gonna smile on your face you're diggin this Arjun I mean this endurance race turned into a sprint race you know this is going to be an exciting last 35 minutes of the race you got some hot shoes you know Matt Belisle Kirk right there they're putting down some fast lap times you know it seems like they're you know a ii ii ii ii zero of everyone else so it'll be exciting you know it'll be a hard-fought fight hard-fought fight between everyone and it'll be some amazing racing towards the end of the race can I had this smile on your face like like I said like you were diggin it but you you wanted to be up there low you're a little bit envious aren't you ya know you know he's a lot envious right I'm sure it'll be fun and you know the pressure will be there and the adrenaline be pumping but it's nice to watch it and see what I see how it all shakes out now the voice of Austin mckusker defending champion the prototype challenge category you know what it's like to stand on the top podium and I think every other step on the podium as well and it's one of those things we talked about it till to leave here with a podium finish that certainly leave here with a win when you look forward down the road to the championship it's a completely different mindset is it not than if you leave here with a fifth sixth tenth place finish yeah I mean with with the point system that it has structured it's if you have a bad finish it's really hard to claw your way back you know if the next guy has a really consistent year so that's the biggest thing as far as looking at the championship but there's you know some people might just be like might just want to go for the wins and not really care about the championship so you have to worry about them sometimes but if there was me I'd be worrying about the championship now it's only the first race of six or eight seasons but that's you bring up a very valid point it's a six race championship as well so you don't have many opportunities there's the point structure and then there's the six races so you don't have a lot of opportunities to throw one away we'll hear and then a problem at mid-ohio really the lost wheel here if you give him points where he was running at the time which I know you can't do it dictates some other people's points and all of a sudden you transfer that to the end of the year and you go you're going into the last race of the year and everybody's nose to tail and so you can't play what if yeah but at the same point time what you can tell by looking at that is if you have a bad race in the beginning making it up it's difficult and particular for Stevan McAleer i mean he didn't even start today's race with that fuel system problem this morning and over the weekend so far so he's going to come out and leave Daytona with no points whatsoever and that is a huge huge dent into the champion aspirations that he enjoyed like no debt it most definitely had so another silly question to ask then when it comes down to it in the air and then it's this intense three-way battle for the win here what's more important the win here at Daytona the world center of racing or knowing that you're heading into because you know this feeling well heading into the rest of the championship with a second-place finish here in at Daytona and that's going to help you in your championship run how much do you risk for the top step are you thinking about race wins or you're thinking about Championships are they mutually inclusive or exclusive I mean in order to win a championship you need to win races yeah be consistent but you know you can't win a championship with without finishing so you just have to play those decisions smart if you could finish in the top three it's fine but you want to go for the race win if there's a move that you think that it'll be you know high-risk and you could possibly not finish the race or do damage to you editor possibly put it in the wall that you know you do not make that decision I think Elliott Forbes Robinson who's one of the drivers stewards for M son is in the office just next to us and I think he's won everything in sports car racing that there is to win we were talking last year and he said I just tell young drivers if you know you can make the move make the move if you think you might be able to make the move don't make the move if there's any doubt in your mind you don't make the pass if you know you can make the pass make the pass and his point was you'll finish a lot more races garner a lot more points win a lot more championships with that attitude then you will of hey I'm throwing it in and seeing what happens I think this might work you can maybe towards the end of the season you could think you could do those types of move where you think it might of a work but you know the first race of the season I definitely not the place to do it definitely not well I'm gonna take your opinion because you've got a championship in this category and I know that you guys like I said you've finished on every step of the podium you had some finishes that were off the podium you did what you needed to do to win championships tonight you look at a guy like Dakota Dickerson and where his championships literally have taken him his f4 championship gave him the opportunity to win an f3 championship his f3 championship has given him the opportunity via that scholarship to be here yeah I mean you know dr. Mike Thompson from MLT Moses was he wanted decoder in any case and certainly winning that scholarship helped dakota secure that bide and he's using that now to lead this race and you know this much the drivers in sphere the run various scholarships through the years and it's certainly good to see that there are such opportunities for people to to further their racing career leave Kyle Kirkwood there's a bit of fish area scholarships yeah well he had to go to Dickenson actually were both Team USA scholarship witness that's exactly right to code it now what made only four or five years ago it's hard to believe it's got passed so quickly but they both made your great strides since winning that Team USA's scholarship and particularly Kirkland I mean gone he's been almost invincible in open-world racing over here the last few years he's won a couple of challenges with each of the last two seasons I'm impressed with not only the young drivers we're talking about but I'm impressed with the fans I'm watching the fans in the grandstands right now and I want to see these fans raise their hands and give a cheer not only for the drivers that are out there on the racetrack but for themselves because these fans have been sitting here through good weather and bad weather throughout the weekend and they've been watching some bracing going on so I know there are lots of Scouts here if you're a scout if you're a race fan give yourself a hand cheer yourself on a little bit because you guys have been stalwart throughout football actually going on down on the infield I know they've been watching race cars too they're just playing football right now yeah we're under caution that's fair yeah we're under caution so you can go throw the football and we're coming down now we're under half an hour to go then in this race and we're still under caution and and there are there are only widen number 17 card wouldn't have made the opportunity to come into pit lane during this caution period and I wonder whether it was a what we in name so we're thick sports car charity if there's a caution period that follows shortly after a previous one within 15 minutes then there is what they call the next full course course it is a short course when the pits are not opened that is not the case in the prototype challenge so the pits drivers have been able to make a pit stop during this caution but to mine I don't think anybody has done so and that's slightly surprising well maybe the answer to this question about the 17 that we keep asking maybe the answer is we're wrong you could have tried tires on yeah maybe maybe we have miscalculated his pit stop strategy it's our issue not theirs we're about to find out 28 minutes to go from Daytona International Speedway round 1 of the 20 20 amps of prototype Challenge championship lights off on the safety car and we'll go back to green with about 27 minutes to go and it is going to be a shootout open we will stand out Dakota Dickerson in front and the black 54 what does he have for Garrett Grif smacks Hanratty Kyle Kirkwood Matt Bell right behind him the top five all on the lead lap Dickerson down low right along the stripe waiting for the green flag there it is we're racing again at Daytona 27 minutes 20 seconds to go what's going on [Music] break up the breaks closes the gap just a little bit Hanratty in there in the blue and yellow 75 Kirkwood as well Matt bell in the 64 Kota Dickerson with a great jump off of turn two not that good under brakes you see one can turn one but use that slower entry to his advantage connect humans lead off and turn two and extending the lead out of the international work shoes to cover dickerson with a step restart leaves everybody else to fight for the scraps down into the West worse you now Grist under attack from the 23 anthony Simoni that red 23 the white window manner he's a lap down and not in the fight right now blue 17 just behind really the car putting pressure on him the next car that's Kyle a little bit that's good news [Music] you have to see where the gala Chris could make this make you getting the pace going now once we're back to to greener and run into the finished look I'm going to correct myself I think I said you didn't make a pit stop after not this during this last caution people of previous of he did make a pit stop didn't he though number 54 and number 17 both made a pit stop on that 50 at the end of that 55 so my apologies 30 bit watch that kind of threw me is the fact that Chris did not get up to speed during the green flag rattling between those two pits of his fell to its ultimate capability we'll see now though whether that has changed hoping will stand out [Music] I sign through the tribal breaking for turn one kids the job done grits dropping back Kirkwood going forward red 23 now the next laughs that's Anthony Simoni some hood bird wants to get by him try to close down on the differences but differs in its use that's right mixed in that's been advantage Dickerson and has really helped up the other players now Kyle Kirkwood has had to work through that as as max hand Randy hammer and he's dropped back to fourth and Kirkwood now trying to get past Simoni and here's the challenge you've got those slips on the sill you can see almost the sheen and the running down the breaking zone around the apex in to turn six outs out and if they got to worry about the wet spots on [Music] we're so well what in wet spots so we definitely gotta watch out [Music] over the 23 car yes more powerful position because Anthony Anthony Simoni is on that down cook word is not cook with Doug made that move around the inside of hexagon hope your song can be realized that Kirkwood music with the garlic too much of a fight so now Kyle Coco can kind of put his head down he's thinking to reduce our deficit to do coma sick Dickerson when he came across the line last time around we across the line his lap time one minute forty nine point six eighty his foot is his fastest lap of the race so far [Music] we saw he and camera Gospels both leave seventy-five he has headed the wrong direction he was up towards the front of the race night right now the chassis have underneath it at the earlier stages of this race headed the wrong direction really it's down to the gutter thicker city pal Kirkwood right now Kirkwood has worked his way through lap traffic and I think the next car in his sights is indeed Dakota dickerson Dickerson through turn six and I walked to the super speedway as you can get an idea [Music] there's max handwriting right here the 35 with the door Oh in that 35 the RBI Lee chassis sharing it with Jim Cox who meet regularly drives with and one with an initial pilot challenge last year right side door open on that car right now and that's a problem for them if they cannot get it closed but he just streamed past Hanratty a moment ago not for position but it just shows you the pace at the 75 seems to no longer have yeah that's right another characteristic number 17 car either he's definitely sorted back quite rapidly from the leaders his last lap time third out Chris about 54 the leader said 49 6 for dickerson 148 6 to get a new fastest lap of the race this time the bigger Dakota Dickerson and one forty eight point five eight six foot they're hiding Cobra goes faster again things eating up at Daytona in January 21 minutes and a few seconds to go in round one of the championship yes 47 from 47 motorsports sharing that car with regular drivers Joel Jenko and Jonathan George the guests got to be a little bit frustrating because he knows he's in it for the championship he and his teammate in the 54 team Baker he's in it for the championship and he's got some guest star in putting the pressure on him trying to bring their team to the forefront so Dickerson right now having to focus forward but the gap between himself and Kyle Kirkwood to young open weird stars just 2.6 seconds yeah cool that's going to be an interesting battle but something flying in Sector one even in Sector one is almost a full second quicker than to go to Dickerson looking across the racetrack the two leaders are just going through the bus stop and country clearly a lot closer than he was last time around woman cars just it just made a pit stop was number 33 hats off to those guys they they got that car repair that was last warty we've led the racing in the early stages were doing a fact destruct another speed he can't board the cars of its but there was damage that car went behind the work that they've worked really hard to get that car back out again after news hour is surely laps nap in that number 33 battles all around the racetrack and they're kind of people stopped you see 17 of Garrett gristlewhite [Music] with the yellow highlights but they were mixed in there with the 40 of Keith grant and the 35 of Dylan Murray who are the battles around the racetrack were jumbled up for the - Kyle Kyle Kirkwood - Dakota Dickerson under one second inside 20 minutes to go Kirkwood on a charge closing up to the rear wing of the Cota Dickerson with three laps in the road forty-six one forty six point six five seven of you standard [Music] who said the second place God 19 minutes to go to open wheel standouts two young drivers trying to make a career now in racing one focusing on open wheel that's Kyle Kirkland the other using is open wheel success to muda sports cars that's the coach Dickerson they are locked in a battle the racetracks is Max and ready kids pass Garrick breasted Chris now seems to have fallen well off the pace the bloomed white 17 dropping back the light blue and yellow moving forward and the gap continuing to close up front Dickerson and Kirkwood the battle for the lead closing down into the tri-oval [Music] he seems to have the handling on that 40 sub Motorsports entry and makes it look easy as he goes around the high side and gets it done piled Kirkwood around the high side and kids the job done down into turn one used a little bit of the draft but it seems like this restart top perk wood has been under charge and that the company has underneath it is spectacular doing exactly what he wants to do and let's face it these two young guys will stand out both of them championship winners the last couple of years in their respective categories there's as much bragging rights on the line just for that pass as there is for this race win Dakota dickerson wants to say hey I'm just as good as far but I think I'm gonna focus on sports car racing and copper coating says I'm a championship-caliber driver so Ilana I should say me going the line arrogance but these kids want to win these drivers want to win they are the stars of tomorrow they are but that was a clear example of the straight-line speed superiority I think God's enormous chassis we just breezed past Dakota Dickerson there and when it came out of the bus stop there had to be 10 or 15 cards between the start/finish line the Dickerson has already had to get best to cook with another just breeze tops and that is another new leader at this race that's good Kyle cook with in Canada 47 now with 16 minutes remaining talk about these young drivers being the stars of tomorrow off to mckusker one of those stars as well one of the co champions in this category last year often you'd look at that pass it really was kind of almost a foregone conclusion with a decent run all for the bus stop yeah he made it look really easy [Music] once already so it seems like if he hit his keep his head down [Music] I think the other thing that we saw there was a world of respect strive he said if you want it you're gonna have to go around the high side the more difficult side to get the pass done but I watched that car coming down the stripe it never wavered it never moved when Kyle pulled out to make the pass he didn't give it the little thing he didn't give him the little Juke he didn't make it think he just held his line and said if you can do it [Music] de la Vega stupid mistake [Music] but how much disrespect play into it in general throughout the season there guys drivers that you race with that you know you can go wheel the wheel with others that maybe that respect isn't quite as strong yeah definitely I mean obviously you need their respect and want the respect but you know you know they don't change your decision towards us [Music] it's obvious a lot more enjoyable there's respect guys welcomes a champion LaVon winter sea bream winter petite homeowner Johnny O'Connell always says race to me the weight you want to race because I'm going to race you weigh the viewers and if you race each other with that respectful attitude you see some great racing going on and I think that's what we just saw there it's what we've seen in this championship over the years is what we saw with you guys last year teamate that's how you brought home a championship we're seeing a good run here today and right now for Kyle Kirkwood it's just another tick of the box showing people certainly quick but he's personal yeah and is he gonna be contention his cruise home no each of the last two that the race the new mark on this last time around one forty six point two seven one that's still a couple seconds away from Tony's Casimir's whose record from last year but he's he's just pulling away from the feeling to go to Dickerson now he's gonna have to keep that pace up because not too far behind it for the track conditions opportunity draw very much got back to in the way of enormous we've got normal first and third got lives second and fourth but it's the two enormous that are clearly the quickest cars on the track at the moment cargo current in the lead pulling away to create the Dickerson is still not a three pointing into the second margin over that ballot if it continued to same rate that's going to cut down 13 minutes to go the question is can the coated Nickerson now Gossett's changed the complexion we've seen weather change the complexion of this race and you wonder with thirteen minutes ago are we going to see yet another change from here in Daytona Rookwood still out in front dakota dickerson run to second but the question is this Matt Bell in the 64 does he had the speed to chase down Dickerson and Wow and only three seconds behind but you figure the lap times that these guys are running catching the covetousness and that's one thing is another but Jeremy said a few minutes ago [Music] that bomba chassis you drove it good straight-line speed at this racetrack when you come into the bus stop what's the distance you need before you've got a good draft on somebody it was the dis you got a before you know you're gonna have a good run Queen as long as you're in the tow I think that Norma seamstress order of the straightaway here and it's actually falling is where the [Music] the wet so that's why he's not dropping back I was going to ask you to about here this car in those conditions you add more downforce is one of those scarred is the 54 loaded with a little bit more because they thought it was gonna stay wet in the water and that just accentuates the difference in your run for now force it's great that it sticks and we got a good braking but it is gonna create some drag that is going to hold you back that's definitely a possibility because as we saw her for the five dakota things produced by with these that sometimes it's not that easy but you know you could have support downpour so we this conversation of the paddock whether it's the part of my challenge appalling the weather tech you know talking about balance of performance of straight-line speed and this and that so and so forth but really everyone has extremes and weaknesses and those very a change by the racetrack that you go to great anything the weapon of choice somewhere else you may with a lot more stock what habit that particular job yeah definitely either circles around [Music] it'll be more down to the engineering and the teams to make the car the best part [Music] the track's definite vector the long straightaway [Music] just to hammer home the garrison our sauce is like forty six point one six nine now to go to dickerson no in second ladies judge attending his best lap of the race that was a one forty seven point six but he was so he lost eight tenths of a second to Matt Bell the gap from second to third now is down to two point one seconds gonna say he needs to find time because Matt Bell is there Bell he wanted to see that 11 out there he wanted to see him out of the way he certainly didn't want to see him at the apex of the bus stop that would have checked up Matt bow but not we're shot now to dakota dickerson out up the bus stop and into the tri-oval and it looks like a repeat it's just a little bit further down the racetrack [Music] went by the gun figures and Dickerson may be able to battle a little bit no he can't on the outside Matabele goats it makes it look easy it's to the middle of the corner gets the gun turn and then off the corner he goes from dakota dickerson just a bit helpless right there as bat fell around the high side needs to hold onto the 54s he's going to be relegated back to third is still a podium finish and now is where you've got to let any emotion that you have built up I would think the pumpkin finished before Dakota dickerson if he'll just stay cool calm and collected this is really kind of where it all gets set up Matt Bell in the trailing 64 the 11 goes wide it's a great shot right there it's about four or five car lengths by the time they get to turn four on the Super Speedway there's nothing there anymore and as they come across the line and head down into turn one fell to the high side bringing that goes on he goes around the outside clears the 54 back on to the preferred line and then on to the brakes so there's even no battle with the breaking up not a big battle and on [Music] a bunch of the leash aides the panic that were running them in the dry sessions yesterday so maybe that's and maybe a little it doesn't take much you know it's just because that dividend it's paid or walks all the way from the exit of the bus stop if you're running that extra downforce in the wet well that's great that becomes way but getting the track dries like it has I would assume [Music] it affects the acceleration it affects the top speed ultimately affects the elapsed put the exit to the breakthroughs are the part one and that [Music] the acceleration you can see that it just doesn't carry the speed again super fast inside seven minutes Kyle Kirkwood putting on a performance since the final crease nine seconds in hand over my belt to Norma chassis he's running first and second right now they're gonna dick he's had a good season great fights it's a great strategy play [Music] mistre teaching advantage can catch through the fantastic job of saving fuel going well over now on that first fuel since setting this team up for an opportunity to do one left pit stop changed all of that and the strategy gets changed again it is not over six minutes plus to go as Kyle Kirkwood goes around the outside of one of the lapped cars [Music] and anything can happen you still gotta clear everyone you still got to get by you never know somebody's gonna have a mistake make it a little bit more difficult you don't want to be a part of somebody else's issue so inside five minutes to go Kirkwood still needs to stay focused ward pretty good capitals ten seconds so I would just die I'm sure he's not going to turn it down a notch but it seems like he said verbal lap times every every lap so you just got to make sure he passes the lap parts at the right time at the right place makes there yeah the yet past couple of cars will not lift a car so you not to move at a time as you say he was still sore seven seconds there's a comfortable margin for Carl Kirkwood with just five minutes remaining in this race to go to Dickerson then he's pretty much settled for third place and that car and this 54 in third place and number 75 backs and Radian fourth both of those two teams have able to the end of this group will it make it to the end of this race we can leave up just the two it stops so they played with strategy right now just quite have the pace but position he's stretched away from Garrett grist in his final stint on the race number 17 car Kurtwood inside five minutes to go still looking to maintain that perfect batting average one sports car race in the prototype challenge category that was the 2018 Michelin sports car encore at Seabury walked away with the victory there with his teammates steps back in here this weekend in 2020 the opening round EMSA Berger night challenge championship and looking to make it a thousand [Music] an average his second ladies looking for his second victory inside four minutes to go now the defending champion in class Shawn often you've got a big lead like that kind of look run through the top three for me Falco flicks got a big lead he knows he does how do you stay focused on the job at hand II still have got to get around this x3 and a minute she does about dropping yeah I mean you're gonna be one with much shot as much effort into it putting it down avoiding any wet spots that may still be able to that belts at second place he's cleared eight and a half seconds to the leader chances of catching hammer pretty slim so it's Matt Bell are you still digging as hard as you can glad you got it to just maintain low I think that's probably pushing the start No [Music] decrease that down substantially was so lap cars but he's definitely Dakota Dickerson throws a little bit adjustment he's had food over chesses chassis drive-by and down the front straightaway this race for a good part of it and the ladder going but he's got a podium finish there what's his team saying to him on the radio what she's focus right now he's probably just trying to hold on everything he can there's a big back big gap two out I'm sure he's just trying to hang on make sure he doesn't make any mistakes contact tonight no mistakes at all so [Music] you just changed striper suit and helmet in cars faster than any other three drivers ever cook glad to send you three different cars in three different helmets there is some great insight it is been great to have you here because of that yeah what were you saying about calcio could you just send me fastest lap of the race who are just over two bits remaining so it a few seconds away from the white flag you have to do two more laps now to get the administrator one forty five point seven eight six then for a car curve with our race leader one second get back to second place that's Matt Bell the Englishman Dakota Dickerson getting that really nicely in the third place that don't be a great start for season four MLT Motorsports as we've as customers saying he knows first hand a slight advantage here at Daytona International Speedway so to come home the best to New Jersey the kind of dickerson so appreciated happier experience here I mean you and Rodrigo left here last year with second place points and so you know that you don't this race it's hard to compete at the end of the season we talked about the six rate step so that makes it difficult I would think this time five for leader Kyle Kirkwood unless he slows dramatically on the racetrack but I don't think it gets slow enough to make up those 42 seconds so I think he's going to do one more lap around here and there's Dakota Dickerson probably echoing ear boss and that is take the points and go [Music] just wait for that checkered flag to fly their lives the white flag [Music] he's put on it's been so enjoyable to watch all these drivers but for all the spectators here and all the viewers at home you really are watching the future about sportscar racing and the open wheel racing in this country with some of these young drivers stars Matt Bell Dakota Dickerson one of those deals where fortunate to have with us today Austin's like I said very much appreciate you being here appreciate your insight it's just championship where you get to see not only great racing and great technology but a little glimpse into the future as well and very different outlooks on what motors morning on their way up to bronze drivers are just happy to be here and pleased to go sports car racing with world-class up off the banking one more time through now start to down the back straightaway it's the bus stop you go to feel for Darren Criss he's just gonna lap down he's recruiting to the end I tried to reach to check and buy keys we've got number 17 that's another card letter early on but he's now got to try to complete this laughs on the hood just as the Simoni who's some stories that we didn't want to talk about Joe Robillard Stevan McAleer missing this race not starting at Anthony Lazzaro the problems for he and Lance will see disappointing to see those but thrilling to see young stars perform here and they took a white comfort one who takes the victory in the 47 447 Motorsports at Daytona International Speedway Joel Janko Jonathan George Pyle Kirkwood 20:20 epsilonijk challenge championship and they start off on a very very strong footing with that victory here superb drive by Kirkwood Matt Bell impressive as well as opposed to Kota Dickerson and as you pointed out Austin for the Cody's it's got to take the points and go and just say my weapon will be better in another racetrack so what makes this racing so intense I think it's what makes it so good is you've got opportunities all walk away make the best up of when they arise definitely gotta make big best into the race weekend and third place is not [Music] biggest surprise for you Jeremy it's surprise for to know this is a fact but with so many cars and difficulties of one sort or another but certainly the it's no surprise that car Kirkwood who come away with the victory here that was a great effort and you know it was a great end of the season in 2019 front number for that for that crew with the Johnson George and Joel Janko winning the mission's Sebring encore and coming here to start this season bringing car Kirkwood lot with him as well and they're going to get this victory again as well so it's been here two wins in a row now for that pet for the pair of drivers the car cook with he was the icing on the cake today what's a it's a surprise but what about the drives by like Steven Thomas a guy with not a lot of experience in ain't good to see them brothers Keith grant David grant back in a different chassis a different team this year they're back at the normal chassis to try that I thought it was great to see Dylan Murray and Jim Cox climb in to that ami Reilly chassis that we haven't seen in a couple of seasons and actually Dylan Murray had some pretty impressive runs some pretty impressive laps there in the end even with the Casman showed if the 60 juiced how fast he still is when they got back after that restarted I got confused with timing and scoring a little bit and thought they were battling for the lead but impressive lot of times by them and what that sets up for me is a few the long fields this 2020 championship they're gonna be some great stories to tell yeah it's gonna be good one no question about this is a really good start to the season we end up with four cars on the lead lap Garrett Grist was able to maintain that fifth position on that final touches pace but considering actually on that last lap des Krista to stay remain clear of Anthony Simoni in sixth impressive stopping for this 47 motorsport team when you look at the results that they've had over the last year and then you go and he followed Joel Janko Jonatan George and Tristan Nunez back at the Michelin encore in November at Sebring that's the team that took the victory there and I think for Joel Janko John is in Georgia that team they took that momentum here they bring Kyle Kirkwood in and that momentum just continues to build it stays strong and what do they do with that momentum take you to the checkered flag moment it was a big thing yeah without a doubt I mean I think that that was the deciding factor of them of them coming 247 Motorsports this year and it seems like they put a great car together for them and a great lineup and hats off to them for always putting a great car together yeah right you know a job janko not for stint he just did exactly what he had to do bring the car in one piece to the first pit stop hand it over to Johnson George Johnson did turn to some fantastic laps all the way through the middle stint and then Carl Kirkwood brought it home Kyle Kirkwood doing what he has not done before and that's go to Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway he's been in victory lane plenty of times before but this one will be special and maybe what you're looking at is a little bit of future maybe he'll be an IndyCar star but I'll come back and run the Rolex 24 and celebrate victory here in a different type of prototype we will see thanks for joining us Imps a prototype challenge it's been an intense one an intense opening round and the very first race for the International Motor Sports Association in the new year 2020 the checkered flag the celebration it's going to begin in Victory Lane here at Daytona thanks for joining us everybody for Jeremy Shaw Austin mckusker thanks for joining us we'll see everybody down the road the next race for these guys Sebring don't miss it

Channel: IMSA Official

Views: 194,789

Rating: 4.8985767 out of 5

Keywords: IMSA, International Motor Sports Association, Daytona International Speedway, IMSA Prototype Challenge, IPC

Id: 3Z-hhPqQ19k

Length: 192min 28sec (11548 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 15 2020