Daytona 24: Farnbacher Loles Racing hour 12 notes

Farnbacher Loles Racing led the GT class and set the fastest lap during the second quarter of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, but midnight gremlins affected five of the team's seven Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars.

Dirk Werner set the pace in the No. 87 (GT Champion) Porsche just past the six-hour mark. His lap of one minute 51.420 seconds on the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course was still fastest of the class at the race half-distance. The car was 13th.

The No. 86 (Power) Porsche continued to lead the class through most of the session, but a 12-minute pitstop to repair a control arm problem left the car seventh at 12 hours.

The Nos. 84 and 85 (Team Seattle) cars maintained a consistent pace, slowed by a left-front tire puncture (No. 84) and a radiator replacement (No. 85). No. 84 was 12th and 85 21st after the first half of the race.

"We know we can't run as fast as the others, so we try to keep the pace we know the guys can run and try to keep them out of trouble," team manager Michael Gue said. "We had a bit of a problem with the 85 car earlier, but the 84 car's been running very, very well, so we just slowly, hopefully, move up. [For the next 12 hours] we try and do what we did for the the first 12 hours and keep out of trouble."

Pierre Kaffer, Dave Lacey and Greg Wilkins enjoyed a trouble-free quarter in the No. 88 (Doncaster Racing) Porsche. They held 16th in class at the halfway mark.

The No. 83 (Fitness) Porsche had two garage stops stops to repair bodywork, disappointing drivers Ben McCrackin, Tim Bergmeister, CR Crews, Peter Ludwig and Russell Walker.

The No. 89 (Italian) car, driven by Luca Drudi, Raffaele Giammaria, Jorg Hardt, Giacomo Petrobelli and Gabrio Rosa, was out of the race just before 12 hours. Petrobelli was at the wheel when a tire went down, causing damage to the chassis, radiator and front bodywork.

"We had a problem that was locking up the front," he said. "I radioed in that I was moving the brakes backwards, backwards, but it just locked up before the Bus Stop [turn]. I was already braking 30 or 40 meters earlier, but it just locked up and the left-front tire blew up and it ripped out the front bumper, the wheel arch, the radiator and that was it. It's a shame."

-credit: flr