Rolex 24, Hour 20: Penske hits trouble as rain continues
One of Acura Team Penske's two contenders dropped out of contention with just over four hours left of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, as Action Express Racing led under caution amid heavy rain.
The #6 Acura ARX-05, the last of the cars on the lead lap, was running fourth behind the safety car with Simon Pagenaud at the wheel after its latest pitstop when the Frenchman returned to pitroad with a broken oil pump.
Penske mechanics scrambled to take the rear end off the car, and after several minutes the stricken machine was taken behind the pitwall, where it remained at the 20-hour mark.
The sister #7 Acura remains well in contention, with Ricky Taylor (who was feeling sick behind the wheel) having led the way at the time of Pagenaud's problem before handing over to Helio Castroneves.
Having pitted just before the long red flag period, the #31 AXR Cadillac DPi-V.R cycled through to the front when the remaining contenders for victory hit pitlane, with Pipo Derani now leading Castroneves' Acura and Jordan Taylor in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.
Taylor pitted a second time under the caution just before the 20-hour mark, dropping behind Castroneves in the process.
CORE autosport's Nissan DPi now lies fourth with Romain Dumas now at the wheel as a result of the issues for the #6 Acura, four laps down, while the lead JDC-Miller Cadillac of Tristan Vautier is up to fifth, seven laps down.
The #81 DragonSpeed Oreca, which now has Henrik Hedman at the controls, still commands the LMP2 class by a lap.
In GT Le Mans, Risi Competizione led up until it pitted just before the end of Hour 20, promoting Joey Hand to the lead of the class in the #66 Ford GT ahead of the sister #67 machine of Ryan Briscoe.
Both Porsches pitted under the latest caution, with Frederic Makowiecki running third in the #911 car. A spin for Earl Bamber dropped the #912 car to sixth in class behind the Risi Ferrari, now with James Calado driving, and the #25 BMW of Augusto Farfus.
GT Daytona continues to be led by AJ Allmendinger at the wheel of the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX ahead of Dries Vanthoor in the #29 Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS, while Kelvin van der Linde has the #88 WRT Audi up to third.
The #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3, which was caught up in the incident that triggered the latest full-course caution, is out of the race with unrepairable damage.
At the 20-hour mark, the current full-course yellow period - the 12th of the race - had been going for nearly 90 minutes amid continuing efforts to dry the track using a jet dryer truck.
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About this article
| Series | IMSA |
| Event | Daytona 24 |
| Author | Jamie Klein |
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