Rolex 24 Hour 3 #6 Acura still out front
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| Dane Cameron and Team Penske out front for now |
With 16 minutes remaining in the third hour, the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona is under the second full course caution period of the race. The No. 6 Acura Team Penske DPi currently piloted by American Dane Cameron sits atop the leaderboard, with the No. 77 Mazda Joest Racing DPi entry piloted by Rene Rast second. Helio Castroneves in the No. 7 Acura Team Penske DPi completes the top-3.
Midway through the hour, misfortune struck the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi piloted by Christian Fittipaldi. The 3-time Rolex 24 winner contesting his final was squeezed by one of the GTLM Corvettes entering the International Horseshoe, and spun. The Brazilian brought his car to pit lane, before going back to the garage area. As of now, the No. 5 has yet to return to the track.
Before the race went full course yellow, race fans were treated to a fun battle between two-time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso in the No. 10 Cadillac DPi and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Castroneves. Alonso spent numerous laps hounding the Brazilian, who appears to not quite have the same level as grip as the No. 10 at the moment.
And just as I was about to post my report, a large portion of the field came to pit lane, so I imagine much of what I wrote above will change. However, big picture it appears that many of the teams in all of the classes are biding their time, with the notorious difficult evening period, dropping temperatures and potential rain in the forecast.
Last, in a heart-warming moment, two-time CART champion Alexander Zanardi just completed a double stint in the No. 24 RLL Racing BMW GTLM entry. Zanardi, of course, lost both of his legs in a horrific crash at Lausitzring in 2001. And I don’t think it is at all an exaggeration to say that through numerous endeavors and accomplishments, Zanardi has spent the past 17 years being one of the more tremendous testament to the human spirit one can remember. Today, he made his first major racing series appearance in front of American racing fans since the accident in 2001.
Brian Carroccio reporting for AutoRacing1