After going 1-2 for the first two hours, it looked like nothing was going to stop the Penske Porsche 963s. At the start of the third hour, however, things went south. There was damage to the right side pod of the #6 Porsche. Laurens Vanthoor had to stop multiple times to get the damage repaired. The good news is this all happened… under the third full course yellow of the race.

Ferrari Friendly Fire

Daniel Serra in the #62 Risi Ferrari went off track and rejoined at the International Horseshoe. In a case of friendly fire, the #033 Triarsi Ferrari of James Calado was there to act as Serra’s “brake”. But in doing so, Serra brought heavy damage to the left-front suspension. The car made it to the Le Mans Chicane before the Brazilian brought the car to a halt, causing the yellow. The vehicle was recovered and towed back to the garage for repairs.

On the restart, Alex Palou leap-frogged Ricky Taylor up to second place. Behind them, drama for the #123 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche as Dave Musial Jr. suffered a flat tire but made it back to pit. In LMP2, George Kurtz went for a spin for the second time in this race. This one was a solo spin and at the West Bend corner.

McLaren Down

If you are a McLaren fan, there is bad news. Jüri Vips took the #59 RLL Team McLaren 720S GT3 behind the wall with mechanical problems. We will keep an eye on the vehicle as the next couple of hours progress.

The hour ended under its fourth full course yellow with a LMP2 & GTD collision. Dylan Murry in the #83 AF Corse Oreca spun out of the Kink. The #120 Wright Motorsport Porsche, with Adam Adelson driving, was blinded by the smoke and ran right into the back of the prototype. We are happy to report both drivers are ok but unfortunately, barring a miracle, both cars are out of the race.

Top 3 Class Standings

GTP

With the #6 Porsche (slightly) wounded, the Meyer Shank Acuras are now stepping up as the main competitors to Porsche Penske Motorsport.

  1. #7 Porsche (Julien Andlauer)
  2. #93 Acura (Alex Palou)
  3. #60 Acura (AJ Allmendinger)

LMP2

Give a call to PJ Hyett. The Bronze-graded driver continues to hold off the Gold- and Silver-rated drivers behind him to maintain the LMP2 class lead for he and AO Racing.

  1. #99 AO Racing (PJ Hyett)
  2. #22 United Autosports (Grégoire Saucy)
  3. #8 Tower Motorsports (Sebastián Álvarez)

GTD PRO

The Corvettes have now made way for the Fords. Sébastien Priaulx and Ben Barker led the third hour giving Multimatic Motorsports and Ford a 1-2 in class. Don’t worry Corvette fans. They are right behind keeping pace with the Mustangs.

  1. #64 Mustang (Ben Barker)
  2. #65 Mustang (Sebastien Priaulx)
  3. #4 Corvette (Tommy Milner)

GTD

BMW is looking very racy as Patrick Gallagher brings Turner Motorsports to the top of GTD.

  1. #96 BMW (Patrick Gallagher)
  2. #27 Aston Martin (Tom Gamble)
  3. #34 Ferrari (Alberto Costa)

Writer’s Note: Our next race update will come at the six-hour mark.