America’s oldest endurance race is back for its 76th edition, and after being unable to access WordPress for the first few hours and thus unable to drop these bi-hourly race updates I’m finally back in my motorsport blogging cave. It’s cosy, and I’m settling in to guide you through the remainder of this year’s epic race.

Thus far, it’s been the #31 in cruise control with the overall lead thanks to a brilliantly controlled stint from GTP rookie and former F2 vice champion Frederik Vesti, who handed over the car to Earl Bamber at the top of the hour. LMP2 has seen the TDS Racing #11 car dominate the race virtually leading every lap and never once looking shaky, and its a similar situation in GTD. Having spun out early on and changed their brake pads, the #21 Ferrari of AF Corse had come from last to lead the race again in an exceptional drive. GTD Pro continues from Daytona in being simply too close to call, though right now Rexy, AO Racing’s eponymous #77 car is in a tough fight with the Paul Miller Racing #1 car for the lead of that class.

Thirteen minutes into the hour, disaster struck. It had been a relatively incident free race for the GTP runners, but Brendon Hartley then slammed his #40 Cadillac into the barriers at sunset bend bringing out a Full Course Yellow and giving the car substantial damage. The team opted not to take their car behind the wall, instead just changing the front bodywork and sending it on its way as everyone pitted to take advantage of the situation. Things would get worse for the #40 team, as they would be deemed to have breached emergency stop regulations under a closed pit, earning themselves a 60 second stop and go penalty.

Changes were made to the running order throughout the field, with BMW jumping a few spots on their GTP rivals, the #24 in particular now up to fifth from last after a drive through penalty in the first few minutes sent it on a recovery mission. GTD Pro had a lead change, Rexy slipping behind the aforementioned Paul Miller BMW GT3. The #60 Acura meanwhile stayed out, inheriting the lead from the #31 now driven by Earl Bamber. It would lead briefly before pitting, the two cars swapping positions as the sister #93 Acura began to hunt down the Earl Bamber.

A quiet long running of green the occurred, before Forte Racing’s #78 Lamborghini threatened to send the yellows waving out. The car had a violent puncture that delaminated quickly and broke the front left bodywork, forcing the car to replace the damaged parts. It lost significant time in the pits but ultimately the race stayed green. Just after, the #31 Cadillac pitted from the lead. The #93 now lead ahead of the #85 JDC Miller Porsche, that was off strategy pitted shortly after. The catch was a breach of pitstop procedure gave it a drive through penalty, losing it near on 30 seconds and dropping it behind the two BMW’s, who now ran 4th and 5th. (#25 ahead of #24)

As we approach the halfway point of this race then, it’s still the #31 Cadillac that holds the lead ahead of the two Porsche works cars running metronomically as ever, but they’re catching quickly. The other classes have seen some changes however. Ford lead in GTD Pro with the #64 car having clawed its way past both Rexy and Paul Miller Racing’s #1 car that fought early on, while GTD is now in the hands of Kenton Koch aboard the #32 Korthoff Mercedes. LMP2 is a completely different kettle of fish, Malthe Jakobsen leads in the #4 Crowdstrike entry ahead of Inter Europol’s #43 car, TDS Racing’s #11 car is third with Hunter McElrea challenging to retake its lead.

Everything looks super tense with half the race still to run, but who’ll be in prime position as we head into the famed golden hour at Sebring?

thumbnail image credit – Rick Flores from USA, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons