Although Speedgeek outscored us both 8-0 in Pro Bowl points, it wasn't quite enough. Here are the final standings for our Pick 'Em Challenge:
Mike - 94
Speedgeek - 88
Wedge - 68
I guess there are two lessons here:
1. As Speedgeek said, pick the coolest car. This year, it was the Chupacabra. Who's gonna beat that?
2. Just pick the cars that win each category. Easy win.
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Daytona 24 Hours - 24 Hour Pick-'Em Results
Wow! So, that was a pretty entertaining ending, with a question mark hanging over whether or not the #5 Cadillac would make it to the finish, what the effect would be of the #31 having to stick their least experienced driver (Stuart Middleton) back in the car at the end to avoid a drive time violation (he'd only done an hour and 59 minutes of his required two hours for all of the drivers to receive championship points) and whether or not Colin Braun in the #54 CORE Autosports ORECA-Gibson could chase down the two leading teammates. As it turns out, the answers to these questions would be "yes, it could make it the the finish", "not much, Middleton was about two seconds or so a lap slower than Mike Conway, but it wouldn't have made any difference in the limited amount of laps available" and "nope, too little too late". And the last question on everybody's minds, of course, was "WHO IS GOING TO WIN THE BLOGATHON PICK-'EM GAME?!?!?" OK, OK, I'll get to it.
End of Race Results:
Overall:
1) #5 Mustang Sampling Racing Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi (Mike - 12 points)
2) #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi (Speedgeek - 8 points)
3) #54 CORE Autosports ORECA LMP2-Gibson (unclaimed)
GTLM:
1) #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Ford GT (Mike - 6 points)
2) #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Ford GT (Speedgeek - 4 points)
3) #3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R (Wedge - 2 points)
GTD:
1) #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 (Mike - 6 points)
2) #86 Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 (Mike - 4 points)
3) #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 (Speedgeek - 2 points)
Hours 18-24 Totals:
Mike - 28 points
Speedgeek - 14 points
Wedge - 2 points
24 HOUR TOTALS:
Mike - 51 points
Speedgeek - 42 points
Wedge - 23 points
On to Mike to post the overall champion, but congrats to him on winning the Daytona portion of the challenge! I think it's clear that even though it didn't directly win him any points, picking the Chupacabra Mercedes provided the good juju to take it all home. I think we all learned something here today: always take the coolest looking car...you'll never be disappointed.
End of Race Results:
Overall:
1) #5 Mustang Sampling Racing Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi (Mike - 12 points)
2) #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi (Speedgeek - 8 points)
3) #54 CORE Autosports ORECA LMP2-Gibson (unclaimed)
GTLM:
1) #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Ford GT (Mike - 6 points)
2) #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Ford GT (Speedgeek - 4 points)
3) #3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R (Wedge - 2 points)
GTD:
1) #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 (Mike - 6 points)
2) #86 Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 (Mike - 4 points)
3) #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 (Speedgeek - 2 points)
Hours 18-24 Totals:
Mike - 28 points
Speedgeek - 14 points
Wedge - 2 points
24 HOUR TOTALS:
Mike - 51 points
Speedgeek - 42 points
Wedge - 23 points
On to Mike to post the overall champion, but congrats to him on winning the Daytona portion of the challenge! I think it's clear that even though it didn't directly win him any points, picking the Chupacabra Mercedes provided the good juju to take it all home. I think we all learned something here today: always take the coolest looking car...you'll never be disappointed.
Limerick throwback for Albuquerque
I posted this five years ago during Blogathon 2013. If the #5 car holds on for two more minutes, Felipe gets a Rolex!
Hit the KILL switch?!
I don't know what it means to "hit a kill switch," but it doesn't sound anything like "come collect your Rolex" to me at all! Come on #5! Hit the "kill all the other cars" switch!
It's Getting Interesting
The #5 Mustang Sampling Racing Action Express Cadillac still leads, but is limping toward the finish with engine problems inside of 40 minutes to go. It still has a lap in hand over the #31 Whelen Engineering Action Express Cadillac and the #54 CORE Autosports ORECA-Gibson, but will that be enough of a margin to nurse home? By my math, at the pace that the #31 and #54 are closing (about 5 seconds per lap), they should easily be inside of 20 seconds behind the #5 by the end...
THIS. IS. GETTING. GOOD.
THIS. IS. GETTING. GOOD.
Under an hour to go!
Somehow I have three cars in the lead (5, 67, 11), yet I'm losing all three NCAA basketball games. Again, I have no idea what I'm doing.
snack shot #4
My dad's still a soccer mom
Pruett just said hi to his family AGAIN
Got my own pit crew situation going on over here
Sorry there isn't much blog action going on. My dad managed to get his Grand Marquis stuck in the grass. My life is a Rolex 24, you guys.Update: The real pit crew had to take over.
commercial update
I commented earlier that I can't believe I haven't seen any ridiculous commercials that I had to point out. I guess so far, the dumbest one is the Little Caesar's one where she drops her office chair all the way down to the next floor. Pretty dumb. But still... where's the Navage? Where's the DVD kiosk? The military DVDs?
Pick 'Em Challenge Update!
Well, I just found all the final scores I could find and did some quick math to come up with our current Pick 'Em standings. And it is every bit as close as you would imagine such a stupid challenge would be:
Mike - 62
Speedgeek - 61
Wedge - 59
For what it's worth, still to be determined:
- final race results
- Pro Bowl
- 4 college basketball games
- 4 soccer matches
- 1 rugby match
Hang on #5 car!!
Mike - 62
Speedgeek - 61
Wedge - 59
For what it's worth, still to be determined:
- final race results
- Pro Bowl
- 4 college basketball games
- 4 soccer matches
- 1 rugby match
Hang on #5 car!!
Daytona 24 Hours - 18 Hours Pick-'Em Results
Whew! Sorry, you've all been waiting so long for the 18 Hour results since I posted the 12 Hour results. I'm sure that was an arduous and fraught eight or ten minutes of suspense. Here we go:
Overall:
1) #5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi (Mike - 6 points)
2) #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi (Speedgeek - 4 points)
3) #32 United Autosports Ligier LMP2-Gibson (Speedgeek - 2 points)
GTLM:
1) #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT (Speedgeek - 3 points)
2) #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT (Mike - 2 points)
3) #3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R (Wedge - 1 point)
GTD:
1) #33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Wedge - 3 points)
2) #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 (Speedgeek - 2 points)
3) #86 Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 (Mike - 1 point)
Hours 12-18 Total:
Speedgeek - 11 points
Mike - 9 points
Wedge - 4 points
Total Through 18 Hours:
Speedgeek - 28 points
Mike - 23 points
Wedge - 21 points
With double points awarded at the full 24 hour mark, it's still anybody's game (not to mention my horrible stick and ball picks will submarine my chances at the overall, anyway)!
Overall:
1) #5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi (Mike - 6 points)
2) #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi (Speedgeek - 4 points)
3) #32 United Autosports Ligier LMP2-Gibson (Speedgeek - 2 points)
GTLM:
1) #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT (Speedgeek - 3 points)
2) #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT (Mike - 2 points)
3) #3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R (Wedge - 1 point)
GTD:
1) #33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Wedge - 3 points)
2) #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 (Speedgeek - 2 points)
3) #86 Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 (Mike - 1 point)
Hours 12-18 Total:
Speedgeek - 11 points
Mike - 9 points
Wedge - 4 points
Total Through 18 Hours:
Speedgeek - 28 points
Mike - 23 points
Wedge - 21 points
With double points awarded at the full 24 hour mark, it's still anybody's game (not to mention my horrible stick and ball picks will submarine my chances at the overall, anyway)!
Daytona 24 Hours - 12 Hours Pick 'Em Results
Catching up here this morning, and wishing for the second time in as many nights that I'd managed to stay up for an Australian Open final (the first being Caroline Wozniacki finally breaking through and winning her first major title, the second being Roger Federer being the first male to achieve 20 major titles), and there's been a LOT that's transpired at Daytona (and this doesn't even cover what all might or might not have happened on the Magnus After Dark webcast, which could have been literally anything), but we'll get to some more of that later. First things first, I owe everybody results for our Blogathon Pick-'Em Challenge for the 12 Hour mark (and the 18 Hour mark is soon to come, since they just hit that mark a few minutes ago).
Overall:
1) #6 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi (Wedge - 6 points)
2) #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi (Speedgeek - 4 points)
3) #7 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi (Wedge - 2 points)
GTLM:
1) #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT (Speedgeek - 3 points)
2) #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT (Mike - 2 points)
3) #3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R (Wedge - 1 points)
GTD:
1) #86 Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 (Mike - 3 points)
2) #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 (Mike - 2 points)
3) #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 (Speedgeek - 1 point)
Hours 6-12 Total:
Wedge - 9 points
Speedgeek - 8 points
Mike - 7 points
Total Through 12 Hours:
Wedge - 17 points
Speedgeek - 17 points
Mike - 14 points
Art imitates life (in that with six hours to go, there are two Cadillacs up front, followed a little way back by one of the LMP2 cars)! Stand by for 18 Hour results!
Overall:
1) #6 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi (Wedge - 6 points)
2) #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi (Speedgeek - 4 points)
3) #7 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi (Wedge - 2 points)
GTLM:
1) #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT (Speedgeek - 3 points)
2) #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT (Mike - 2 points)
3) #3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R (Wedge - 1 points)
GTD:
1) #86 Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 (Mike - 3 points)
2) #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 (Mike - 2 points)
3) #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 (Speedgeek - 1 point)
Hours 6-12 Total:
Wedge - 9 points
Speedgeek - 8 points
Mike - 7 points
Total Through 12 Hours:
Wedge - 17 points
Speedgeek - 17 points
Mike - 14 points
Art imitates life (in that with six hours to go, there are two Cadillacs up front, followed a little way back by one of the LMP2 cars)! Stand by for 18 Hour results!
Confusing soccer moment
snack shot #3
Limerick #3
It's possible Federer cheated
Just to make sure he succeeded
When he knocked down the door
Where the rackets are stored
And he took all the good ones he needed
Just to make sure he succeeded
When he knocked down the door
Where the rackets are stored
And he took all the good ones he needed
Limerick #2
Nobody thought Cilic could hack it
But he moved his way right up the bracket
And though he never won it
He just might have done it
If anyone had fixed his racket
But he moved his way right up the bracket
And though he never won it
He just might have done it
If anyone had fixed his racket
Federer pulls it out
That fourth set was crazy, but Federer dominated the fifth to take the Final.
Meanwhile, I don't mean to brag, but my #5 car is still leading! Guess I'll go watch some of the race.
Meanwhile, I don't mean to brag, but my #5 car is still leading! Guess I'll go watch some of the race.
We're going 5
Cilic dominated the rest of that fourth set. They were even pulling out the old "Federer is showing his age" line. But the coolest hit came when Cilic faulted and Federer hit it straight to the ball boy (ball person?), who caught it on a soft line drive. The crowd cheered. It was inspiring.
I also kind of want a camera that follows the ball people around. They seem really serious about their jobs, which are essentially just catching, holding, and rolling tennis balls.
I also kind of want a camera that follows the ball people around. They seem really serious about their jobs, which are essentially just catching, holding, and rolling tennis balls.
Maybe Cilic got the right racket!
Guess who just took Federer's serve to tie it at 3-3 now? The main take away here is that I don't know what I'm talking about. Things are pretty even again here.
We have official racket drama
Look, I'm not saying I need to wake the other guys up yet, but the Cilic racket drama has reached definite "funny" status. They just sent him another racket back, and again, without taking it out of the bag, he cursed, slammed it down, and looked across the court at whoever is not getting this thing right. In the meantime, he did win his serve, but I don't see Federer losing one of his at this point. We're almost done here at 3-1 in the 4th and Cilic serving again.
Of course
As soon as I said anything, Federer seemed to shift to a higher gear that Cilic couldn't answer, finishing off the third set, and now taking the first two games of the fourth. Cilic is getting frustrated, as you'd expect, and is also having some drama with his rackets. He sent them to be repaired, and when they were returned, he sent them back without even taking them out of their little bags. I don't know that's all about.
Good final so far
If we'd been able to record our preview podcast, you probably would've heard me making fun of this year's semifinalist group, which was missing our favorites Djokovic and Murray. But at least this final match has been pretty even so far, as Federer leads this third set 5-2 after they split the first two.
In other Blogathon news, it now occurs to me that I haven't commented on one commercial yet, and that seems crazy. Where are the dumb commercials?
In other Blogathon news, it now occurs to me that I haven't commented on one commercial yet, and that seems crazy. Where are the dumb commercials?
ICYMI: My Dad's a Soccer Mom
Tennis Time!
Although it doesn't quite feel like Blogathon without Djokovic playing, the Australian Open final is about to begin!
Limerick
Yes, it's that time during the night when I start posting dumb limericks!
Let me tell you 'bout Will Owen
He might have the fastest car goin'
But he lives right next door
And I wish he'd wear more
Clothes when he's nude out there mowin'
Let me tell you 'bout Will Owen
He might have the fastest car goin'
But he lives right next door
And I wish he'd wear more
Clothes when he's nude out there mowin'
Time for Bed
OK, so we survived the movie (somehow), while about 15 different race-changing things happened at the same time we watched some seriously wooden performances. The end result is that the #90 Spirit of Daytona Caddy dropped out, the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Caddy hit tire troubles (again), and about 4 other prototypes hit trouble, such that we now have the #5 and #31 Caddys up front, followed by both Penske Acuras, and then a bunch of LMP2 cars and a Nissan a few laps down. In GTLM, the Ford GTs still dominate (with fastest laps only matched by the Risi Ferrari, and a full half second clear of the rest of the field), and in GTD, the #29 Audi suffered a five minute penalty for "fast refuelling", and now have dropped way down the order with a brake issue, leaving the #11 and #48 Lambos leading, with 6-7 other cars within a lap.
With all of that done, and with just under 13 hours to go, it's time for bed (before I have a toddler waking everybody up in about 5 hours). Enjoy the race stream and the fairly insane Magnus Racing webstream. I'll see everybody in the morning.
With all of that done, and with just under 13 hours to go, it's time for bed (before I have a toddler waking everybody up in about 5 hours). Enjoy the race stream and the fairly insane Magnus Racing webstream. I'll see everybody in the morning.
We made it!
Well, we survived My Dad's a Soccer Mom. Somehow. If you missed it, the gory details are all here. The Australian Open final start in a couple of hours. I'm going to get caught up on all the race drama that I missed during the movie!
Saturday, January 27, 2018
GBS at the Movies: My Dad's a Soccer Mom
We just pressed play. Here we go!
-----
So first, Speedgeek said that Terry Tate was in this movie, and I hate to tell him... but I don't think he is! That was most of the selling factor of this movie. That one thing that wasn't even true.
-----
I hope Marion is better at playing football than he is at acting. (Cause he kinda sucks at acting.)
-----
"They don't like you. Nobody likes you." I agree!
-----
Now Marion needs to shave his face. His football team doesn't want him. His wife's going back to work. He's a stay at home dad. I guess there are no other teams in the league. I have a root beer and Coke ready to go here. I might need something... stronger.
-----
Apparently Terry Crews wasn't Terry Tate. Nothing is real.
-----
I want you to show me one person (NOT related to anyone involved with it) who chose to watch this movie on purpose. Besides me, of course, cause I'm dumb.
-----
I'm gonna be honest. This guy looks like he struggles to WALK. I guess that's why his contract wasn't renewed?
-----
"We need more dads like you." Dads who bring their daughters to ballet class? Is this set in the '50s?
Oh wait, here comes the part where Terry Tate gets to join the ballet class!
-----
Do you guys get it?! He's a big dude, and ballerinas are typically small! IT'S FUNNY.
-----
This world-class athlete just made an attempt to jump toward the smoke alarm. Now THAT was actually kinda funny.
-----
OK, this is as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe worst. You know who I miss? Jeff Foxworthy. NO! What am I saying?
-----
"What the heck are you watching?" - my wife
-----
Tracey Gold alert.
-----
They keep talking about finding their pot of gold. I hate to tell them... My pot of gold is the end of the movie.
-----
Yes! Jeff Foxworthy had the Golden Corral. Terry Tate has Little Caesar's!
-----
Hey Speedgeek. Where is Terry Crews when we need him? In my mind, this is Terry Crews, and the soccer coach is Andy Samberg. Oh, and I'm watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
-----
This movie does this weird thing where it skips hours and hours, but the actors have like awkward five-second pauses between lines.
-----
HOLD ON... Mad Dog was the QUARTERBACK??
-----
Tracey Gold wants him to feel her butt.
-----
This little girl can keep talking, but all I'm gonna hear is, "Netflix said this movie lasts an hour and 22 minutes."
-----
"Houston, I think we got a problem," says a man who is not stuck watching this film.
-----
Cool rolled sleeves, Mad Dog.
-----
It's never too soon to start preparing for the real world. And the fact that your #90 car might retire less than halfway through the Rolex 24 cause of some dumb burned valve or something.
-----
OK, by my math, there is less than 20 minutes in this movie, and the soccer season... hasn't started? I'm feeling kind of ripped off.
-----
Seriously, there's a whole lot that needs to happen in the next 10 minutes or so.
-----
They just ordered two dozen cupcakes and then left the store without getting them. I have to draw the line there. I'm personally offended.
-----
They kept saying she would adjust, and she never adjusted. Like me and this movie.
-----
This feels like something that could've been done in a 30-minute television episode
-----
But seriously, when he walks, I can feel the pain he's in. He should really get his feet and/or his knees checked out.
-----
Slow-motion goal scored, and the parents run on the field?
-----
I think the movie is over and these are bloopers? But they may not be bloopers? And THAT sums up this whole viewing experience! It did at least inform us that he was a defensive player and NOT the quarterback as I originally thought.
-----
"That was terrible." - my son
-----
Thanks to everyone who stuck that one out! It was no Crackerjack, but hey... it was short!
-----
So first, Speedgeek said that Terry Tate was in this movie, and I hate to tell him... but I don't think he is! That was most of the selling factor of this movie. That one thing that wasn't even true.
-----
I hope Marion is better at playing football than he is at acting. (Cause he kinda sucks at acting.)
-----
"They don't like you. Nobody likes you." I agree!
-----
Now Marion needs to shave his face. His football team doesn't want him. His wife's going back to work. He's a stay at home dad. I guess there are no other teams in the league. I have a root beer and Coke ready to go here. I might need something... stronger.
-----
Apparently Terry Crews wasn't Terry Tate. Nothing is real.
-----
I want you to show me one person (NOT related to anyone involved with it) who chose to watch this movie on purpose. Besides me, of course, cause I'm dumb.
-----
I'm gonna be honest. This guy looks like he struggles to WALK. I guess that's why his contract wasn't renewed?
-----
"We need more dads like you." Dads who bring their daughters to ballet class? Is this set in the '50s?
Oh wait, here comes the part where Terry Tate gets to join the ballet class!
-----
Do you guys get it?! He's a big dude, and ballerinas are typically small! IT'S FUNNY.
-----
This world-class athlete just made an attempt to jump toward the smoke alarm. Now THAT was actually kinda funny.
-----
OK, this is as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe worst. You know who I miss? Jeff Foxworthy. NO! What am I saying?
-----
"What the heck are you watching?" - my wife
-----
Tracey Gold alert.
-----
They keep talking about finding their pot of gold. I hate to tell them... My pot of gold is the end of the movie.
-----
Yes! Jeff Foxworthy had the Golden Corral. Terry Tate has Little Caesar's!
-----
Hey Speedgeek. Where is Terry Crews when we need him? In my mind, this is Terry Crews, and the soccer coach is Andy Samberg. Oh, and I'm watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
-----
This movie does this weird thing where it skips hours and hours, but the actors have like awkward five-second pauses between lines.
-----
HOLD ON... Mad Dog was the QUARTERBACK??
-----
Tracey Gold wants him to feel her butt.
-----
This little girl can keep talking, but all I'm gonna hear is, "Netflix said this movie lasts an hour and 22 minutes."
-----
"Houston, I think we got a problem," says a man who is not stuck watching this film.
-----
Cool rolled sleeves, Mad Dog.
-----
It's never too soon to start preparing for the real world. And the fact that your #90 car might retire less than halfway through the Rolex 24 cause of some dumb burned valve or something.
-----
OK, by my math, there is less than 20 minutes in this movie, and the soccer season... hasn't started? I'm feeling kind of ripped off.
-----
Seriously, there's a whole lot that needs to happen in the next 10 minutes or so.
-----
They just ordered two dozen cupcakes and then left the store without getting them. I have to draw the line there. I'm personally offended.
-----
They kept saying she would adjust, and she never adjusted. Like me and this movie.
-----
This feels like something that could've been done in a 30-minute television episode
-----
But seriously, when he walks, I can feel the pain he's in. He should really get his feet and/or his knees checked out.
-----
Slow-motion goal scored, and the parents run on the field?
-----
I think the movie is over and these are bloopers? But they may not be bloopers? And THAT sums up this whole viewing experience! It did at least inform us that he was a defensive player and NOT the quarterback as I originally thought.
-----
"That was terrible." - my son
-----
Thanks to everyone who stuck that one out! It was no Crackerjack, but hey... it was short!
Mario Kart wrapping up
Thanks to everyone who joined us!
I'll be getting things ready and will start My Dad's a Soccer Mom on Netflix at 11:30 EST.
I'll be getting things ready and will start My Dad's a Soccer Mom on Netflix at 11:30 EST.
The Magnus Webcast Strikes Again
I just tuned into the Magnus Racing Webcast for the first time this year. It...didn't disappoint.
My kids have those same puppets.
My kids have those same puppets.
You're all killing me at Mario Kart
If you're playing Mario Kart with us, congrats. You're killing me.
Daytona Hour 6 Results
OK, after a few hours of assorted activities (dinner, spending some time with the kids before they forget who I am, even catching up with a little of this last week's episode of The Amazing Race), it's time to knuckle down and get back into the racing (well, until the Blogathon Movie cranks up in a couple hours). The standings at the 6-hour mark were:
Overall:
1) #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi (Speedgeek - 6 points)
2) #7 Penske Acura DPi (Wedge - 4 points)
3) #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi (Mike - 2 points)
GTLM:
1) #66 Ganassi Ford GT (Speedgeek - 3 points)
2) #67 Ganassi Ford GT (Mike - 2 points)
3) #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 (Wedge - 1 point)
GTD:
1) #29 Montplast by Land-Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 (Mike - 3 points)
2) #33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Wedge - 2 points)
3) #93 Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 (Wedge - 1 point)
So, the point totals for the race at the 6-hour mark:
Speedgeek - 9 points
Wedge - 8 points
Mike - 7 points
It's about as tight as the actual race is in every class!
Overall:
1) #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi (Speedgeek - 6 points)
2) #7 Penske Acura DPi (Wedge - 4 points)
3) #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi (Mike - 2 points)
GTLM:
1) #66 Ganassi Ford GT (Speedgeek - 3 points)
2) #67 Ganassi Ford GT (Mike - 2 points)
3) #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 (Wedge - 1 point)
GTD:
1) #29 Montplast by Land-Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 (Mike - 3 points)
2) #33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Wedge - 2 points)
3) #93 Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 (Wedge - 1 point)
So, the point totals for the race at the 6-hour mark:
Speedgeek - 9 points
Wedge - 8 points
Mike - 7 points
It's about as tight as the actual race is in every class!
snack shot #2
SEC putting up a good showing
Vanderbilt (over TCU) and Tennessee (over Iowa State) are helping to swing things the other way now, and the SEC currently has the challenge lead until the Kansas/A&M blowout goes final.
My busy part of the night kicks off here, as LSU/Auburn is starting. I'll jump right to Mario Kart and then the movie after this game.
My busy part of the night kicks off here, as LSU/Auburn is starting. I'll jump right to Mario Kart and then the movie after this game.
We should pick rugby matches more often!
3 of our rugby matches are in the books and I'm 3 for 3 so far picking winners. The blowout of our weekend so far Lyon over Agen by a score of 71 to 17!?The 4th match is 66 minutes in and it looks like I can go 4 for 4 as the Racing 92 are beating Castres Olympique right now 18-13, but I'll be honest, I have no idea how much time is in a match but I assume 66 minutes in has to be closer to the end than the start.
2 more matches tomorrow/overnight and I could be 6 for 6.
Already a great sports day
UNC and Duke haven't lost home games on the same day since 1973. Alabama just made a big statement in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge by taking down Oklahoma. Even as an SEC fan, I'll enjoy watching Kansas crush Texas A&M here soon. And we'll have Mario Kart up and running for some practice runs in a bit.
We Are Rolling!
Well, we managed to get through this morning's All Racing Fantasy Draft, and made it through the first hour of the race (but not before losing the #58 Wright Motorsports Porsche, which I'd picked as the favorite in GTD...I BLAME MYSELF), the points are in the bank for Scott Pruett saying hi to his family at home (I am a complete idiot for not realizing that was DEFINITELY going to happen in the pre-race, but congratulations to Allen for nailing that one), which means that we're well and truly settling in. And with that out of the way, it's time to unveil the most important lineup for the weekend: The Speedgeek's Blogathon Beer Lineup. Feast your eyes...
Getting the first call up: Mmmmmmhops Pale Ale from Hanson Brothers Brewing! Come on down!
Getting the first call up: Mmmmmmhops Pale Ale from Hanson Brothers Brewing! Come on down!
snack shot #1
Duke/Virginia and Alabama/Oklahoma have things off to a great start off the track.
Have fun! Eat some pizza snacks!
This race is official
The command has been given: "Hello to my family back home" On one hand it means I'm officially taking the lead in the blogathon points as closest to when he said it 2:22pm.
On the other hand its bittersweet that this is Pruett's final 24hrs of Daytona, the man has been such a fixture of this event, 5 time winner etc. and all that. Cheer Scott, its been a hell of a career, and as he just said, nice to see a driver going out "on their own terms."
Friday, January 26, 2018
2018 Daytona 24 Hours - Prototype Class Preview
So, we've come this far (you: "It wasn't really that far, just about 10 minutes of reading some totally made up odds on your part, and- oh, you're going to go ahead and write some more anyway, aren't you? Carry on.). With two classes in the bag, it's time for the big one. The Prototype class. By my recollection, we've been doing this Blogathon thing since 2009, and the 20 cars entered in the Prototype class is the most cars entered in the top class since...2009 (except that only 19 actually started the race, since the #7 Penske Porsche DP didn't start the race...and, actually, hold that thought of a #7 Penske car in the race for just a bit). It's a blockbuster field this year, with teams returning from last year, teams stepping up from the now-defunct LMPC class, and teams joining from Europe. And I feel like I say this every year, but it's a wide open field. Let's get to it.
#20 - BAR1 Motorsports Multimatic/Riley LMP2-Gibson - Another team that's new to the Prototype class after years in the LMPC class. The Multimatic-Riley struggled for pace...pretty much everywhere in 2017, and this car is loaded with sub-gold drivers. Three silvers (Eric Lux, Alex Popow and NASCAR refugee Brendan Gaughan) plus two bronzes (Marc Drumwright and the ageless Tomy Drissi) equals "not a win...not even close". Odds - 75 to 1.
#85 JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA LMP2-Gibson - The JDC guys (they of the infamous "Banana Boat" Prototype in 2017) have upsized to two cars this year, and even though this car is the same number as last year's car, this is basically the "add on" car (last year's regulars are in the other car). Simon Trummer has shown what he's capable of in an LMP2 in the World Endurance Championship, but Austin Cindric is new to the Prototypes, as are Robert Alon (spent last year in the GTD Lexuses) and Devlin DeFrancesco (who has the coolest name in the field, but not the most experience) are as well. Not a chance. Odds - 60 to 1.
#54 - CORE Autosport Oreca LMP2-Gibson - Another team that's not new to IMSA or the Daytona 24 Hours, CORE Autosport won around about 14 class wins at Daytona in the LMPC category, along with more or less 430 LMPC race wins (note: numbers approximate). Oh, and they've been running the factory Porsches in the GTLM class, and ran a Porsche in the GTD class last year, but this is their first step up to the premier class. Full timers Colin Braun and Jon Bennett are joined by sports car megastars Loic Duval and Romain Dumas (both of whom have overall wins at Le Mans), but I fear that a team that's brand new to running for the overall win might not have what it takes to take the whole thing home. Remember, this rundown is all about who's gonna win. Odds - 50 to 1.
#77 Mazda Team Joest Mazda DPi - See above entry, but substitute longtime Mazda driver Tristan Nunez, plus incoming sports car start Oliver Jarvis and Rene Rast, and holy cow, is that a great lineup. But, it's still the mostly unproven Mazda. Odds - 40 to 1.
#90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Cadillac DPi - Spirit of Daytona is a pretty solid team, although they were ridiculously snakebitten in 2017. And now, they've got the dominant-in-2017 Cadillac DPi, but this is their first race with the car, and their first race with drivers Tristan Vautier (who I'm thrilled has a full time ride in a premier class), Matt McMurry (who feels like he's been doing this forever, but still isn't old enough to buy his own booze) and Edward Cheever (who I was only aware of before recently as "Eddie Cheever III"...trying to be his own man here, I guess). "New car" plus "new drivers" usually equals "uh, we'll get things together in a few more races...get back to us about Mosport". Odds - 40 to 1.
#23 United Autosports Ligier LMP2 Gibson - Hey, I've heard of one of these drivers! You see, Lando Norris is famous for ruling over Cloud City, and also selling out his friend to Dar- What? A different guy named "Lando"? That seems unlikely. But whatever. Norris is a rising star in the McLaren Young Driver scheme, who will probably wind up in F1 very soon, Phil Hanson is an 18 year old sports car wunderkind, and there's this other guy in the car. Whose name rhymes with "Fredando Falondo". My feeling: one of the kids wrecks the car (oops, that already happened in Wednesday practice). Odds - 25 to 1.
#78 Jackie Chan DCR Jota ORECA LMP2-Gibson - Or, as Mike said in our Blogathon Pick-'Em draft the other night: "JACKIE CHAN IS IN THE RACE?!?" Sorry, Mike, he's just a partial team owner. But, his team is really, really good. On the other hand, this is their first try at Daytona. The #78 car has sports car stars Alex Brundle, Ho-Pin Tung and Antonio Felix da Costa, along with rising open wheel star Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen (who, yes, is one of those Habsburgs). Interesting team, with a solid chance...but other teams have more experience here. Odds - 20 to 1.
#37 Jackie Chan DCR Jota ORECA LMP2-Gibson - See above entry for #78, but insert the arguably stronger driving squad of Daniel Juncadella, Robin Frijns, F1 driver Lance Stroll and "I can drive anything, and I'll probably beat you" guy Felix Rosenqvist. Odds - 20 to 1.
#38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA LMP2-Gibson - Pound for pound, possibly the most intriguing team on the grid. These guys won every single race in the LMPC class in 2017, except for Petit Le Mans, and they usually did it by absolutely crushing their opponents. For their debut in the Prototypes, they've brought back their two main drivers from 2017 (James French and rising open wheel star Pato O'Ward), and added capable hands in Kyle Masson and ex-Mazda factory driver Joel Miller. If there's a "dark horse" in the Prototype field, you're looking at it here. Odds - 20 to 1.
#99 JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA LMP2-Gibson - Or, maybe you're looking at the "dark horse" right here. That is, if you can call a team who threatened on more than one occasion in 2017 to knock off the factory backed DPi cars with their LMP2 customer car a true "dark horse". Me, I don't know horses all that well, so I say maybe they still qualify. In any case, JDC-Miller has brought back full time drivers Stephen Simpson and Misha Goihkberg and added Chris Miller (their usual enduro 3rd driver) and Gustavo Menezes to the roster. Oh, and they've added the good "ju-ju" of turning the car "Gainsco Red Dragon" (though they've given up the good 2017 "ju-ju" of the "Banana Boat"), which is ALWAYS fun to root for. These guys should factor into the equation in the closing hours. Odds - 20 to 1.
#2 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan DPi - The ESM guys started the year well with a 3rd at Daytona in a brand new car, and finished the year well with a 1-4 finish at Petit Le Mans. The car should be even more refined for 2018, and they're bringing back the well proven crew of Ryan Dalziel, Olivier Pla and team co-owner Scott Sharp. These guys WILL factor into the equation in the closing hours, and I'm sure they'd be extremely disappointed in anything less than a podium. Odds - 17 to 1.
#22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan DPi - See above entry for the #2, but add the arguably even stronger driver lineup of Johannes van Overbeek, Nicolas Lapierre and Pipo Derani. Holy smokes, these guys could win this thing. Odds - 17 to 1.
#7 Acura Team Pensk Acura DPi - See above entry for the #6, but insert the unholy driving combo of Juan Pablo Montoya, Dane Cameron and Simon Pagenaud. There's your best driving lineup in the field right there, folks. Odds - 10 to 1.
#31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi - The #31 returns under the Action Express Racing banner, and although they've lost Dane Cameron to Team Penske, they've replaced him with the criminally underrated ex-F1 driver Felipe Nasr (who scored a podium in his one other Daytona 24 Hours start in 2012). Toss in sports car ringer Mike Conway and reigning British GT champion Stuart Middleton, and you've got a near lock on a top-5 this year. Could this be the year that Whelen red and white breaks through and takes it all? Odds - 9 to 1.
#5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi - We're gettin' the band back together! The trio that came but one Ricky Taylor bump away from winning the 2017 Daytona 24 Hours returns in the same Cadillac DPi, the marque that dominated most of 2017. Felipe Albuquerque joins Joao Barbosa in the full time driver role, while Christian Fittipaldi steps back to the enduro-only role, but they'll be just as strong this year. It would be...not shocking for them to win. Odds - 9 to 1.
#10 Konica-Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R Cadillac DPi - Not a huge shock to see this car arriving at the far bottom of this post, right? They're the defending race and series champs, and they've replaced Ricky Taylor and Jeff Gordon with Renger van der Zande (a ridiculously underrated driver) and IndyCar star Ryan-Hunter Reay. Oh, and Rodney Sandstorm returns as the team's stalwart. They're the favorites. But only barely. Odds - 17 to 2.
So, per usual, it's gonna be a melee for the win this year. But if I've gotta pick, it's the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Caddy (duh), or the dark horse of the #38 Performance Tech ORECA.
Thanks to everybody for stopping by, and we'll see you all again on Saturday when Blogathon kicks off in earnest!
The Long-ish Shots
#52 AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier LMP2-Gibson - Well, somebody has to bring up the caboose of this super stout field, and for me, that car is the #52 Ligier. The LMP2s have not typically been as quick as the DPi cars (note to Mike: the DPi cars are prototypes that have GT3-level engines in them, which are the same types of engines that are eligible to run in GTD -- the DPi cars also have bodywork on them that are designed by each of their manufacturers to make them stand out and be identifiable as being from that manufacturer; the LMP2 cars are generally cars imported from Europe that all run identical V8 engines), and this team is brand new to the class. Throw in TWO silver rated drivers (not a typically winning strategy in Prototype) in Roberto Gonzalez and Nicholas Boulle, and this looks like it could be a rough 24 hours. Oh, the other two drivers are sometime-IndyCar driver Sebastian Saavedra, and paddock (and Dinner With Racer podcast guest) favorite Gustavo Yacaman. FUN COMBO! Odds - 75 to 1.#20 - BAR1 Motorsports Multimatic/Riley LMP2-Gibson - Another team that's new to the Prototype class after years in the LMPC class. The Multimatic-Riley struggled for pace...pretty much everywhere in 2017, and this car is loaded with sub-gold drivers. Three silvers (Eric Lux, Alex Popow and NASCAR refugee Brendan Gaughan) plus two bronzes (Marc Drumwright and the ageless Tomy Drissi) equals "not a win...not even close". Odds - 75 to 1.
#85 JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA LMP2-Gibson - The JDC guys (they of the infamous "Banana Boat" Prototype in 2017) have upsized to two cars this year, and even though this car is the same number as last year's car, this is basically the "add on" car (last year's regulars are in the other car). Simon Trummer has shown what he's capable of in an LMP2 in the World Endurance Championship, but Austin Cindric is new to the Prototypes, as are Robert Alon (spent last year in the GTD Lexuses) and Devlin DeFrancesco (who has the coolest name in the field, but not the most experience) are as well. Not a chance. Odds - 60 to 1.
#54 - CORE Autosport Oreca LMP2-Gibson - Another team that's not new to IMSA or the Daytona 24 Hours, CORE Autosport won around about 14 class wins at Daytona in the LMPC category, along with more or less 430 LMPC race wins (note: numbers approximate). Oh, and they've been running the factory Porsches in the GTLM class, and ran a Porsche in the GTD class last year, but this is their first step up to the premier class. Full timers Colin Braun and Jon Bennett are joined by sports car megastars Loic Duval and Romain Dumas (both of whom have overall wins at Le Mans), but I fear that a team that's brand new to running for the overall win might not have what it takes to take the whole thing home. Remember, this rundown is all about who's gonna win. Odds - 50 to 1.
Um...If the Planets Align?
#55 Mazda Team Joest Mazda DPi - Hey, I love how these cars look, and as a guy who's owned several Mazdas in the past, I've always rooted for them. But, in the Prototype class over the last few years, they've been fast but fragile (the last couple of years) or slow but fragile (before that, when they tried to run the ill fated Skyactiv Diesel engine). So, this year, the car's been totally reworked, the driving team strengthened (the #55 has longtime Mazda driver Jonathan Bomarito and IndyCar driver Spencer Pigot, plus newcomer British hotshoe Harry Tincknell) and they're now being run by the venerable Team Joest, who has won Le Mans a zillion times with Porsches and, more recently, factory Audis. Can Joest turn the Mazdas around in exactly one off season? Ehhhhh... Odds - 40 to 1.#77 Mazda Team Joest Mazda DPi - See above entry, but substitute longtime Mazda driver Tristan Nunez, plus incoming sports car start Oliver Jarvis and Rene Rast, and holy cow, is that a great lineup. But, it's still the mostly unproven Mazda. Odds - 40 to 1.
#90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Cadillac DPi - Spirit of Daytona is a pretty solid team, although they were ridiculously snakebitten in 2017. And now, they've got the dominant-in-2017 Cadillac DPi, but this is their first race with the car, and their first race with drivers Tristan Vautier (who I'm thrilled has a full time ride in a premier class), Matt McMurry (who feels like he's been doing this forever, but still isn't old enough to buy his own booze) and Edward Cheever (who I was only aware of before recently as "Eddie Cheever III"...trying to be his own man here, I guess). "New car" plus "new drivers" usually equals "uh, we'll get things together in a few more races...get back to us about Mosport". Odds - 40 to 1.
Now We're Getting Really Serious
#32 United Autosports Ligier LMP2-Gibson - Joining the Daytona circus from Europe is the United Autosports squad. They're running the well proven (and quick, though definitely more suited to high downforce tracks) Ligier. And while this car does have two really, really good drivers in ex-Formula 1 driver Paul di Resta and also-ex-F1-and-current-sports-car-star Bruno Senna, they've also got the less experienced Will Owen and Hugo de Sadeleer. If the team can stay in contention until the late hours and be able to lean on the first two guys to carry them down the stretch, they might have a chance. MIGHT. Odds - 25 to 1.#23 United Autosports Ligier LMP2 Gibson - Hey, I've heard of one of these drivers! You see, Lando Norris is famous for ruling over Cloud City, and also selling out his friend to Dar- What? A different guy named "Lando"? That seems unlikely. But whatever. Norris is a rising star in the McLaren Young Driver scheme, who will probably wind up in F1 very soon, Phil Hanson is an 18 year old sports car wunderkind, and there's this other guy in the car. Whose name rhymes with "Fredando Falondo". My feeling: one of the kids wrecks the car (oops, that already happened in Wednesday practice). Odds - 25 to 1.
#78 Jackie Chan DCR Jota ORECA LMP2-Gibson - Or, as Mike said in our Blogathon Pick-'Em draft the other night: "JACKIE CHAN IS IN THE RACE?!?" Sorry, Mike, he's just a partial team owner. But, his team is really, really good. On the other hand, this is their first try at Daytona. The #78 car has sports car stars Alex Brundle, Ho-Pin Tung and Antonio Felix da Costa, along with rising open wheel star Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen (who, yes, is one of those Habsburgs). Interesting team, with a solid chance...but other teams have more experience here. Odds - 20 to 1.
#37 Jackie Chan DCR Jota ORECA LMP2-Gibson - See above entry for #78, but insert the arguably stronger driving squad of Daniel Juncadella, Robin Frijns, F1 driver Lance Stroll and "I can drive anything, and I'll probably beat you" guy Felix Rosenqvist. Odds - 20 to 1.
#38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA LMP2-Gibson - Pound for pound, possibly the most intriguing team on the grid. These guys won every single race in the LMPC class in 2017, except for Petit Le Mans, and they usually did it by absolutely crushing their opponents. For their debut in the Prototypes, they've brought back their two main drivers from 2017 (James French and rising open wheel star Pato O'Ward), and added capable hands in Kyle Masson and ex-Mazda factory driver Joel Miller. If there's a "dark horse" in the Prototype field, you're looking at it here. Odds - 20 to 1.
#99 JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA LMP2-Gibson - Or, maybe you're looking at the "dark horse" right here. That is, if you can call a team who threatened on more than one occasion in 2017 to knock off the factory backed DPi cars with their LMP2 customer car a true "dark horse". Me, I don't know horses all that well, so I say maybe they still qualify. In any case, JDC-Miller has brought back full time drivers Stephen Simpson and Misha Goihkberg and added Chris Miller (their usual enduro 3rd driver) and Gustavo Menezes to the roster. Oh, and they've added the good "ju-ju" of turning the car "Gainsco Red Dragon" (though they've given up the good 2017 "ju-ju" of the "Banana Boat"), which is ALWAYS fun to root for. These guys should factor into the equation in the closing hours. Odds - 20 to 1.
#2 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan DPi - The ESM guys started the year well with a 3rd at Daytona in a brand new car, and finished the year well with a 1-4 finish at Petit Le Mans. The car should be even more refined for 2018, and they're bringing back the well proven crew of Ryan Dalziel, Olivier Pla and team co-owner Scott Sharp. These guys WILL factor into the equation in the closing hours, and I'm sure they'd be extremely disappointed in anything less than a podium. Odds - 17 to 1.
#22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan DPi - See above entry for the #2, but add the arguably even stronger driver lineup of Johannes van Overbeek, Nicolas Lapierre and Pipo Derani. Holy smokes, these guys could win this thing. Odds - 17 to 1.
The Front Runners
#7 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi - Welcome back, Roger Penske. As I mentioned WAYYYYY up top in the intro about 8,000 words ago, Penske ran a team in the 2009 Daytona 24 Hours, but that's the last time they competed in this race. UNTIL NOW. New for 2018 (well, unless you count their run at Petit Le Mans in 2017 in a customer ORECA LMP2-Gibson), Penske is the Acura factory team in the Prototype class. The #7 car is being run for the whole season by recent IndyCar "retiree" Helio Castroneves and GM-defector Ricky Taylor, and they've brought along IndyCar driver Graham Rahal for the 24 Hours. Unless an anvil falls out of the sky, they'll be right at the top of the order on Sunday morning. Odds - 10 to 1.#7 Acura Team Pensk Acura DPi - See above entry for the #6, but insert the unholy driving combo of Juan Pablo Montoya, Dane Cameron and Simon Pagenaud. There's your best driving lineup in the field right there, folks. Odds - 10 to 1.
#31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi - The #31 returns under the Action Express Racing banner, and although they've lost Dane Cameron to Team Penske, they've replaced him with the criminally underrated ex-F1 driver Felipe Nasr (who scored a podium in his one other Daytona 24 Hours start in 2012). Toss in sports car ringer Mike Conway and reigning British GT champion Stuart Middleton, and you've got a near lock on a top-5 this year. Could this be the year that Whelen red and white breaks through and takes it all? Odds - 9 to 1.
#5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi - We're gettin' the band back together! The trio that came but one Ricky Taylor bump away from winning the 2017 Daytona 24 Hours returns in the same Cadillac DPi, the marque that dominated most of 2017. Felipe Albuquerque joins Joao Barbosa in the full time driver role, while Christian Fittipaldi steps back to the enduro-only role, but they'll be just as strong this year. It would be...not shocking for them to win. Odds - 9 to 1.
#10 Konica-Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R Cadillac DPi - Not a huge shock to see this car arriving at the far bottom of this post, right? They're the defending race and series champs, and they've replaced Ricky Taylor and Jeff Gordon with Renger van der Zande (a ridiculously underrated driver) and IndyCar star Ryan-Hunter Reay. Oh, and Rodney Sandstorm returns as the team's stalwart. They're the favorites. But only barely. Odds - 17 to 2.
So, per usual, it's gonna be a melee for the win this year. But if I've gotta pick, it's the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Caddy (duh), or the dark horse of the #38 Performance Tech ORECA.
Thanks to everybody for stopping by, and we'll see you all again on Saturday when Blogathon kicks off in earnest!
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
2018 Daytona 24 Hours - GTD Class Preview
With GTLM out of the way earlier in the week, it's time to get on with the absolute melee that is the GTD class. Just to refresh everybody, GTLM is a faster class, due to more aerodynamic and technological bits allowed. GTD is essentially a moderately modified street car (it's a little more than that, but it's closer to a street car than the GTLMs are under the skin). You can essentially buy a GTD/GT3 car from the car manufacturers, but basically only the factories themselves field GTLM cars. OK, with all of the formalities out of the way, on to the breakdown!
#96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 - A perfectly capable team, and some excellent drivers (Jens Klingmann and Martin Tomczyk are factory BMW drivers, Mark Kvamme and Don Yount are both experienced at Daytona, even if that experience might largely be in non-BMWs), but the Bimmer struggled for pace for most of the week at the Roar Before. It'd be a shock to see it any higher than the tail end of the lead lap come Sunday morning. Odds - 200 to 1.
#14 3GT Racing Lexus RC-F GT3 - No knock on the drivers here (Bruno Junquiera can still drive anything really, really quickly, and Kyle Marcelli has proved in years of LMPC that he's more than solid, but Dominik Baumann is a bit more of a mystery on this side of the Atlantic), but the Lexus struggled for pace for a lot of 2017 and seemed to be inconsistent with finding front running pace at the Roar Before. I'd be pretty surprised to see it 1) last all the way to the finish and 2) actually maintain the speed to stay on the lead lap for the whole 24 hours. I have been wrong before, though. Many times. Odds - 100 to 1.
#51 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3 - The Ferrari 488 is now a proven package, having won the GTD manufacturer's championship in 2017, and the drivers in this car (Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda and Daniel Serra) all have won races at the Pro-Am level of the sport (the first three won the 2017 World Endurance Championship GTE-Am championship), but they've mostly run Aston Martins in the past. Their relative lack of speed in most of the Roar Before sessions indicates that they're maybe not totally to grips with the Ferrari just yet. Odds - 80 to 1.
#69 (Nice) HART Acura NSX GT3 - This one hurts. As the car driven by one of the co-hosts of the unbelievably good Dinner With Racers podcast (Ryan Eversley), this is clearly one of the cars I'm rooting for the hardest in the GTD class. And the rest of the drivers (Sean Rayhall, Chad Gilsinger and John Falb) are all great "shoes", but I fear that this team being brand new to IMSA Weathertech Sportscar competition and the Acura NSX in general is going to leave them outgunned by many of the other teams on the grid. I'll pull for them as hard as I can, as long as they're in the race...however long that might be. Odds - 80 to 1.
#15 3GT Racing Lexus RC-F GT3 - OK, now we get to the first of the two main reasons that I bugged and bugged and cajoled Mike and Wedge to come out of semi-Blogathon-retirement for this race: Scott Pruett has announced that he's retiring from driving after this race. I know, I know, I thought he was going to drive well into his 80s, like Paul Newman did (and maybe beyond), but I guess time (and other business opportunities) catch up with all of us (at least they did with me, as I'm currently trying to make my Pog trading business turn around, and I feel like 2018 is the year they finally make me rich). The rest of the driving crew (former and possibly future IndyCar driver Jack Hawksworth, David Heinemeier-Hansson and Dominik Farnbacher) is well up to the challenge of supporting Pruett's last drive, but I fear that the Lexus still just isn't there. Maybe I'd feel better about it, if it were an outstanding JDM Toyota that's got a different badge on it, but it's not. Oh, well. Odds - 50 to 1.
#75 SunEnergy 1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 - Led by Maro Engel and Thomas Jager, this Mercedes should be firmly in the midfield, even if the Mercedes were down on top speed last year (one finished 3rd at Daytona last year, but was unable to take advantage of superior infield speed by the fact that other cars could blow by it on the straightaways). However, Mikael Grenier hasn't spent a ton of time in this sort of car, and Kenny Habul spent a good chunk of last year bouncing off of other cars. If the latter two can keep it on the black stuff, this car could contend for a top-5. Odds - 40 to 1.
#33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 - Another team with a couple star drivers (Jeroen Bleekemolen and Adam Christodoulou) and a couple capable "others" (team owner Ben Keating and Luca Stoltz) that is saddled with the Mercedes that looks to lack the legs to compete on pace at Daytona. They should be a steady contender during the race, just lacking the ultimate pace to climb the podium to the top. Odds - 25 to 1.
#73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R - Porsche factory driver Joerg Bergmeister and super capable pro Norbert Seidler are the driving anchors for the longtime GT team that is also running Patrick Lindsey and Tim Pappas this year (both solid amateur-type drivers). The Porsche is always solid at Daytona, but does it have the ultimate pace to win? Odds - 25 to 1.
#19 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - The GRT Grasser Lambos have been rocket ships in practice. So, they've got the pace, but do they have the drivers that can take them all the way? The #19 car has a gold level driver that I've heard of (Christian Engelhart), a couple silvers that I haven't heard of (Max van Splunteren and Ezequiel Perez Companc) and two bronzes that I haven't heard of, either (Christopher Lenz and Louis Machiels). That's a lot of relative unknowns in the cockpit (not that I'm the final arbiter of who's who in sports cars or anything...). Odds - 25 to 1.
#59 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R - A car that's pretty much always there at the end (Porsche), run by an excellent team (Manthey) with a couple very good drivers (Matteo Cairoli and Sven Muller), a couple other guys (Harald Proczyk and Randy Walls) and maybe an ex-NFL player (Steve Smith). But, said ex-NFL guy was always one to punch above his weight, so I'll just trust that he's the 5th driver and that he has the same kind of effect on this team. Odds - 20 to 1.
#11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - Another GRT Lambo rocket, but this one has most of their drivers that I've heard of (Mirko Bortolotti, Franck Perera, Rolf Ineichen and Rik Breukers). I'd say this one is the one with the better shot at climbing the podium all the way, but as usual, anything can happen in 24 hours... Odds - 15 to 1.
#82 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 - The Ferraris are fast, and several of the drivers in this car are excellent (Miguel Molina and Matt Griffin are proven talents, Martin Fuentes has won a bunch of amateur class races in Pirelli World Challenge), but I don't know much about the other two drivers (Ricardo Perez de Lara and Santiago Creel). I'll trust that the proven guys, the Risi crew and the Ferrari itself have the ultimate pace here. Odds - 15 to 1.
#93 Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 - The Shank Acuras didn't have a fantastic debut last year, but came on like wildfire in mid-season. I think that even though they're not technically a "factory" effort this year, they're liable to be even tougher than last year. They've arguably got as good or better of driving lineups this year, too, with ex-GM factory driver Lawson Aschenbach, rising French star Come Ledogar, and proven talents Mario Farnbacher and Justin Marks in the #93. These guys could easily be around in podium contention at the finish. Odds - 15 to 1.
#86 Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 - See the above entry, but insert the arguably even stronger lineup of Alvaro Parente, Katherine Legge (crazily still ranked as a silver), Trent Hindman and A.J. Allmendinger. This is a pretty easy one to envision on the podium on Sunday afternoon. Odds - 15 to 1.
#64 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 - See above, but with a slightly differently flavored driving lineup. Gentleman drivers Bill Sweedler and Frankie Montecalvo are bolstered by lightning fast Townsend Bell and Sam Bird. Again, another team that SHOULD be fighting for a podium in the last hour of the race. Odds - 10 to 1.
#44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 - The clown princes of IMSA sports car racing, who also just happen to be stupidly quick. No, there's no video that highlights a block system from a toy company this year (if there ever were such a thing, they may or may not have gotten a C&D letter, I have no knowledge of such a thing, so please don't ask me), but they did post a pretty fantastic Daytona 24 Hours preview video on Facebook. Andy Lally, Markus Winkelhock, Andrew Davis and John Potter should be as strong as any lineup Magnus has ever fielded. It'll be fun to watch their 24 hour webcast see if they can repeat their success from two and four years ago. Odds - 10 to 1.
#48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - A top flight team (Paul Miller Racing), running what's probably the fastest car at Daytona this year (the Lamborghini Huracan, which led over half of the practice sessions at the Roar Before test, and put up the fastest time in the "qualifying" session), with an incredible driving roster with zero weak links (Bryan Sellers, Andrea Caldarelli, Madison Snow and Bryce Miller is about as stout a lineup as you're ever going to see in GTD). Frankly, a non-podium finish would be a shock, in my opinion. Odds - 10 to 1.
#58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R - But, for my money, the favorite has to be a Porsche, especially one run by last year's Pirelli World Challenge GT class champion team. Wright Motorsports won that championship with Porsche factory driver Patrick Long, and he's front and center in this lineup as well. But it's not a one man show here, as they've surrounded him was outstanding talent in two time defending GTD class season champion Christina Nielsen, Robert Renauer and Mathieu Jaminet. Yikes. This car has been super quick in testing, and they should be a monster on Race Day (and Night, and Day). Odds - 9 to 1.
So, a super stacked field of talent and equipment, with few weak links to be found anywhere, but my pick is the Wright Porsche. With the GT classes out of the way, the only one left is the Prototype class. Stop on by later in the week for more (almost certainly incorrect) predictions!
The Long Shots
#71 P1 Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 - "Qualified" dead last of the cars that set a time at the Roar Before "qualifying" session (which just means that they get last pick of their pit and garage spot) and hovered near the back of the pack in most of the practice sessions. Kenton Koch (past IMSA Prototype Challenge champion), I've heard of, the other guys (Robby Foley, Loris Spinelli and JC Perez), not so much. One very big point in favor of the team: their fantastic livery. ATTENTION, MIKE: THIS IS YOUR CAR. Odds - 200 to 1.#96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 - A perfectly capable team, and some excellent drivers (Jens Klingmann and Martin Tomczyk are factory BMW drivers, Mark Kvamme and Don Yount are both experienced at Daytona, even if that experience might largely be in non-BMWs), but the Bimmer struggled for pace for most of the week at the Roar Before. It'd be a shock to see it any higher than the tail end of the lead lap come Sunday morning. Odds - 200 to 1.
#14 3GT Racing Lexus RC-F GT3 - No knock on the drivers here (Bruno Junquiera can still drive anything really, really quickly, and Kyle Marcelli has proved in years of LMPC that he's more than solid, but Dominik Baumann is a bit more of a mystery on this side of the Atlantic), but the Lexus struggled for pace for a lot of 2017 and seemed to be inconsistent with finding front running pace at the Roar Before. I'd be pretty surprised to see it 1) last all the way to the finish and 2) actually maintain the speed to stay on the lead lap for the whole 24 hours. I have been wrong before, though. Many times. Odds - 100 to 1.
#51 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3 - The Ferrari 488 is now a proven package, having won the GTD manufacturer's championship in 2017, and the drivers in this car (Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda and Daniel Serra) all have won races at the Pro-Am level of the sport (the first three won the 2017 World Endurance Championship GTE-Am championship), but they've mostly run Aston Martins in the past. Their relative lack of speed in most of the Roar Before sessions indicates that they're maybe not totally to grips with the Ferrari just yet. Odds - 80 to 1.
#69 (Nice) HART Acura NSX GT3 - This one hurts. As the car driven by one of the co-hosts of the unbelievably good Dinner With Racers podcast (Ryan Eversley), this is clearly one of the cars I'm rooting for the hardest in the GTD class. And the rest of the drivers (Sean Rayhall, Chad Gilsinger and John Falb) are all great "shoes", but I fear that this team being brand new to IMSA Weathertech Sportscar competition and the Acura NSX in general is going to leave them outgunned by many of the other teams on the grid. I'll pull for them as hard as I can, as long as they're in the race...however long that might be. Odds - 80 to 1.
#15 3GT Racing Lexus RC-F GT3 - OK, now we get to the first of the two main reasons that I bugged and bugged and cajoled Mike and Wedge to come out of semi-Blogathon-retirement for this race: Scott Pruett has announced that he's retiring from driving after this race. I know, I know, I thought he was going to drive well into his 80s, like Paul Newman did (and maybe beyond), but I guess time (and other business opportunities) catch up with all of us (at least they did with me, as I'm currently trying to make my Pog trading business turn around, and I feel like 2018 is the year they finally make me rich). The rest of the driving crew (former and possibly future IndyCar driver Jack Hawksworth, David Heinemeier-Hansson and Dominik Farnbacher) is well up to the challenge of supporting Pruett's last drive, but I fear that the Lexus still just isn't there. Maybe I'd feel better about it, if it were an outstanding JDM Toyota that's got a different badge on it, but it's not. Oh, well. Odds - 50 to 1.
#75 SunEnergy 1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 - Led by Maro Engel and Thomas Jager, this Mercedes should be firmly in the midfield, even if the Mercedes were down on top speed last year (one finished 3rd at Daytona last year, but was unable to take advantage of superior infield speed by the fact that other cars could blow by it on the straightaways). However, Mikael Grenier hasn't spent a ton of time in this sort of car, and Kenny Habul spent a good chunk of last year bouncing off of other cars. If the latter two can keep it on the black stuff, this car could contend for a top-5. Odds - 40 to 1.
The Contenders
#29 Montaplast by Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 - Maybe my hottest take here, not putting the defending Petit Le Mans winning team, defending Daytona 24 Hours 2nd place car and two of those drivers (Christopher Mies and Sheldon van der Linde) higher on the list, but this is the first Daytona 24 Hours for Kelvin van der Linde and Jeffrey Schmidt. And the Audi isn't necessarily one of the two or three fastest makes this year, so I just think that other teams are more likely to take home the expensive watches, if this race comes down to sheer speed at the end. Odds - 25 to 1.#33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 - Another team with a couple star drivers (Jeroen Bleekemolen and Adam Christodoulou) and a couple capable "others" (team owner Ben Keating and Luca Stoltz) that is saddled with the Mercedes that looks to lack the legs to compete on pace at Daytona. They should be a steady contender during the race, just lacking the ultimate pace to climb the podium to the top. Odds - 25 to 1.
#73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R - Porsche factory driver Joerg Bergmeister and super capable pro Norbert Seidler are the driving anchors for the longtime GT team that is also running Patrick Lindsey and Tim Pappas this year (both solid amateur-type drivers). The Porsche is always solid at Daytona, but does it have the ultimate pace to win? Odds - 25 to 1.
#19 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - The GRT Grasser Lambos have been rocket ships in practice. So, they've got the pace, but do they have the drivers that can take them all the way? The #19 car has a gold level driver that I've heard of (Christian Engelhart), a couple silvers that I haven't heard of (Max van Splunteren and Ezequiel Perez Companc) and two bronzes that I haven't heard of, either (Christopher Lenz and Louis Machiels). That's a lot of relative unknowns in the cockpit (not that I'm the final arbiter of who's who in sports cars or anything...). Odds - 25 to 1.
#59 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R - A car that's pretty much always there at the end (Porsche), run by an excellent team (Manthey) with a couple very good drivers (Matteo Cairoli and Sven Muller), a couple other guys (Harald Proczyk and Randy Walls) and maybe an ex-NFL player (Steve Smith). But, said ex-NFL guy was always one to punch above his weight, so I'll just trust that he's the 5th driver and that he has the same kind of effect on this team. Odds - 20 to 1.
#11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - Another GRT Lambo rocket, but this one has most of their drivers that I've heard of (Mirko Bortolotti, Franck Perera, Rolf Ineichen and Rik Breukers). I'd say this one is the one with the better shot at climbing the podium all the way, but as usual, anything can happen in 24 hours... Odds - 15 to 1.
#82 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 - The Ferraris are fast, and several of the drivers in this car are excellent (Miguel Molina and Matt Griffin are proven talents, Martin Fuentes has won a bunch of amateur class races in Pirelli World Challenge), but I don't know much about the other two drivers (Ricardo Perez de Lara and Santiago Creel). I'll trust that the proven guys, the Risi crew and the Ferrari itself have the ultimate pace here. Odds - 15 to 1.
#93 Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 - The Shank Acuras didn't have a fantastic debut last year, but came on like wildfire in mid-season. I think that even though they're not technically a "factory" effort this year, they're liable to be even tougher than last year. They've arguably got as good or better of driving lineups this year, too, with ex-GM factory driver Lawson Aschenbach, rising French star Come Ledogar, and proven talents Mario Farnbacher and Justin Marks in the #93. These guys could easily be around in podium contention at the finish. Odds - 15 to 1.
#86 Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 - See the above entry, but insert the arguably even stronger lineup of Alvaro Parente, Katherine Legge (crazily still ranked as a silver), Trent Hindman and A.J. Allmendinger. This is a pretty easy one to envision on the podium on Sunday afternoon. Odds - 15 to 1.
The Front Runners
#63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 - The Scuderia Corsa cars should be really, really good this weekend, with the proven 488 and solid driving lineups. The #63 has Ferrari hotshoe Alessandro Balzan, Gunnar Jeannette, Jeff Segal and Cooper MacNeil at the wheel, which is a pretty stout crew. Frankly, I'd be shocked if they're out of the top-5, if they're still running at the end. Odds - 10 to 1.#64 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 - See above, but with a slightly differently flavored driving lineup. Gentleman drivers Bill Sweedler and Frankie Montecalvo are bolstered by lightning fast Townsend Bell and Sam Bird. Again, another team that SHOULD be fighting for a podium in the last hour of the race. Odds - 10 to 1.
#44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 - The clown princes of IMSA sports car racing, who also just happen to be stupidly quick. No, there's no video that highlights a block system from a toy company this year (if there ever were such a thing, they may or may not have gotten a C&D letter, I have no knowledge of such a thing, so please don't ask me), but they did post a pretty fantastic Daytona 24 Hours preview video on Facebook. Andy Lally, Markus Winkelhock, Andrew Davis and John Potter should be as strong as any lineup Magnus has ever fielded. It'll be fun to watch their 24 hour webcast see if they can repeat their success from two and four years ago. Odds - 10 to 1.
#48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - A top flight team (Paul Miller Racing), running what's probably the fastest car at Daytona this year (the Lamborghini Huracan, which led over half of the practice sessions at the Roar Before test, and put up the fastest time in the "qualifying" session), with an incredible driving roster with zero weak links (Bryan Sellers, Andrea Caldarelli, Madison Snow and Bryce Miller is about as stout a lineup as you're ever going to see in GTD). Frankly, a non-podium finish would be a shock, in my opinion. Odds - 10 to 1.
#58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R - But, for my money, the favorite has to be a Porsche, especially one run by last year's Pirelli World Challenge GT class champion team. Wright Motorsports won that championship with Porsche factory driver Patrick Long, and he's front and center in this lineup as well. But it's not a one man show here, as they've surrounded him was outstanding talent in two time defending GTD class season champion Christina Nielsen, Robert Renauer and Mathieu Jaminet. Yikes. This car has been super quick in testing, and they should be a monster on Race Day (and Night, and Day). Odds - 9 to 1.
So, a super stacked field of talent and equipment, with few weak links to be found anywhere, but my pick is the Wright Porsche. With the GT classes out of the way, the only one left is the Prototype class. Stop on by later in the week for more (almost certainly incorrect) predictions!
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
2018 Daytona 24 Hours - GTLM Class Preview
Greetings, everybody, and welcome back to the annual (uh, kind of) Grab Bag Sports Blogathon! As Mike mentioned in his excellent schedule post, we had some important business come up that meant that we just HAD to come back and do it all again this year. We'll get into the couple of best reasons for that...
...in later posts, due to my arcane personally selected methodology for the order in which I do my class previews. As you may or may not remember, I do these in the order of least interesting class (to me) to most interesting class (to me). However, this year, due to the demise/putting-out-to-pasture of the LMPC class, I won't be leading off with the spec-prototypes. Instead, I'll be leading off with the faster of the two GT classes, GTLM. My reasoning, which is basically exactly the same as the last time we did this in 2016, is totally math based: GTLM - 9 cars; GTD - 21 cars (also, GTLM - 5 manufacturers; GTD - 8 manufacturers). More is more (interesting), less is less (interesting), up is up, down is down, beer and ice cream are both still delicious (and sometimes even together). GTLM is up first.
#25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTLM - Goes in the more prestigious "later in the rundown" spot, because the driver lineup contains one of my all time favorite sports car drivers: Bill Auberlen (I remember rooting for him back when I first started following racing, when he was driving the IMSA GTU class in an MX-6...). Auberlen is stepping away from full time driving this year and only doing the enduros, so it'd be nice to see him get into victory circle on Sunday, along with his co-drivers Alexander Sims, Connor De Phillippi and Philipp Eng. Odds - 8 to 1.
#62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE - The only ran a partial IMSA season last year, but we know that the car is fast (it capped the year with a 3rd-2nd-3rd cluster of finishes in 2017), and all four drivers are MEGA PRO Ferrari factory drivers. Toni Vilander, Alessandro Pier Giudi, James Calado and Davide Rigon have zero weak links among them. Seeing the red Prancing Horse taking home the super spendy watches on Sunday would be the opposite of a...dark horse pick. GET IT? DID YOU GET THAT JOKE? Sorry. Odds - 8 to 1.
#912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR - A semi-rocky start to 2017 (where a 2nd at Daytona and a 3rd at Long Beach were the only solid Porsche results in the first half of the season) tapered quickly into better finishes in the second half of the season (the 1-2 at Lime Rock was pretty exceptional), and so I'd say that the now-mid-engined 911 is well sorted out. The #912 has Laurens Vanthoor, Earl Bamber and Gianmaria Bruni on the driving roster, and, well, they're all really good. Odds - 8 to 1.
#911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR - See all of the above, but sub in Frederic Makowiecki and the superb full season pairing of Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy (who I watched dance on everybody's face and take the overall win at the rain sodden 2015 Petit Le Mans, and I think my socks might finally all be dry just now). Odds - 8 to 1.
#4 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R - The 'Vettes are basically always great just about everywhere, and especially at Daytona (well, except for last year, when they both finished off of the podium). The #4's well proven driving lineup of Tommy Milner, Oliver Gavin and Marcel Fassler have all won seemingly a million races (including three overall wins at Le Mans for Fassler), and the car is going to be good. They'll be in the hunt on Sunday morning. Odds - 8 to 1.
#3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R - The 'Vettes are basically always great just about everywhere, and especially at Daytona. The #3's well proven driver lineup of Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Mike Rockenfeller have all won seemingly two million races (including an overall win at Le Mans for Rocky), and the car is going to be good. They'll be in the hunt on Sunday Morning. Odds - 8 to 1.
#67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT - The GT is great (two wins and six other podium finishes in 2017, oh, and one of those wins was Daytona last year). The drivers (Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, and one of the all time great IndyCar drivers in Scott Dixon) are all great. I think that's enough said. Odds - 8 to 1.
#66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT - This car and group of drivers (Joey Hand, Dirk Mueller and Sebastien Bourdais) won their class at Daytona last year, and managed to win their class at Le Mans the year before that. If the car finishes (which it probably will), it'll probably at least be on the podium. Odds - 8 to 1.
The Pick - As the eagle eyed among you (i.e.: anybody who bothered to read even 1/3rd of the words I wrote up above there, or at least just the ones in boldface) will have noticed, IT'S A TOTAL COP OUT. Nine cars in the class, and they're covered by basically a hand towel in speed. Seven of the nine cars in class were covered by less than a half a second in the "qualifying session" at the Roar Before test, and the other two had issues that session, and each make had a practice session or two where they were in the top couple of cars. It's literally too close to call. But, if I'm picking...I suppose I'll take the #66 to repeat. Because I am not a very creative person (seriously, you can ask my wife how she likes getting bubble bath for Mother's Day, Christmas and her birthday every year).
One class down and two to go! Come on back later in the week, and see my (probably spectacularly inaccurate) picks in GTD and Prototype!
...in later posts, due to my arcane personally selected methodology for the order in which I do my class previews. As you may or may not remember, I do these in the order of least interesting class (to me) to most interesting class (to me). However, this year, due to the demise/putting-out-to-pasture of the LMPC class, I won't be leading off with the spec-prototypes. Instead, I'll be leading off with the faster of the two GT classes, GTLM. My reasoning, which is basically exactly the same as the last time we did this in 2016, is totally math based: GTLM - 9 cars; GTD - 21 cars (also, GTLM - 5 manufacturers; GTD - 8 manufacturers). More is more (interesting), less is less (interesting), up is up, down is down, beer and ice cream are both still delicious (and sometimes even together). GTLM is up first.
The Backmarkers/Frontrunners
#24 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTLM - No real reason to put this one of the two BMWs up first in this listing, just that it's the one that doesn't have one of my long time favorite drivers in it. Instead, it's got the totally capable crew of Jesse Krohn, John Edwards, Nicky Catsburg and Augusto Farfus. All race winners in varying sports car series, all potential race winners here. Odds - 8 to 1.#25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTLM - Goes in the more prestigious "later in the rundown" spot, because the driver lineup contains one of my all time favorite sports car drivers: Bill Auberlen (I remember rooting for him back when I first started following racing, when he was driving the IMSA GTU class in an MX-6...). Auberlen is stepping away from full time driving this year and only doing the enduros, so it'd be nice to see him get into victory circle on Sunday, along with his co-drivers Alexander Sims, Connor De Phillippi and Philipp Eng. Odds - 8 to 1.
#62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE - The only ran a partial IMSA season last year, but we know that the car is fast (it capped the year with a 3rd-2nd-3rd cluster of finishes in 2017), and all four drivers are MEGA PRO Ferrari factory drivers. Toni Vilander, Alessandro Pier Giudi, James Calado and Davide Rigon have zero weak links among them. Seeing the red Prancing Horse taking home the super spendy watches on Sunday would be the opposite of a...dark horse pick. GET IT? DID YOU GET THAT JOKE? Sorry. Odds - 8 to 1.
#912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR - A semi-rocky start to 2017 (where a 2nd at Daytona and a 3rd at Long Beach were the only solid Porsche results in the first half of the season) tapered quickly into better finishes in the second half of the season (the 1-2 at Lime Rock was pretty exceptional), and so I'd say that the now-mid-engined 911 is well sorted out. The #912 has Laurens Vanthoor, Earl Bamber and Gianmaria Bruni on the driving roster, and, well, they're all really good. Odds - 8 to 1.
#911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR - See all of the above, but sub in Frederic Makowiecki and the superb full season pairing of Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy (who I watched dance on everybody's face and take the overall win at the rain sodden 2015 Petit Le Mans, and I think my socks might finally all be dry just now). Odds - 8 to 1.
#4 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R - The 'Vettes are basically always great just about everywhere, and especially at Daytona (well, except for last year, when they both finished off of the podium). The #4's well proven driving lineup of Tommy Milner, Oliver Gavin and Marcel Fassler have all won seemingly a million races (including three overall wins at Le Mans for Fassler), and the car is going to be good. They'll be in the hunt on Sunday morning. Odds - 8 to 1.
#3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R - The 'Vettes are basically always great just about everywhere, and especially at Daytona. The #3's well proven driver lineup of Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Mike Rockenfeller have all won seemingly two million races (including an overall win at Le Mans for Rocky), and the car is going to be good. They'll be in the hunt on Sunday Morning. Odds - 8 to 1.
#67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT - The GT is great (two wins and six other podium finishes in 2017, oh, and one of those wins was Daytona last year). The drivers (Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, and one of the all time great IndyCar drivers in Scott Dixon) are all great. I think that's enough said. Odds - 8 to 1.
#66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT - This car and group of drivers (Joey Hand, Dirk Mueller and Sebastien Bourdais) won their class at Daytona last year, and managed to win their class at Le Mans the year before that. If the car finishes (which it probably will), it'll probably at least be on the podium. Odds - 8 to 1.
The Pick - As the eagle eyed among you (i.e.: anybody who bothered to read even 1/3rd of the words I wrote up above there, or at least just the ones in boldface) will have noticed, IT'S A TOTAL COP OUT. Nine cars in the class, and they're covered by basically a hand towel in speed. Seven of the nine cars in class were covered by less than a half a second in the "qualifying session" at the Roar Before test, and the other two had issues that session, and each make had a practice session or two where they were in the top couple of cars. It's literally too close to call. But, if I'm picking...I suppose I'll take the #66 to repeat. Because I am not a very creative person (seriously, you can ask my wife how she likes getting bubble bath for Mother's Day, Christmas and her birthday every year).
One class down and two to go! Come on back later in the week, and see my (probably spectacularly inaccurate) picks in GTD and Prototype!
Blogathon 2018: GBS Pick 'Em Challenge
Each year during Blogathon, the three of us predict the winners for many of the events taking place throughout the weekend. Feel free to join in and see how your picks match up against ours!
We'll update points here throughout the weekend.
Click here for the complete Blogathon 2018 schedule.
We'll update points here throughout the weekend.
Click here for the complete Blogathon 2018 schedule.
EVENT/POINTS
|
SPEEDGEEK
|
MIKE
|
WEDGE
|
Rolex 24
(6-4-2
Prototype
overall;
3-2-1
GTLM
other
classes)
GTD
|
10, 31, 32,
99, 23
66, 4, 912
44, 58, 48,
69, 64
|
2, 5, 90, 52,
38
67, 911, 24
86, 71, 11,
29, 96
|
6, 7, 55, 37, 22
3, 25, 62
15, 93, 33, 63, 59
|
6-hour mark Overall/P
GTLM
GTD
|
9
|
7 |
8 |
12-hour mark Overall/P
GTLM
GTD
|
8
|
7 |
9 |
18-hour mark Overall/P
GTLM
GTD
|
11
|
9 |
4 |
24-hour mark Overall/P
(double points) GTLM
GTD
|
14
|
28 |
2 |
time when Pruett says "hi to family at home" (5, 3,
1) -- 2:22 p.m.
|
2:58 PM EST
(3) |
3:45 PM EST
|
2:30 pre race
interview
|
(45)
|
(52) |
(28) |
|
NFL Pro Bowl: NFC vs. AFC
(5)
AFC
|
AFC
|
NFC
|
NFC
|
Touchdowns (5 minus # incorrect) 5 total TDs
|
7
|
11
|
13
|
(8)
|
(0)
|
(0)
|
|
Australian Open
Semifinals winners (2)
Mertens vs. 2 Wozniaki / 26 Kerber vs.
1 Halep
6 Cilic vs. Edmund / 2 Federer vs.
Chung
Finals winner (5)
|
(4)
Cilic def.
Federer
|
(2)
Federer def.
Edmund
|
(4)
Federer def. Cilic
|
(4)
|
(7)
|
(9)
|
|
UFC (1)
|
|||
Brunson/Souza
|
S ✓
|
B
|
S ✓
|
Bermudez/Fili
|
B
|
B
|
F✓
|
Gillespie/Rinaldi
|
R
|
G ✓
|
R
|
Dober/Camacho
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
Green/Koch
|
K
|
K
|
G ✓
|
Bektic/Castro
|
B✓
|
C
|
B✓
|
Borella/Chookagian
|
C✓
|
C ✓
|
B
|
Markos/Lima
|
M✓
|
L
|
M✓
|
Kish/Kim
|
Kim✓
|
Kim ✓
|
Kish
|
Pichel/Silva
|
S
|
S
|
Pichel✓
|
(5)
|
(3)
|
(6)
|
|
Basketball (1)
|
|||
Virginia at Duke
|
D
|
D
|
D
|
Oklahoma at
Alabama
|
O
|
O
|
O
|
Mississippi at
Texas
|
T✓
|
T✓
|
T✓
|
Georgia at Kansas
State
|
KS✓
|
G
|
KS✓
|
Massachusetts at
Fordham
|
Mass
|
F✓
|
F✓
|
St. John's at
Butler
|
B✓
|
B ✓
|
SJ
|
TCU at Vanderbilt
|
TCU
|
V✓
|
Vandy✓
|
Tennessee at Iowa
State
|
Tenn✓
|
T ✓
|
IS
|
Texas A&M at
Kansas
|
Kan✓
|
K ✓
|
KS✓
|
Utah at Arizona
|
A✓
|
A ✓
|
U
|
Oklahoma State at
Arkansas
|
OK St.
|
A ✓
|
OKS
|
LSU at Auburn
|
LSU
|
L
|
L
|
Southern Illinois
at Missouri State
|
SI✓
|
M
|
MS
|
Kentucky at West
Virginia
|
K✓
|
K ✓
|
WVU
|
Virginia Tech at
Notre Dame
|
VT✓
|
N
|
VT✓
|
Colorado at
Arizona State
|
AS✓
|
A ✓
|
AS ✓
|
Missouri at
Mississippi State
|
Mizz
|
State ✓
|
Mizz
|
Valparaiso at
Illinois State
|
Valpo
|
I ✓
|
Valpo
|
Boise State at Air
Force
|
AF
|
B✓
|
AF
|
George Washington
at St. Bonaventure
|
Bonny✓
|
G
|
GW
|
Michigan State at
Maryland
|
M St.✓
|
Mich ✓
|
MSt✓
|
Villanova at
Marquette
|
Nova✓
|
M
|
Nova✓
|
Richmond at
Davidson
|
David
|
D
|
Richmond✓
|
Oklahoma City at
Detroit
|
OKC✓
|
O ✓
|
det
|
Orlando at Indiana
|
O
|
I ✓
|
I✓
|
Washington at Atlanta
|
W✓
|
W✓
|
W✓
|
Charlotte at Miami
|
C
|
M✓
|
M✓
|
Boston at Golden State
|
GS✓
|
G✓
|
GS✓
|
Brooklyn at Minnesota
|
M✓
|
M✓
|
B
|
Dallas at Denver
|
Dal
|
Den✓
|
Dal
|
(17)
|
(21)
|
(14)
|
|
Futbol/Soccer (1)
|
|||
U.A.N.L. vs.
Pachuca
|
Pachuca
|
U ✓
|
P
|
Leon vs. Necaxa
|
Necaxa✓
|
N✓
|
N✓
|
America vs. Atlas
|
Atlas
|
Amer ✓
|
Ame✓
|
Chelsea vs.
Newcastle United
|
Newk
|
N
|
C✓
|
Cardiff City vs.
Manchester City
|
Manch✓
|
M ✓
|
MCU✓
|
SPAL vs.
Internazionale
|
Inter✓
|
I ✓
|
SPAL✓
|
Genclerbirligi vs
Konyaspor
|
Gen✓
|
G ✓
|
K
|
Ross County vs.
Rangers
|
Rangers✓
|
Ross
|
Rang✓
|
Hannover 96 vs.
VfL Wolfsburg
|
Han
|
V ✓
|
96
|
Perth Glory vs.
Western Sydney Wanderers
|
Perth✓
|
WCW
|
Wanderers!
|
(6)
|
(7)
|
(6)
|
|
Rugby
(1)
|
|||
Castres Olympique vs. Racing 92
|
Racing✓
|
CO
|
Racing✓
|
Clermont Auvergne vs. Montpellier Herault
|
CA
|
MH✓
|
MH✓
|
Stade Francais Paris vs. Pau
|
Pau✓
|
Pau✓
|
SFP
|
La Rochelle vs. Brive
|
LR✓
|
B
|
LR✓
|
Lyon vs. Agen
|
Agen
|
Lyon✓
|
Lyon✓
|
Stade Toulousain vs. Oyonnax
|
Oyo
|
ST✓
|
ST✓
|
(3)
|
(4)
|
(5)
|
|
Total
|
88
|
94
|
68
|
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