Penske Leads Petit Le Mans at Halfway Mark

Graham Rahal leads Motul Petit Le Mans under yellow at the halfway point for Acura Team Penske.

Rahal and the No. 7 Acura ARX-05 and the rest of the top four are on a slightly different pit strategy than the rest of the Prototype field which pitted under this caution.

The safety car was deployed when the No. 38 Performance Tech Oreca 07 Gibson slowed on track due to a suspected suspension issue.

Oliver Jarvis and Johannes van Overbeek run second and third for Mazda Team Joest and Tequila Patron ESM, respectively, while the championship leading No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Gaby Chaves runs fifth and first of the cars on its strategy.

While the team remains in pursuit of the season-long IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Prototype class crown, Chaves’ full season co-drivers Felipe Nasr and Eric Curran have already clinched the Prototype class Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup.

The No. 31 car’s closest pursuers in the championship, CORE autosport, is just behind in sixth with Romain Dumas at the wheel of the No. 54 Oreca.

Scott Dixon is the leader in GT Le Mans in the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing machine, with BMW Team RLL’s John Edwards and the No. 66 Ford GT of Sebastien Bourdais second and third.

GT Daytona Championship leaders Paul Miller Racing lead in class with Madison Snow currently aboard the No. 48 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 followed by Ben Keating’s No. 33 Mercedes-AMG GT3 and Alvaro Parente in the No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3.

The No. 5 AXR Cadillac is mired back in ninth after an off track excursion for Filipe Albuquerque midway through the fourth hour which dropped them off the lead lap.

The car did sustain minor front end damage which was rectified under the yellow.

The No. 55 Mazda, which had recovered from losing a wheel under yellow earlier in the race, was handed another setback when it sustained damage to the rear of the machine after contact with a GTLM Porsche.

From the GTD class, the No. 93 MSR Acura went behind the wall in the fifth hour with a suspected oil leak and has been retired from the race, while he No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R lost close to an hour with a gearbox issue.

An early casualty of attrition, the No. 6 Acura is back on track, albeit many laps down, after undergoing extensive repairs to damage sustained when Juan Pablo Montoya went off course earlier in the race.