Trouble Finds Barbosa in Hour 8

Contact in the eighth hour between Joao Barbosa and James French has waylaid both the Rolex 24 at Daytona-winning No. 5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R and the No. 38 Performance Tech Racing Oreca O7 Gibson.

Both cars were able to limp to the attention of their crews on pit lane but sustained significant front end damage as a result of the collision in Turn 17. The accident did not result in a caution period.

Tequila Patron ESM driver Johannes van Overbeek holds the overall lead in the No. 22 Nissan Onroak DPi by nearly three seconds over Eric Curran in the No. 31 AXR Cadillac with Phil Hanson running a solid third for United Autosports in its Ligier JS P217 Gibson.

Porsche currently runs 1-2 in the GT Le Mans category with Frederic Makowiecki in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR leading Laurens Vanthoor in the sister entry. Alessandro Pier Guidi has the No. 62 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GTE in third.

It’s a Ferrari a the top of the GT Daytona standings as well with Alessandro Balzan behind the wheel of the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3.

The Italian is running just over two seconds ahead of second-place Jeroen Bleekemolen in the No. 33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Of note, the No. 6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 officially retired from the race with a mechanical troubles.

There have already been eight caution periods through just under eight hours so far after just four cautions in the Rolex 24.