29 January 2017
Daytona Beach, 29 Jan 2017 - The 24 Hours of Daytona has reached its halfway point, 12 hours in. What looked like just a smattering of rain only due to fall during the night, has turned into constant bad weather, which has not yet lifted over this part of Florida. This has thrown everything into the air, but the two remaining Ferraris are consistently in the leading group.
GLTM. In the GLTM initially Risi Competizione decided not to change tyres but to persist with the drys. This proved mistaken to the point that Giancarlo Fisichella had to stop under the green flag to change tyres. At that point James Calado took over and put in some fast laps to climb back into contention. Toni Vilander then replaced the British driver and is now chasing the two Porsches, which have benefited from the rain, and the Ford of Joey Hand.
GTD. Nor has it not been plain sailing for the Ferrari of Scuderia Corsa. Sam Bird preferred to stay with the drys when the rain began, but the British driver was also forced to make a stop under the green flag. As a result the 488 GT3 dropped out of the top ten. Christina Nielsen then took the wheel, deciding not to change tyres and Matteo Cressoni did likewise but suffered a very slow final part of his stint. Alessandro Balzan then climbed back into the car, which is nestled in fourth place at the midway point.