Christian Fittipaldi admitted that his quick visit to the garage to watercharge the No.5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPiV-R during a recent caution at the Rolex 24 was more than a routine stop.
“We’re concerned a little bit with water temperature, but apparently it seemed to get it under control,” he said. “So far – knock on wood – it’s not getting any worse, but when we took both cars to the garage we obviously needed to do that. Otherwise, we would have put both cars in pretty big jeopardy.
“There’s still four hours to go, but I think we’re controlling it pretty good. We’re running it at a slower pace than we could. When we speed up a little bit, the temperature starts to climb. When we ease off, the temperature starts to drop. We’re babying it right now.”
Fittipaldi said the lack of full course cautions – only four so far – is a contributing factor.
“That’s a reason everyone’s giving their cars a hard time,” Fittipaldi said. “We’re pretty much running wide open for 24 hours, and that’s why a lot of the cars are suffering. Historically, we get tons more yellows, so that gives the engine a 15-minute break and everything calms down and cools off, and then off we go again.”
Fittipaldi turned his car back to Joao Barbosa, who led Felipe Nasr in the Action Express No.31 Whelen Cadillac by four laps.
Fords continue to run 1-2 in GTLM, with Sebastien Bourdais leading Scott Dixon by 2.352 seconds. Mike Rockenfeller was third in the No.3 Corvette, 24s back.
In GTD, Franck Perera in the No.11 Lamborghini led Luca Stolz led in the No.33 Mercedes by 13.442s. Also on the lead lap were A.J. Allmendinger in the No 86 Acura and Andrea Caldarelli in the No.48 Lamborghini.
RACER.com’s coverage of the Rolex 24 At Daytona is presented by Forgeline Motorsports, manufacturers of custom made-to-order lightweight forged aluminum street and racing performance wheels.
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