GTD Pro Leaders Clash in Hour 22

Image: IMSA

Tommy Milner and Connor De Phillippi came to blows in the battle for the GTD Pro lead as the Rolex 24 at Daytona approached the final two hours.

Milner, piloting the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, was defending class lead from the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3.

However, the Corvette veteran encountered into the sister No. 48 BMW, driven by Augusto Farfus, which ran several laps down after getting caught up in an overnight collision.

Farfus held up Milner as De Phillippi sought the make the overtake, with the No. 48 eventually receiving a penalty for blocking.

However, before the Brazilian was able to serve the penalty, Milner and De Phillippi came to blows as they made side-by-side contact at the International Horseshoe, resulting in rear bodywork damage to the No. 4 Chevrolet.

The No. 1 BMW continued to lead the class with De Phillippi still at the wheel ahead of the two Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 piloted by Chris Mies and Seb Priaulx.

Drama also surrounded the leader in LMP2, as Matthieu Vaxiviere brought the No. 88 Pecom Racing Oreca 07 Gibson to a halt on track, bringing out a caution.

This promoted the No. 99 AO Racing into the lead in class with Jonny Edgar at the wheel,  ahead of the No. 22 United Autosports machine of Rasmus Lindh.

GTP continued to be a battle pitching the pair of Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 against the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8, with the former holding the upper hand.

Kevin Estre led aboard the No. 6 car from the No. 7 sister machine of Felipe Nasr, who pitted shortly before the caution.

That promoted the Brazilian to the head of the field as the rest came in, whole the No. 6 car was delayed due to a bodywork issue in the pits.

As a result, the No. 24 BMW leaped to second place with Dries Vanthoor at the wheel.

AWA, meanwhile, continued to lead GTD with Matt Bell aboard the No. 13 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.