Yellow flags were definitely the order of business leading up to the half way point.

The Prototype class was was hit with more attrition as the #55 Mazda battled back from three laps down, got back on the lead lap, fell back a couple of laps again when Nunez pulled the car off, added a couple of litres of oil in the pits, cut a tire coming out of the pits when the GTD leaders collided right in front of him and slid down pit lane. The car finally rolled to a halt a few laps later, with the back end of the car on fire.

Speaking of the Lambroghini's, the #48 and #16 Lambo's just grabbed the top two spots, then ran into each other along the front straight, slid down along the exit of pit lane, into the inside wall, then across the grass to a rest outside of turn 1, almost collecting the #55 Mazda along the way.

In GTLM, the #25 BMW of Augusto Farfus took the lead after being down a lap early on due to a cut tire with Bill Auberlen at the wheel. The team opted to keep the car out during one of the yellow's, making up the lap, with the next yellow well timed they managed to stay on the same lap and get on the same pit schedule.

On lap 280, coming back to green AIM Autosport alum John Edwards moved around his team mate, putting the #100 into the lead, and putting BMW 1-2 at the top of the GTLM class.

Paul Dalla Lana and his Aston Martin are driving a strong race, with the #98 running up as high as 2nd in GTD as we rolled into the 12 hour mark.

The 01 (Lance Stroll) has run a quite, efficient race, running consistently in the 5-6 positions, and staying out of trouble.

Kyle Marcelli's run didn't last very long, as the #38 experienced transmission problems shortly after he got in the car, and has been in the garage ever since.

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The second 4 hours of the Rolex 24 at Daytona haven't been quite as dramatic as the first 4 hours.

The biggest event was Mark Wilkins, shortly after powering through the PC field into the lead, brought the #54 into the pits, the body work lifted and the car pushed back behind the wall, trailing an immense amount of oil. The CORE autosport is done for the night.

The same lap Wilkins brought the 54 into the pits, the #67 Ford GT was limping around the track with a cut right rear tire. The trip back to the pits, shredded the diffuser. With the repairs completed, the 67 was back out and running laps in what has become essentially a long test session for the Ford GT program.

After running a number of laps in the lead, Johnathan Bomorito pits and turns the car over to Brian Graham Racing alum Spencer Piggot. After climbing into the car Piggot was unable to get it to fire, parked in the pits while the mechanics frantically tried to locate the problem. After a steering wheel replacement didn't work, the Mazda crew set about replacing the ECU. Piggot got the car to fire, and shot out of the pits, but was 3 laps down. A little bit of luck with the yellow flags has seen the #55 get 2 of those 3 laps back, and now sits just a lap back as we head into the toughest part of the night.

Up front, AJ Allmendinger took over from Olivier Pla in the Michael Shank Racing Ligier and proceeded to check out the same way Pla did, opening up leads of as many as 30 seconds, before giving it all back at the yellow flags.

A yellow flag near the end of the 8th hour, it was bad news for the #33 Viper, but good news for Canadians fans as Kyle Marcelli, a very late addition to the #38 Performance Tech PC team, was called to take the car out after the yellow. Great news for Kyle, and great news for us to have one more fast Canadian to follow. We'll get him added to our Update Graphic for the 9th hour.

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The opening 4 hours of the race were loaded with drama, starting early on with 2 of the stars of the show, the 2 Multimatic built Ford GT's running into electrical problems and are both now non-factors in the race with the #67 running 19 laps down, and the #66 35 laps down. Just before suffering it's electrical issues, the #66 GT grabbed the GTLM lead from the Porsche of Nick Tandy.

The new gasoline-powered Mazda prototypes, showing all kinds of pace at the Roar, have had their effort cut in half with the #70 car out on lap 11 with flywheel failure. The sister car, the #55, has proven it's pace from the Roar by leading the race coming into the 4 hour mark, leading on pace rather than fortunate track position during pit stops like their lead last year.

Coming off a restart on lap 55, the Michael Shank Ligier driven by John Pew drilled the ESM Ligier in the bus stop, the ESM car looping around, with both cars falling back and having to fight their way through the field.

The biggest moment of the race came just before the 4 hour mark, when the #8 PC car of Chris Cumming came to a stop in the middle of track in turn 1. Just as I was typing that all the cars are finding their way around it, the Delta Wing with Andy Meryick at the wheel drilled it straight in the gearbox. While both cars are back in the garage it's unlikely either will be back after than impact.

Lance Stroll got out to do his first laps in anger and put on a good show. Taking over the car in 8th place, he turned solid, if unspectacular, laps and handed the car over to team mate Brendon Heartly in good shapr. A really nice debut for the youngster.

Mark Wilkins got into the CORE autosport machine well down the field in PC and in typical fasion began to reel in the cars in front and was in 4th and flying through the class.

In GTD, Paul Dalla Lana had a stint in the #98 Aston Martin, and it's is another car on the move, hitting the top 5 at the 4 hour mark.