Rolex 24 at Daytona: Porsche Claims Back-to-Back Wins After Nail-Biting Finish

#7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy, Laurens Vanthoor

Photo by: Porsche

As the full-course yellow flag was retreated, Nasr perfected the restart in the #7 Porsche to hang on to the lead – but Dries Vanthoor came back at him in the BMW and took first into Turn 1.

However, the Belgian had a big wobble coming out of Turn 2, allowing Nasr to strike back at Turn 4 and reinstate the status quo.

During the next round of pitstops, the #6 Porsche moved into the lead of the race from third place after skipping a tyre change, while Nasr went in the other direction in the sister car after completing full service.

Vanthoor then attempted to pass the new race-leading #6 Porsche of Campbell, but he outbraked himself at Turn 1 and took a long trip through the grass.

The race was neutralised once again when a Lamborghini GT car stopped on track, setting up a 38-dash to the finish.

Vanthoor lightly nudged Campbell’s Porsche as the race went back to green, but the contact was enough to damage an already loose nose cone, causing him to drop a lap off the lead to fourth.

BMW’s late troubles allowed Tom Blomqvist in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura to rise up to third in the closing stages of the race, behind the two leading Porsches.

#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Scott Dixon, Felix Rosenqvist, #85 JDC Miller MotorSports Porsche 963: Tijmen Van Der Helm, Gianmaria Bruni, Pascal Wehrlein, Bryce Aron

Photo by: Andreas Beil

As Nasr retook the lead in the #7 Porsche, Blomqvist continued his chase towards the front and demoted Campbell at Turn 1 to secure second place for Acura.

It marked a remarkable recovery for the #60 Acura shared by Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist, having dropped nearly a lap down at one point.

An off for Rosenqvist during the night required a nose change, while further time was lost due to a drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

Dries Vanthoor, Kevin Magnussen, Phillip Eng and Raffaele Marciello ended up a disappointed fourth in the #24 BMW after a race in which the Munich-based manufacturer was the closest to the pace of the winning Porsche.

Cadillac endured a torrid outing at Daytona International Speedway, with the best of its three LMDh cars finishing a lap down in fifth place, ahead of the #85 JDC customer Porsche of Pascal Wehrlein, Tijmen van der Helm, Bryce Aron and Gianmaria Bruni.

The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series shared by Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Will Stevens and Brendon Hartley dropped off the lead lap shortly after dawn broke in Florida.

A drive-through penalty picked up by Albuquerque for locking up and crashing into the #25 BMW of Marco Wittmann in the 19th hour took away any remaining chance of a comeback.

#10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V- Series.R: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Will Stevens, Brendon Hartley

Photo by: James Gilbert – Motorsport Images

The sister #40 WTR Cadillac enjoyed multiple stints at the front early on with a rapid Kamui Kobayashi aboard, but the car sustained terminal damage in the eighth hour after Louis Deletraz took over the driving duties.

Deletraz went off at Turn 2 after a restart and smashed his Cadillac into the barriers, before spinning back on track and triggering a multi-car incident that caught out several LMP2 and GTD Pro runners.

The #31 Cadillac entered by Action Express Racing also shunted at night, but that accident was caused by a suspension failure and the team repaired its car just before the halfway mark.

Earl Bamber, Jack Aitken, Felipe Drugovich and Frederik Vesti finished 40 laps down in ninth place, behind the #25 BMW and the #93 Acura – both delayed by their own issues.

The second of the two Rahal-entered BMWs was already down in eighth when it was turned around by the Proton Porsche of Neel Jani in the ninth hour.

An overnight rear brake change dropped the car two laps, while a 3m12s penalty for an improper wave-by procedure and a puncture sustained in a collision caused by Albuquerque further dented the prospects of Marco Wittmann, Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijs and Rene Rast.

The #93 Acura engineered directly by HRC USA lost an hour in repairs on Saturday evening due to a rear suspension failure, leaving Nick Yelloly, Alex Palou, Renger van der Zande and Kakunoshin Ohta out of contention.

Lamborghini’s maiden Daytona appearance in the GTP class barely lasted an hour, with Mirko Bortolotti forced to bring the Italian marque’s SC63 LMDh into the pits due to water pressure issues after just 34 laps.

Proton’s customer Porsche joined the Lamborghini and the #40 Cadillac in the list of retirements.

Tower claims LMP2 win after late drama

#8 Tower Motorsports, ORECA LMP2 07: John Farano, Sebastian Alvarez, Sebastien Bourdais, Job Van Uitert

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

Tower Motorsports claimed victory in the LMP2 category, with Sebastien Bourdais taking the chequered flag by a mammoth margin of 45s in the #8 ORECA he shared with Job Van Uitert, Sebastian Alvarez and John Farano.

This was after the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca, which had taken the lead by short-fuelling under the final FCY went off in the final hour and slumped to fifth, likely due to contact with a rival.

The #22 United Autosports Oreca shared by Paul di Resta, Daniel Goldburg, James Allen and Rasmus Lindh was battling with the Tower car for the lead in the final hour, but a drive-through penalty for a pitlane infringement meant it had to settle for second.

Third went to the #74 Riley car of Felipe Fraga, Gar Robinson, Josh Burdon and Felipe Massa after the order shook-up upside down in the final hour.

The #88 AF Corse ORECA was leading the race by a healthy margin when Matthieu Vaxiviere crawled to a halt on track with mechanical problems in the 22nd hour.

AF Corse’s troubles handed the lead to the AO Racing crew, but the team’s #99 ORECA failed to start in the pits with mechanical troubles, leaving it out of the fight for victory in the final hour.

Another front-running car to be eliminated from contention on Sunday morning was the #4 CrowdStrike by APR ORECA, which sustained heavy damage after IndyCar star Colton Herta crashed it rear-first into the wall in the 19th hour.

Ford beats BMW and Corvette in GTD Pro

#65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3: Christopher Mies, Frederic Vervisch, Dennis Olsen

Photo by: James Gilbert – Motorsport Images

Ford emerged on top in a dramatic three-way fight with BMW and Corvette to take victory in the GTD Pro class.

Following the late FCY intervention, Dennis Olsen hung on to victory in the #65 Multimatic Ford Mustang GT3 he shared with Frederic Vervisch and Christopher Mies.

This was after the erstwhile-leading #1 Paul Miller BMW M4 GT3 EVO driven by Kelvin van der Linde spun in the closing stages of the race after making contact with the #3 Corvette Z06 GT3 of Alexander Sims.

Sims ended up 1.9s off the lead in second aboard the car he shared with Antonio Garcia and Daniel Juncadella, while the #1 BMW of van der Linde, Neil Verhagen and Connor de Phillippi dropped to fourth behind the other Ford of Sebastian Priaulx, Mike Rockenfeller and Austin Cindric.

BMW and Corvette were already involved in a bitter and controversial battle in the 22nd hour of the race.

BMW driver Augusto Farfus was running several laps down in the #44 M4 when the Brazilian appeared to hold up Corvette driver Tommy Milner to give De Phillippi a chance to take the lead.

Race control intervened and handed Farfus a drive-through penalty for blocking a rival, but just as the decision was announced Milner came to blows with De Phillippi, taking some damage to the rear-left side of his #4 Corvette.

De Phillippi managed to snatch the position after the next round of pitstops, while Milner came into the pitlane again after being handed a mechanical black flag due to flapping bodywork.

Corvette triumphs in GTD

#13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Orey Fidani, Matthew Bell, Lars Kern, Marvin Kirchhöfer

Photo by: James Gilbert – Motorsport Images

In the regular GTD class, victory went to the #13 AWA Corvette of Matthew Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern and Marvin Kirchhofer.

The #13 Corvette led the field for much of the race since hour 14, with Bell hanging on to the top spot in an epic final-hour battle with Mattia Drudi in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

The victory was sealed when Bell repassed Drudi into Turn 6 with 17 minutes to go. The #27 Aston Martin crewed by Drudi, Zacharie Robichon, Casper Stevenson and Zacharie Robichon eventually finished third, as Ayhancan Guven propelled the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R back up to second with a late pass.

Photos from Daytona 24 Hours Race

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