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Edition

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Race report
IMSA Daytona 24 Hours

Daytona 24h: Porsche triumphs after epic duel with Cadillac

Porsche Penske Motorsport won the 62nd edition of the Daytona 24 Hours after a thrilling battle for victory with Cadillac.

It was Porsche’s 19th overall win here – it has four more as an engine supplier – and Penske’s first triumph here since 1969.

The race boiled down to a straight duel between the #31 Cadillac V-Series.R – run by reigning series champions Action Express Racing – of Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken and Tom Blomqvist and the #7 factory Porsche 963 of Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden and Felipe Nasr.

Blomqvist, who was on warmer tires after pitting three laps earlier, passed Nasr for the lead with 72 minutes remaining in a three-wide move around a GTD Ferrari.

Nasr then reported a “massive vibration” over the radio, and he fell back by 3.7s before Blomqvist suffered a major moment at the International Horseshoe cost him 1.3s – which proved how hard the leaders were pushing as the race entered its final hour.

Blomqvist then caught the #6 Penske Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet, which was running fourth, to put it a lap down that allowed Nasr to catch up again.

But just as their duel was heating up again, a fire aboard the GTD class #12 Lexus RC F at pit out led to a restart with just over 30 minutes remaining. Nasr jumped ahead of Blomqvist in the final pitstops, as he needed less fuel – and the Porsche’s bugbear of slow tire warm-up was negated by a handful of laps behind the safety car.

Nasr pulled away at the final green, swerving to break to tow to Blomqvist, to keep the lead. Blomqvist hovered within a second of Nasr, appearing to wait for his chance in traffic to strike.

With 20 minutes to go, Blomqvist increased the pressure as they got into the GTD stragglers but Nasr held his nerve. The gap was half a second with five minutes to go, with Nasr visibly on the ragged edge at Turn 1 especially, but the backmarkers fell kindly for him on the last lap.

Confusion reigned when the white flag, signalling the final lap, was shown in error with three minutes of the 24 hours still remaining.

The winning margin was 2.112s.

#7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

#7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden

Behind them, the #40 Acura ARX-06 took up the reins for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti when the #10 sister car suffered an electrical issue as darkness descended on Saturday evening, after leading the opening hour, that required some rewiring.

Louis Deletraz, who shared with Jordan Taylor, Colton Herta and Jenson Button, hit Jaminet at the first corner of the restart, but was squeezed at the apex so got away with it and claimed third.

The #6 Porsche – which had led for a while on Sunday morning – bounced back from multiple penalties for failing to adhere to its powertrain parameters caused by a software issue. Kevin Estre then suffered a time-consuming off at the International Horseshoe on his out lap with four hours remaining, which happened just after a nose change.

BMW’s challenge faltered on Sunday morning, as both of its cars were struck by gremlins just when it was emerging as a serious contender for a podium finish.

The #24 M Hybrid V8 stopped at the exit of Turn 3 just before the 14-hour mark with a power steering issue and needed a flatbed to recover it back to the garage (after a failed attempt at towing it), where it was joined by the #25 sister car at the end of Hour 15 due to gearbox problems.

The #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac that ran strongly for the first half of the race fell out of the race at end of Hour 14 with powertrain problems that caused Renger van der Zande to park up at Turn 1.

The car had got back up to fourth place at that point, but its problems began when Sebastien Bourdais went off having struck some debris that punctured a tire just before half distance.

#18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2-Gibson: Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel, Christian Rasmussen

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

#18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2-Gibson: Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel, Christian Rasmussen

Era Motorsport triumphs after wild LMP2 battles

The secondary prototype class produced some of the best racing and most messy moments of the entire race.

Five cars were in the hunt for victory: Era Motorsport, Crowdstrike by APR, Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen, Riley and Tower Motorsports.

Era’s Christian Rasmussen put in some stellar stints in the closing stages, chased by Malthe Jakobsen (Crowdstrike – who punted a BMW GTP into a spin after the final restart but escaped a penalty), Tom Dillmann (Europol), Felipe Fraga (Riley) and Scott McLaughlin (Tower) in the closing shootout.

Fraga took third in the closing stages, as Rasmussen pulled well clear to seal an emphatic victory from Jakobsen. Dillmann finished fourth, winning a battle with McLaughlin.

United Autosport’s #2 car was very strong early on but lost a lap around the halfway point.

Expected frontrunner Steven Thomas (TDS Racing) suffered a massive head-on crash into the SAFER barrier at the exit of the Bus Stop (aka: Le Mans) Chicane and was the first official retirement of the race after 58 laps.

The #33 Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier – the only non-ORECA in the class – was responsible for four cautions before its retirement after 510 laps.

#62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3: Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

#62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3: Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado

Risi Ferrari wins GTD  

The GTD classes provided a revolving cast of frontrunners throughout the 24 hours, with the Pro category turning into a straight fight between the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 of Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado and the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 of Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen and Sheldon van der Linde.

Sellers reported a long brake pedal with two hours remaining, so the team replaced the rotors and calipers. But the right-front rotor didn’t seat into the hub properly, and van der Linde returned to the pits with the wheel almost coming adrift.

The car returned to the track three laps down, handing second in GTD Pro to the pole-winning AO Racing Porsche 911 of Laurin Heinrich, Seb Priaulx and Michael Christensen.

Beyond that trio, everyone else suffered all kinds of major problems.

One of the first casualties of the race was the GTD Pro Lexus, which had to undergo lengthy radiator repairs after striking a wayward LMP2 car while leading in Mike Conway’s hands in the opening hour.

The Pfaff Motorsports McLaren suffered a litany of issues, which began with a front-right upright problem while leading at the start of Hour 4.

The Corvettes ran strongly until the #3 (fire) and #4 hit trouble and joined it in the garage for some time.

Ford’s new Mustang also featured near the front at times but fell away with mechanical problems that included a rear decklid issue, while the #65 Multimatic car required a new rear wing with three hours to go.

In the pro-am category, the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 emerged as the dominant force during the night-time hours, in the hands of Russell Ward, Philip Ellis, Indy Dontje and Daniel Morad – and the latter brought it home.

Lexus lost a likely second placed finish when Parker Thompson’s car suffered a plenum fire in its engine with just 50 minutes to go.

Miguel Molina took the fight to Morad in the closing laps in his #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 he shared with Simon Mann, Francois Heriau and Kei Cozzolino but had to settle for second by 3s.

 
 
       
Driver Info
 
 
 
   
Cla Drivers # Chassis Laps Time Interval Pits Points Retirement
1 United States D. Cameron Brazil F. Nasr Australia M. Campbell United States J. Newgarden Porsche Penske Motorsport 7 Porsche 963 791

23:58'24.723

  32    
2 Brazil P. Derani United Kingdom J. Aitken United Kingdom T. Blomqvist Whelen Cadillac Racing 31 Cadillac V-Series.R 791

+2.112

23:58'26.835

2.112 33    
3 United States J. Taylor Switzerland L. Deletraz United States C. Herta United Kingdom J. Button Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti 40 Acura ARX-06 791

+14.989

23:58'39.712

12.877 32    
4 United Kingdom N. Tandy France M. Jaminet France K. Estre Belgium L. Vanthoor Porsche Penske Motorsport 6 Porsche 963 791

+15.387

23:58'40.110

0.398 39    
5 Italy G. Bruni Switzerland N. Jani Belgium A. Picariello France R. Dumas Proton Competition 5 Porsche 963 791

+44.479

23:59'09.202

29.092 32    
6 Netherlands T. van der Helm United Kingdom R. Westbrook United Kingdom P. Hanson United States B. Keating JDC/Miller Motorsports 85 Porsche 963 789

+2 Laps

23:59'19.406

2 Laps 33    
7 United States C. de Phillippi United Kingdom N. Yelloly Belgium M. Martin Germany R. Rast BMW M Team RLL 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 778

+13 Laps

23:59'03.365

11 Laps 33    
8 Finland J. Krohn Austria P. Eng Brazil A. Farfus Belgium D. Vanthoor BMW M Team RLL 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 776

+15 Laps

23:59'20.969

2 Laps 33    
9 United States D. Merriman United Kingdom R. Dalziel
C. Zilisch
C. Rasmussen Era Motorsport
18 ORECA 07 767

+24 Laps

23:59'46.247

9 Laps 37    
10 United States G. Kurtz United States C. Braun United Kingdom T. Sowery
M. Jakobsen Crowdstrike Racing by APR
04 ORECA 07 767

+24 Laps

23:59'53.047

6.800 36    
11 United States G. Robinson Brazil F. Fraga Australia J. Burdon Brazil F. Massa Riley 74 ORECA 07 767

+24 Laps

24:00'04.187

11.140 40    
12 Poland J. Smiechowski United States N. Boulle France T. Dillmann France C. Novalak Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports 52 ORECA 07 767

+24 Laps

24:00'04.480

0.293 37    
13 Canada J. Farano
M. Dinan
Austria F. Habsburg New Zealand S. McLaughlin Tower Motorsports
8 ORECA 07 767

+24 Laps

24:00'05.285

0.805 37    
14 United States B. Keating
N. Pino
United Kingdom B. Hanley Mexico P. O'Ward United Autosports USA
2 ORECA 07 765

+26 Laps

23:58'42.515

2 Laps 39    
15 United States E. Lux
K. Simpson
Australia J. Allen
S. Alvarez DragonSpeed
81 ORECA 07 764

+27 Laps

23:59'50.022

1 Lap 39    
16
P. Hyett
France P. Chatin Australia M. Brabham
A. Quinn AO Racing
99 ORECA 07 753

+38 Laps

23:59'28.160

11 Laps 37    
17 Brazil D. Serra Italy D. Rigon Italy A. Pier Guidi United Kingdom J. Calado Risi Competizione 62 Ferrari 296 GT3 733

+58 Laps

24:00'03.261

20 Laps 31    
18 Germany L. Heinrich
S. Priaulx
Denmark M. Christensen AO Racing
77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 732

+59 Laps

23:58'48.041

1 Lap 28    
19 United States R. Ward Switzerland P. Ellis Netherlands I. Dontje Canada D. Morad Winward Racing 57 Mercedes AMG GT3 731

+60 Laps

24:00'01.790

1 Lap 30    
20 France S. Mann France F. Heriau Spain M. Molina Japan K. Cozzolino Af Corse 21 Ferrari 296 GT3 731

+60 Laps

24:00'04.521

2.731 31    
21 United States B. Sellers United States M. Snow United States N. Verhagen South Africa S. Van Der Linde Paul Miller Racing 1 BMW M4 GT3 730

+61 Laps

23:58'27.560

1 Lap 33    
22
M. Franco
A. Costa
Italy A. Balzan Monaco C. Sbirrazzuoli Conquest Racing
34 Ferrari 296 GT3 730

+61 Laps

23:58'29.162

1.602 33    
23 O. Triarsi
C. Scardina
R. Agostini Italy A. Rovera Triarsi Competizione
023 Ferrari 296 GT3 730

+61 Laps

23:58'29.338

0.176 33    
24 United States M. Skeen Canada M. Grenier United States K. Koch
M. Goetz Korthoff/Preston Motorsports
32 Mercedes AMG GT3 730

+61 Laps

23:58'36.129

6.791 29    
25 Switzerland R. Frey Denmark M. Gatting Belgium S. Bovy France D. Pin Iron Dames 83 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 730

+61 Laps

23:59'09.629

33.500 30    
26
A. Adelson
E. Skeer Belgium J. Heylen France F. Makowiecki Wright Motorsports
120 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 729

+62 Laps

23:58'49.765

1 Lap 30    
27 Turkey S. Yoluc
R. Andrade
Australia S. Andrews United Kingdom A. Christodoulou Lone Star Racing
80 Mercedes AMG GT3 729

+62 Laps

23:59'13.626

23.861 36    
28 United States J. Andretti Colombia G. Chaves Canada S. Hargrove Austria T. Preining Andretti Motorsports 43 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 728

+63 Laps

23:58'45.431

1 Lap 33    
29 United Kingdom R. Gunn Spain A. Riberas Germany M. Farnbacher Heart Of Racing Team 23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo 727

+64 Laps

23:59'01.874

1 Lap 31    
30 Spain A. Garcia United Kingdom A. Sims Spain D. Juncadella Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R 726

+65 Laps

23:58'26.939

1 Lap 28    
31 United Kingdom H. Tincknell Germany M. Rockenfeller Germany C. Mies Ford Multimatic Motorsports 64 Ford Mustang GT3 726

+65 Laps

23:58'44.829

17.890 27    
32 Italy R. Lacorte Italy G. Sernagiotto Italy A. Fuoco United States E. Cheever Cetilar Racing 47 Ferrari 296 GT3 722

+69 Laps

23:58'30.558

4 Laps 33    
33
F. Perera
South Africa J. Pepper Italy A. Caldarelli Italy M. Bortolotti Iron Lynx
19 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 721

+70 Laps

23:58'42.964

1 Lap 34    
34 United States D. Brule United States A. Udell United States T. Hindman France J. Andlauer Kellymoss with Riley 92 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 719

+72 Laps

23:59'01.205

2 Laps 32    
35
K. Li
Denmark A. Fjordbach Netherlands L. ten Voorde Austria K. Bachler MDK Motorsports
86 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 718

+73 Laps

23:59'19.517

1 Lap 32    
36 United States B. Iribe Switzerland F. Schandorff United Kingdom O. Millroy United Kingdom T. Gamble Inception Racing 70 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO 716

+75 Laps

23:58'36.519

2 Laps 30    
37 United States T. Milner Netherlands N. Catsburg New Zealand E. Bamber Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports 4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R 715

+76 Laps

23:58'36.868

1 Lap 30    
38 United States R. Foley United States P. Gallagher
J. Walker
Germany J. Klingmann Turner Motorsport
96 BMW M4 GT3 711

+80 Laps

23:59'08.980

4 Laps 34    
dnf United States F. Montecalvo Canada P. Thompson United States A. Telitz Japan R. Miyata Vasser Sullivan 12 Lexus RC F GT3 705

+86 Laps

23:07'21.053

6 Laps 27   Retirement
40 Canada M. Goikhberg Italy L. Spinelli Canada D. DeFrancesco United Kingdom S. Mitchell Forte Racing 78 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 676

+115 Laps

23:59'41.758

29 Laps 33    
dnf United States J. Hand Germany D. Muller Belgium F. Vervisch Ford Multimatic Motorsports 65 Ford Mustang GT3 650

+141 Laps

21:31'26.313

26 Laps 28   Retirement
42 Canada K. Marcelli Costa Rica D. Formal
G. Doyle
United States A. Harrison Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti
45 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 643

+148 Laps

24:00'17.685

7 Laps 30    
dnf United States R. Taylor Portugal F. Albuquerque New Zealand B. Hartley Sweden M. Ericsson Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti 10 Acura ARX-06 601

+190 Laps

21:35'22.036

42 Laps 30   Retirement
dnf Germany M. Kirchhofer United Kingdom O. Jarvis Canada J. Hinchcliffe United States A. Rossi Pfaff Motorsports 9 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO 532

+259 Laps

19:15'18.956

69 Laps 24   Retirement
dnf United States L. Willsey Portugal J. Barbosa
N. Siegel
United Kingdom J. Edgar Sean Creech Motorsport
33 Ligier JS P217 510

+281 Laps

19:05'20.029

22 Laps 28   Retirement
dnf Canada A. Mantella
N. Varrone
United States T. Merrill Ireland C. Eastwood AWA
17 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD 508

+283 Laps

17:11'03.635

2 Laps 26   Retirement
dnf Netherlands R. van der Zande France S. Bourdais New Zealand S. Dixon Spain A. Palou Cadillac Racing 01 Cadillac V-Series.R 423

+368 Laps

13:14'45.769

85 Laps 22   Retirement
dnf United Kingdom J. Hawksworth United Kingdom B. Barnicoat United States K. Kirkwood United Kingdom M. Conway Vasser Sullivan 14 Lexus RC F GT3 397

+394 Laps

14:37'42.602

26 Laps 17   Retirement
dnf
S. Monk
United Kingdom K. Legge Colombia T. Calderon United Kingdom S. McAleer Gradient Racing
66 Acura NSX GT3 368

+423 Laps

12:59'03.989

29 Laps 20   Retirement
dnf United States R. Hardwick Norway D. Olsen
G. Levorato
United States C. Lewis Proton Competition
55 Ford Mustang GT3 367

+424 Laps

12:53'39.804

1 Lap 19   Retirement
dnf Canada O. Fidani United Kingdom M. Bell Germany L. Kern United Kingdom A. Lynn AWA 13 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD 308

+483 Laps

13:14'03.111

59 Laps 21   Retirement
dnf Canada R. De Angelis Canada Z. Robichon United Kingdom I. James Denmark M. Sorensen Heart Of Racing Team 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo 303

+488 Laps

10:18'53.225

5 Laps 13   Retirement
dnf United States J. Potter United States A. Lally United States S. Pumpelly Denmark N. Thiim Magnus Racing 44 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo 294

+497 Laps

11:01'45.753

9 Laps 19   Retirement
dnf Italy C. Schiavoni Italy M. Cressoni France R. Grosjean Italy M. Cairoli Iron Lynx 60 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 293

+498 Laps

10:41'24.861

1 Lap 18   Retirement
dnf Australia K. Habul France J. Gounon Germany L. Stolz Germany M. Engel Sun Energy 1 75 Mercedes AMG GT3 193

+598 Laps

7:08'03.112

100 Laps 13   Retirement
dnf Denmark D. Andersen
S. Lucas
Germany L. Hörr United States S. Huffaker MDK by High Class Racing
20 ORECA 07 185

+606 Laps

10:14'06.271

8 Laps 19   Retirement
dnf D. Goldburg United Kingdom P. di Resta
B. Garg
Sweden F. Rosenqvist United Autosports USA
22 ORECA 07 128

+663 Laps

4:57'40.916

57 Laps 9   Retirement
dnf Argentina L. Perez Companc Denmark N. Nielsen
L. Wadoux
France M. Vaxiviere Richard Mille AF Corse
88 ORECA 07 107

+684 Laps

3:34'07.984

21 Laps 7   Retirement
dnf United States S. Thomas Denmark M. Jensen
H. McElrea
France C. Milesi TDS Racing
11 ORECA 07 58

+733 Laps

1:55'14.732

49 Laps 4   Retirement

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