IMSA has released the provisional entry list for the 63rd Rolex 24 at Daytona, with a full field of 61 entries across the four classes for the twice-around-the-clock season opener of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. ENTRY LIST That …
IMSA has released the provisional entry list for the 63rd Rolex 24 at Daytona, with a full field of 61 entries across the four classes for the twice-around-the-clock season opener of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
That includes a record dozen entries in Grand Touring Prototype, the most since the new era of GTP began in 2023. With Cadillac expanding to three cars for the season, an entry from Proton Competition, and the first appearance of the Lamborghini SC63 in the 24-hour race, the field has expanded to its largest yet.
Gianmaria Bruni and Neel Jani are listed as driving Proton’s Porsche 963, while JDC-Miller’s 963 has Tijmen van der Helm and Bryce Aron. With Andrea Caldarelli in Pfaff’s new Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 in GTD PRO, Mirko Bortolotti, Romain Grosjean, Daniil Kvyat and Edoardo Mortara are nominated as driving the Lamborghini Iron Lynx SC63.
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With the flurry of announcements in recent days as teams finalized their line-ups, there are few surprises among the entries, but still a lot of TBDs. For example, the entire line-up for both Vasser Sullivan Racing’s GTD PRO and GTD Lexus RC Fs, as well as both Paul Miller Racing’s GTD PRO BMW M4 GT3 Evo entries, are TBD, as is Triarsi Racing’s second Ferrari 296 GT3 in GTD. In all, there are some 47 question marks on the entry. Several of the GTD teams have named their Bronze-rated drivers, but the rest of the line-up is to be determined.
The LMP2 field sits at an even dozen as well with the return of CrowdStrike Racing by APR (George Kurtz, Malthe Jakobsen, Toby Sowery and Colton Herta) and the addition of PECOM Racing, looking much like the old AF Corse entry including the No. 88 and drivers Luis Perez Companc, Nicklas Nielsen and Matthieu Vaxiviere. Newcomer Pratt Miller Motorsports has Pietro Fittipaldi, James Roe, Chris Cumming and Callum Ilott listed as drivers.
GTD PRO’s 15 entries, in addition to the full-season efforts and one-offs already announced, include the No. 20 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R with Claudio Schiavoni and Matteo Cressoni — who ran with Iron Lynx last season — joined by Richard Lietz and Thomas Priening. 75 Express, formerly known as SunEnergy1, makes its somewhat annual trek to Daytona with Kenny Habul, Mikael Grenier and Maro Engel. DragonSpeed’s new Ferrari 296 GT3 entry has only Albert Costa listed. Missing is an entry from series and Ferrari stalwart Risi Competizione.
Among GTD’s 22 cars are no real surprises but as noted, a lot of questions. One driver of interest is Joey Hand, nominated to drive the Gradient Racing’s new Ford Mustang GT3 after being released from Ford Multimatic Motorsports, but no other drivers are listed. Roberto Lacorte is the sole driver listed for Cetilar Racing, as is Custodio Toledo for AF Corse, both teams running the Ferrari 296 GT3. Incidentally, the Ferrari 296 GT3 has the most entries (nine) outside the ORECA 07s that make up the entire LMP2 field.
Misha Goikhberg enters his third season driving Forte Racing’s Lamborghini, but no co-drivers have been named. Dan Knox is the only driver listed for Lone Star Racing.
Obviously, there is time for the TBDs to be filled before the Roar Before the 24 kicks off the consecutive weekends at Daytona International Speedway. The Roar runs Jan. 17-19, while the Rolex 24 At Daytona takes place Jan. 23-26.
While the full-season entries for next year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship were revealed a couple of weeks ago, the first one-off entry for the Rolex 24 at Daytona has dropped, and it’s Bartone Bros. Racing with Getspeed Performance. The …
While the full-season entries for next year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship were revealed a couple of weeks ago, the first one-off entry for the Rolex 24 at Daytona has dropped, and it’s Bartone Bros. Racing with Getspeed Performance.
The team will field a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo for Anthony Bartone and drivers to be announced in the GTD PRO class for the 2025 season opener.
“I’ve dreamed of racing at Daytona since I was young,” said Bartone, of Miami. “It is something me and my father [Tony] did every year is watch the Rolex 24. It is a full-circle moment for me and my father. It is a huge privilege to be able to drive with Getspeed in their first Rolex 24. Adam [Osieka] and his team have played a big role in my progression as a driver.”
The Bartone and Getspeed relationship dates to 2023 and flourished in 2024 with a defining win in the SRO World Challenge CrowdStrike Spa 24. In addition, Bartone posted a win in the International GT Open Championship at Portimão, and drove to second-place finishes in Barcelona, Paul Ricard, and Spa that equated to fifth place in the season ending Pro Class standings. The team will make additional driver announcements in the coming months.
Getspeed, based at the Nürburgring in Germany, brings a wealth of endurance racing championship experience with the Mercedes-AMG brand. Headed by Adam Osieka, the team will be a first-time entrant in the Rolex 24.
“We’re incredibly excited to finally confirm our entry for the 2025 Rolex 24 At Daytona,” Osieka said. “After becoming the best Mercedes-AMG customer racing team in 2024 this is the next highlight for our team. The Rolex 24 is a legendary race, and another huge step for GetSpeed. Together with Bartone Bros. Racing, Anthony Bartone, and Mercedes-AMG factory drivers, we will give our best to showcase our capabilities.”
Next up for Bartone Bros. Racing with Getspeed is the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe 6-hours of Jeddah, Nov. 28-30 followed by round one of the Asian Le Mans Series to run in Sepang, Dec. 7.
The 2025 Rolex 24 at Daytona takes place Jan. 23-26, preceded a week earlier by the Roar Before the 24 test weekend.
BMW and Ferrari have lost all their IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Michelin Endurance Cup manufacturers points from the Rolex 24 At Daytona for the GTD PRO and GTD classes. Both manufacturers were found to have performance in excess of …
BMW and Ferrari have lost all their IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Michelin Endurance Cup manufacturers points from the Rolex 24 At Daytona for the GTD PRO and GTD classes. Both manufacturers were found to have performance in excess of IMSA’s expectations. That includes the GTD PRO victory points for Ferrari (Risi Competizione) and third-place points for BMW (Paul Miller Racing). Ferrari had a best finish of second in GTD with AF Corse.
According to the penalty notice for Ferrari: “The IMSA Technical Committee and the IMSA supervisory officials have unanimously determined that Ferrari’s demonstrated performance in the Daytona 24-hour race exceeded IMSA’s expectations as shared in the GT Manufacturers Technical Working Groups. The goal was to ensure the demonstrated performance of the best example of each manufacturer’s car model would be within a targeted performance window — allowing for competitive equivalency.” The notice for BMW read similarly.
IMSA adopted revised GTD Balance of Performance procedures this year for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, with each manufacturer nominating a team and driver to carry out testing during the IMSA homologation test in December. Each had to go through a series of prescribed tests, including qualifying simulation and a full-stint simulation, in order to better hit the marks for the BoP tables. IMSA set the BoP tables for the Roar Before the 24 based on those tests, and further revised BoP ahed of the race weekend.
Last year, teams running several new cars found themselves without much shot at victory, including the BMW M4 GT3 and Ferrari 296 GT3, as well as the 992-generation Porsche 911 GT3 R and the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2. All found their fortunes greatly turned around for 2024, and Risi Competizione captured the GTD PRO victory with Daniel Serra, Alessandro Pier Guidi, Davide Rigon and James Calado.
The penalties for the manufacturers, which also included a $25,000 fine, do not affect the drivers or team standings, and all will keep their finishes and points.
Perhaps the Porsche Penske Motorsport team will take a moment to reflect on what it achieved in winning victory in the 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona, and celebrate in the days to come. But immediately after the race, before the Rolexes were slipped onto …
Perhaps the Porsche Penske Motorsport team will take a moment to reflect on what it achieved in winning victory in the 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona, and celebrate in the days to come.
But immediately after the race, before the Rolexes were slipped onto wrists, the emotions were still raw. Urs Kuratle, director of Factory Racing for Porsche Motorsport, said that the success was made all the satisfying by the work the team had done in the aftermath of last year’s race, when assorted glitches prevented the then-new cars from contending for the win.
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“It’s huge for us,” said Kuratle. “Especially if you think where we were coming from last year here. That was not our best performance. I have to say there was a lot of lessons learned throughout the year. and it pays off.
“There was a lot of work from all our parties. It’s not only the IMSA team we have out of Mooresville, but also the team in Mannheim, the WEC team was part of it and obviously people in Weissach, the development team. And not to forget also our chassis partner, Multimatic, because, again, we had a lot of lessons to learn from last year, but it pays out now. We are extremely happy.”
Not lost on Kuratle was the fact that all four Porsches – the two two factory cars and the private entries run by JDC-Miller and Proton Competition Mustang Sampling – ran relatively trouble-free and finished the race. The winning PPM car’s No.6 sister entry was fourth, with Proton and JDC-Miller immediately behind in fifth and sixth, respectively.
“That’s big for us, especially because reliability was one of our biggest concerns,” he said. “Congratulations to the customers, because they really did very well. JDC had some bad luck early in the race with the unfortunate yellow, Proton did a great job. I don’t think I’ve realized completely what it means yet.”
Winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona is a career highlight for any driver, but for Dane Cameron, the victory was especially sweet and emotional. Cameron has three IMSA championships, including one with Penske in the Acura days. But through all of those, …
Winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona is a career highlight for any driver, but for Dane Cameron, the victory was especially sweet and emotional. Cameron has three IMSA championships, including one with Penske in the Acura days. But through all of those, including title with Turner Motorsport and Action Express Racing, he had yet to achieve even a class victory at Daytona.
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“My first 24 hours at Daytona was 2009, so in a bunch of different categories, I just never seemed to have any luck here in any way, shape, or form,” Cameron said. “Never had a podium here. Never. I don’t even know if I’ve ever finished on the lead lap here, to be honest. It’s always been the one that got away, and the one that just didn’t seem to be able to get done for some reason. Kind of compared to what Josef [Newgarden] went through last year at the [Indianapolis] 500 – you don’t want to not have one without the other. You don’t want to win championships without having the big race to go with it.
“Definitely proud of everything that I was able to achieve with different teams and brands in the championship, but it always felt like you were missing something to not have success in the 24 Hours at Daytona. To have that as an overall is definitely something that I’m super, super proud of; super happy for. Great to do it with this team, as well, after being here for a number of years now. Kind of slipped through our fingers in the Acura days, for sure.”
Matt Campbell, who formed part of the winning driver line-up alongside Felipe Nasr, Newgarden and Cameron, was Nasr’s full-season partner in 2023, but for this season he’s swapping with Cameron and going to the World Endurance Championship program for PPM. Like Nasr, it’s not his first Daytona win – the pair won GTD PRO together, along with Mathieu Jaminet, with Pfaff Motorsports in 2022 – but it is his first overall.
“I’m glad it came our way,” Campbell said. “After all the hard work, the difficult year we had in 2023, especially here, I feel this is the best gift we could give ourselves. I’m very pleased for the team, for the whole work they’ve done all week.”
Josef Newgarden said he felt “a little awkward” celebrating among the sports car regulars that he joined in taking Porsche Penske Motorsport’s No.7 Porsche 963 to victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. This year’s race was only Newgarden’s second Rolex …
Josef Newgarden said he felt “a little awkward” celebrating among the sports car regulars that he joined in taking Porsche Penske Motorsport’s No.7 Porsche 963 to victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
This year’s race was only Newgarden’s second Rolex 24 – he raced LMP2 last year with Tower Motorsports – so he’s standing at a 50 percent win record. The more outstanding fact is that it comes just months after his 2023 Indianapolis 500 win, and he joins former IndyCar teammate Helio Castroneves on the very short list of drivers who have won both within a year.
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“I’ve got to be honest, it’s a little awkward for me because I feel like I’m just hanging out with this really great group of people that ended up winning a race and I just happened to be there, in a lot of ways,” Newgarden smiled.
“This victory belongs to a great collection of people within motorsports, Porsche Penske Motorsports is a big body of people, both in the United States and in Germany. It’s an iconic brand with Porsche and an iconic team with Team Penske, a deep legacy between the two, and they’re very deserving of this victory.”
While the two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion now has another huge accomplishment on his resume, he was keen to deflect credit for the win back to the rest of the team.
“I feel honored to just have been here,” he said. “I didn’t wreck the car. Like, that’s how I feel. I’m so proud of these guys. It’s a very awkward feeling being a race car driver in this situation. I’m not used to it. I’ve driven open-wheel cars for the last 12 years, and you’re very singularly focused in a lot of ways in that sport, and over here I feel like I’ve got family that I’m just really proud of. I felt like that at the end of the race. I could cry thinking about it.”
Risi Competizione outlasted the GTD PRO competition to claim its first win in the Rolex 24 at Daytona since 2002 in the SRP2 class, and the first for Ferrari since 2014. Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado wheeled the …
Risi Competizione outlasted the GTD PRO competition to claim its first win in the Rolex 24 at Daytona since 2002 in the SRP2 class, and the first for Ferrari since 2014. Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado wheeled the No. 62 Ferrari 296 GT3 with little drama as their competitors fell by the wayside, and claimed the second 24-hour race win for the 296 GT3 after Frikadelli Racing took the 2023 24 Hours of the Nürburgring.
“It’s amazing,” said Pier Guidi. “First of all, I think we deserved this victory. We were also trying a lot of times to achieve this victory. We finished twice second, and it’s a long time partnership between Risi and Ferrari, and we’ve been with us and with the other drivers very close many times, but never been able to achieve this victory. Finally we get it. You see in the footage after the checkered flag…the picture is amazing. Everyone was crying, happy, and I went and I give a big hug to Giuseppe [Risi], because all the passion he put in here in this effort. He really deserved this.”
For two of the drivers, it was their second major 24-hour race win in a year. Pier Guidi and Calado were part of the 24 Hours of Le Mans squad, along with Antonio Giovinazzi, that took the overall victory in the Ferrari AF Corse 499P.
The No. 62 had shown impressive pace, especially in the heat of Saturday afternoon with Serra at the wheel. But in the end it was running trouble-free while most of their competitors had difficulties. Paul Miller Racing and the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 with Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen and Sheldon van der Linde were the last real threat until they ran into brake problems with two hours to go. The brake change was one thing, but the right front wheel didn’t get seated properly and came loose. On top of that, after van der Linde limped the car back to the pits, the wheel gun got stuck trying to fix the problem, dropping the No. 1 down three laps.
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Paul Miller Racing ended up third, behind the GTD PRO polesitting No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Seb Priaulx, Laurin Heinrich and Michael Christensen, which had been a lap down until the final caution.
One of the leading contenders, the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F, had its race effectively ended in the first hour when an LMP2 car spun right in front of Mike Conway, and he made heavy contact, wrecking the cooling system. The car was repaired and returned to the track, but was eventually retired.
It was an inauspicious debut for new GT3 cars. Both Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3s had difficulties, some of it induced by contact. The No. 65 was retired, and the No. 64 finished seven laps down. The new Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs run by Pratt Miller Motorsports seems on target to fare better, but had mechanical issues late in the race and finished seven (No. 3) and 18 (No. 4) laps down. The privateer efforts for both manufacturers had worse results, with both AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs and the No. 55 Proton Competition Mustang retiring.
Winward Racing, once again GTD victors at the Rolex. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images
Winward Racing took its second Rolex 24 at Daytona GTD victory in four years, with Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje on both winning teams in the No. 57 Mercedes AMG, this time adding Daniel Morad, who drove the final stints to the checker. The Winward Mercedes AMG essentially controlled the latter half of the race, and had a 30s lead when the last caution came out.
“Obviously I wanted it to be an easy victory,” said Morad. “We all did an amazing job building the gaps throughout all the stints. It wasn’t just me. It was every single person on the team, engineering staff. The whole prep on the car was phenomenal. A lot easier this year than last year having a car that was designed for the race.”
For Ward, the second victory speaks to the quality of the team his family has built.
“It’s a constant evolution in racing,” he said. “If you’re not pushing the limits and trying to improve every year and someone else is, someone else is going to beat you. That’s kind of the passion that we have. We’ve had a pretty consistent crew over the past five years who have stayed with us and really helped us be successful. We try to keep the same drivers on board. We want to develop as a team and move forward as one.
“This one is pretty special to me. The first one wasn’t luck, of course. Everybody put their work in. But to come here and do it again, we’ve been pretty close the past two years, but just really haven’t had the luck to get it done. To come back and close it off for the second time in 2024 is a great feeling.”
Morad had to fend off a couple of strong Ferraris to claim the victory. The AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Simon Mann, Francois Heriau, Miguel Molina and Kei Cozzolino finished second. Impressive in the team’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut, Conquest Racing finished third with Manny Franco, Albert Costa Balboa, Alessandro Balzan and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli.
Several cars were in podium contention to the end, including the Triarsi Competizione Ferrari of Alessio Rovera, Onofrio Triarsi, Charlie Scardina and Riccardo Agostini that finished fourth; and Korthoff/Preston Motorsports’ No. 32 Mercedes AMG of Mike Skeen, Mikael Grenier, Kenton Koch and Maxi Goetz in fifth; along with the sixth place No. 83 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 of Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey, Sarah Bovy and Doriane Pin.
What a difference a year makes. After the two Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s were nowhere near the podium in their 2023 debut, every Porsche in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, including the privateer cars from JDC-Miller MotorSports and Proton Competition, …
What a difference a year makes. After the two Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s were nowhere near the podium in their 2023 debut, every Porsche in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, including the privateer cars from JDC-Miller MotorSports and Proton Competition, ran near flawlessly. It was the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 squad of Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Josef Newgarden that was just a bit more perfect in claiming victory, the first for all of them and the first victory for Penske since 1969. It was the 19th overall victory at the Rolex 24 for Porsche and the first since 2010.
Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken and Tom Blomqvist finished second in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, coming short by 2.112s after nearly 24 hours of racing and despite running what Derani described as a flawless race.
Improbably, the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 finished third in the hands of Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta and Jenson Button, holding off the No. 6 PPM Porsche 963 at the end. The No. 40 had rolled to a stop in the middle of the night, but a reset got the car going and strategy put the car in a better position than might have been expected.
From the start, both of the PPM Porsche 963s as well as the two Cadillacs showed similar pace, and it seemed apparent that it would come down to a Porsche vs. Cadillac fight for the victory. In the cooler night, and early morning hours, the Porsches seems to have an edge. But as the day warmed up, the No. 31 Cadillac came on strong. Entering the race’s final two hours, Blomqvist turned up the wick and caught Nasr.
Blomqvist took the No. 31 to the pits earlier than necessary, but well within the window to make it to the end on one more stop. Nasr brought the Porsche in three laps later for full energy and fresh tires, emerging from the pits ahead of Blomqvist. However, with the Cadillac having warm tires and Nasr’s still coming up to temperature, he was able to squeeze by heading into Turn 1.
But after more than four hours of green flag running, a late caution set up a 30m sprint to the finish, and came perfectly timed for the GTPs to make their final stop for a quick fill. The Penske crew got Nasr out first, and that was the the race.
Blomqvist did all he could, including setting the fastest lap of race at 1m35.554s with 23m left, but he couldn’t make a move on Nasr while the Porsche got better breaks in traffic. When the checker fell right after 1:40 p.m., Nasr was the first under it to claim the victory.
“The race only finishes at the checkered flag. There’s no decision until then,” said Nasr. “The race really came down to the wire at the very final stop. You know, it was it pretty much all about the fuel numbers. Each one was the energy numbers we were reaching. And I just have to say that was a great call from the team, from Porsche Penske Motorsport. Just to give me the opportunity to be the in the lead again in that final part of the race and then it was down to me to hit the numbers and keep the No. 31 behind.”
Blomqvist came close a few times as he attacked, but could never put together a move to pass.
“At the end of the race, we had the pace advantage,” Blomqvist said. “It was just so difficult to pass. The Porsche was really strong on the straight, we were really good in the infield, so it was just hard to make anything count. There weren’t many cars there at the end of the race in terms of traffic to to kind of find an opportunity and then Felipe at the end … I needed like one small mistake. He went wide by like a few meters, but other than that there was no opportunity.”
In contrast to the 2023 debut of the LMDh cars in GTP when both Acuras and both Cadillacs ran without major trouble, two key competitors from each fell victim to problems in the race. The No. 10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 of Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Brendon Hartley and Marcus Ericsson pulled to a stop after a little more than eight hours with Albuquerque at the wheel, right after he detected a funny smell. The problem was diagnosed as a wiring loom issue, and while it was replaced and the car returned to the track after a long repair, it was eventually retired.
The No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R from Chip Ganassi Racing looked to have the pace for victory with Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, Scott Dixon and Alex Palou, but went to the garage in the middle of the night withe an undiagnosed mechanical issue and never re-emerged.
Both BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8s had difficulties during the night. Both were repaired and returned to the track, but finished 13 (No. 25) and 15 (No. 24) laps down.
LMP2 winners, Era Motorsports. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images
Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel, Connor Zilisch and Christian Rasmussen took the LMP2 victory after emerging as a contender overnight. The team recovered from an early incident in which Merriman was caught up in other cars having contact and soldiered on, moving steadily up the order to claim the second win for Era and for Dalziel and Merriman together after they won in 2021. It was Dalziel’s third Rolex 24 victory, and the first for Rasmussen and 17-year-old Zilisch.
The No. 18 was hanging with the leaders heading into Saturday evening, but didn’t make a move for the front until the middle of the night.
“In my mind, it’s a 24 hour race … first half of race, a lot of [it] is about risk management, right?” said Merriman. “So you don’t need to be in the lead after eight hours. But the last three hours is a knife fight. And you need to be up. You need to be in the first couple of positions at that point and we were, so I think that’s kind of part of the strategy.”
Fortunately Era had some sharp blades when it came time for the knife fight.
“We kind of gambled … we were probably the most high downforce of the P2s,” said Dalziel. “We were a little bit of sitting ducks when somebody’s drafting us, but when we can kind of break that 1.5-2s – the draft in the P2 car is almost 10 kilometers an hour. So I think, for us, once we were at the front, we can kind of manage a little bit of pace and the field. But it’s just a good day. I think each one I’ve won is more special.
“These two guys … Christian, last year, was a stud for us. Connor, the same. I feel like today Dwight and I just kind of did our job and I actually…gave up my last stint because I felt like these two guys were the strongest guys on the day and wanted to make sure that we put our best feet forward for the last stint.”
Rasmussen had a solid lead erased by the final yellow, but not only managed to stay out front, he stretched it to a 6.8s margin of victory. George Kurtz, Colin Braun, Malthe Jakobsen and Toby Sowery finished second in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA. Riley Motorsports was third with Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, Josh Burdon and Felipe Massa in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports ORECA.
The first caution in four hours set up a 30m sprint to the finish of the 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona, rapidly changing the fortunes of several competitors. Vasser Sullivan Racing’s hopes for a GTD victory went up in flames, literally, in the final …
The first caution in four hours set up a 30m sprint to the finish of the 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona, rapidly changing the fortunes of several competitors.
Vasser Sullivan Racing’s hopes for a GTD victory went up in flames, literally, in the final hour. Leaving the pits, Parker Thompson pulled the No. 12 Lexus RC F over with flames spitting out of the engine compartment. Team principal Jimmy Vasser expected the cause was a plenum fire.
It hasn’t been the #Rolex24 the Vasser Sullivan team has hoped for.
Parker Thompson put his own fire out as we’re now under one hour remaining.
The ensuing caution, though, erased big leads in LMP2 and GTD, and set up a four-way battle to the finish in GTP. Tom Blomqvist had held the lead in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, but Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 beat him out of the pits as both took short fills. The top four GTP competitors were nose to tail for the restart, Louis Deletraz holding third in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06.
Blomqvist did all he could, including setting the fastest lap of race at 1m35.554s with 23m left, but he couldn’t make a move on Nasr while the Porsche got better breaks in traffic. When the checker fell right after 1:40 p.m. with 1m35s left on the race clock, Nasr took the victory for he, Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Josef Newgarden. It was the first Rolex 24 at Daytona victory for each driver, and the first for Penske since 1969 when he won the race with a Lola T70.
Blomqvist took the Cadillac across the line to score second for Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken. Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta and Jenson Button finished third in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06.
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Christian Rasmussen held his lead in the No. 18 Era Motorsports ORECA O7 Gibson to take victory for he, Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel and Connor Zilisch. The No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA of George Kurtz, Colin Braun, Malthe Jakobsen and Toby Sowery, ahead of Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, Josh Burdon and Felipe Massa in the No, 74 Riley Motorsports ORECA.
Daniel Serra had a lap on second place Laurin Heinrich in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche that was erased with the caution, but the Porsche had nothing for Serra’s No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrrari 296 GT3. Serra held on for Risi’s first victory in its Ferrari era, and second victory after an SRP2 win in 2002. Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado’s win was also the second 24-hour race victory for the 296 GT3, the first coming in the 2023 24 Hours of the Nürburgring with Frikadelli Racing.
Polesitters AO Racing with Seb Priaulx, Laurin Heinrich and Michael Christensen ended up second. The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing, which had looked to have a chance at victory going into the final hours, fell victim to a brake problem and the team scored a third-place finish for Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen and Sheldon van der Linde.
Winward Racing took its second Rolex 24 victory in four years after Daniel Morad held off a pair of charging Ferraris. The No. 57 Mercedes AMG was third overall for a 2.731s margin of victory for Morad, Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje. It was Ferrari 296 GT3 in second and third, Miguel Molina, Simon Mann, Francois Heriau and Alessio Rovera taking second for AF Corse and Conquest Racing’s Manny Franco, Alberto Costa Balboa, Alessandro Balzan and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli taking third.
In the penultimate hour, Tom Blomqvist chased down Felipe Nasr, getting the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R within a second of Matt Campbell’s No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 before pitting earlier than necessary, but well within the …
In the penultimate hour, Tom Blomqvist chased down Felipe Nasr, getting the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R within a second of Matt Campbell’s No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 before pitting earlier than necessary, but well within the window to make it to the end on one more stop. Nasr brought the Porsche in three laps later for full energy and fresh tires, emerging from the pits ahead of Blomqvist. However, with the Cadillac having warm tires and Nasr’s still coming up to temperature, he was able to squeeze by heading into Turn 1.
Nasr had a big lockup heading into the International Horseshoe immediately after, possibly flatspotting a tire. He had reported a vibration to the team before the lockup.
Blomqvist has put a bit of space between the Cadillac and Porsche. Speculation had Derani finishing the race, but team may opt to leave Blomqvist in for a third stint given his pace.
Mathieu Jaminet put the second PPM Porsche into fourth behind Louis Deletraz’s No. 40 WTRAndretti Acura, but he’s 24s off Deletraz, who in turn is a more than a minute behind Nasr. Jaminet was under threat of going a lap down with Blomqvist on his tail, although there’s also the danger of Jaminet backing Blomqvist up to Nasr.
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Era Motorsports is asserting itself at the front of LMP2, Christian Rasmussen enjoying a 14s lead in the No. 18 ORECA over Malthe Jakobsen in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA. Tom Dillman was another 50s back in the No. 52 Euro Interpol with PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA.
Mikael Grenier had moved the No. 32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports into second in GTD, but the Ferraris were on a tear. The 296 GT3s from several teams had proven effective in the heat, and Grenier was soon dispatched first Alberto Costa Blaboa in the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari and then Miguel Molina in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari. All three were running nose to tail, but Daniel Morad in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG was 30s down the road, and the 2021 GTD-winning team looks firmly in control.
Risi Competizione remains firmly in control of GTD PRO with a Daniel Serra holding a lap over the second-place AO Racing in the hands of Laurin Heinrich.
Class leaders after 23 hours
GTP: Tom Blomqvist, No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R
LMP2: Christian Rasmussen, No. 18 Era Motorsports ORECA 07
GTD PRO: Daniel Serra, No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3
GTD: Daniel Morad, No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3
