A win at the 60th Rolex 24 at Daytona for Meyer Shank Racing’s #60 Acura ARX 05 with Helio Castroneves, the Brazilian driver stopping on the start finish straight, joined by his crew and many of them joining him in climbing the fence. He shares the spoils with Oliver Jarvis, Tom Blomqvist and Simon Pagenaud.
pic above Jon Bennett (not that one!)
The win breaks the winning sequence for Wayne Taylor Racing whose #10 Acura would come home 3 seconds back for an Acura one-two.
The #31 Action Express/ Whelen Cadillac completed the podium.
The late race pass from Colton Herta (see below) earned DragonSpeed another Daytona win in MP2 with Herta, Pato O’Ward, Eric Lux and Devlin DeFrancesco sharing the #81.
WE WON IT!!! pic.twitter.com/7f6CsoUpH8
— Devlin Defrancesco (@DevlinDeFran) January 30, 2022
The late charge by van der Garde claimed second for the #29 Oreca of Racing Team Nederland with the #8 Tower Motorsport Oreca third
LMP3 was won comfortably by the #74 Riley/ Robinson Ligier JS P320 of Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, Kay van Berlo and Michael Cooper ahead of the #33 Sean Creech Motorsport car and the #54 CORE autosport Ligier completing the class podium.
By far the most dramatic finish came in GTD Pro, Matthieu Jaminet with a magnificent defensive (and offensive) drive to the flag taking the flag for the #9 Pfaff Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R with Matt Campbell and Porsche debutant Felipe Nasr sharing the spoils.
The #62 Risi Ferrari took second courtesy of the last lap clash that pushed Laurens Vanthoor down to third in the hard-charging #2 KCMG Porsche, the Hong Kong-based team putting up a great show in their debut here.
GTD saw another Porsche win, the #16 Wright Motorsport Porsche coming home the winner with Jan Heylen taking the flag in the car he shared with Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz and Zach Robichon.
The debuting #44 Aston Martin of Magnus Racing would claim second with the #32 Gilbert Korthoff AMG would complete the podium.
Final Hour
Another Full Course yellow in the final 45 minutes threw things into even more of a melee to the finish. The Acuras gambled on having enough fuel to the finish, emerging with 43 minutes remaining, but with the field staying under caution for a further 10 minutes. The Cadillacs meanwhile pitted for a full load of fuel and then again as soon as they reached their full green fuel window.
LMP2 saw the pass around put the #29 racing Team Nederland car back onto the led lap and briefly into the lead as the team delayed their final fuel stop to the last possible moment. The lead in the class though changed in the pits, Louis Deletraz emerging in the lead in the #8 Tower Motorsport Oreca ahead of Colton Herta’s #81 DragonSpeed machine, Mikkel Jensen emerged from the stops still ahead of the #29, in third aboard the #52 PR1 Mathiesen car.
A lunge up the inside from Herta into the Le Mans Chicane saw Deletraz take to the grass in avoidance, #81 back into the lead with 12 minutes remaining. Giedo van der Garde meanwhile got his head down and passed Jensen and then Deletraz for second in LMP2 at the flag for Racing Team Nederland. LMP3 still saw Felipe Fraga with a lap lead, but now over the #33 with Malthe Jacobsen into the end ahead of the #54 Core car which was dealt a drive-through for a pitlane infringement.
The Risi Ferrari stayed out under the previous yellow to lead in GTD pro but pitted under the final yellow, the Porches back to the one-two, #9 from #2. Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Lexus though was much closer in third but could not stay with the Porches, the Ferrari back up into third in the final 15 minutes.
Pier Guidi though was bottled behind the GTD leader while the Porches ahead battled hard, Vanthoor reminding his Porsche Factory driver colleague of his presence forcibly.
A bump-and-run in the GTD Class! #Rolex24 x @Daytona pic.twitter.com/OvJYqnSHmI
— Motorsports on NBC (@MotorsportsNBC) January 30, 2022
5 minutes to go and a move that started into T1 and finished through T4 (above) saw Vanthoor take the lead. Two laps later and Jaminet got it back at the same point, the pair, though coming together at the Le Mans Chicane on the final lap, Vanthoor coming off worst, a half spin allowing Pier Guidi up to second!
WHAT A FINISH IN THE GTD PRO CLASS!@Rolex24Hours x @Daytona x #Rolex24 pic.twitter.com/qKSlt9wDpY
— Motorsports on NBC (@MotorsportsNBC) January 30, 2022
And in GTD the #16 Wright Porsche saw the yellow close the battle up, initially to the #21 AF Corse Ferrari but a drive through dropped them off the podium fight too, the #44 Magnus Aston Martin second with the #32 AMG in a podium position.
