One hour remains in the 61st annual Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, and podium positions in four out of five classes are up for grabs as this race builds towards a grandstand finish.
We have had 12 full-course yellows, the most recent caused when LMP2 contender Nicolas Lapierre spun and stopped at the International Horseshoe (turn three), stranding his #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca LMP2 07.
As of the start of the final hour, Tom Blomqvist leads, trying to give Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian their second consecutive Daytona 24 Hours overall victory and the first for the new Acura ARX-06 LMDh prototype in the debut of this new era. Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Simon Pagenaud, and Helio Castroneves have completed 756 laps after 23 hours.
The race for the victory took a big swing with three hours and 40 minutes to go, after the #20 High Class Racing Oreca LMP2 07 of Anders Fjordbach lost control entering the Le Mans Chicane. As he spun off, he broadsided the tyre barrier with the right side of the car. Thankfully, Fjordbach was unhurt and able to get out of the car under his own power.
It was the first full course yellow in nearly six hours, and the ninth of the race. It impacted the fight for GTP and overall victory – the #01 Cadillac Racing V-LMDh had just pitted before the yellow to change drivers from Scott Dixon to Sebastien Bourdais – then opted to top off the tank under the caution period. The stop came at just the right time for the #02 Cadillac Racing car, as well as the #60 MSR Acura which was now, finally, back on the same fuel sequence as the Cadillacs surrounding it.
On the ensuing restart, Pagenaud needed no invitation to sweep past his countryman and take the lead at the International Horseshoe (turn three), while Bourdais had to fight off Richard Westbrook while also being passed around the outside of the banking by a hard-charging Nick Tandy, trying to get back towards the lead lap in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963.
Tandy was looking good to get the lap back in case of another caution, but he lost that lap again after coming to a halt with two hours and 50 minutes left, with an electrical glitch forcing a reset. A minor setback, but nothing serious, though there was a harsh engine note emanating from it.
On the next lap, it was much more serious. The #6 Porsche began billowing smoke from out of the rear and eventually limped to a stop in the Le Mans Chicane, bringing out the tenth FCY of the race. Tandy was able to bring the car back to the garage, albeit under full electrical power after what Porsche stated was a gearbox failure.
With an hour and 55 minutes left, the FCY was deployed for the 11th time today when the #64 TGM/TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 stopped with a loose left rear wheel – the same quarter that was damaged in their earlier collision at night. On the ensuing pit cycle, the #02 Cadillac jumped ahead of the #01 – and crucially, the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura was able to go back to the lead lap.
On the ensuing restart, Albuquerque swept past the #01 Cadillac of Renger van der Zande for third, and eventually past Earl Bamber in the #02 Cadillac for second – making it an Acura 1-2 at the top of the hour! The two Ganassi-run cars now run third and fourth, Bamber ahead of Van der Zande, Jack Aitken not a factor in fifth in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac.
BMW M Team RLL still had the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 in with an outside shot at the overall podium – but that fell by the wayside after Colton Herta reported a brake problem. The team brought the car back to the garage to change all four brakes as a precaution, and they dropped back to 17 laps down. On the upside, the #25 BMW has now cracked the top 50 after their early-race woes.
The #57 Winward Mercedes, #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, and #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini also made pit stops, while the #3 Corvette and #79 WeatherTech Mercedes stayed out. Eventually GTD Pro cars made their way into the top three past the GTD “Classics” until just before the tenth FCY, when Roman de Angelis got back around Tommy Milner.
WeatherTech Racing changed drivers from Jules Gounon to Maro Engel, but quicker pit stops from Corvette Racing and Vasser Sullivan put them up front for the ensuing restart. Traffic caught out Milner, and Gounon overtook both he and Ben Barnicoat for the lead. Then, Barnicoat worked traffic to his advantage and took the lead from Engel. While the GTD Pro leaders battled, De Angelis in the #27 Aston Martin began to pull away.
The #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720s GT3’s chances of a GTD podium took a hit when Frederik Schandorff picked up a 60 second stop-go penalty for running the red light at the exit of pit lane.
This sent a handful of GTD cars back to the same lap as De Angelis – the #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini, #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, #93 Racers Edge Motorsports and #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3s – and, the #70 Inception McLaren, half an hour after it looked like they’d lost touch with the podium fight. And the following FCY added even more cars back to the lead lap fight.
Marco Sorensen is scooting away with GTD in the #27 Aston Martin while the skirmishes have been breaking out behind him: Philip Ellis has fought his way into second in the #57 Winward Mercedes, and minutes ago, Engel overtook Jack Hawksworth’s #14 Lexus to put the #79 WeatherTech Mercedes back up front in GTD Pro and third in GTD outright! Antonio Garcia lies right behind them waiting to pounce on a mistake in his #3 Corvette while Marvin Kirchhoefer is starting to drop back a bit as the third place GTD car, the #70 McLaren.
Turner Motorsport’s #95 BMW M4 GT3 retired with a power steering failure, putting an end to their frustrating weekend, and the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3
Pit stop timing helped put the #35 TDS Racing Oreca out front during the FCY for Fjordbach’s accident, they had just pitted prior to the Safety Car being deployed, and were able to jump ahead of the #04 CrowdStrike Racing with APR Oreca that was previously leading. But before Giedo van der Garde could enjoy a class lead, he was hit with a drive-through penalty for a pit entry violation, which put the #04 CrowdStrike/APR Oreca of Esteban Gutierrez back to the lead.
The #35 TDS Racing Oreca of Van Uitert still leads but remarkably, James Allen is back on the lead lap and the #55 Proton Competition Oreca in second has a legitimate chance at the class win! Matthieu Vaxiviere is now third in the #88 AF Corse Oreca, Ben Hanley now fourth in the #04 CrowdStrike/APR Oreca.
In contrast to this madness, LMP3 is very straightforward! Wayne Boyd in the #17 AWA Duquiene D08 is putting the finishing touches on a dominant LMP3 class win. They are 17 laps ahead of the #33 Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier JS P320 that had been leading until a gear selection issue put them well down after daybreak. Performance Tech Motorsports’ #38 Ligier continues to run third in class, a further two laps down.
