We’ve reached the quarter mark of the 2024 Rolex 24 Hours and it’s the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 that now leads, after a daring move by Matt Campbell on Tom Blomqvist’s #31 Cadillac round the outside at Turn 1.
The move came after a restart following a shorter FCY period early in the hour called for debris clearup. The debris was believed to have been a result of contact between the #40 WTRAndretti Acura of Jordan Taylor, and Onofrio Triarsi’s Ferrari entered under his own name.
Taylor, fresh out the pits under FCY, was believed to have made a misjudgement trying to catch up to the safety car train, rear-ending the Ferrari.
The Triarsi 296 had to come in for a complete rear-clip change as a result, dropping it to 17th in class and two laps off the GTD leader.
Adding to the dramas for the Acura, Colton Herta reported to the media that that car suffered a power steering issue which had to be fixed. It cost the #40 a lap, which it has since gained back on a pass around. It’s now back up to sixth, Taylor is making progress since the restart.
Up front, Campbell has a two-second lead over Tom Blomqvist while the #25 RLL BMW continues to hang around in third. With 18 hours to go and the night hours underway, the entire 10 car GTP field remains on the lead lap.
LMP2’s lead battle hotted up in the hour. Ben Hanley held the lead for much of the hour in the #2 United Autosports ORECA, and had to defend hard to prevent a hard-charging Malthe Jakobsen from getting past in the #04 Crowdstrike APR ORECA.
The duo briefly ran side by side halfway through the hour, before Hanley responded and opened up a six-second gap.
By the end of the hour though, the #2 was down to sixth after pitting just before Hour 7 began. The #04 now leads with Jakobsen sitting 6.8 seconds ahead of Felipe Fraga in the Riley ORECA. The #51 PR1 ORECA is third with Tom Dillmann aboard.
There were further woes for the #22 United Autosports ORECA and Sean Creech Ligier during the hour. The #22 is confirmed as a retirement, the car sitting with its engine covered in its garage area. The team has indicated that it has retired due to accident damage.
The Creech JS P217 is also behind the wall, with the team working on further alternator issues.
In better news, the #20 High Class Racing ORECA which had its big hit all the way back in Hour 1, is now back out and in the race after extensive repairs. It is 131 laps off the class lead.
GTD Pro meanwhile, is led by the Paul Miller BMW M4 GT3. Bryan Sellers is looking strong as the temperature has dropped, the car slowly rising up the order.
Behind Sellers are the top four in GTD, with Kenton Koch leading the way in the #31 Preston Motorsports Mercedes. The #47 Cetilar Ferrari is second with Antonio Fuoco currently installed. Ollie Millroy is third in the #70 Inception McLaren.
Completing the top three in Pro is the #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini of Franck Perera and #64 Ford Mustang of Mike Rockenfeller. They sit fifth and seventh in the combined GTD rankings.
Featured image courtesy of IMSA/Galstad
