The #7 Porsche Penske 963 of Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Josef Newgarden claimed a historic win in the 62nd running of the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona this afternoon.
The result marks the first overall win for Penske at the race since 1969 and Porsche’s first since 2010 and 23rd overall. For the 963 this achievement was also memorable, its first victory in a 24-hour race.
Nasr, in at the end after a late restart in the final hour, withstood immense pressure from 2023 Rolex 24 winner Tom Blomqvist in the #31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R to take the win.
The victory came in somewhat controversial fashion though, after a confusing sequence at the end which saw the checkered flag waved with over a minute remaining on the clock, with TV graphics showing two laps remaining.
It emerged after the race that it wasn’t just the commentary booth and press room that found the final call for the checkered flag a surprise, as both members of the Penske and Action Express teams said they were not entirely clear whether or not the final lap had been called incorrectly either.
The sprint finish in the final hour was set up after the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 suffered an engine bay fire caused by a “bag under the hood” at pit-out with 41 minutes to go.
Parker Thompson, running fifth in GTD at the time, was forced to put the flames out himself with an extinguisher handed to him by a marshall.
For Nasr, a standout drive followed, fending off the car which last weekend broke the all-time circuit lap record during qualifying. It was nip and tuck for the final half hour, with Blomqvist faster through the infield and Nasr quicker on the banking. Ultimately, Nasr didn’t allow Blomqvist to get close enough to make a move and more often than not, navigated the traffic more efficiently.
“That yellow basically ended our chances,” admitted Blomqvist. “Especially where we are on pit lane, coming under yellow and not really being able to react to the car behind in terms of pulling early, for example. That hurt us, really.
“I think it was going to be a bit closer if that yellow hadn’t come out, because I felt there at the end of the race we had the pace advantage. It was just so difficult to pass.
“The Porsche was really strong on the straights. We were really good in the infield. It was hard to make anything count. I felt like there weren’t many cars there at the end of the race in terms of traffic to find an opportunity. And then Felipe (Nasr) at the end there, I think he made one small mistake where he went wide by a few meters, but other than that, there was no opportunity. Huge hats off to them. They were fantastic, really.”
It was a gripping finale to a race which all too often was void of significant on-track battles for key positions. With the conditions dry, hot and humid throughout and the frequency of caution periods reducing in the second half of the race, much of the field appeared to be in a holding pattern, uninterested in building leads and climbing the order.
As is often the case in the Rolex 24, the action reached a crescendo right at the end, after the final safety car period bunched up the field. This time, it wasn’t an all-time thriller in the closing minutes, but that shouldn’t detract from the performances of Nasr and Blomqvist at the end, the pair giving their all for the victory.
It also shouldn’t lessen the achievement here from Porsche. After the 2023 edition left the German marque and its Penske team with a lot of work to do after the 963’s underwhelming global debut, it returned in 2024 with a mature, developed platform and renewed confidence.
Both Penske Porsches were in the fight throughout, with the #7 emerging as the favourite in the closing hours. All four drivers in the winning car played their part, as did the Penske pit crew, which vaulted the #7 to the lead at the final round of stops after Blomqvist had made a move for the lead in the penultimate hour which at the time, appeared to be the killer blow.
“The race really came down to the wire at the very final stop,” summarised Nasr. “It was pretty much all about the fuel numbers. Each one was the energy numbers we were reaching. I just have to say that was a great call from the team, from Porsche Penske Motorsports, just to give me the opportunity to be 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 31 behind.
“But man, 24 hours of racing, to be going that way, it does give you a lot of emotions in the end. I just knew it was not over yet. I just kept the focus until the finish line. There was a lot of traffic going through, as well, when the 31 was keeping up the pressure.
“I’m glad it came our way. 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. Very pleased for the team, for the whole work they’ve done all week.”
Adding to Porsche’s impressive showing, the #6 sister Penske 963 finished just off the podium in fourth, ahead of the two privateer-run cars from Proton and JDC-Miller that enjoyed hugely impressive, drama-free outings.
The overall podium was completed by the #40 WTRAndretti Acura, which didn’t have the outright pace to challenge during the race, but finished on the lead lap and survived a scare overnight when the power cut out on the car.
It was a bittersweet event for the WTRAndretti team, in its first race with two ARX-06s. The #40, in hindsight, appeared to achieve the best result the team could have hoped for, given the car’s inability to fight for the win on pace. Colton Herta, Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz and Rolex rookie Jenson Button will surely be satisfied with a podium given the circumstances.
The sister crew on the other hand, leaves Daytona having endured a gruelling race that ended with a late retirement. The car hit trouble overnight when Filipe Albuquerque smelt burning and lost power. The car eventually returned to the action after work on the wiring loom, but was too far back to challenge, before being parked.
It was one of just two GTP cars that failed to finish, the other being the Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R. The yellow-nosed machine looked set to be a contender for a win to the flag throughout Saturday afternoon before things unravelled. The first issue was a puncture caused by contact with a stricken mirror at the Dogleg during the night. The car then suffered a loss of power at T1 before sunrise; it was ‘game over’.
BMW will also leave disappointed. The #25 led the #24 home, the pair of M Hybrid V8s finishing seventh and eighth. Both hit significant trouble during the race and ended up finishing more than 10 laps down.
In LMP2 it was a second win for Era Motorsport at this event. Christian Rasmussen brought the team’s #18 ORECA home, holding a hard-charging Malthe Jakobsen at bay in the #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR ORECA.
After an almighty battle in the closing laps, the #74 Riley ORECA took third, after a multi-way battle with the #52 Inter Europol PR1 and #8 Tower 07 Gibsons.
LMP2 was messy early, with multiple offs causing Full-Course Yellows, disrupting the action. But once it settled down, the battle for LMP2 supremacy became arguably the most entertaining and unpredictable in the field.
For Era, it was a head-turning performance up against a field of well-drilled LMP2 opposition. Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel and Connor Zilisch all put in strong performances before Rasmussen finished the job in the final hour, pulling away from the #04.
“I felt like in 2021 (when Era last won LMP2 at Daytona) we were the car to beat, but I heard from people after that it was one of the weaker years and people dismissed what we achieved. With 13 cars this year, and four cars that had the pace to win at the end, it was great. We kinda gambled, we were the highest downforce of the P2s, and were sitting ducks when people were drafting us, but once we were at the front we could manage the pace.
“Each one I’ve won has felt more special,” said Dalziel, now a three-time Rolex class winner, after the race.
The Crowdstrike by APR ORECA looked strong throughout, and at times the class of the field, but would have to settle for second.
Further down the order one of the most surprising storylines was the struggles for United Autosports. The #22 had an off at the International Horseshoe early in race and later retired, while the #2 – which started from pole – finished sixth and two laps down after sustaining bodywork damage overnight.
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