Nick Tandy leads the 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona for Porsche Penske Motorsport following the race’s first Full Course Yellow.
Hunter McElrea slid off at the West Horseshoe and hit the tyre barriers to bring out the first FCY after two hours and eight minutes of green flag racing. The #11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 is back on track after being towed out, but has fallen two laps down in class after repairs.
On the ensuing restart, Tandy drove his #7 Porsche 963 around the outside of the kink to pass Frederik Vesti for the GTP lead. He now leads the class by just over a second from the two BMW M Team RLL cars.
Rene Rast is second in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8, and Philipp Eng is now back up to third in the #24 after the mishaps in the pits earlier. After a subdued start, the #6 Porsche Penske 963 is now fourth with Mathieu Jaminet behind the wheel.
“It’s clear we struggled through speed in the opening stint. We seem to be strong now coming back through the field. Looking after the tyres early in the race, we saw cars pushing hard and wanted to stay out of trouble early,” Campbell told reporters after his first stints in the #6 Porsche.
Vesti sunk to sixth in the #31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series R behind the Proton Competition Porsche of Julien Andlauer.
In LMP2, United Autosports USA’s two cars run first and second in the hands of their designated Silvers – Garnet Patterson in the #2 ahead of Rasmus Lindh in the #22. Dylan Murry, another Silver, is third in the #88 AF Corse car, but PJ Hyett is more than holding his own for AO Racing in fourth.
James Roe is trying to recover after being spun by David Heinemeier Hansson at the International Horseshoe – Hansson and the #18 ERA Motorsport ORECA received a drive-through penalty for the incident.
Defending GTD Champions Winward Racing also had a significant issue: Russell Ward reported a sticking throttle pedal on the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG while running fifth, and went to the garage. He has since returned to the race, seven laps down.
Meanwhile in GTD PRO, the two Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3s have retaken the lead, though in typical fashion so far, it’s only by small margins – Dennis Olsen leads in the #65 Ford, from Seb Priaulx in the #64, with Augusto Farfus shadowing them in the #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW – all of them covered by less than a second.
Misha Goikhberg has assumed control of GTD for Forte Racing in the #78 Lamborghini, ahead of Casper Stevenson in the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin. Stevenson leads third-placed Manny Franco for Conquest Racing and Patrick Gallagher for Turner Motorsport.
Feature image © Jack Webster
