The two Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s still lead the 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona after two hours of racing.
Kévin Estre went from fifth to second and set the fastest lap of the race in pursuit of Felipe Nasr, but passed Nasr with ease in what appeared to be a tactical play early in the race. After both Porsche 963s came in for energy replenishment – as did most of the GTP field – Estre in the #6 Penske Porsche led, stretching the advantage over the #7 of Nasr to about three seconds, and the rest of the GTP field by much more.
But with both cars coming up to the end of their stints, Nasr drew alongside Estre into turn one, held his line and drove ahead of the Frenchman at the Esses.
Both drivers pitted at the very top of the hour and swapped places and drivers as they left the pits. It’s now the #6 piloted by Laurens Vanthoor who leads, followed by the #7 driven by Julien Andlauer.
The #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 is now third, and Álex Palou has gotten in to relieve Renger van der Zande.
In LMP2, PJ Hyett has opened up a massive lead in the #99 AO Racing ORECA 07-Gibson, now around 40 seconds. But the gap may come down soon as some teams have plugged in their Silver-rated drivers.
Jakub Śmiechowski is now second in the #343 Inter Europol Competition car, followed by Grégoirce Saucy in the #22 United Autosports USA car, both Silvers.
The two Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.Rs have traded places at the head of the GTD Pro field through an early split strategy.
Nicky Catsburg in the #4 Corvette stayed out a lap longer than his teammate Alexander Sims, and the Dutchman jumped ahead of his British counterpart, who now runs second in the #3 Corvette.
Catsburg and Sims have company behind them: Frédéric Vervisch is shadowing them in the third-place #65 Ford Racing Mustang GT3. And after getting muscled out of second on the grid, Dean MacDonald is running fourth in the #59 RLL Team McLaren GT3 EVO, while Max Hesse (Paul Miller Racing) and Daniel Serra (Risi Competizione) are scrapping for fifth.
Kenny Habul has taken over the 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO to clear his drive-time requirements. He spun at turn one but was able to recover with no damage.
In GTD, Winward Racing’s Russell Ward has gotten to work during his first stint of the race, stretching the #57 Mercedes-AMG’s advantage over the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Patrick Gallagher to almost ten seconds at one point – but Gallagher has begun to close in to within two seconds.
Ward’s co-driver Philip Ellis, who started the race, feels that the black and blue #57 Mercedes-AMG is getting on top of the new Michelin Pilot Sport GT tyre compound quicker than its rivals. “People are tiptoeing around at the moment on the new tyre,” said the Anglo-Swiss driver.
“Nobody’s really done long runs in this temperature yet. Definitely I’m very happy, we expected it to be worse after practice because we struggled with balance. But we’re managing the tyres better than others in the first stint. Though you’re not sure if people are on new tyres or qualifying tyres. I think we’ll see some differences in the next few hours.”
Behind Ward and Gallagher, polesitter Zacharie Robichon has driven back up to third in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
Antonio Fuoco dropped out of the top three after a drive-through penalty for improper pit entry, one of a flurry of early pitwork infringement reprimands – drive-throughs were also handed out to the #9 Pfaff Lamborghini (pit lane speeding) and #69 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG (mechanics working on the car from behind the wall).
Featured image © Jack Webster / dailysportscar.com
