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Rolex 24 6-Hour Update: Colin Braun Leads For Acura

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — So far, the Rolex 24 at Daytona Saturday (Jan. 25) has been a back-and-forth affair. BMWs dominated early, while the Cadillac has been strong as well.

However, through six hours, Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Colin Braun was in the overall lead, .863 seconds ahead of Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Felipe Nasr. Wayne Taylor Racing’s Kamui Kobayashi was third, then Action Express Racing’s Earl Bamber. BMW M Team RLL’s Marco Wittmann was fifth.

In GTP, BMW M Team RLL’s Dries Vanthoor started from the overall pole and slowly pulled away from the rest of the pack. In 25 minutes, he had opened up a 7.5-second gap over Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Nick Yelloly.

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Dries Vanthoor Wins Rolex 24 Pole

By the time Vanthoor made his second pit stop, his margin was up to 25 seconds. However, trouble struck in the pits. Vanthoor lost track of where his pit stall was and entered it at a bad angle. The team was unable to put a new left front tire on the car until the crew moved the car. That cost them about 35 seconds, giving the lead to debutant Kakunoshin Ohta.

The good run for the No. 93 Acura was curtailed early in the fifth hour when Alex Palou went off exiting turn 6 and drew the second caution. Palou ended up suffering a broken suspension and went to the garage for repairs.

The team was able to make repairs and return to the race. However, they took a full hour and left the No. 93 40 laps down.

In LMP2, United Autosports’ Dan Goldburg started on pole, but teammate Nick Boulle spun in turn 2 on the first lap. That resulted in a sketchy moment as the GT cars were forced to dodge.

Ben Keating in the PR1 Mathaisen Motorsports No. 52 was able to snatch the lead from Goldburg on the first and pulled out to a decent advantage. Then, the wind kicked and resulted in him sliding off at West Bend on consecutive laps.

The race’s first full course yellow came out early in the third hour when TDS Racing’s Hunter McAlrea slid off-course in West Bend and nosed into the tires. The team made repairs in the garage and has since rejoined the race 82 laps down.

The lead eventually shuffled to AO Racing’s PJ Hyett, who drove away from the pack. As the pit strategy shifted around, the United Autosports teammates revolved into the lead.

The cautions resulted in AO Racing moving back into the lead. Hyett and Dane Cameron were able to maintain that advantage until pit stops shuffled the order.

After six hours, PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports’ Mathias Beche was in the lead by .448 seconds over Riley Motorsports’ Felipe Fraga. CrowdStrike Racing by APR’s Colton Herta and Tower Motorsports’ Job van Uitert were right behind. James Allen was fifth.

In GTD Pro, Ford Multimatic Motorsports’ Mike Rockenfeller started on pole and immediately had to drive defensively in order to avoid the spun Boulle. In the process, he lost the lead to Paul Miller Racing’s Ben Harper.

Pfaff Motorsports’ Andrea Caldarelli was able to put his Lamborghini on top and led until his first pit stop, where the team had trouble getting the left front wheel off. That dropped him down the order and put Harper back in the lead.

As the race continued on, the two Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustangs came back to the front where they started the race. Much of the race to this point has a battle between the Mustangs and Paul Miller Racing’s BMWs, although pit stops have split that battle up.

Through six hours, Harper was just barely ahead of Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Nico Varrone. Paul Miller Racing’s Connor de Phillippi was third, then Daniel Juncadella and Alessio Picariello.

The No. 64 Ford Mustang with Austin Cindric was seventh at the six-hour mark. Meanwhile, the Trackhouse x TF Sport No. 91 Corvette with Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen was 12th in class after copping a couple of penalties.

In GTD, Wright Motorsports’ Elliott Skeer started from pole and ran well. Winward Racing led early as well, but a electronics issue put the team behind the wall briefly. They would return to the race, but are four laps down.

In the fifth hour, Inception Racing and Triarsi Competition came to the front, joining Wright Motorsports. The three battled for much of the remainder of the first quarter of the race.

At the one-quarter mark, Inception Racing’s Frederic Schandorff was leading in his Ferrari by .997 seconds over the similar 296 GT3 of Triarsi Competizione’s James Calado. Wright Motorsports’ Tom Sargent was third, then Jens Klingmann in the Turner Motorsports BMW and Korthoff Competition Motors’ Kenton Koch. The top 15 cars in class were still on the lead lap.

Unfortunately for Andy Lally fans, his race and career came to an end early Saturday night. In the sixth hour, the engine failed in his Aston Martin while he was running fourth in class.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Rolex 24 at Daytona Running Order Through Six Hours

Through six hours, there are three cars out of the race, including the Magnus Aston Martin. The first was the Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse SC63. The car went behind the wall at the end of the first hour with mechanical issues that could not be fixed.

The other is the 75 Express Mercedes in the GTD Pro class. That team had mechanical problems that put them behind the wall briefly 90 minutes into the race after Kenny Habul failed to make the Le Mans chicane. The team returned to the race, but retired later on.

Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.

Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.