DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The 64th Annual Rolex 24 at Daytona has been an interesting one to this point. The Penske Porsche Motorsport entries have seemingly been the class for the field since the beginning of the ROAR Before the 24 and Saturday (Jan. 24) has been more of the same.
At the six-hour mark, Laurin Heinrich was leading in the No. 7 Porsche by 3.445 seconds over Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Nick Yelloly. BMW Team WRT’s Rene Rast was third, then teammate Raffaele Marciello. Wayne Taylor Racing’s Will Stevens was fifth.
Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Renger van der Zande started from the pole, but it was the Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963s of Felipe Nasr and Kevin Estre rose up to take the advantage. For much of the first three hours, the two factory Porsches dominated the race. Prior to the first pit stop, Estre was able to take the lead away from Nasr.
It was ultimately pit strategy surrounding cautions that shook things up. That allowed Action Express Racing to get to the front with Earl Bamber driving. Once he stopped, it was the pole-winning No. 93 with Kakunoshin Ohta at the wheel that led the field.
As the strategies continued to shift, Porsche got back into the overall lead, first with JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Tijmen van der Helm, then with Heinrich. Van der Helm was attempting to stay out in order to earn more Michelin Endurance Cup points, but he ended up pitting a lap too early for that strategy to work out.
In LMP2, the race started off with a mess. Era Motorsport’s Naveen Rao ran in the back of TDS Racing’s Tobias Lutke in the first turn and spun him out. The incident collected CrowdStrike Racing by APR’s George Kurtz and United Autosports’ Phil Fayer. Rao was judged responsible and was given a stop-and-two-minute hold penalty. All four cars continued with repairs.
Early on, AO Racing’s PJ Hyett was able to take the lead away from pole sitter Jeremy Clarke in the Inter Europol Competition No. 43 and led a substantial amount of the early going.
AF Corse’s Dylan Murry spun exiting the Kink late in the third hour. He was then hit hard by Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson. Adelson then spun and hit the tires in West Bend. Murry was ok afterwards, but Adelson spent a long time in the infield care center. Eventually, he went off-site to get checked out.
Adelson has since been released from the hospital. The No. 120 Porsche was out on the spot.
AF Corse got their car back into the garage and attempted to repair it. After losing 50 laps, the team was able to get the car back out briefly. However, the decision was made to retire the car after only a couple of a laps.
Jonny Edgar led the class at the six-hour mark in “Spike” by 1.654 seconds over CrowdStrike by APR’s Alex Quinn. Inter Europol’s Tom Dillmann was third, then United Autosports’ Rasmus Lindh and Tower Motorsports’ Kyffin Simpson.
GTD Pro has been dominated for much of the race by Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports. Alexander Sims started from the pole and led early. Teammate Nicky Catsburg drove up into second. The teammates then battled among themselves.
Following pit stops, it was the Ford Racing Mustangs that went to the front. First, the No. 65 led with Sebastian Priaulx driving, then Ben Barker took over the advantage.
In the fifth hour, Paul Miller Racing’s Dan Harper drove up to the class lead in his BMW. The Corvettes are still right there, giving chase.
At the six-hour mark, Paul Miller Racing’s Neil Verhagen was in the lead by 1.861 seconds over Marvin Kirchhoefer. Nico Varrone was third in the No. 4 Corvette, then Jules Gounon in the Bartone Bros./GetSpeed Mercedes. Pfaff Motorsports’ Mirko Bortolotti was fifth.
In GTD, The Heart of Racing’s Zacharie Robichon started from pole, but fell back quickly. Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis took the lead at the start, then Antonio Fuoco, Frederik Schandorff and Charlie Eastwood got the lead before it reverted back to Ellis.
Rennsport One’s GTD debut was very short. Eric Zitza spun on lap 5 and hit the tires protecting the blunt end of the wall separating the track from the pit warmup lane. He was out on the spot and very sore.
Schandorff was leading at the six-hour mark by .418 seconds over the Ferrari of Conquest Racing’s Thierry Vermeulen. Eduardo Barrichello is third in his Aston Martin, then AF Corse’s Tommaso Mosca. Vasser Sullivan’s Aaron Telitz is fifth in his Lexus. The Winward Racing Mercedes that led much of the first quarter of the race was back in seventh.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Rolex 24 at Daytona Running Order Through Six Hours
Through six hours, there have been five retirements. Zitza’s Rennsport One Porsche was the first of them. Risi Competizione dropped out after contact in the International Horseshoe caused suspension and steering damage. Wright Motorsports and AF Corse’s No. 83 dropped out after their crash. Meyer Riley Motorsports’ Mustang also retired in the fifth hour.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email 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 Frontstretch 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.