DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — This year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona is one of the warmest in recent memory. It’s also one of the most humid. The second quarter of the race was marked by the fog coming in Daytona International Speedway.
At first, it wasn’t too bad. A steady breeze kept the fog swirling around. Sure, visibility was limited in the air, but it was decent at ground level.
As the race entered the 12th hour, the winds died down. As a result, the visibility continued to deteriorate. At 12:45 a.m. ET, IMSA threw the caution due to the fog. By that point, vision had gotten significantly worse.
This is the third time since Frontstretch has covered the Rolex 24 on-site that the race has been interrupted by fog. In 2011, the race was run under yellow for 165 minutes (two hours and 45 minutes). The 2013 race had a 105-minute caution due to fog. Both of these yellows occurred close to sunrise.
At the halfway mark of the race, the No. 7 Porsche of Felipe Nasr was leading under yellow over the Action Express Racing Cadillac of Earl Bamber. The No. 6 Porsche of Kevin Estre was third, followed by BMW M Team WRT’ No. 24’s Sheldon van der Linde. Wayne Taylor Racing’s Will Stevens was fifth.
The second quarter of the race in the GTP was more of the same as Porsche Penske Motorsport spent much of the segment running one-two. Their primary competition was the Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian No. 93 Acura. However, a pit miscue resulted in the left front wheel coming off of the No. 93 with Kakunoshin Ohta at the wheel. Ohta was forced to limp around the 3.56-mile circuit before pitting for fresh tires.
In LMP2, CrowdStrike Racing by APR came on strong in the second quarter of the race. After George Kurtz had two spins during the first couple of hours, the car came to life with Alex Quinn at the wheel. He was able to get to the front of the class in the seventh hour and stayed there for a couple of hours.
However, pit strategy allowed “Spike” to get back to the front. At the halfway point, AO Racing’s Dane Cameron was leading over United Autosports’ Gregoire Saucy. Inter Europol Competition’s Bijoy Garg was third, then Tower Motorsports’ Sebastian Alvarez. Toby Sowery in the CrowdStrike entry was fifth.
In GTD Pro, the second quartile of the race was much like the first with the Paul Miller Racing BMW and the two Corvettes swapping the advantage. When the caution came out for fog, the Corvettes chose to do a brake change during their regular pit stops. This dropped Marvin Kirchhoefer and Nico Varrone down the order a little bit, but they were eventually able to mostly make it up.
At halfway, Connor de Phillippi led in the Paul Miller Racing BMW over the Manthey Racing Porsche of Ayhancan Guven. Kirchhoefer and Varrone were third and fourth respectively, while Vasser Sullivan’s Jack Hawksworth was fifth in his Lexus.
In GTD, pit strategy was the name of the game. As the race continued on, there was no clear favorite at the front of the field. Teams such as The Heart of Racing, Conquest Racing, and Winward Racing took their turns at the front.
NTT IndyCar Series regular Scott McLaughlin took the lead early in the 11th hour from AF Corse’s Antonio Fuoco shortly before midnight. The team was able to hold onto it from there.
At halfway, DXDT Racing’s Mason Filippi was leading the class in his Corvette. Ben Green in the 13 Autosport Corvette was second, followed by Turner Motorsport’s Francis Selldorff. Inception Racing’s Ferrari for David Fumanelli was fourth, while Conquest Racing’s Manny Franco was fifth.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Rolex 24 at Daytona Running Order After 12 Hours
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.