Porsche Penske Motorsport made back-to-back wins in the Rolex 24 at Daytona last Sunday. After a gruelling 24 hours which saw many retirements and incidents from the competing GTP cars, the #7 Porsche 963 piloted by Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor came up trumps, building on last year’s win and GTP Championship.
The #6 Porsche Penske finished third, losing out on second to the #60 Meyer Shank car, the team who reunited with manufacturer Acura after a year out of competition. After starting on pole position, the No. 24 BMW M Team RRL finished in fourth. BMW driver Dries Vanthoor, brother of race winner Laurens, was the biggest challenge to Porsche throughout the 24 hours, but picked up significant damage in a battle with them with 40 minutes left. He had to pit for repairs and finished a lap down.
In the LMP2 class, the #8 Tower Motorsports team of Sébastian Bourdais, Job Van Uitert, John Farano and Sebastian Alvarez took a convincing win. The LMP2 class saw three race leaders suffer issues in just the last two hours of racing.
GTD Pro saw #65 Ford Multimac driver Chris Mies fend off a late challenge from the #3 Pratt Miller Corvette of Alexander Simms to take victory. Corvette Racing and BMW Paul Miller Racing had a fierce battle in the closing hours, with drama ensuing over team orders and blocking.
Corvette Racing #4, piloted by Tommy Milner felt he was held up by the lapped #48 BMW while trying to battle the other Paul Miller Racing BMW. Milner remarked to IMSA Radio: “That’s not what racing is about. It’s embarrassing on their part. It’s embarrassing for BMW.” Their feisty feud ended with the #1 being sent down the field after being hit by Nicolas Varrone in the #4.
The final category of GTD saw Canadian based AWA Racing take victory with their No.13 car. Matthew Bell capitalised on battling behind to win the class for himself and teammates Orey Fidani, Lars Kern and Marvin Kirchöffer.
The biggest drama in the race occurred during the eight hour, when on a race restart, the GTP #40 Cadillac WTR of Louis Delétraz careered off the circuit, hit the wall, and bounced back in front of the entire LMP2 and GTD field. The #73 Pratt Miller Motorsports LMP2 and the #2 United Autosports LMP2 hit Delétraz, collecting the #9 Pfaff Lamborghini of the GTD Pro class. There were no reported injuries for any of the drivers.
This was not the only GTP drama, as many car failures plagued the field. The #63 Lamborghini Squadra Corsa power unit failed after just over an hour, a massive problem for the Riley Motorsports squad, who will contest only five races this year in the SC63 after the Italian marque reduced their racing schedule.
Reigning NTT Indycar Series Champion Alex Palou in the #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing suffered a drive shaft failure and was stuck in the garage for numerous hours. The #5 Proton Porsche suffered a similar issue and ended up finishing down the field.
Turn 5, or better known as the ‘Western Horseshoe’ also caught out many very experienced drivers. Colton Herta, Felix Rosenqvist, Hunter McElrea and Brendan Iribe all made errors there leading to time loss over the course of the 24 hours.
This race also marks a historic achievement for Porsche Penske driver Nick Tandy. He is now the only driver to achieve overall victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Spa 24 Hours and the Nürburgring 24 Hours.
The IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship returns on March 15th for the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. However, if you want to watch more Endurance Sportscar Racing before then, the World Endurance Championship begins in Qatar on the 1st of March for the Qatar 1812 KM.
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