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Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA
Porsche Penske Motorsport scored a historic victory in the 63rd Rolex 24 at Daytona, delivering the German manufacturer back-to-back overall wins in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener and its record-extending 20th overall in the race.
It came after a race-long challenge from the No. 24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8, which dropped out of contention in the final hour with bodywork damage.
Felipe Nasr took the No. 7 Porsche 963 to a 1.335-second win over the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist, who made a late charge and move around the No. 6 Porsche of Matt Campbell with less than five minutes to go.
Nasr shared victory with Laurens Vanthoor and Nick Tandy, who becomes the first driver to have claimed overall victories in all four prestigious 24-hour races at Le Mans, Daytona, Nürburgring and Spa.
The two Porsches fought for the lead from the final restart, with Nasr getting around Campbell with 22 minutes before coming under pressure from Blomqvist.
Dries Vanthoor in the No. 24 BMW challenged at the restart with 38 minutes to go but pitted after smoke billowed from bodywork rub that was made worse after initially making contact with the No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 of James Calado prior to the caution.
The Belgian also had an off-course excursion in Turn 1 while attempting to take the lead.
Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 60 Acura ARX-06 ended up second, with Blomqvist having put pressure on the pair of factory Porsches after Dries Vanthoor pitted for repairs.
He briefly got around Campbell for second with less than ten minutes to go before successfully retaking the position several laps later.
The MSR car bounced back from a brush with the barriers by Felix Rosenqvist in Hour 16 that resulted in right-front nose damage and a subsequent stop to replace the front bodywork.
Scott Dixon later served a drive-through penalty for a pit speed violation, prior to Blomqvist’s closing stint.
Blomqvist, Dixon and Rosenqvist were joined in the Acura by Colin Braun.
Campbell, meanwhile, completed the podium in the No. 6 Porsche that also featured Mathieu Jaminet and Kevin Estre.
Pole-sitter Dries Vanthoor finished one lap behind in fourth after the late repair job in the car he shared with Kevin Magnussen, Philipp Eng and Raffaele Marciello, which set the race’s fastest lap.
The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series of Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Will Stevens and Brendon Hartley completed the top-five.
JDC-Miller Motorsports was sixth with its privateer Porsche, despite having had two drive-through penalties during Bryce Aron’s stint in the nighttime hours, followed by a stop-and-repair penalty for tire requirements with less than two-and-a-half hours to go.
Team RLL’s sister No. 25 BMW finished seventh after losing two laps due to a miscue with a rear brake change overnight, while Marco Wittmann suffered a left-rear puncture after contact from Albuquerque with five hours to go.
The Portuguese driver was assessed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility, which was followed by another penalty for having too many people over the wall during a pit stop.
The No. 93 MSR Acura was one of the first GTP cars to hit early trouble when Alex Palou stopped on track in the fifth hour with left-rear suspension failure, likely caused by the new curbing in the Le Mans Chicane that caught out a number of cars.
It returned to action nearly 40 laps down, ahead of the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac, which crashed into the wall in NASCAR Turn 4 with Frederik Vesti, also due to suspension failure in the 11th hour.
Both cars were classified 15th and 16th overall, respectively.
Proton Competition’s Porsche 963, meanwhile, dropped out due to left-rear suspension damage with Nico Pino at the wheel just prior to the halfway mark.
It came after Louis Deletraz lost control of his No. 40 WTR Cadillac on an Hour 8 restart that resulted in a dramatic seven-car pileup and multiple retirements in the other classes, including contenders in LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD.
The Riley-run factory Lamborghini SC63, in its Rolex 24 debut, meanwhile, was the race’s first retirement due to a cooling-related issue at the end of the opening hour.
RESULTS: Rolex 24 at Daytona
