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The finish of Rolex 24 At Daytona yesterday saw a record crowd watch tight racing throughout the 59 car field with five cars in the fastest Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class on the lead lap when the checkered flag dropped short of the 24 hour mark. Leaving aside the officiating confusion, Porsche took the overall victory with the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963, even though the drivers weren’t immediately aware of the historic triumph along with the other four cars running on the same lap after twice around the clock. Maybe the timing officials should be wearing Rolex watches.
In Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class five cars were on the lead lap as well. In Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) only two were on the lead lap. However, in GTD PRO, the No. 62 of the famous Risi Competizione team with as always Ferrari – this time running a 296 GT3 – scored the team’s first Rolex 24 victory alone, having lapped the other cars in the Pro class. For results click here. View the Race Recap Here.
Overall all for al the racers in the end it came down to fuel management, experienced drivers avoiding disaster while lapping slower cars, and – surprisingly – some young but clearly talented newcomers. The 17-year-old Connor Zilisch and 23-year-old Christian Rasmussen driving with Ryan Dalziel and Dwight Merriman won LMP2 in the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2 07. Zilisch has signed a contract as a development driver for NASCAR’s Trackhouse Racing. Rasmussen will run the road races on the 2024 IndyCar schedule for Ed Carpenter Racing. They will be back, I’ll wager.
Quick Look – Race Results
GTP class:
- Cameron/Nasr/Campbell/Newgarden (USA/BR/AUS/USA), Porsche 963 #7, 791 laps
- Derani/Aitken/Blomqvist (BR/UK/UK), Cadillac #31, -2.112 s
- Taylor/Deletraz/Herta/Button (USA/CH/USA/UK), Acura ARX-06 #40, -14.989 s
- Tandy/Jaminet/Estre/Vanthoor (UK/F/F/B), Porsche 963 #6, -15.387 s
- Bruni/Jani/Picariello/Dumas (I/CH/B/F), Porsche 963 #5, -44.479 s
- Van der Helm/Westbrook/Hanson/Keating (NL/UK/UK/USA), Porsche 963 #85, – 2 laps
GTD-Pro class:
- Serra/Rigon/Pier Guidi/Calado (BR/I/I/UK), Ferrari 293 GT3 #62, 733 laps
- Heinrich/Priaulx/Christensen (D/UK/DK), Porsche 911 GT3 R #77, -34.999 s
- Sellers/Snow/Verhagen/van der Linde (USA/USA/USA/RSA), BMW M4 GT3 #1, -2 laps
GTD class:
- Ward/Ellis/Dontje/Morad (USA/UK/NL/CAN), Mercedes AMG GT3 #57, 731 laps
- Adelson/Skeer/Heylen/Makowiecki (USA/USA/B/F), Porsche 911 GT3 R #120, -1 laps
- Andretti/Chavez/Hargrove/Preining (USA/USA/CDN/A), Porsche 911 GT3 R #43, -3 laps
- Brule/Udell/Hindman/Andlauer (USA/USA/USA/F), Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, -12 laps
- Li/Fjordbach/Ten Voorde/Bachler (CHN/DK/NL/A), Porsche 911 GT3 R #86, -13 laps
Racing Commentary
GTP
Despite the number of entries this was a two car race for the overall top finish and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class win. The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R and the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 fiercely fought each other. Porsche appeared to have the edge ~ 19 hours in. Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr combined to build a 10-second lead in the Penske Porsche. However, Pipo Derani and Tom Blomqvist had other ideas and brawled in the Cadillac, highlighted by Blomqvist passing for the lead at more than 200 mph on Nasr into Turn 1 with only one hour, 20 minutes remaining.
A full-course yellow with ~52 minutes left erased Blomqvist’s 2.2-second lead. When the pits opened, the Porsche crew got Nasr out ahead for the green flag with 32 minutes to go. The clean air at the front of the field Nasr needed to preserve the No. 7 Porsche in first, which he co-drove with Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and 2023 Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden finishing 2.112 seconds ahead of the No. 31 Cadillac driven by Blomqvist, Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken. Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta and Jenson Button finished third in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06. Full results click here.
This was the 23rd time Porsche claimed overall honors in the Rolex 24, the last coming in 2010 using a Riley chassis in the Daytona Prototype (DP) class fielded by Action Express Racing, ironically the same experienced team that now runs the Whelen Cadillac.
Team Penske now has three at Daytona, including a 1966 GT/GTO class win and the overall prize in 1969, when Mark Donohue and Chuck Parsons finished 30-laps in front at the finish in a Lola T-70/Chevrolet.
“When you think about 1969, when we won here with a Lola, things were a lot different in those days,” Roger Penske said. “Just to see the competitiveness, where six or seven tenths of a second was the difference after 24 hours of racing, it’s unbelievable. “I’ll tell you; this goes down as one of the biggest wins we’ve had.”
The victory was more than it might first appear for Porsche, which entered IMSA’s new GTP era with a hybrid-electrified platform in 2023 in a highly publicized resumption of the German marque’s relationship with the Penske organization, which produced major sports car victories in several different time periods since the early 1970s (AutoInformed; Penske Motorsport Heads List of Porsche 963 WEC and IMSA Contenders During 2023. A New Golden Age of Racing?).
However, the Penske-Porsche partnership broke down several times due to car failures and lost the WeatherTech Championship title last season to the – irony again – No. 31 Whelen Cadillac. An embarrassed Porsche publicly proclaimed increased reliability was the goal in the five IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup events for 2024. Weel, one race in all four Porsche 963 hybrids in the field (two with Penske, one with JDC-Miller MotorSports and one with Proton Competition) finished in the top six.
Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti (WTRAndretti) debuted as a two-car factory team with the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 and the No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06 and came up on the podium after a tough 24-hour battle.
“This was an extremely difficult event to come to. I don’t know if I told anyone how worried I was because in a new two-car team and new mechanics, new engineers, and new drivers and then everything that happened, said Wayne Taylor, Team Principal, WTRAndretti.
“They changed our car for the race weekend. We knew we didn’t have a car that could run with the Cadillacs or the BMWs or the Porsches. We said that if we execute properly and the drivers do a good job and don’t make any mistakes, we could maybe get a podium. And then we had really bad launch with the No. 10 car and unfortunately, they had to pull out. It’s just getting the No. 40 car on the podium is a big deal. So, we are really happy. Thank you to all our partners for always continuing to support us, Konica Minolta, DEX Imaging, Acura, HRC, Harrison Contracting and Gainbridge. Really looking forward to switching focus to Sebring,” said Taylor. IMSA on the Difference Between GTP and LMP2 Race Cars.
LMP2
Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) as noted saw five cars persisting in contention to the finish. The No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07 and the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA were arguably the big contenders. However, No. 18 with drivers Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel, Connor Zilisch and Christian Rasmussen mastered the final four hours. The No. 18 drivers led 132 of the final 136 laps, with Rasmussen taking the checkered flag with a 6.8-second advantage over Malthe Jakobsen in the No. 04, co-piloted by George Kurtz, Colin Braun and Toby Sowery.
“It’s awesome; it’s a huge bucket list item for me,” said Christian Rasmussen, the team’s IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup driver who is about to start his first full season of IndyCar Series racing. “We were just strong all race. We kept improving, we knew we had the pace and we had the strategy just right. Then just cruised to the finish. I’m over the moon.” Merriman and Dalziel were also half of the Era lineup in 2021 that won the Rolex 24 LMP2 race. The No. 74 Riley ORECA with drivers Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, Josh Burdon and Felipe Massa finished third in LMP2.
GTD Pro*
Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado teamed to drive the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 from a fifth-place start in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class to victory by a lap over the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992). It was Giuseppe Risi’s team with multiple class victories over the years at Le Mans, Sebring and Petit Le Mans. Yesterday marked its first Rolex 24 at Daytona win. “This is the race that I was missing, that I really wanted to win,” said Serra, who drove the final stint. “Today is one of the happiest days of my racing career.” The No. 62 Ferrari endured a fire in the pits in the first six hours of the race. The prancing horse privateer led the last 82 laps, 130 of the final 136 and 215 overall in the race. “It’s never easy, you know?” Serra said. “You start to hear some noises in the car and you think that everything is out of control in the last few laps.”
Laurin Heinrich, Seb Priaulx and Michael Christensen in the pole-winning AO Porsche finished in second place, with the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 finishing third with co-drivers Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen and Sheldon van der Linde.
Pro drivers had a challenging race. At the start, the 2023 GTD PRO champion was involved in a crash that relegated it to an 11th-place finish. Mike Conway was piloting the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 when Dennis Andersen’s Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) entry spun in front of him at the exit of Turn 1. With just under two hours remaining in the race, the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW stopped for a brake change while running second behind the No. 62 Ferrari. The brake issues returned shortly after van der Linde returned to the track, and the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche moved into second in class.
Risi Competizione previously had shown the strength of the Ferrari 296 GT3 in its debut last season. It was the first Rolex 24 win for Serra, Rigon and Calado, while Pier Guidi picked up his second Rolex watch following a Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) victory in a Level 5 Ferrari 10 years ago. “Giuseppe Risi deserves it,” Calado said of the team owner. “He’s wanted it for a long time. I’m happy for him, and I’m happy for us. It’s a great way to start the year and puts us in good stead for the rest of the year.” *
GTD
The No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 started 17th among the 23 GTD entries, but ended the strikingly bad luck that clouded Winward Racing’s 2023 WeatherTech Championship season. Twelve different GTD cars led throughout the race. The No. 57 Mercedes rose to the top toward the end, leading 123 of the final 134 laps and a class-high 383 laps in total. Winner Daniels Morad’s previous Rolex 24 victory came in GTD seven long years ago. Co-drivers Ward, Ellis and Dontje were all with the class-winning Winward team in 2021.
“I’ve won it before sitting on the sidelines and now I’ve won it in the seat of the car,” Morad said. “I almost crashed on the in-lap (after the checkered flag); I was crying so much. My voice is gone. I think I hurt myself as well.”
Ferrari took second through fourth places Sunday in GTD. The No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 co-driven by Simon Mann, Francois Heriau, Miguel Molina and Kei Cozzolino finished second, 2.731 seconds behind the winners. The No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 co-driven by Manny Franco, Albert Costa Balboa, Alessandro Balzan and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli was third, with the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 and drivers Onofrio Triarsi, Charles Scardina, Riccardo Agostini and Alessio Rovera taking fourth.
In the final hour, the pole-sitting No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 stopped with an underhood fire. Parker Thompson emerged safely – he sure didn’t need his spotter to tell him to get the heck out of the burning Lexus – and tried to extinguish the fire with an extinguisher passed through the fence, but the car was done and finished 15th in class. The consequent yellow flag or lights brought the field back together for the final minutes, but Morad turned his extended stint in the car to a 2.731-second class victory. “Incredible team, perfect car today,” Morad said. Smoke free too.
*The IMSA WeatherTech Championship resumes March 13-16 with the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring at the bumpy, car punishing and unforgiving Sebring International Raceway in Central Florida. Virtually all of the 13 GTD PRO entries from the Rolex 24 are expected back next month at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
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Rolex 24 At Daytona – Record Crowd as Porsche Beats Cadillac
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The finish of Rolex 24 At Daytona yesterday saw a record crowd watch tight racing throughout the 59 car field with five cars in the fastest Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class on the lead lap when the checkered flag dropped short of the 24 hour mark. Leaving aside the officiating confusion, Porsche took the overall victory with the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963, even though the drivers weren’t immediately aware of the historic triumph along with the other four cars running on the same lap after twice around the clock. Maybe the timing officials should be wearing Rolex watches.
In Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class five cars were on the lead lap as well. In Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) only two were on the lead lap. However, in GTD PRO, the No. 62 of the famous Risi Competizione team with as always Ferrari – this time running a 296 GT3 – scored the team’s first Rolex 24 victory alone, having lapped the other cars in the Pro class. For results click here. View the Race Recap Here.
Overall all for al the racers in the end it came down to fuel management, experienced drivers avoiding disaster while lapping slower cars, and – surprisingly – some young but clearly talented newcomers. The 17-year-old Connor Zilisch and 23-year-old Christian Rasmussen driving with Ryan Dalziel and Dwight Merriman won LMP2 in the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2 07. Zilisch has signed a contract as a development driver for NASCAR’s Trackhouse Racing. Rasmussen will run the road races on the 2024 IndyCar schedule for Ed Carpenter Racing. They will be back, I’ll wager.
Quick Look – Race Results
GTP class:
GTD-Pro class:
GTD class:
Racing Commentary
GTP
Despite the number of entries this was a two car race for the overall top finish and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class win. The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R and the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 fiercely fought each other. Porsche appeared to have the edge ~ 19 hours in. Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr combined to build a 10-second lead in the Penske Porsche. However, Pipo Derani and Tom Blomqvist had other ideas and brawled in the Cadillac, highlighted by Blomqvist passing for the lead at more than 200 mph on Nasr into Turn 1 with only one hour, 20 minutes remaining.
A full-course yellow with ~52 minutes left erased Blomqvist’s 2.2-second lead. When the pits opened, the Porsche crew got Nasr out ahead for the green flag with 32 minutes to go. The clean air at the front of the field Nasr needed to preserve the No. 7 Porsche in first, which he co-drove with Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and 2023 Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden finishing 2.112 seconds ahead of the No. 31 Cadillac driven by Blomqvist, Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken. Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta and Jenson Button finished third in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06. Full results click here.
This was the 23rd time Porsche claimed overall honors in the Rolex 24, the last coming in 2010 using a Riley chassis in the Daytona Prototype (DP) class fielded by Action Express Racing, ironically the same experienced team that now runs the Whelen Cadillac.
Team Penske now has three at Daytona, including a 1966 GT/GTO class win and the overall prize in 1969, when Mark Donohue and Chuck Parsons finished 30-laps in front at the finish in a Lola T-70/Chevrolet.
“When you think about 1969, when we won here with a Lola, things were a lot different in those days,” Roger Penske said. “Just to see the competitiveness, where six or seven tenths of a second was the difference after 24 hours of racing, it’s unbelievable. “I’ll tell you; this goes down as one of the biggest wins we’ve had.”
The victory was more than it might first appear for Porsche, which entered IMSA’s new GTP era with a hybrid-electrified platform in 2023 in a highly publicized resumption of the German marque’s relationship with the Penske organization, which produced major sports car victories in several different time periods since the early 1970s (AutoInformed; Penske Motorsport Heads List of Porsche 963 WEC and IMSA Contenders During 2023. A New Golden Age of Racing?).
However, the Penske-Porsche partnership broke down several times due to car failures and lost the WeatherTech Championship title last season to the – irony again – No. 31 Whelen Cadillac. An embarrassed Porsche publicly proclaimed increased reliability was the goal in the five IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup events for 2024. Weel, one race in all four Porsche 963 hybrids in the field (two with Penske, one with JDC-Miller MotorSports and one with Proton Competition) finished in the top six.
Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti (WTRAndretti) debuted as a two-car factory team with the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 and the No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06 and came up on the podium after a tough 24-hour battle.
“This was an extremely difficult event to come to. I don’t know if I told anyone how worried I was because in a new two-car team and new mechanics, new engineers, and new drivers and then everything that happened, said Wayne Taylor, Team Principal, WTRAndretti.
“They changed our car for the race weekend. We knew we didn’t have a car that could run with the Cadillacs or the BMWs or the Porsches. We said that if we execute properly and the drivers do a good job and don’t make any mistakes, we could maybe get a podium. And then we had really bad launch with the No. 10 car and unfortunately, they had to pull out. It’s just getting the No. 40 car on the podium is a big deal. So, we are really happy. Thank you to all our partners for always continuing to support us, Konica Minolta, DEX Imaging, Acura, HRC, Harrison Contracting and Gainbridge. Really looking forward to switching focus to Sebring,” said Taylor. IMSA on the Difference Between GTP and LMP2 Race Cars.
LMP2
Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) as noted saw five cars persisting in contention to the finish. The No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07 and the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA were arguably the big contenders. However, No. 18 with drivers Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel, Connor Zilisch and Christian Rasmussen mastered the final four hours. The No. 18 drivers led 132 of the final 136 laps, with Rasmussen taking the checkered flag with a 6.8-second advantage over Malthe Jakobsen in the No. 04, co-piloted by George Kurtz, Colin Braun and Toby Sowery.
“It’s awesome; it’s a huge bucket list item for me,” said Christian Rasmussen, the team’s IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup driver who is about to start his first full season of IndyCar Series racing. “We were just strong all race. We kept improving, we knew we had the pace and we had the strategy just right. Then just cruised to the finish. I’m over the moon.” Merriman and Dalziel were also half of the Era lineup in 2021 that won the Rolex 24 LMP2 race. The No. 74 Riley ORECA with drivers Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, Josh Burdon and Felipe Massa finished third in LMP2.
GTD Pro*
Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado teamed to drive the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 from a fifth-place start in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class to victory by a lap over the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992). It was Giuseppe Risi’s team with multiple class victories over the years at Le Mans, Sebring and Petit Le Mans. Yesterday marked its first Rolex 24 at Daytona win. “This is the race that I was missing, that I really wanted to win,” said Serra, who drove the final stint. “Today is one of the happiest days of my racing career.” The No. 62 Ferrari endured a fire in the pits in the first six hours of the race. The prancing horse privateer led the last 82 laps, 130 of the final 136 and 215 overall in the race. “It’s never easy, you know?” Serra said. “You start to hear some noises in the car and you think that everything is out of control in the last few laps.”
Laurin Heinrich, Seb Priaulx and Michael Christensen in the pole-winning AO Porsche finished in second place, with the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 finishing third with co-drivers Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen and Sheldon van der Linde.
Pro drivers had a challenging race. At the start, the 2023 GTD PRO champion was involved in a crash that relegated it to an 11th-place finish. Mike Conway was piloting the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 when Dennis Andersen’s Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) entry spun in front of him at the exit of Turn 1. With just under two hours remaining in the race, the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW stopped for a brake change while running second behind the No. 62 Ferrari. The brake issues returned shortly after van der Linde returned to the track, and the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche moved into second in class.
Risi Competizione previously had shown the strength of the Ferrari 296 GT3 in its debut last season. It was the first Rolex 24 win for Serra, Rigon and Calado, while Pier Guidi picked up his second Rolex watch following a Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) victory in a Level 5 Ferrari 10 years ago. “Giuseppe Risi deserves it,” Calado said of the team owner. “He’s wanted it for a long time. I’m happy for him, and I’m happy for us. It’s a great way to start the year and puts us in good stead for the rest of the year.” *
GTD
The No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 started 17th among the 23 GTD entries, but ended the strikingly bad luck that clouded Winward Racing’s 2023 WeatherTech Championship season. Twelve different GTD cars led throughout the race. The No. 57 Mercedes rose to the top toward the end, leading 123 of the final 134 laps and a class-high 383 laps in total. Winner Daniels Morad’s previous Rolex 24 victory came in GTD seven long years ago. Co-drivers Ward, Ellis and Dontje were all with the class-winning Winward team in 2021.
“I’ve won it before sitting on the sidelines and now I’ve won it in the seat of the car,” Morad said. “I almost crashed on the in-lap (after the checkered flag); I was crying so much. My voice is gone. I think I hurt myself as well.”
Ferrari took second through fourth places Sunday in GTD. The No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 co-driven by Simon Mann, Francois Heriau, Miguel Molina and Kei Cozzolino finished second, 2.731 seconds behind the winners. The No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 co-driven by Manny Franco, Albert Costa Balboa, Alessandro Balzan and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli was third, with the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 and drivers Onofrio Triarsi, Charles Scardina, Riccardo Agostini and Alessio Rovera taking fourth.
In the final hour, the pole-sitting No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 stopped with an underhood fire. Parker Thompson emerged safely – he sure didn’t need his spotter to tell him to get the heck out of the burning Lexus – and tried to extinguish the fire with an extinguisher passed through the fence, but the car was done and finished 15th in class. The consequent yellow flag or lights brought the field back together for the final minutes, but Morad turned his extended stint in the car to a 2.731-second class victory. “Incredible team, perfect car today,” Morad said. Smoke free too.
*The IMSA WeatherTech Championship resumes March 13-16 with the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring at the bumpy, car punishing and unforgiving Sebring International Raceway in Central Florida. Virtually all of the 13 GTD PRO entries from the Rolex 24 are expected back next month at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
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