64th Rolex 24 At Daytona Update: Late-Race Developments
As the 64th Rolex 24 at Daytona enters its final two hours, the running order has shifted significantly following a Full Course Yellow triggered by an engine failure in the #64 Ford Racing Mustang GT3. Driver Mike Rockenfeller retired the car, marking the seventh official dropout of the race.
Porsche Penske Motorsport has maintained its dominance in the GTP category with both cars initially finishing the day in the top two. However, they opted for divergent pit strategies during the caution, with the #6 Porsche 963 remaining out while the #7 received routine service. Upon the restart, Julien Andlauer in the #7 took the lead, followed by Sheldon van der Linde in the #24 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8, Earl Bamber in the #31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R, Philipp Eng in the #25 WRT BMW, and Tom Blomqvist in the #60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06. Notably, Laurens Vanthoor advanced from tenth to sixth in the #6 Porsche after the green flag.
In a critical moment for Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing, the #10 Cadillac suffered a gearbox failure, effectively eliminating them from contention. Ricky Taylor reported, “Something in the gearbox let go, then I saw the smoke,” after safely bringing the car to pit lane.
In LMP2, the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA 07-Gibson, now driven by Alex Quinn, retains the lead, with strong competition from Inter Europol Competition cars, including Tom Dillmann in the #43 and Nolan Siegel in the #343, who currently sit in second and third, respectively.
In the GTD Pro class, a well-timed pit by Ayhancan Güven in the #911 Porsche 911 GT3 R allowed “Grello” to cycle to the front just before the caution. Thomas Preining now leads the category. However, James Calado in the #033 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo faced a setback, receiving a drive-through penalty post-restart for an incident with Nico Varrone’s #4 Corvette Racing entry. This opened the door for Dan Harper in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO to take second, followed by Maxime Martin in the #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, with Varrone slipping to sixth.
In GTD, Nicki Thiim surged to the lead in the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, joined by teammate Mattia Drudi in the #27 Heart of Racing Vantage in second and Jens Klingmann in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW in third.
As the race approaches its conclusion, teams are bracing for an intense finish filled with strategy changes and potential surprises.
