IMSA SportsCar Championship: Daytona 24 Hour Highlights
Daytona Beach, FL – The IMSA SportsCar Championship’s opening round, the Daytona 24 Hours, has seen intense competition as the race reached the six-hour mark. The #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06, driven by Colin Braun, surged to the lead after a third caution period, overtaking the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R piloted by Earl Bamber.
At the restart, Braun executed a bold move around the outside of Bamber at Turn 1, displaying remarkable skill. Felipe Nasr in the #7 Porsche 963 LMDh capitalized as well, relegating Bamber to third. At the six-hour mark, Braun maintained a narrow lead of just eight-tenths over Nasr, with Kamui Kobayashi in the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac trailing by a further four-tenths.
BMW’s Rahal M Hybrid V8 LMDs held fifth and sixth positions, with Marco Wittmann’s #25 narrowly ahead of Raffaele Marciello in the #24 entry. Earlier, Kevin Estre in the #6 Porsche had led the race for a significant period, creating a 10-second gap before spinning in the infield, leading to further setbacks for the team.
Kevin Magnussen gained the lead after a safety car period, managing to exploit the situation despite being out of sync due to a puncture. The #24 BMW, initially led by pole sitter Dries Vanthoor, fell back after a botched pit stop that cost over 30 seconds.
Mechanical troubles plagued the second Meyer Shank Acura, which faced a significant delay due to a left rear stub axle issue. Meanwhile, Lamborghini’s sole SC63 LMDh entry had to retire due to a cooling system failure after just one hour of racing.
LMP2 and GT Class Updates
Mathias Beche led the LMP2 category driving the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport ORECA-Gibson 07, closely followed by the Riley Motorsports entry driven by Felipe Fraga. In a dramatic sequence, the AO Racing ORECA, previously controlled by Dane Cameron, lost ground, allowing Beche to overtake.
In GT categories, BMW’s Paul Miller Racing M4 GT3, driven by Augusto Farfus, competed closely with Nico Varrone in the best-practice Pratt Miller Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. In GT Daytona, Frederik Schandroff led the regular GTD class in the Inception Ferrari 296 GT3, showcasing a competitive season ahead.
