Rolex 24 at Daytona: Chaos and Dominance in Opening Hour
The 64th annual Rolex 24 at Daytona commenced with intense drama, featuring multiple incidents that marred the early stages of the race. By the conclusion of the first hour, Porsche Penske Motorsport’s 963 models had established themselves at the forefront, with Felipe Nasr in the #7 car leading, closely followed by teammate Kévin Estre in the #6.
Nasr seized the lead on the opening lap and maintained it amid fierce competition. The two Porsches pulled ahead of Renger van der Zande in the #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06, who started from pole position. The top five was rounded out by the #40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R and the #10 WTR Cadillac.
The race’s early chaos was triggered by a collision involving Naveen Rao’s #18 Era Motorsport LMP2, which impacted Tobias Lütke’s #11 TDS Racing entry, creating a multi-car crash that affected United Autosports and CrowdStrike Racing efforts as well. Rao received a 120-second stop-and-go penalty and fell five laps behind the class lead, while Fayer’s #2 United Autosports car spent 40 minutes in the garage.
As the race progressed, a yellow flag was waved again when the #28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R lost control, resulting in Eric Zitza’s retirement from the GTD class. Thankfully, once racing resumed at the 24-minute mark, it has remained green since.
Penalties were issued quickly, with notable early drive-throughs for Jack Aitken in the #31 Whelen Cadillac and Giacomo Altoè in the #81 DragonSpeed Corvette. Sheena Monk’s #16 Ford also had to serve a mechanical black flag.
In LMP2, Ben Keating took the lead in the #52 Bryan Herta Autosport ORECA 07-Gibson, overtaking PJ Hyett’s #99 AO Racing entry. The GTD Pro class witnessed the #3 Corvette Racing car driven by Alexander Sims leading, followed closely by the #4 entry of Nicky Catsburg.
In the GTD class, the lead shifted multiple times, culminating with Philip Ellis in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG now in the top position, distancing himself from Antonio Fuoco in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari.
With this strong start, the race sets the stage for a thrilling 24-hour endurance showdown at Daytona.
