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24 HOURS OF DAYTONA: PORSCHE DOES IT AGAIN



Winning is hard, but repeating success is even harder. Porsche proved this by clinching victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona for the second year in a row, this time with Felipe Nasr, Laurens Vanthoor, and Nick Tandy. That’s not all: the Penske Motorsport team’s 963 LMDh cars came tantalizingly close to a stunning one-two finish in the opening round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Only in the final stages of the race did Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet, and Kevin Estre lose out to the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06, driven by the quartet of Tom Blomqvist, Scott Dixon, Felix Rosenqvist, and Colin Braun.


Numerous retirements helped shape the battle for victory as early as dawn. With just over eight hours remaining, the fight for the win in the 63rd edition of the 24 Hours of Daytona was down to the two Porsche Penskes, the Meyer Shank Racing Acura, and the BMW RLL driven by pole-sitter Dries Vanthoor alongside Raffaele Marciello, Kevin Magnussen, and Philip Eng. All these cars were within one lap of each other.


As is often the case at Daytona, the final stint proved decisive. The Porsche cars defended against repeated attacks from a relentless Vanthoor, who was the only driver able to match the pace of the 963 LMDh cars. He even managed to slot his BMW M Hybrid V8 between the two Penske cars after the penultimate pit stop. However, while attempting to pass Campbell, Vanthoor overshot the first turn. Shortly after, another Full Course Yellow was triggered due to the retirement of the Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3.


At the restart, Nasr wasted no time, immediately overtaking Vanthoor’s BMW. Caught in traffic, Vanthoor collided with James Calado’s Ferrari 296 GT3, damaging his car’s hood. Although he tried to continue, the Belgian driver eventually returned to the pits for repairs, effectively ending his chances of victory. This allowed Blomqvist to move into third with the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06.


With less than 30 minutes remaining, Nasr overtook teammate Campbell to take the lead. Struggling to maintain pace, Campbell soon saw Blomqvist closing in. Five minutes from the checkered flag, the Acura driver passed Campbell to claim second place. However, Nasr had already built a sufficient gap to secure victory, crossing the finish line just 1.335 seconds ahead of Blomqvist.


Vanthoor, forced into an additional pit stop to repair his BMW, finished fourth, one lap down. Rounding out the top five was the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac driven by Brendon Hartley, Ricky Taylor, Will Stevens, and Felipe Albuquerque. Albuquerque received a drive-through penalty during the 19th hour for contact with Marco Wittmann’s BMW.


The Other Classes: LMP2, GTD Pro, and GTD

In the LMP2 class, the AF Corse team appeared poised for victory until a gearbox failure on Matthieu Vaxiviere’s Oreca 07, just two hours from the end, dashed their hopes. Sebastien Bourdais of Tower Motorsport capitalized, teaming up with Job van Uitert, Sebastian Alvarez, and John Farano to deliver a dominant performance. Bourdais crossed the line over 44 seconds ahead of United Autosports’ Paul di Resta, who shared the car with Daniel Goldburg, James Allen, and Rasmus Lindh. Felipe Massa and the Riley team completed the podium.


In GTD Pro, Ford redeemed itself with the Mustang GT3, placing both cars on the podium. Victory went to the trio of Dennis Olsen, Frederic Vervish, and Christopher Mies, who took advantage of a late-race battle between Corvette and BMW. Meanwhile, in GTD, the AWA team’s Corvette Z06 GT3.R emerged victorious, with Matthew Bell overtaking Mattia Drudi’s Aston Martin from Heart of Racing just 15 minutes before the end.


The 24 Hours of Daytona delivered thrills and drama right to the finish, once again proving why it’s one of the most captivating and competitive events in global motorsport.




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