Porsche Leads After Eventful Run to Halfway Mark of Rolex 24

Porsche Penske Motorsport paces the 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona at the halfway mark of the 24-hour endurance classic that kicks off the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. That said, the seventh to 12th hours reduced the number of contenders after some strong middle third stints.

Leading runs from Kamui Kobayashi in the No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, in Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and Max Hesse, in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), in particular, went up in smoke.

The race’s complexion across multiple classes changed significantly with a multi-car accident exiting Turn 2 just after the start of the eighth hour.

When Louis Deletraz lost the rear of the No. 40 Cadillac, the resulting spin created an accordion effect that took out more cars. Three Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class entries: the Nos. 2 (United Autosports USA), 8 (Tower Motorsports) and 73 (Pratt Miller) ORECA LMP2 07 cars collected substantial damage. Two other Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) cars collided separately in avoidance, as Jordan Pepper in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 appeared to push Hesse’s No. 48 BMW off the road.

All five drivers involved in the incident were evaluated and released. Deletraz took responsibility for the spin that started it all.

“On the restart, the yellow car of JDC went inside and just going to power and I think I spun,” he explained. “I don’t think anything happened. I don’t think I was touched and then I got collected. It was my mistake, and I am sorry to the team and sorry to my teammates as well. A sad way to end the 24.”

Hesse described his frustration from the BMW side: “I was very aware of what was happening; the people behind me weren’t. So obviously it was crazy chaos going on. I was able to avoid the car ahead but just got hit very hard in the rear.”

Another contender fell out in the 11th hour. Frederik Vesti spun the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R in-between NASCAR Turns 3 and 4 with right rear damage from an apparent rear suspension issue.

With the 12-car GTP field cut down to the lead lap in half by a mix of incidents and penalties, it’s left the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 of Felipe Nasr out front ahead of the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 of Scott Dixon. Cadillac has one remaining challenger in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry, while the polesitting No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 also remained in the hunt.

Paul Miller Racing led its second six-hour stint in as many efforts, with its No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Neil Verhagen pacing Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO). The No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), “Rexy,” worked to come back from being caught up in the multiple car incident from earlier up to second, ahead of the two Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3s.

As they were at the six-hour mark, Inception Racing also led Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) at the 12-hour mark. Frederik Schandorff was behind the wheel of that team’s No. 70 Ferrari 296 GT3. Schandorff withstood consistent pressure from Ayhancan Guven in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992).

Inter Europol Competition, former partners with PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, surpassed its former partner team to pace the LMP2 class at the 12-hour mark. Antonio Felix da Costa was aboard prior to the halfway point in the team’s No. 43 ORECA LMP2 07