Fog Rolls into the Darkness Halfway Through 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona

A relatively quiet and uninterrupted second quarter of the 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona came to a pause at the start of the twelfth hour, when lingering fog rolled in to overtake the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway circuit.

Shortly before the 10 p.m. scheduled fireworks that ordinarily light up the Daytona night sky, cloud cover grew over the circuit with fog starting to get low enough. The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship field still ran relatively unaffected until the conditions worsened just before 1 a.m., less than an hour before the half distance mark at 1:40 a.m. The yellow flag for the visibility was the seventh full-course caution of the race and was announced as an extended full-course yellow. 

Porsche kept out front both in Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and overall regardless, with Felipe Nasr maintaining his pace in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 he shares with Julien Andlauer and Laurin Heinrich. A strong recovery drive propelled the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R back to second with Earl Bamber behind the wheel, in the car he shares with Jack Aitken, Frederik Vesti and Connor Zilisch. The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell, was third. 

“A few people are cycling using new tires and used tires and some people were going backwards and forward,” Bamber explained. “The 7 and the 6 (Porsche Penske Motorsport entries) look pretty strong at the moment but there’s still a lot of hours to go.”

Although Michelin’s soft compound tires have been available since 5 p.m. in the race and still can be until 10 a.m., their use has been infrequent due to the relatively warmer ambient and track temperatures.

AO Racing paced a majority of the six-hour period in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), with Dane Cameron in the No. 99 ORECA LMP2 07 ahead of Gregoire Saucy’s No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA. At one stage Cameron’s teammate PJ Hyett enjoyed a great lead battle with another past Jim Trueman Award winner, George Kurtz, in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA.

Two of the drivers in GT contending cars, Neil Verhagen and Scott McLaughlin, explained their viewpoints of the fog from behind the wheel. Their teammates Connor De Phillippi and Mason Filippi, respectively, lead at the 12-hour mark.

“I already got the call with even maybe like 45 minutes still to go in my stint,” said Verhagen, who shares the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO that led at the six-hour mark in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO). 

“I had gathered from the spotters that you're starting to lose visibility. Obviously, that's not ideal as we rely on them quite a bit around here, but they've been doing a phenomenal job just to keep us as informed as possible. It's really just on the back straight, where they said that they really lose the visibility, while in the infield section, where things are a little bit lighter and a little bit more turnkey, they can stil see.”

De Phillippi ranks ahead of Ayhancan Guven in Manthey’s “Grello” No. 911 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) and the two Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs.

McLaughlin, a Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) contender in his No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R, added: "It was awesome out there. The car feels really good. The boys are doing great pit stops right now. We're well in the mix. It's a matter of putting it together. We just have to look after things. I had a couple of contacts there on the right side and got caught up in some P2 traffic. (The visibility) is what it is. It definitely was worse in the second. Adding the fireworks made it crazy. There was stuff everywhere, but it was all fun." 

The No. 36 DXDT Corvette leads another Corvette, 13 Autosport’s No. 13 entry in the hands of Ben Green, and Turner Motorsport’s Francis Selldorff in the No. 96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO. Both Green and Selldorff are making their WeatherTech Championship debuts this race.

Results are HERE