Daytona Post-Race Notebook

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

***Porsche claimed its record-extending 20th overall Rolex 24 at Daytona victory, with Porsche Penske Motorsport going back-to-back in the No. 7 Porsche 963. While Laurens Vanthoor and Nick Tandy became first-time overall winners in the event, Felipe Nasr scored his second consecutive overall triumph, having also steered the same entry to victory last year.

***The pair of Porsche Penske entries combined to lead 517 of the 781-lap race.

***Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach said: “We did not always have the fastest car, but we were consistent and made the fewest mistakes. This is a fantastic result for our drivers, mechanics, engineers, and the entire team, including our colleagues back home in Weissach. I am absolutely delighted. This victory is a perfect start to the new season.”

***One of the deciding factors in the end was the team’s split strategy on the final pit stop, which saw the No. 6 entry of Matt Campbell jump out in front after only taking two fresh Michelin tires, compared to four new tires for the No. 7 Porsche Nasr, as well as the eventual second place-finishing No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist.

***Porsche Penske managing director Jonathan Diuguid said: “Track position was critical there. We just wanted to make sure that we had one PPM car in front of the BMW and the Acura. The BMW had some repairs and things and it worked out to all cars except the 6 had full new tires.”

***Diuguid revealed the No. 6 Porsche didn’t use its full tire allotment in the race, having ended up with “one-and-a-half or two” extra sets. Porsche Penske only used Michelin’s optional Soft tire once, on the No. 6 car with Campbell at night, but found the Medium to be better performing. The Softs were eligible to be used between 5 p.m. on Saturday through 10 a.m. on Sunday.

***The only notable issue to strike either factory Porsche came when an unidentified GT car hit the rear of the No. 6 car overnight, prompting the team to replace the rear deck, while under the race’s 13th full course caution, which led to a minor delay.

***Diuguid said: “We pounded on the 963s all day and we didn’t have a single technical problem on either of the cars. I think that goes a long way to being able to compete.”

***All GTP cars ran without any reported high voltage-related issues, which was Porsche Penske’s top reliability concern entering the race according to Diuguid, who revealed they mitigated the situation by fitting both cars with a mix-and-match of previously used components after discovering the “smoking gun” pre-race.

***Tom Blomqvist, who scored his fourth Rolex 24 podium in four attempts, having not finished worse than second overall in the event, revealed that the No. 60 MSR Acura was battling with rear tire degradation the most during the race.

***The No. 60 Acura crew was told to take it easy over the new curbing in the Le Mans Chicane, formerly known as the Bus Stop, after its sister No. 93 entry lost significant time in the fifth hour due to suspension failure on the left-rear of the car.

***Blomqvist said: ‘There was a number of suspension failures from other cars and other manufacturers. I’m guessing we assumed that it was from the new Bus Stop. The curbs can be quite aggressive through there so we were told to take it a little bit easier through there.”

***In addition to the No. 93 Acura, the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche and No. 31 Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R all had suspension failures in the race, while at least three LMP2 cars succumbed to gearbox failures that’s believed to have been caused by the curbing as well.

***Wayne Taylor Racing only got one of its Cadillacs to the finish, with the No. 40 entry of Louis Deletraz crashing out on a restart in the eighth hour that collected a total of seven cars. “Very cold tires, especially when you race at night,” he said. “I’m fine. Luckily, we have a very strong car. Cadillac has a very safe car. I think I just didn’t have enough grip in the tire and lost it straight away and after that got hit by a LMP2.”

***The No. 10 WTR Cadillac finished fifth in the hands of Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Will Stevens and Brendon Hartley, finishing one lap down after having two drive-through penalties. “We seemed to miss the setup for the daytime; it was hard to drive, very hard to drive. We did what we could.”

***The No. 63 Lamborghini SC63 was the race’s first retirement at the end of the opening hour due to cooling-related issues. “We saw in the data that there was an anomaly regarding the heating circuit,” Lamborghini chief technical officer Rouven Mohr told selected reporters during an in-race roundtable meeting.

***The other Riley-run prototype in the race, the No. 74 Oreca 07 Gibson, fought back to finish third in class despite losing ground in the pit lane late in the race with the car’s right-side door ajar that required the team to install an entire new door.

***It was one of a number of issues to befall cars in the class, which included an accident by Colton Herta in the No. 04 CrowdStrike by APR entry just after sunrise, gearbox issues for the No. 88 AF Corse entry, which stopped while leading, and electrical gremlins for the No. 99 AO Racing car, which also stopped while out front in the category after leading a class-high 280 laps.

***Several members of the Tower Motorsports crew returned to victory lane at the Rolex 24 for the first time since 2016, when Tequila Patron ESM claimed overall honors with a Ligier JS P2 Honda, including team principal Ricky Capone.

***Sebastien Bourdais became a three-time Rolex 24 class winner in his third different class. The Frenchman won the race overall in 2014 in an Action Express Racing Corvette DP before taking GTLM class honors in 2017 as part of the Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT effort.

***Ford, meanwhile, claimed its 20th Rolex 24 class win for the Mustang, with it being the first in global competition for the Multimatic-built Mustang GT3, which made its global debut at Daytona last year.

***Multimatic Engineering Executive Vice President Pascal Zurlinden said: “Two years ago, when Ford announced the Mustang GT3 program, the car didn’t exist. To be standing in victory lane today is proof that there is no substitute for hard work, whether that is at the race track, the race shop or during long days and nights in the simulator.”

***Ford’s breakthrough class win followed exactly 40 years after the Blue Oval triumphed at Daytona with Wally Dallenbach Jr., John Jones and Doc Bundy. The trio drove a Roush Racing Ford Mustang, in a race that was notably also won overall by Porsche that year.

***AWA scored only its third WeatherTech Championship victory, with its two others in LMP3 competition in the 2023 season. Ironically, the team’s first win came in the Rolex 24, followed by the inaugural Battle on the Bricks.

***The result marked the first 24-hour race victory for the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R at the start of its second year of global competition. Its maiden race win came last year, when Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports triumphed at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

***Adam Adelson characterized Wright Motorsport’s runner-up finish in the GTD class as “bittersweet” after nearly coming out on top.”We were leading and got super unlucky with that yellow flag,” said Adelson. “We thought our changes with the podium were done. Ayhancan had an insane drive to put us back on the podium after the final stop.”

***Vasser Sullivan endured a difficult Rolex 24 with its pair of Lexus RC F GT3s. Only the No. 14 car finished the race, finishing 11th in class, while engine issues for the sister No. 12 machine into retirement.

***Mechanical issues also forced a number of other GTD entries to end their race prematurely. Gradient Racing’s No. 66 Mustang GT3 dropped out due to persistent clutch issues, while broken suspension caused retirement for the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. DXDT Racing’s run came to an end overnight when the No. 36 Corvette caught fire, while the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 was parked as a result of steering problems.

***TF Sport boss Tom Ferrier ‘doesn’t blame Connor Zilisch at all’ for the late-race contact with Era Motorsport that took the No. 91 Trackhouse by TF Sport Chevrolet out of contention for a podium in GTD Pro.

***Ferrier told Sportscar365: “He was the superstar all week. I think we would have been in a battle for the podium if that hadn’t happened. I think we passed him and then he did brake really early and he thought he was going to be able to go back up the inside. It all gets a bit fraught and frantic at that stage of the race.”

***SunEnergy1 Racing was the race’s first retirement in the GT ranks after a broken oil tank in its Mercedes-AMG. It came after team owner/driver Kenny Habul was forced into the garage in the second hour due to a loose water pump belt that initially put the car six laps down.

***A total of 21 drivers, including Habul, are headed straight to Australia for this weekend’s Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour, which serves as the opening round of Intercontinental GT Challenge.

***IMSA impounded the top-four finishing  in each class post-race, with the top three GTP and GTD Pro cars having remained in IMSA’s hands overnight in order to conduct a “more thorough and detailed inspection in a controlled location” on Monday. The cars are scheduled to be released by 3 p.m. ET this afternoon.

***Veteran IMSA official Mark Raffauf worked his 50th consecutive Daytona 24-hour race last weekend.

***IMSA President John Doonan revealed pre-race that there’s currently a reserve list for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and Motul Petit Le Mans after this year’s capacity 61-car Rolex 24 grid, which had 89 entry requests.

Davey Euwema contributed to this report