By Holly Cain
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – As expected, the race for the overall leadership of the Rolex 24 in Daytona lasted 12 hours at the famous opening of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, as well as at the start of the green flag. And in the middle of the race, a familiar name was showing the way.
Filipe Albuquerque placed No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing / Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 DPi in front, holding No. 48 Action Express / Ally Racing Cadillac DPi-VR and Mike Rockenfeller less than a second with Kevin Chip Magnussen of Ganassi Racing and the current NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, in the Cadillac No. 31 Action Express Racing, who won pole position, giving chase. The top five finishers of Daytona Prototype International (DPi) were still on the first lap – 40 seconds from the lead in one of the most competitive races in the history of Rolex 24.
The Rolex 24 midpoint also served as the second time for points to be awarded for the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup, which rewards the best performances in designated phases of the four enduro races on the WeatherTech Championship calendar. The leaders after 12 hours were: No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura in the DPi class; 47 Cetilar Racing Dallara in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2); No. 74 from Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 in the new Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class; the 4th Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in GT Le Mans (GTLM); and No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 in GT Daytona (GTD).
Flag-to-flag coverage of the iconic Rolex 24 continues overnight on NBC Sports platforms. Tune in to the NBC Sports App until 6am ET. With the dawn of Daytona Beach, live coverage changes to NBCSN from 6 am to 2 pm, before the dramatic final hours are broadcast from 2 pm to 4 pm on NBC. The checkered flag will be waved at around 3:40 pm. The entire race is broadcast on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.
After a series of precautions at the start of the course – four in the first three hours of the race – the riders settled in and only two yellow flags appeared in the next nine hours. Only three of the 49 entries – all in LMP2 – had withdrawn from the race.
The following are other highlights from Hours 6-12, by class:
Daytona Prototype International: Johnson’s Midnight Special
Jimmie Johnson did a double season at No. 48 Ally Racing Cadillac just after midnight. Taking over the car after co-driver Kamui Kobayashi pushed him into the overall lead, the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion held the spot in his first fuel race, but fell behind Renger van der Zande in Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac # 01 in its second constraint.
No. 5 Cadillac’s Night Turns Dark
The 5th Mustang Sampling / JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac, with Tristan Vautier on board, fell out of contention after embarrassing Patrick Long at entry # 16 of the Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R GTD just before 1 am. The collision happened when the cars were about to go to the inner section of the road course.
No. 5 was in the front lap for the entire race. Vautier immediately pulled the car behind the wall and into the garage, where it remained for almost 90 minutes while the team made repairs. At this point, I was 47 laps off the pace.
Castroneves enjoying the short moment of the championship
Helio Castroneves took more than two decades of professional racing to win his first season title, arriving at the 2020 WeatherTech Championship with Ricky Taylor. But now that he is scheduled to participate in just one race of the series this year, the Rolex 24, the Brazilian wants to seize the moment – no matter how short the duration.
“This is the first time that I am back as a champion,” said Castroneves after his first stint at the 10th Konica Minolta Acura that he is sharing with Taylor, Albuquerque and Alexander Rossi. “It was really cool. I was talking to Ricky about it. It feels really good.”
Taylor will carry that honor throughout the year, as he is a full-season driver at No. 10. For Castroneves, this was his only opportunity since he returned to the IndyCar Series in April.
Le Mans Prototype 2: Cetilar Racing flees to class leadership
Cetilar Racing, with the only Dallara chassis in the LMP2 field, took the class lead after a restart of a full course warning with 13.5 hours remaining. Entry number 47 of Cetilar, with four Italian drivers, lurked in the shadows in the first hours until it passed ahead number 8 Tower Motorsport ORECA LMP2 07 and number 11 WIN Autosport ORECA that dominated until that point.
Le Mans Prototype 3: No. 6 Muehlner Motorsports America carries it back to the lead
The comeback story for the first half of the race was No. 6 Muehlner Motorsports America Duqueine M30-D08. After jumping with apparent damage to the suspension less than 20 minutes into the race, No. 6 who started first in the LMP3 lost his pace by up to four laps in the class.
Co-pilots Moritz Kranz, Laurents Hoerr, Kenton Koch and Stevan McAleer methodically changed No. 6 back into contention, taking the lead in LMP3 in the seventh hour and fighting No. 74 Ligier JS P320 for class leadership. After 12 hours, No. 74 Ligier held the spot over Muehlner Motorsports America’s No. 6 entrance.
GT Le Mans: Corvettes continue to set the pace
Five GTLM cars remained on the first lap after 12 hours, but it was the Corvette Racing duo who led. The team is trying to return to Victory Lane on the Rolex 24 for the first time since 2016 and give the Corvette C8.R its first endurance race win.
At the midpoint of the race, the Corvette No. 4 piloted by Nick Tandy was 5.894 seconds ahead of the Corvette No. 3 piloted by Jordan Taylor.
“It’s been going really well so far, I would say,” said Alexander Sims, co-driver of Corvette No. 4 who led most of the laps. “I did my first two stints at the Corvette in Daytona and I feel like I’m still learning a lot. Those were the first two full stints I did and learned a lot about the car’s evolution in relation to that restriction.
“So we are in front of the field. It may seem like everything is under control, but we are pushing hard and not leaving much on the table. We are in the right position at the moment.”
GT Daytona: the time of night is the right time for Mercedes-AMG
The green flag’s long run times proved to be most beneficial for Mercedes-AMG and Ferrari GTD racers. The No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 remained firmly in the leadership of the class for a long period, until the caution of the full course with 13.5 hours to the end.
On restart, however, Maro Engel at No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 and Mikael Grenier at No. 75 Sun Energy 1 Mercedes quickly came out ahead of Ferrari and placed in the top two GTD places. The battle for position remained fierce between the two brands and Ferrari driver Daniel Serra managed to separate the two Mercedes and move up to second place just before the middle of the race.