What a difference a year makes. After the two Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s were nowhere near the podium on their debut in 2023, every Porsche in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, including the private cars from JDC-Miller MotorSports and Proton Competition, ran virtually flawlessly. It was the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 team of Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Josef Newgarden that was just that little bit more perfect in claiming victory, the first for all of them and the first victory for Penske since 1969. was the 19th overall victory at the Rolex 24 for Porsche and the first since 2010.
Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken and Tom Blomqvist finished second in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, falling 2.112 seconds short after nearly 24 hours of racing and despite running what Derani described as a flawless race.
Unlikely, the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing’s Andretti Acura ARX-06 finished third in the hands of Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta and Jenson Button, ultimately holding off the No. 6 PPM Porsche 963. The No. 40 had stalled in the middle of the night, but a reset got the car going and the strategy put the car in a better position than could have been expected.
From the start, both the PPM Porsche 963s and the two Cadillacs showed a similar pace, and it seemed clear that it would come down to a battle between Porsche and Cadillac for the win. In the cooler night and early morning hours the Porsches seem to have an advantage. But as the day warmed up, the No. 31 Cadillac came out strong. Entering the final two hours of the race, Blomqvist turned up the wick and caught Nasr.
Blomqvist brought the No. 31 to the pits earlier than necessary, but well within the window to reach the finish with one more stop. Nasr brought the Porsche in three laps later for full energy and new tires and came out of the pits ahead of Blomqvist. However, because the Cadillac had warm tires and Nasr was still getting warm, he was able to squeeze into Turn 1.
But after more than four hours of green-flag running, a late caution prompted a 30-metre sprint to the finish, coming perfectly at the right time for the GTPs to make their final stop for a quick fill. The Penske crew got Nasr out first, and that was the race.
Blomqvist did all he could, including setting the fastest race lap at 1.35.554 with 23 meters to go, but he could make no move on Nasr while the Porsche got better breaks in traffic. When the checker dropped just after 1:40 p.m., Nasr was the first underneath to claim victory.
“The race only ends at the checkered flag. Until then there is no decision,” Nasr said. “At the last stop the race really came to the limit. You know, it was pretty much all about the fuel numbers. Each and every one of them was the energy numbers that we achieved. And I have to say that this was a great call from the team, from Porsche Penske Motorsport. Just to give me the opportunity to get back into the lead in that last part of the race and then it was up to me to make the numbers and keep number 31 behind me.”
Blomqvist came close a few times when attacking, but could never come up with a pass.
“At the end of the race we had the pace advantage,” Blomqvist said. “It was just so hard to pass. The Porsche was very strong on the straight, we were very good in the infield, so it was just hard to make anything count. There weren’t many cars at the end of the race in terms of traffic to find an opportunity and then Felipe at the end… I needed a little mistake. He went a few meters wide, but beyond that there was no possibility.”
Unlike the debut of the LMDh cars in GTP in 2023, when both Acuras and both Cadillacs ran without major problems, two main competitors from each fell victim to problems in the race. The No. 10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 of Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Brendon Hartley and Marcus Ericsson came to a stop after just over eight hours with Albuquerque at the wheel, immediately after smelling a strange odor. The problem was diagnosed as a wiring harness problem, and although the car was replaced and the car returned to the track after a long repair, it was eventually withdrawn from service.
The No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R of Chip Ganassi Racing looked to be on the pace for victory with Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, Scott Dixon and Alex Palou, but went to the garage in the middle of the night with a undiagnosed mechanical problem and never surfaced again.
Both BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8s struggled during the night. Both were repaired and returned to the track, but finished 13 (No. 25) and 15 (No. 24) laps down.
LMP2 winners, Era Motorsports. Jake Galstad/Motorsports Images
Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel, Connor Zilisch and Christian Rasmussen took the LMP2 victory after emerging as contenders overnight. The team recovered from an early incident where Merriman got stuck in other cars that had contact and continued, advancing steadily on the way to the second victory for Era and for Dalziel and Merriman together after winning in 2021. It was Dalziel’s third victory. Rolex 24 victory, and the first for Rasmussen and 17-year-old Zilisch.
The No. 18 hung with the leaders on Saturday evening, but only made a move to the front in the middle of the night.
“In my mind it’s a 24-hour race… the first half of the race a lot [it] is about risk management, right?” Merriman said. “So you don’t have to be in the lead after eight o’clock. But the last three hours are a knife fight. And you have to be up. At that point you have to be in the first few positions and we were, so I think that’s a bit part of the strategy.”
Luckily, Era had some sharp knives when it came time for the knife fight.
“We gambled a bit… we probably had the most downforce of the P2s,” said Dalziel. “We were a bit of an outsider when someone was setting us up, but if we can break that 1.5-2 second gap, the draft in the P2 car is almost 10 kilometers per hour. So I think once we were in front we could manage the pace and the field a little bit. But it’s just a good day. I think every one I’ve won is more special.
“These two guys… Christian was a stud for us last year. Connor, same thing. I feel like Dwight and I just did our job today and basically… gave up on my last stint because I felt like these two guys were the strongest guys on the day and wanted to make sure we put our best foot forward for the final stint.”
Rasmussen had a solid lead wiped out by the final yellow, but not only managed to stay at the front, he extended it to a margin of victory of 6.8 seconds. George Kurtz, Colin Braun, Malthe Jakobsen and Toby Sowery finished second in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing of APR ORECA. Riley Motorsports finished third with Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, Josh Burdon and Felipe Massa in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports ORECA.
RESULTS BY CLASS
The story originally appeared on Racer