Porsche Penske Motorsport won its second consecutive Rolex 24 in Sunday’s 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona International Speedway. Overall, this was the third for team owner Roger Penske and fourth for the team, with the No. 7 Porsche 963 driven by Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy, and Laurens Vanthoor, claiming the overall and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class victory.
“It’s amazing to see the work we’ve done with this Porsche program the last couple years, winning the (IMSA) championship last year, and with the relationship we have with Porsche, our organization, I’m thrilled,” Roger Penske said in victory lane. “It was quite something there at the end!”
Nasr took over the lead from Matt Campbell in the No. 6 Porsche 963M on lap 768 with approximately 22 minutes remaining and led the final 13 laps to win the 63rd Rolex 24 by 1.335 seconds over Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 Acura ARX-06M.
“And it’s just an incredible, incredible feeling. I just cried in the car. I don’t know what to say. Incredible.” Nasr said.
This was the 11th IMSA victory for Nasr, and he was the only remaining member of last season’s winning team.
“I like winning, that’s all, and that’s what I’m here for,” said Nasr. “I’m proud I did it again back to back. Incredible work by everybody at Porsche Penske Motorsport. The two cars run very strong all the way to the end, and hey, it’s never over ‘tll it’s over. So I did everything I could behind the wheel to get ourselves set up.”
Tandy moved from the No. 6 car, and Vanthoor was part of last year’s FIA World Endurance Championship-winning lineup with Penske.
Tandy became the first driver globally to win all four major 24-hour endurance sports car races: the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Spa-Francorchamps, and the Nürburgring, as well as his first Rolex 24 at Daytona.
“It’s one of the biggest sporting events in the world, and we just emerged victorious,” Tandy said. “I had a chance here to win before in class, but the overall is something different, and it’s something that I’ve been wanting to try for a long time.”
“I’ve been trying this for a while and came close a lot of times, and I don’t know where to put words,” said Vanthoor. “I’ve been dreaming to drive this car, to drive for Penske, to drive for Porsche, to be in the chrome trailer, and a couple months ago, I became world champion, and now, today we won the Rolex 24.”
Blomqvist delivered his second straight runner-up finish late in the race. Blomqvist drove the No. 60 Acura around Matt Campbell’s No. 6 Porsche 963 to capture the runner-up position.
The YouTube livestream reached a milestone of over 1,000,000 views on Saturday, surpassing 2,000,000 live views by the end of the 63rd Rolex 24.
Results: Overall Race Unofficial Results (24 Hours)
GTD PRO
Driving the No. 65 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3, Dennis Olsen held off Alexander Sims and captured Ford’s first IMSA win with drivers Christopher Mies and Frederic Vervisch in its newest Mustang.
“We had a tough year last year and coming here to Daytona, we had a faultless race, no damage until the end,” said Olsen. “And when that last restart went, I was just gonna go all in. I didn’t care. It was win or nothing, bin it or win it.”
GTD Class
Drivers Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern, and Marvin Kirchhoefer shared the winning No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R for Corvette.
“This means absolutely everything. To me, to my teammates Orey and Lars and Marvin. Everybody on this team has worked so hard. To think where we were this time last year and how far we’ve come to now… it’s so much hard work to do this. From the minute the checkered flag fell at Petit Le Mans, no one took a rest. No one took a break. It’s been 24-7 since then to get a car that is capable of winning the Daytona 24 Hours. AWA gave the four of us a car to do it.” said Bell.
“This was always a dream, but I didn’t think about it before coming here two weeks ago. I think I drove my best-ever race in this one, the car was hooked up, my teammates drove really well and everything just came together.” said Fidani.
LMP2 Class
Drivers John Farano, Sebastian Alvarez, Sebastien Bourdais, and Job van Uitert shared the winning No.8 LMP2 07M for ORECA. The 63rd Rolex 24 win is Bourdais’ third overall LMP2 and GT (2014 Prototype/Overall and 2017 GT Le Mans).
“It wasn’t the most traditional way to win it, but what a day,” said Bourdais. “I mean, we were in this thing all night long, and then it looked like it was slipping away from us during the day a bit. Then we got in the lead, and we lost the lead, and then they tangled at the front and seemed to really want to give it to us, so we’ll take it.”
The Cadillac Racing Teams Struggle
The No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R, with drivers Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Will Stevens, and Brendon Hartley, led the three-car contingent with a sixth-place finish among the 12 GTP entries.
“Hard week, but I think we came away with a good result. The team maximized the performance, and we go to Sebring with some points and start the season working toward the championship with Cadillac.” said Ricky Taylor.
The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R and No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R were eliminated from contention in the first half of the twice-around-the-clock race.
“I think we were very competitive and had something to fight at the front. We led laps. It’s a shame. I guess we all just have to come back next year. It’s good that Fred got some laps again, it’s good for a Cadillac to finish a race and you have two cars finish. But we came here to win, so I think we’re all pretty gutted. But looking forward to the season we know we’ve got a great package, the drivers are on fire. So, I guess we’ll roll on and see what we can do at Sebring.” said Earl Bamber (No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R)
“Very cold tires, especially when you race at night. 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 an LPM2. I feel very bad for the team and it’s a shame that it happened so early in the race. A sad way to end the 24.” said Louis Deletraz (No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R)
Next Up
The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac is next on the IMSA calendar on March 15th on the 3.74-mile, 17-turn Sebring International Raceway course.
