Daytona 24 hours
PENSKE PORSCHE ENDS 55 YEAR DROUGHT WINNING THE DAYTONA 24 HOURS!
F1Weekly Familia member Felipe Nasr took the checkered flag in the 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona, delivering team owner Roger Penske his first overall victory in 55 years at the endurance race classic.
Nasr took the lead from Tom Blomqvist during a pit stop under yellow on Lap 768. After a restart with 31 minutes remaining, Nasr fended off several challenges from the No. 31 Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R that had started on the pole position.
Porsche wins Rolex 24 at Daytona, ending 55-year drought for Roger Penske.
It was only the second overall victory in the Rolex 24 for Penske, who won on the Daytona International Speedway road course in 1969 with a Lola whose lineup included the late Mark Donohue.
Nasr, who joined Porsche Penske Motorsport last year, earned his first overall Rolex 24 victory after winning in GTD Pro two years ago.
His No. 7 teammates were Matt Campbell, Dane Cameron and Josef Newgarden, who became the second reigning Indy 500 winner to win the Rolex 24 in the past three years. Helio Castroneves took the checkered flag in the 2022 Rolex 24 at Daytona after scoring his fourth Indy 500 victory eight months earlier.
Rolex 24 at Daytona.
The No. 7 Porsche had led for more than five hours after Campbell had taken the overall lead on Lap 594. But Blomqvist charged into the lead in Turn 1 on Lap 749 by outbraking Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963.
Blomqvist came up 2.112 seconds short of a third consecutive Rolex 24 victory, nearly closing the win for the second consecutive year after winning in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 last year. Blomqvist drove nearly the final three hours after taking the wheel from Jack Aitken.
Pipo Derani filled out the runner-up lineup for the No. 31, which was the only car of the 10 Grand Touring Prototype entries to use three drivers instead of four. The No. 31 was trying to open the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season on top after winning the inaugural GTP championship last year.
Other category winners were the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA in LMP2, the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari in GTD Pro and the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes in GTD.