Pipo Derani anchored the Tequila Patron ESM Prototype car in his first ever Rolex 24 Daytona race, cruising to a win in the speedy #2 rig, not a bad day at all for the rookie.
However, that was not the biggest story of the day; in the GTLM class, the two Corvettes finished one-two by less than a car length following a nearly 15-minute battle for the lead. Oliver Gavin had to hold off teammate Antonio Garcia in an identical car, to get the #4 team their first win on American Soil since 2013.
Rolex 24 Daytona Race Recap
The Rolex 24 is known to mark the end of the motorsports on asphalt off-season with the Super Bowl of IMSA racing at Daytona.
This year, the starting field looked a little different as it featured the return of the Ford GT. Ford sent two GT teams in the GTLM Class, and they showed off their durability. Rear tire problems were seen by both cars, however thanks to that they did not spend too much time on pit road.
Lamborghini sent cars to the Rolex 24 for the first time ever, actually sending five different cars to compete, one of which was a few minutes short of fuel of winning their class. BMW and Ferrari also replaced their traditional cars with updated versions for this one.
Early on, the fan favorite obscurity in the DeltaWing car was flying around the track. Thanks to Katherine Legge, the DeltaWing had taken the overall lead as the race headed into the night.
Unfortunately, after Andy Meyrick took over, a spun car in the middle of the turn ruined the teams night.
Problems were also present for the Ganassi cars, as the 01 was pegged by engine problems early in the race that they could not overcome. The defending Rolex 24 Champion’s 02 car succumbed to brake problems and was binned with a few hours to go.
The GT Le Mans and Prototype classes provided the best racing in the later hours of the 24, with lead changes in the final 30 minutes.
In GTLM, a problem with the #3 Corvette resulted in the loss of a 51-second lead with just over 40 minutes remaining. After the #912 Porsche took the lead, both of the corvettes were right on it’s tail. The 4 and 3 went 1-2 from then on out.
Over in the prototypes, it was the 10 car with the big lead that was being chase by the #2. The 10 did not look as though it had the speed to handle the 2, the team ran a fantastic pit road strategy, being almost five minutes faster than any other team overall in the race.
Below are the class by class top 5’s
Prototype
1. #2
2. #10
3. #90
4. #5
5. #01
Prototype Challenge
1. #85
2. #52
3. #20
4. #8
5. #26
GT Le Mans
1. #4
2. #3
3. #912
4. #68
5. #25
GT Daytona
1. #44
2. #540
3. #93
4. #98
5. #85
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