After a thrilling 18 hours of racing at the 62nd 24 Hours of Daytona, Porsche made a late pitstop jump on the dominant #31 Cadillac — but the German manufacturer has a penalty for its leading car, putting the Cadillac’s Jack Aitken back into the lead.
The night-time phase of the Daytona 24 saw cars run quicker, as drivers acclimated with cooler temperatures whilst still facing the ‘sticky’ sensation of humidity.
Approaching the 75% race completion, and 566 laps completed, the race has did not welcome any rain despite a close chance, and so the circuit remained dry.
As the 16th hour opened, pole-sitter Pipo Derani led the race at 516 laps ahead of the #6 Porsche of Nick Tandy.
Derani showcased the undoubtedly strong pace of the #31 Cadillac V Series.R, having jumped away and opened up a substantial gap at the restart on both Porsche Penske GTPs, Felipe Nasr (#6) followed by Nick Tandy (#7).
Derani continued his lead, although all Porsche 963s were ready to pounce on any issues for the #31 Cadillac, with Jaminet (#6) ahead of Campbell (#7), the #5 Proton Competition 963 and the #85 JDC Miller MotorSports GTP of Phil Hanson, who is making his first ever appearance in an LMDh car having built a successful sportscar career primarily with United Autosports.
Sooner rather than later, Derani was caught up by Jaminet as the duo fought for the lead, which intensified as they negotiated lapped traffic.
At the front, it was Derani who led, ahead of Jaminet and Campbell, who had caught the two leaders, putting all three with 1.5 seconds of each other.
Before the 18-hour point, Derani and Jaminet pitted, and it was Jaminet’s #6 Porsche who emerged ahead of the Cadillac which was taken over by Jack Aitken.
Jaminet emerged ahead of Campbell who pitted afterwards, although a major blow hit for the #6 of Jaminet as they exceeded the power output limit and received their third stop and 10 second penalty.
The 13th caution period was deployed when Matthew Brabham of the #99 ‘Spike’ Oreca 07 outbraked himself into the International Horseshoe (Turn 3), moving from fifth to last in the LMP2 category; track work took place during the caution.
Naturally, this narrowed many of the gaps including Paul Miller Racing’s predominant lead, as the #62 Risi Competizione with Davide Rigon sat briefly, before being hit by a 10 second stop/go penalty for improperly manning their fire extinguisher.
Meanwhile, GTD Pro saw Paul Miller Racing’s Sheldon van der Linde lead dominantly over Corvette Racing.
Further down in the GTD category, the lead fight was closer as the Philip Ellis of the #57 Winward Racing enthusiastically fended off Turner Motorsport regular, Robby Foley.
Two youngsters were continuing a gripping fight between two Oreca 07 LMP2s, the #18 of Connor Zilisch ahead of the #04 of Toby Stowery, both making their Daytona debut.
Inter Europol Competition’s Tom Dillmann – who was running in fourth place – was being chased by the #2 United Autosports Oreca of Pato O’Ward who begun turning up the pace.
A concerning issue rose for the GTD Pro #3 Corvette Racing Z06 GT3.R with Antonio Garcia at the wheel, when dust and flame became a slight worry although unclear about the cause.
Into the 17th hour, the sky turned from pure darkness to a purple haze as the sun began to rise again over the Daytona International Speedway.
In the LMP2 class, Zilisch gave another youngster in the form of Malthe Jakobsen in the #04, with the former defending hard from the latter, as the MX-5 Cup star used the GTD #83 Iron Dames Lamborghini to box Jakobsen.
The pair fought sensationally right to their pit stops, in which both cars were nose to tail as they completed them.
After a double-stint – as Zilisch fought two fellow youngsters on his Daytona debut – Ryan Dalziel took over the #18, as Jakobsen continued in the #04.
LMP2 saw Jakobsen continue in the lead with Dalziel behind, as Pietro Fittipaldi held third in the #52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07.
GTD Pro was being led in dominant fashion by Paul Miller Racing’s Niel Verhagen ahead of Nicky Catsburg’s #4 Corvette, and the #62 Ferrari 296 of Davide Rigon.
Daniel Morad led in GTD for Winward Racing, ahead of the #023 Ferrari of Alessio Rovera for Triarsi Competizione.
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