Dane Cameron, in the #6 Porsche, leads the 24 Hours of Daytona as the race enters its second half, the the graveyard shift of the middle of the night, with the cars recently resuming racing action after spending time behind the safety car.
The FCY and safety car was caused by the #43 MRS-GT Racing catching fire after a pitstop, then needing to trundle round slowly back to the pits.
Until very recently Simon Pagenaud was leading in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura, but the car had to pit under safety car and spent longer in the pits than usual. The Frenchman currently sits third, and was lucky its minor issue was under yellow and not green flag running.
Cameron leads #31 Action Express Cadillac’s Pipo Derani. His teammate Alexander Sims briefly fought for the lead with Pagenaud’s teammate Colin Braun. But the #60 Meyer Shank Acura possesses immense straight line speed and it wasn’t much of a fight.
The gap between the two did extend to as much as 40 seconds, but was cut to under 20 as a result of traffic and different pitstop strategies.
Fourth is the #24 BMW of Marco Wittmann, which has so far run reliably, unlike its sister #25 BMW, which is still near the back of the pack after suffering major issues earlier in the race.
The two Chip Ganassi-run Cadillacs, the #02 of Alex Lynn ahead of the #01 of Scott Dixon. Seventh is Louis Deletraz, two laps down, whose #10 Wayne Taylor Acura suffered from issues while under this safety car period, much like the other Acura GTP car in the field. Deletraz pitted the car and the team removed the rear deck and cowling on the pitlane, fiddling around before refitting the bodywork and sending the car back out.
Alex Quinn leads LMP2 in the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07-Gibson, but is being chased by James Allen, driving the #55 Proton Competotion car, and Nicklas Nielsen in the v#88 AF Corse Oreca 07-Gibsin
In LMP3, Joao Barbosa leads in the 33 Sean Creech Ligier JS P320. Thomas Merrill, behind the wheel of the #17 AWA Duqueinw D08, is second, but is being hunted down by Dakota Dickerson in the #36 Andretti.
Ross Gunn leads the GTE Pro class in the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, but is being hunted down by a rapid Maxi Goetz in the GTD-entered #32 Korthoff Mercedes AMG-GT3.
Marvin Kirchoffer and Marco Sorensen are second and third in GTD, driving the #70 Inception McLaren 720S GT3 and the sister #27 Heart of Racing Aston.
Maro Engel, driving the ‘79 WeatherTech Mercedes-AMG GT3, is second in GTD Pro, sixth amongst the GT cars. Third is Ben Barnicoat in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.
