Porsche wins Rolex 24
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963 crossing checkered flag 1st of 2024 ROLEX 24 at Daytona.
After an intense battle with #31 Cadillac V_Series.R, Porsche Works drivers Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and IndyCar star Josef Newgarden clinched overall victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona, giving Porsche Penske Motorsport a banner start to the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963 #7 victorious drivers from left to right: Josef Newgarden, Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr.
Felipe Nasr at Rolex 24 press conference: « The race really came down to the wire at the very final stop. It was pretty much all about the fuel numbers. Each one was the energy numbers we were reaching. I just have to say that was a great call from the team, from Porsche Penske Motorsports, just to give me the opportunity to be in the lead again in that final part of the race, and then it was down to me to hit the numbers and keep the 31 behind.
But man, 24 hours of racing, to be going that way, it does give you a lot of emotions in the end. I just knew it was not over yet. I just kept the focus until the finish line. There was a lot of traffic going through, as well, when the 31 was keeping up the pressure.
But I'm glad it came our way. After all the hard work, the difficult year we had in 2023, especially here, I feel this is the best gift we could give ourselves. Very pleased for the team, for the whole work they've done all week. »
#31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R second
The #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, which started first, finished second in the 62nd Rolex 24 At Daytona to begin defense of its Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) championship and Cadillac’s Manufacturer title. Blomqvist, who was aiming to become the second driver to win the Rolex 24 three consecutive years, drove the final 2 hours, 56 minutes and battled drivers of eventual winner #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports, taking the lead in Turn 1 with 1 hour, 18 minutes left. The #7 Porsche nosed in front exiting pit lane under full-course caution with 43 minutes left, held off multiple Blomqvist challenges over the duration won by 2.112 seconds.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. #31 Cadillac V-Series.R drivers from left to right: Jack Aitken, Tom Blomqvist and Pipo Derani.
Tom Blomqvist after the race: “First, I want to say what a fantastic job the whole Whelen Cadillac team has done this whole two weeks. My teammates have been absolutely fantastic. Not a single stint wrong all race, really. It was kind of between the last, well, what feels like the whole race, between the #7 Porsche, they were really, really quick at times. We were quick at times. I think, if I look back, we were maybe a little bit better taking care of tires when we were double-stinting. They were really strong at the restarts, especially during the night when it was a little bit cooler and there was rubber on the track. It kind of came down to those that couple of stints. I was slowly chipping away. Managed to close the gap. We then decided to take an early stop to try and undercut them. Thankfully, I was able to get by on track. The whole goal there was then to make a gap because obviously, we were going to have a little bit longer of fuel stoppage time at the next stop. That yellow basically ended our chances, really, especially where we are on pit lane, coming under yellow and not really being able to react to the car behind in terms of pulling early, for example. That hurt us, really. I think it was going to be a bit closer if that yellow hadn’t of come out, because I felt there at the end of the race we had the pace advantage. It was just so difficult to pass. The Porsche was really strong on the straight. We were really good in the infield. It was hard to make anything count. I felt like there weren’t many cars there at the end of the race in terms of traffic to find an opportunity. And then Felipe (Nasr) at the end there, I think he made one small mistake where he went wide by a few meters, but other than that, there was no opportunity. Huge hats off to them. They were fantastic, really.”
#40 Acura ARX-06 third
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. #40 DEX Imaging ARX-06
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. #40 DEX Imaging ARX-06 drivers. From left to right: Colton herta, Louis Deletraz, Jordan Taylor and Jenson Button.
The quest for a fourth consecutive Acura victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona came up just short this weekend, as Wayne Taylor Racing with Andrettti finished third in the 2024 season-opening race. Louis Deletraz started fifth aboard the #40 DEX Imaging ARX-06, with the sister #10 Konica Minolta Acura of Filipe Albuquerque slotting in right alongside in sixth. Despite a few minor issues through the night, the Acura piloted by Deletraz, Jordan Taylor, Colton Herta and Jenson Button remained in the fight for a podium position through the night. One of five cars on the lead lap in the closing hours, Deletraz brought the #40 home third.
Louis Deletraz: "I think we should be very happy with the result as a team. These last 10 days have not been easy. Acura, HRC and the whole WTRAndrettti organization have been working amazingly. We made the most of the situation. The #31 and the #7 cars were obviously quicker than us, but we never gave up. We lost a few laps, but we always came back and gave them a fight to the last minute. It was great. I am very grateful for everyone's hard work and it is a great start to the championship with strong [championship] points today. We're looking toward [winning] the season-long championship and hopefully scoring a few victories along the way for the #40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06 team."
Three Porsche 963 follow
The #6 Porsche 963 finished fourth with works drivers Mathieu Jaminet, Nick Tandy, Laurens Vanthoor and Kévin Estre. The Porsche 963 campaigned by customer teams Proton Competition and JDC-Miller MotorSports followed directly behind.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. Acura ARX-06 #40 and Porsche 963 #6 a few laps before the end of the race.
Only 0.398 seconds separated the #6 Porsche from Acura ARX-06 #40 after the 24-hour race. Nick Tandy with #6 Porsche 963 was hunting for the podium but Louis Deletraz with #6 Acura resisted to preserve a podium seat.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. Gianmaria Bruni, Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Alessio Picariello ended fifth on board of Proton Porsche Mustang Sampling #5 Porsche 963
Alessio Picariello (Porsche 963 #5): “I’m completely exhausted, but also relieved and delighted. It’s been a very intense weekend, and I learned an incredible amount. On top of that, I still had a fever on Friday. It doesn’t matter: when I got in the car, the adrenaline took over. I didn’t make any mistakes, kept our number 5 on course and so I’m satisfied with my performance.”
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. Phil Hanson, Tijmen van der Helm, Ben Keating and Richard Westbrook ended sixth with JDC-L_Miller Motorsport Porsche 963 #85.
Richard Westbrook (Porsche 963 #85): “There are plenty of positives. On the one hand, we’re all thrilled to have the first 24-hour race with the Porsche 963 behind us and to have scored lots of points in the process. The fact that we made it over the distance so well is also due to the great kit and the good support we received from Porsche. Unfortunately, a few minor things set us back a bit at the very end. Now, I’m looking forward to Sebring like a kid on the way to the candy shop.”
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