No. 7 Porsche Leads at Halfway as Fog Hits Daytona

Photo: Juergen Tap/Porsche

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s No. 7 car led the Rolex 24 at Daytona under caution at the halfway point, as deteriorating visibility due to fog put the race into a holding pattern.

Felipe Nasr circulated at the head of the field behind the safety car aboard the No. 7 Porsche 963 after taking over from Laurin Heinrich early in Hour 12, followed by Earl Bamber in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.

The second quarter of the race saw two prolonged green flag periods in which the two Penske Porsches were the class of the GTP field and largely ran in close formation and both enjoyed spells at the head of the order.

Before handing over to Nasr under caution, the seventh of the race, Heinrich had raced to a 20-second lead over the sister No. 6 Porsche driven by Matt Campbell.

A seemingly-struggling Campbell was passed by Bamber before handing over to Kevin Estre at the most recent round of stops.

BMW’s No. 24 car ran fourth in the hands of Sheldon van der Linde ahead of the two Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillacs of Will Stevens and Jordan Taylor.

Acura Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 93 car had looked to be the nearest challenger to the Penske Porsches, with Alex Palou leading at one stage before losing out when he had to avoid the spinning Pratt Miller Motorsports LMP2 at the Le Mans chicane.

After Palou handed over to Kaku Ohta, the No. 93 car shed its front-left wheel, leading to a slow return to the pits that dropped the car off the lead lap.

The No. 60 MSR Acura ARX-06 had also gone a lap down following a drive-through penalty for a pit stop infringement, but both Acuras were able to get back on the lead lap thanks to the latest caution.

Likewise, the No. 24 BMW had gone a lap down after Robin Frijns had “reported something strange”, per a manufacturer spokesperson, coming in for a prolonged stop to allow the team to inspect the car, before later getting back on the lead lap.

Only the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie, which had suffered electrical gremlins, was not on the lead lap of the 11 GTP contenders.

In the LMP2 class, Dane Cameron led the way in the No. 99 AO Racing Oreca 07 Gibson that has controlled its class since the early stages.

Christian Rasmussen had muscled his way from fourth to first during one restart after taking over from FIA Bronze-rated PJ Hyett, and the Danish driver was almost 20 seconds clear of the field at one stage before Paul di Resta cut into his advantage.

The No. 22 United Autosports car, now in the hands of Gregoire Saucy, ran second ahead of the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition car of Antonio Felix da Costa and the No. 8 Tower Motorsports machine of Sebastian Alvarez.

Paul Miller Racing’s No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO deposed Corvette Racing from the head of the order in GTD Pro at the halfway mark.

The two factory Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs had been circulating in close quarters at the head of the field, but both crews took the opportunity to change the front brakes under caution, handing the advantage to the PMR BMW of Connor de Philippi.

Manthey’s ‘Grello’ Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo ran second with Ayhancan Guven at the wheel ahead of the two Corvettes, Nico Varrone’s No. 4 car leading Marvin Kirchhoefer’s No. 3, and the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth.

Corvette customer teams led the way in GTD with Mason Filippi leading aboard the DXDT Racing Z06 GT3.R ahead of the 13 Autosport car of Ben Green.

Best of the rest was Francis Selldorff in the Turner Motorsport BMW.

AF Corse’s No. 21 Ferrari 296 GT3 had led the class for a prolonged period before dropping back due to a penalty for a pit stop infraction.

Five cars had retired from the race at the halfway mark, with the No. 16 Myers Riley Ford Mustang GT3 becoming the latest casualty due to collision damage.

Source: Sports Car 365