Rolex 24, Hour 20: Porsche-vs-BMW GTP fight heating up
Porsche Penske Motorsport's Laurens Vanthoor is leading the 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona with four hours to go, but BMW M Team RLL is interjecting itself between the two factory Porsches.
That's because Kevin Magnussen has driven the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 past the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 of Matt Campbell shortly after the most recent green flag restart. Magnussen is still aboard the No. 24 BMW, while Mathieu Jaminet is back in the No. 6 Porsche.
Vanthoor leads by about eight seconds in GTP while, about a minute behind him, the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Colin Braun runs fourth as the last car on the lead lap.
Porsche Penske has also staggered its pit strategies since the last couple of full course yellows — the No. 7 is a few laps further into its energy tank than the No. 6, but these strategies should converge towards the end of the race, and definitely will if another FCY is deployed.
Dane Cameron is stretching his advantage out in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2. The reigning IMSA champion leading the class from reigning Le Mans 24 Hours winner Nicklas Nielsen in the No. 88 AF Corse ORECA.
Nielsen overtook Tower Motorsports' Sebastian Alvarez for second place; Alvarez is now third with Ryan Dalziel in fourth for ERA Motorsport.
LMP2 battle for second! A little over 4 hours to go, things are picking up.
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— IMSA (@IMSA) January 26, 2025
The No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 is the latest retirement from the field in GTD as a result of damage sustained in an incident that also involved the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini and the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
The No. 78 is still in the garage undergoing repairs, as is the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari which went behind the wall after a severe vibration led to further work under the front end. The No. 80 Mercedes has returned though it is now 30 laps down in GTD.
We do have five makes in the top five in GTD PRO, separated by relatively slim margins. Connor De Phillippi has taken over the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO and the American leads the No. 4 Corvette Racing Z06 GT3.R of Tommy Milner by 1.5s.
Milner had a close call with the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus that ended up giving the Lexus a left-front puncture, but the No. 4 Pratt Miller Corvette avoided a penalty. Antonio Garcia's contact with his countryman Miguel Molina was not given the same grace — Garcia and the No. 3 Corvette got a drive-through for avoidable contact with the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari.
GetSpeed's first Rolex 24 is going well — Luca Stolz is running third in the No. 69 Mercedes-AMG GT3, followed closely by the No. 65 Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3 of Chris Mies.
In GTD it's still the No. 13 AWA Corvette in front driven by Marvin Kirchhöfer, by five seconds over the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Tom Sargent.
But the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG is back in the fight after its earlier drive-through penalty that took the reigning GTD champions out of the lead. Philip Ellis is third, ahead of Heart of Racing's Tom Gamble.
HOUR 20 STANDINGS
Story originally appeared on Racer
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