Bourdais seethes after IMSA strips team of class victory at Rolex 24 at Daytona

IMSA striped Tower Motorsports of its LMP2 class victory at the Rolex 24 at Daytona because of a technical infraction. The victory was given Wednesday to runner-up United Autosports, the team co-owned by McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown.
The Tower entry driven by John Farano, Sebastien Bourdais, Sebastian Alvarez and Job van Uitert won its class at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday when the twice-round-the-clock endurance classic ended. The Rolex 24 was won overall for the second consecutive year by Porsche Penske Motorsport.
IMSA said the Tower entry exceeded the maximum allowable wear to the regulated area of the skid block on the underside of the car during post-race inspection. Tower protested the penalty, but it was denied by IMSA.
'Racing can be cruel but governing bodies can be far worse,' Bourdais wrote on social media. He explained a damper that controls ride height failed and it lowered the rear of the car, thus overwearing the skid block.
'In recent memory, IMSA always used common sense when enforcing rules that were breached by technical failure,' Bourdais seethed, particularly over the treatment of Tower.
'Making them look like cheaters makes me sick as they always operate by the book,' he wrote.
The penalty promoted Daniel Goldburg, Paul di Resta, Rasmus Lindh and James Allen to first place. It was the first Rolex win for all but Allen.
'We came to Daytona with one very clear goal and we have achieved it,' said United Autosports co-owner Richard Dean, 'To win the Rolex 24 at Daytona any year is pretty special, but to win it only a few months after celebrating victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours makes it an extra special moment.
'Zak and I would like to thank the entire team for their dedication and commitment. We can all be very proud of what we have achieved.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

3 hours ago

• Yahoo

Boulle Gears Up for Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen

DALLAS, June 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Nick Boulle of deBoulle Diamond & Jewelry, an independent jewelry salon in Dallas and Houston, is confirmed to race with United Autosports at Michelin Endurance Championship's third round at this weekend's Sahlen's 6 Hours Glen at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York. Boulle completes the lineup, of Ben Hanley and Juan Manuel Correa, who just placed 3rd at the Detroit Grand Prix in the Indy Car Feeder Series- IndyNXT Championship. The team gets behind the wheel of the #2 Oreca 07 LMP2 car. The race takes place this Sunday, June 22nd, with the green flag set to wave at 11:10 AM CST, and the checkered flying the same day 6-hours later at 5:10 PM CST. The circuit features corners where the car can exceed more than 4G lateral in cornering. This marks Boulle's back-to-back stint. He successfully completed the 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours and rose through the field following a steady qualifying to finish 5th in the ultra-competitive LMP2 category in the 93rd edition of the storied race, which began 102 years ago. This marked Boulle's third time competing at the world's most iconic motorsport event. This will be Boulle's third time at the legendary racing circuit which has a history dating back all the way back to 1948. Boulle finished on the podium at this circuit last year. The first Watkins Glen Grand Prix was held in 1948 on a 6.6-mile course around Watkins Glen State Park and the village of Watkins Glen. The racing circuit has played host to events ranging from round of the Formula One World Championship to an event part of the World SportsCar Championship. This weekend's Sahlen's 6 Hours of the Glen will take place on Sunday morning from 11:10 AM CST to 5:10 PM CST and can be viewed on NBC from 11:00 AM CST to 2:00 PM. Peacock, Youtube and will be streamed live from 11:00 AM CST to 5:30 PM CST. About de Boulle Motorsports / de Boulle Diamond & Jewelryde Boulle Motorsports is a living and moving illustration of the passion for excellence that de Boulle Diamond & Jewelry has for both jewelry and timepieces. With Nick Boulle at the helm, the team has competed in races across the United States and Europe, specializing in endurance racing at speeds of 200 miles per hour. In 2017, de Boulle won the Rolex 24 at Daytona. de Boulle Diamond & Jewelry was established in 1983 by Denis and Karen Boulle. Over the years, they have assembled an unrivaled collection of diamonds, fine jewelry and timepieces unsurpassed in their elegance and depth in selection. de Boulle has served thousands of discerning customers and built a reputation as one of the pre-eminent independently owned jewelers in the United States with locations in Dallas and Houston. For more information, visit View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE deBoulle Diamond and Jewelry

NBC Sports

6 hours ago

• NBC Sports

2025 IMSA Watkins Glen starting lineup: Acura takes second consecutive pole with No. 93

With a new face behind the wheel, Acura Meyer Shank Racing captured its second consecutive pole position in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series with a record-setting performance at Watkins Glen International. Renger van der Zande turned a lap of 1 minute, 31.558 seconds in the No. 93 ARX-06, setting a new mark on the 11-turn, 3.4-mile road course in the Grand Touring Prototype category. Three weeks ago on the streets of Detroit, van der Zande took the checkered flag in the Acura MSR No. 93 after teammate Nick Yelloly had qualified on the pole position. 'Winning Detroit always helps take the weight off the shoulders of the whole team, the program,' van der Zande told NBC Sports' Dave Burns on Peacock after his first pole position since the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona. 'The Porsches are way ahead in the championship, and it's hard to beat them over the championship, so let's win some races, and this is a good start. We have a strong car in high-speed stuff like this. That was a very clean lap, and I was enjoying it a lot.' Nate Ryan, Yelloly, who won in the LMP2 category of the 24 Hours of Le Mans last week, and van der Zande will be joined by Kakunoshin 'Kaku' Ohta in Sunday's third endurance race of the IMSA season. Jack Aitken qualified second (1:31.845) in the No. 31 Cadillac, followed by Colin Braun (1:32.167) in Meyer Shank Racing's No. 60 Acura ARX-06. It was a disappointing showing for Porsche Penske Motorsport, which won the first four races of the season. Mathieu Jaminet qualified eighth (1:33.323) in the No. 6 963, and Felipe Nasr (1:33.533) will start 10th in the No. 963 that leads the championship standings. Here are the pole-sitters in other categories for Sunday's six-hour race, which will start shortly after noon ET on NBC and Peacock: LMP2: PJ Hyett, No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07, 1:35.878 GTD Pro: Andrea Caldarelli, No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, 1:44.595 GTD: Zacharie Robichon, No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, 1:44.788 WATKINS GLEN QUALIFYING ROUNDUP Results Results by class Fastest lap by driver Fastest lap by driver after qualifying Fastest lap by driver and class after qualifying Best sector times Fastest lap sequence Time cards Weather report Track limits analysis PRACTICE RESULTS: Session I l Session II

Fox News

3 days ago

• Fox News

Pato O'Ward Leading Arrow McLaren Charge But Still Work To Be Done

With two drivers in the top four in points, Arrow McLaren can feel closer to challenging for an INDYCAR title. Pato O'Ward, who finished second in the INDYCAR trip to St. Louis last week, sits 73 points behind series leader Alex Palou. Christian Lundgaard, in fourth, is 129 points back. For O'Ward, he feels good about where he's currently positioned. "All we need to do is just keep on our wagon and keep pushing forward, and we'll see if we're sitting pretty in Nashville [the season finale]," O'Ward said. So how pretty are things at Arrow McLaren — an organization whose parent now competes for wins on a regular basis in Formula 1? If you are McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown, you have to be happy with O'Ward and Lundgaard. Lundgaard came from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, and in his first year with the team last season, he finished 11th in the standings. Alexander Rossi, who Lundgaard replaced, finished 10th in the standings last season. Rossi is now at Ed Carpenter Racing and is 10th in the current standings. Arrow McLaren's somewhat rookie Nolan Siegel is 21st, a disappointing start to the season. A few weeks ago in Detroit, Brown indicated he wasn't going to have a fast trigger after a season last year when two drivers ran that car until Siegel was hired for the final 10 races of the season. "I'm not changing any drivers this year," Brown said. "My big thing is progress ... and seeing that he's continuing to grow as a driver." That being said, Brown indicated that "more is needed" from Siegel. Brown always keeps people thinking, both with his own team and how he views the series as a whole. His ideas can seem extreme but also honest, so that can make him a polarizing figure. The love-hate relationship in the Formula 1 paddock for him is on full display in the Netflix series "Drive to Survive." He's frustrated by INDYCAR's slow progress to design a new race car, which Brown believes could increase the quality of racing. Teams were told last week that the car won't be ready until the 2028 season. "We are in sore need of a new car," Brown said prior to that decision. "I understand we're waiting on the engine formula, which will drive what type of car you need. But I think at the end of the day, we've done a lot of Band-Aids on this car, and it's why it weighs so much, it's not fast enough, et cetera, et cetera." Now that the team knows it must race this car for at least another two years, there shouldn't be (if there was) any waiting to focus on the development of the new car and not the current one. If McLaren wants to be a factor — Ganassi and Andretti have won all the races this year with Palou and Kyle Kirkwood — and you've got to believe Penske will eventually emerge, McLaren will need O'Ward to remain consistent, Lundgaard to be even more consistent and Siegel to show more than flashes of potential. O'Ward, who has four podium finishes this year, is positive when talking about trying to catch Palou, who has won five races this year. "The guy has been on a run," O'Ward said. "He has five wins or something. I've got zero wins. I've just got a handful of podiums. "We need to start racking up some wins, and that'll make that points count come down a lot faster than what you're seeing now." Lundgaard's emergence with the team is a test for O'Ward in some ways, as it could create a similar dynamic to their Formula 1 team of two drivers with similar results trying to establish themselves as the top driver on the team. O'Ward has held that role for the last four years. "I think it's great for the team," O'Ward said last month. "I think it's great that we have two cars that are fighting. Nolan is coming up to speed quickly this year, and I think that that's a boost that the team needed. "To be fairly honest with you, I feel like my biggest competitor is myself. Always is. Always has been. I'm very confident with what I could do with the race car when it's what I need. ... I've always been on my own island. Still am." He also quipped that "I love that the media is making a big deal out of it right now." That's the attitude one would expect from athletes. They have to embrace the competition. Time will tell if O'Ward will continue to embrace at the least the outward resemblance of an intrateam competition. But he's right. For now, he needs to be on his own island trying to catch Palou. Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.