Porsche leads the Rolex 24 at Daytona with 1 / 4 of the race remaining, as dawn allowed motion to renew following a protracted warning interval.
The Full Course Yellow was deployed shortly after midnight, with race management compelled to neutralize the race as situations quickly deteriorated within the thick of the evening.
Over the next six-and-a-half-hours, the visibility fluctuated, resulting in the longest fog-related disruption within the race’s historical past.
The extended security automobile interval shook up the order throughout all 4 courses, as groups juggled technique and labored to satisfy minimal drive-time necessities underneath yellows.
One of the vital developments concerned the 2 manufacturing facility Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 LMDh entries, each of which spent prolonged intervals within the pitlane for repairs.
The No. 6 Porsche made 4 separate pit visits through the thirteenth hour as Penske mechanics addressed injury sustained earlier within the race.
The No. 7 Porsche, which led the race on the midway level, additionally made two unscheduled pitstops within the 14th hour, with mechanics having to take away the nostril to hold out work on the entrance finish of the automobile.
These points dropped each automobiles down the order and put them on offset methods in comparison with the remainder of the GTP discipline, though the SC allowed them to get better sufficient to guide for sure levels of the race.
Late restart
When the pitlane reopened earlier than the restart, your entire GTP discipline excluding the No. 7 Porsche and the No. 25 BMW headed into the pitlane, placing these two automobiles on the entrance because the race went again to inexperienced.
Laurin Heinrich nailed the restart to remain in entrance within the No. 7 Porsche, whereas Matt Campbell jumped the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Kevin Magnussen to determine a 1-2 for the Weissach-based marque.
Louis Deletraz held fourth for the No. 40 WTR Cadillac, whereas Colin Braun was fifth in the most effective of the Meyer Shank Acuras.
Simply after the restart, the race management introduced numerous penalties, dropping a number of crews properly down the order.
The No. 85 JDC-Miller Porsche, which had led initially of the 18th hour, and the No. 24 BMW had been awarded a drive-through penalty, whereas the No. 31 AXR Cadillac was slipped with a 30s cease/go. In every of the three circumstances, the explanation for the penalty was not revealed.
LMP2
Within the LMP2 class, Sebastien Bourdais defended his place to maintain the No. 8 Tower Motorsport Oreca 07 on the entrance, though Components E star Nick Cassidy put collectively a surprising efficiency to climb to second place within the No. 343 InterEuropol Oreca.
Tom Dillmann sits third within the different Inter Europol entry, whereas the No. 99 AO Racing automobile that had led on the midway mark was down in sixth.
In the meantime, the No. 4 Corvette returned to the highest spot in GTD Professional, as Tommy Milner handed the No. 64 Ford of Ben Barker on the restart. Jules Gounon stands third, with Antonio Garcia fourth within the second of Pratt Miller Corvettes.
The GTD class is led by the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Robby Foley, who overtook the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari of Lilou Wadoux on the finish of the 18th hour.
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