Porsche gained the Rolex 24 at Daytona for the third consecutive time, taking the chequered flag on the season opener of the 2026 IMSA SportsCar Championship — however not by as huge a margin as some may need anticipated.
The end result appeared like one other dominant efficiency from the German producer’s 963 LMDh, a automotive that many had tipped to guide the sector after sturdy pre-race testing.
Nonetheless, the profitable #7 Penske Porsche entry pushed by Felipe Nasr, Julien Andlauer and Laurin Heinrich crossed the road just one.569 seconds forward of the second-place #31 Motion Categorical Cadillac shared by Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber, Frederik Vesti and Connor Zilisch, underlining simply how shut the race finally was.
The 2 Penske Porsches had constructed up a cushty early lead of round 20 seconds within the opening stint, just for that benefit to evaporate by way of a sequence of full-course yellow intervals through the race.
“I feel it appeared extra dominant than it actually was ultimately,” stated Porsche’s LMDh chief Urs Kuratle. “Everyone knows: within the first 22 hours everybody tries to remain on the lead lap, and we did that too. So sure, it appeared extra dominant than it really was. I’m satisfied of that.”
#7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Felipe Nasr, Julien Andlauer, Laurin Heinrich
Photograph by: Artwork Fleischmann
Cadillac rises in closing phases
Kuratle stated the final two hours had been “really fairly fascinating,” because the AXR Cadillac immediately grew to become an element after being comparatively quiet for a lot of the race — a scenario influenced by each a grid penalty and several other in-race sanctions
The #31 Cadillac was even a lap down at occasions and solely benefited late by way of the quite a few yellow flags within the closing phases.
“The entire area has improved throughout,” race winner Nasr stated within the post-race press convention.
“There have been occasions within the race that I felt like, ‘okay, we acquired a reasonably good tempo’. However there have been different occasions as effectively. The 31 was all the time fast on the market, once you take a look at their sector occasions.”
Nasr describes “extraordinarily Intense” closing hour
Regardless of the stress late within the race, Nasr stated the Penske automotive had been “in fine condition from begin to end.” The circumstances through the race had been demanding, he stated: “It was a giant check simply to maintain the automotive on the monitor. You can see on the the Bus Cease [Chicane that] the automotive was simply sliding in all places. And never solely us, you can see the Cadillac as effectively [sliding a lot].”
The competitors appeared to deal with the circumstances even higher at occasions. Within the closing phases, Aitken was capable of put important stress on the main Porsche.
“I used to be shocked that they mild up actually good ultimately. That they had numerous tempo and particularly their traction zones had been actually good,” he stated.
“That final hour was so intense contained in the automotive, and all the knowledge the staff was giving. The spotter are speaking like, ‘he is taking a unique line right here and there’. So there’s numerous issues to course of as the motive force.”
The #31 Cadillac repeatedly got here dangerously near the profitable Porsche within the closing laps.
“A few occasions I needed to choose my line and brake as late as I might,” Nasr stated. “I might see he was additionally attempting all the pieces
“All I did was simply drive with my coronary heart and drive from what I do know from my expertise.”
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