senor honda

The race starts as the pace car pulls back into the pits | James Derek Sapienza/ Autos Cheat Sheet

The flag fell on Saturday afternoon, the 28th, under darkening skies, with the 55 cars each taking off behind a bright orange Audi R8 pace car. Between the Prototypes, Prototype Challenge, GT Le Mans, and GT Daytona classes, it was an amazing sight — and an amazing noise. On the same track you had inline four, six, eight, 10, and 12-cylinder engines, all competing for the same thing: the checkered flag, and new Rolex Daytonas.
Two Cadillacs took off first, leading both the prototypes and the entire field. The Ford GTs led the GTLM class, and a Ferrari 488 in the GTD class. The Mazdas started 11 and 12th overall, not a bad place to be. But despite it being Florida, it was still January, and as the light started to fade it began to rain. It wouldn’t let up until the last few hours of the race.