Rolex 24, Hour 22: Porsche vs Cadillac fight to the finish building

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 28, 2024 12:07 PM ET

After some intense on-track battles early this morning, the 62nd Rolex 24 At Daytona has been rather settled as the race heads into its final two hours.

With the GTPs within their final three stints, all signs point to a Porsche vs. Cadillac battle. The No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport currently seems to have the measure of the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, although it’s entirely possible the 31 has been playing a waiting game. Felipe Nasr is freshly installed in the No. 6 and will likely finish. Tom Blomqvist was wheeling the No. 31 entering the final two hours, but expect Pipo Derani to take the car to the finish.

Louis Deletraz is in the third-place No. 40 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06, but hasn’t shown any potential to run the two leaders down. The Acura has been stopping several laps sooner than the other two, so if it comes down to a fuel contest, WTRAndretti is likely to lose out. The No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche 963 is waiting to pounce should the top three experience any issues.

Winward Racing appears firmly in control of GTD unless a caution should erase Philip Ellis’s more than 20s margin to his closest competitor, which was the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F in the hands of Aaron Telitz. The Lexus driver, though, was at the head of a potential three-way battle for second among the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari with Kei Cozzolino at the wheel and the No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes AMG currently wheeled by Maxi Goetz.

Triarsi Competizione’s chances of a GTD victory have been hurt by the team having too many crew over the wall during its last pit stop, incurring a drive-through penalty.

Risi Competizione’s closest pursuer for the GTD PRO victory, the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3, reported brake problems at the end of the hour, and just after the clock went past two hours to go, Bryan Sellers brought the car in for a brake change, Sheldon van der Linde getting into the car at the same time. Things only got worse for the BMW, as the right-front wheel was not seated, and after van der Linde limped the car back to the pits, the wheel gun got stuck trying to fix the problem, dropping the No. 1 down three laps. The race is now Risi’s to lose.

The No. 65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang has been officially retired after being sent to the garage with a broken wing.
With 2 hours to go and all the money spent, the wing is not allowed to be fixed?
And Multi-billion $ corporation Ford did not bring a spare wing?

Makes a person wonder as they read through theses reports about the huge number of cars retired after being "sent to the garage"

Is sent to the garage a term that means IMSA just terminated your racing and "retired"your car?

Is there a rule that is not being spoken about?

Specifically who sent all those cars to the garage? Was it IMSA? Was it the race team?

 

Rolex 24, Hour 23: Blomqvist retakes lead, eyeing final hour

Jake Galstad/Lumen
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emailBy Richard S. James | January 28, 2024 1:02 PM ET

In the penultimate hour, Tom Blomqvist chased down Felipe Nasr, getting the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R within a second of Matt Campbell’s No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 before pitting earlier than necessary, but well within the window to make it to the end on one more stop. Nasr brought the Porsche in three laps later for full energy and fresh tires, emerging from the pits ahead of Blomqvist. However, with the Cadillac having warm tires and Nasr’s still coming up to temperature, he was able to squeeze by heading into Turn 1. The term "energy" is a fake-o name for a battery recharge. Maybe someone wants you to think this is equal to refiling the gas tank.

Does IMSA have the usual penalty for having a pit stop too fast, as IMSA has done in the past?




Nasr had a big lockup heading into the International Horseshoe immediately after, possibly flatspotting a tire. He had reported a vibration to the team before the lockup.

Blomqvist has put a bit of space between the Cadillac and Porsche. Speculation had Derani finishing the race, but team may opt to leave Blomqvist in for a third stint given his pace.

Mathieu Jaminet put the second PPM Porsche into fourth behind Louis Deletraz’s No. 40 WTRAndretti Acura, but he’s 24s off Deletraz, who in turn is a more than a minute behind Nasr. Jaminet was under threat of going a lap down with Blomqvist on his tail, although there’s also the danger of Jaminet backing Blomqvist up to Nasr.

Era Motorsports is asserting itself at the front of LMP2, Christian Rasmussen enjoying a 14s lead in the No. 18 ORECA over Malthe Jakobsen in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA. Tom Dillman was another 50s back in the No. 52 Euro Interpol with PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA.

Mikael Grenier had moved the No. 32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports into second in GTD, but the Ferraris were on a tear. The 296 GT3s from several teams had proven effective in the heat, and Grenier was soon dispatched first Alberto Costa Blaboa in the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari and then Miguel Molina in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari. All three were running nose to tail, but Daniel Morad in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG was 30s down the road, and the 2021 GTD-winning team looks firmly in control.

Risi Competizione remains firmly in control of GTD PRO with a Daniel Serra holding a lap over the second-place AO Racing in the hands of Laurin Heinrich.

 

So if Penske wants to win it, should he have a car every other spot in the front lineup?

IMSA surely would not penalize the top 4 cars and award the win to the 5th place car.....maybe.

Would it be 1 and 3?.... or 2 and 4...in the belief that IMSA will disqualify the top position........
as they have often kicked out first place AFTER 24 hours of racing and all the time and effort
taken to even get a spot on the grid, AFTER spending thousands, AFTER the team got the trophy, etc.....

As IMSA has done in the past.

And the last battery charge???
Did IMSA place a "volt restricter" on the battery charger, like IMSA has done with gasoline fueled cars in the past so your pit stop is slower?

Or did Penske discover an advantage that until now has not been explored?

 

And while we are asking question...

What is ment by "exceeding the powertrain parameters"?

Did IMSA time all cars or time cars at random and if you went too fast,

Did IMSA give you a penalty like drag racers who "break out of their estimated time bracket"?

 

Rolex 24, Hour 24: After 55 years, Penske triumphs at Daytona again.

Unless IMSA has some penalties that they have been holding back to screw him
as they have frequently done to others AFTER the race was over.

Or was this a case of Porsche being too big to screw with by IMSA?

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 28, 2024 2:14 PM ET

The first caution in four hours set up a 30m sprint to the finish of the 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona, rapidly changing the fortunes of several competitors.
Exceptional drama to coincidentally occur during the last 30 minutes for a whiz bang stand on your seats finish .

Vasser Sullivan Racing’s hopes for a GTD victory went up in flames, literally, in the final hour. Leaving the pits, Parker Thompson pulled the No. 12 Lexus RC F over with flames spitting out of the engine compartment. Team principal Jimmy Vasser expected the cause was a plenum fire, although metal doesn't normally catch fire and burn.

A nearby corner worker handed him a fire extinguisher, and said "Put it out yourself, Jocko". According to the video.

The ensuing caution, though, erased big leads in LMP2 and GTD, and set up a four-way battle to the finish in GTP. Tom Blomqvist had held the lead in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, but Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 beat him out of the pits as both took short fills. The top four GTP competitors were nose to tail for the restart, Louis Deletraz holding third in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06.

We know what a short fill of gasoline is....where you splash in just enough to get you to the finish.
NASCAR does it all the time as do others.

Exactly what is a short fill of electricity? Fewer volts than you normally would recharge with?
Is there more to the story?

And what about the full battery recharge that was Penske's next to the last pit stop?
Did IMSA stand over the battery charger to be sure that extra volts were not sneaked in? lol

Blomqvist did all he could, including setting the fastest lap of race at 1m35.554s with 23m left, but he couldn’t make a move on Nasr while the Porsche got better breaks in traffic. When the checker fell right after 1:40 p.m. with 1m35s left on the race clock, Nasr took the victory for he, Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Josef Newgarden. It was the first Rolex 24 at Daytona victory for each driver, and the first for Penske since 1969 when he won the race with a Lola T70.
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There is no explanation so far as to why the cars were 2 seconds apart when IMSA flagged the race early with 1m35s left on the race clock !
Why was there no white "One lap to go flag"?
Has the flagman been fired to cover his mistake and did he make a mistake?
Any recording of the verbal communication between the flagman and IMSA race control?

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Blomqvist took the Cadillac across the line to score second for Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken. Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta and Jenson Button finished third in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06.

Christian Rasmussen held his lead in the No. 18 Era Motorsports ORECA O7 Gibson to take victory for he, Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel and Connor Zilisch. The No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA of George Kurtz, Colin Braun, Malthe Jakobsen and Toby Sowery, ahead of Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, Josh Burdon and Felipe Massa in the No, 74 Riley Motorsports ORECA.

Daniel Serra had a lap on second place Laurin Heinrich in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche that was erased with the caution, but the Porsche had nothing for Serra’s No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrrari 296 GT3. Serra held on for Risi’s first victory in its Ferrari era, and second victory after an SRP2 win in 2002. Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado’s win was also the second 24-hour race victory for the 296 GT3, the first coming in the 2023 24 Hours of the Nürburgring with Frikadelli Racing.

Polesitters AO Racing with Seb Priaulx, Laurin Heinrich and Michael Christensen ended up second. The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing, which had looked to have a chance at victory going into the final hours, fell victim to a brake problem and the team scored a third-place finish for Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen and Sheldon van der Linde.

Winward Racing took its second Rolex 24 victory in four years after Daniel Morad held off a pair of charging Ferraris. The No. 57 Mercedes AMG was third overall for a 2.731s margin of victory for Morad, Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje. It was Ferrari 296 GT3 in second and third, Miguel Molina, Simon Mann, Francois Heriau and Alessio Rovera taking second for AF Corse and Conquest Racing’s Manny Franco, Alberto Costa Balboa, Alessandro Balzan and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli taking third.

Full reports to follow.

 

Penske Porsche, Era Motorsports share prototype spoils at Rolex 24

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 28, 2024 5:36 PM ET Why is Star Wars R2D2 on the podium?

What a difference a year makes. After the two Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s were nowhere near the podium in their 2023 debut, every Porsche in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, including the privateer cars from JDC-Miller MotorSports and Proton Competition, ran near flawlessly. It was the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 squad of Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Josef Newgarden that was just a bit more perfect in claiming victory, the first for all of them and the first victory for Penske since 1969. It was the 19th overall victory at the Rolex 24 for Porsche and the first since 2010.

Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken and Tom Blomqvist finished second in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, coming short by 2.112s after nearly 24 hours of racing and despite running what Derani described as a flawless race.

Improbably, the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 finished third in the hands of Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta and Jenson Button, holding off the No. 6 PPM Porsche 963 at the end. The No. 40 had rolled to a stop in the middle of the night, but a reset got the car going and strategy put the car in a better position than might have been expected.

From the start, both of the PPM Porsche 963s as well as the two Cadillacs showed similar pace, and it seemed apparent that it would come down to a Porsche vs. Cadillac fight for the victory. In the cooler night, and early morning hours, the Porsches seems to have an edge. But as the day warmed up, the No. 31 Cadillac came on strong. Entering the race’s final two hours, Blomqvist turned up the wick and caught Nasr.

Blomqvist took the No. 31 to the pits earlier than necessary, but well within the window to make it to the end on one more stop. Nasr brought the Porsche in three laps later for full energy and fresh tires, emerging from the pits ahead of Blomqvist. However, with the Cadillac having warm tires and Nasr’s still coming up to temperature, he was able to squeeze by heading into Turn 1.




But after more than four hours of green flag running, a late caution set up a 30m sprint to the finish, and came perfectly timed for the GTPs to make their final stop for a quick fill. The Penske crew got Nasr out first, and that was the the race.

Blomqvist did all he could, including setting the fastest lap of race at 1m35.554s with 23m left, but he couldn’t make a move on Nasr while the Porsche got better breaks in traffic. When the checker fell right after 1:40 p.m., Nasr was the first under it to claim the victory.

“The race only finishes at the checkered flag. There’s no decision until then,” said Nasr. “The race really came down to the wire at the very final stop. You know, it was it pretty much all about the fuel numbers. Each one was the energy numbers we were reaching. And I just have to say that was a great call from the team, from Porsche Penske Motorsport. Just to give me the opportunity to be the in the lead again in that final part of the race and then it was down to me to hit the numbers and keep the No. 31 behind.”

Blomqvist came close a few times as he attacked, but could never put together a move to pass.

“At the end of the race, we had the pace advantage,” Blomqvist said. “It was just so difficult to pass. The Porsche was really strong on the straight, we were really good in the infield, so it was just hard to make anything count. There weren’t many cars there at the end of the race in terms of traffic to to kind of find an opportunity and then Felipe at the end … I needed like one small mistake. He went wide by like a few meters, but other than that there was no opportunity.”

In contrast to the 2023 debut of the LMDh cars in GTP when both Acuras and both Cadillacs ran without major trouble, two key competitors from each fell victim to problems in the race. The No. 10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 of Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Brendon Hartley and Marcus Ericsson pulled to a stop after a little more than eight hours with Albuquerque at the wheel, right after he detected a funny smell. The problem was diagnosed as a wiring loom issue, and while it was replaced and the car returned to the track after a long repair, it was eventually retired.

The No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R from Chip Ganassi Racing looked to have the pace for victory with Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, Scott Dixon and Alex Palou, but went to the garage in the middle of the night withe an undiagnosed mechanical issue and never re-emerged.

Both BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8s had difficulties during the night. Both were repaired and returned to the track, but finished 13 (No. 25) and 15 (No. 24) laps down.
LMP2 winners, Era Motorsports. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel, Connor Zilisch and Christian Rasmussen took the LMP2 victory after emerging as a contender overnight. The team recovered from an early incident in which Merriman was caught up in other cars having contact and soldiered on, moving steadily up the order to claim the second win for Era and for Dalziel and Merriman together after they won in 2021. It was Dalziel’s third Rolex 24 victory, and the first for Rasmussen and 17-year-old Zilisch.

The No. 18 was hanging with the leaders heading into Saturday evening, but didn’t make a move for the front until the middle of the night.

“In my mind, it’s a 24 hour race … first half of race, a lot of [it] is about risk management, right?” said Merriman. “So you don’t need to be in the lead after eight hours. But the last three hours is a knife fight. And you need to be up. You need to be in the first couple of positions at that point and we were, so I think that’s kind of part of the strategy.”

Fortunately Era had some sharp blades when it came time for the knife fight.

“We kind of gambled … we were probably the most high downforce of the P2s,” said Dalziel. “We were a little bit of sitting ducks when somebody’s drafting us, but when we can kind of break that 1.5-2s – the draft in the P2 car is almost 10 kilometers an hour. So I think, for us, once we were at the front, we can kind of manage a little bit of pace and the field. But it’s just a good day. I think each one I’ve won is more special.

“These two guys … Christian, last year, was a stud for us. Connor, the same. I feel like today Dwight and I just kind of did our job and I actually…gave up my last stint because I felt like these two guys were the strongest guys on the day and wanted to make sure that we put our best feet forward for the last stint. and don't tell anyone, but we saved time by skipping a driver change pit stop.....in case no one noticed.”

Rasmussen had a solid lead erased by the final yellow, but not only managed to stay out front, he stretched it to a 6.8s margin of victory. George Kurtz, Colin Braun, Malthe Jakobsen and Toby Sowery finished second in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA. Riley Motorsports was third with Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, Josh Burdon and Felipe Massa in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports ORECA.

 

Highlights video brought to you by the network who tells lies about Trump 24 hours per day....except today...

https://www.nbcsports.com/motor-spor...live-blog-imsa

 

Team Penske celebrates after competitive Rolex 24 at Daytona

Roger Penske Josef Newgarden, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell and Dane Cameron reflect on their respective journeys and coming together to win the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

 

Gallery: Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona highlights

Henry Payne
Victory: #7: Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963, GTP: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Josef Newgarden, podium. Courtesy of IMSA
Michael L. Levitt, LAT Images
The Captain in Victory Circle: #7: Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963, GTP: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Josef Newgarden, podium, Roger Penske, NBC. Courtesy of IMSA
Michael L. Levitt, LAT Images
Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona: Brad Pitt (in driver's suit) filming in the pits.

 

Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Winning drivers: #7: Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963, GTP: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Josef Newgarden, podium. Courtesy of IMSA
Michael L. Levitt
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Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Record crowds at Rolex 24 Daytona swarm the grid.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona: Porsche racing legend Patrick Long was part of Brad Pitt movie shoot.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Winning team: #7: Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963, GTP: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Josef Newgarden podium. Courtesy of IMSA