Rolex 24 Hour 12: The field stabilizes – for now

Levitt/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Kelly Crandall | January 31, 2021 1:02 AM ET

Filipe Albuquerque and the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura remain in control of the Rolex 24 At Daytona as the clock hits 12 hours.

Albuquerque kept Simon Pagenaud at bay through the most recent stretch of racing. Pagenaud tried his hardest to put the No. 48 AXR Cadillac back out of the field by hounding Albuquerque and even getting this outside in Turn 1 at the 11 hour, 23-minute mark, but the door quickly closed.

A few minutes later, Pagenaud’s hard-fought shift came to an end when he turned the car over to Mike Rockenfeller, who now runs second and was looming in the leader’s mirrors as the clock ticked toward the 12 hour mark. Kevin

Chase Elliott is back in the No. 31 AXR Cadillac and runs fourth. Another driver change saw Juan Pablo Montoya get back in the No. 60 Meyer Shank racing Acura, taking over from Olivier Pla. Montoya runs fifth.

Aside from the brief battle between the DPis and driver changes throughout the field, the hour passed relatively calmly.

The No. 47 Cetilar Dallara continues to lead in LMP2, main image, but it is now piloted by Roberto Lacorte. Running second is Matthieu Vaxiviere, who is back in the No. 8 Tower Motorsport ORECA. They are one lap ahead of third place Christopher Mies in the No. 82 DragonSpeed USA ORECA.

Scott Andrews still leads in LMP3 with his No. 74 Ligier and now enjoys a three-lap advantage over the No. 6 Muehlner Motorsports America Duqueine which is currently has Kenton Koch behind the wheel.

In GTLM, the Corvettes remain in control. Nick Tandy is still behind the wheel of the No. 4 Corvette and Jordan Taylor continues his stint in the No. 3 Corvette. Jesse Krohn is running third in the No. 24 BMW.

Maro Engel is still the leader in GTD with his No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG, but it is over new second-place driver Daniel Serra. Serra, in the No. 21 Ferrari, has overtaken Mikael Grenier in the No. 75 Mercedes-AMG.
------------------------------------------------------------Rolex 24, Halfway: More electrical oddities for WTR Acura. Lots of other cars are stalling out for no reason and yellow flags popping out.

Does IMSA have an electronic device to kill engines instead of holding up cars in the pits to drop them from contention like they used to do? Jake Galstad/IMSA
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emailBy Cody Globig | January 28, 2024 1:56 AM ET

Halfway at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The eery stillness of full course yellow reared its ugly head once again for the bulk of the twelfth hour, this time at the hands of yet more drama for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport.

Just over 20 minutes into the hour, the circuit drew quiet for heaps of debris on track near Turn 5, potentially from the No. 40 Acura of Louis Deletraz, ceasing Jack Aitken’s deft use of traffic to keep Dane Cameron’s Porsche 963 1.2s behind the Whelen Cadillac not long after Aitken executed a masterful pass for the overall lead.

Come time for the pits to open for leaders, the Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMW team made good use of the unseasonably warm weather, taking no tires are firing both cars away ahead of the two Penske Porsches, relegating Cameron and teammate Laurens Vanthoor to P4 and P5 respectively. WTR swapped a new nose onto the No. 40 before a spot of drama as the No. 78 GTD Lamborghini attempted to leave pitlane with the fuel hose still attached, causing a small fire which was mercifully brief but would eventually yield a penalty for leaving the box with equipment still attached. Never mind that the thing caught on fire. That may turn out to be a screw-you-later-penalty from IMSA officiuals.

Green returned with just 15 minutes remaining before half distance, the threatening rain having still not arrived. Almost instantly, Vanthoor muscled back past both RLL BMWs to move back to second overall.

The action lasted only briefly, though. Only minutes later WTR’s woes returned once again in almost the same manner suffered earlier by the No. 10 Acura. As Deletraz approached the infield exit, the No. 40 went dark and coasted to a stop, bringing a full course yellow out once again. Oddly, Deletraz managed to restart the car minutes later while the AMR Safety Team attended and made his way, at speed, back around the field readying to claw time back.

Post pit cycle, Tom Dillman now leads LMP2 in the No. 52 ORECA ahead of Connor Zilisch (No. 1 and Malthe Jakobsen (No. 04) with previous leader Ben Keating having slid to fifth in class.

Alessandro Pier Guidi remains in the GTD PRO lead in the No. 62 Risi Ferrari with Alexander Sims still stalking just 1.5s behind.

GTD is led by Frederik Schandorff in the No. 70 McLaren 720S Evo.


Too many cars having "unknown" electrical problems........

HOUR 12 STANDINGS