IMSA: WTR leads Rolex 24 at halfway

Halfway through the 53rd Rolex 24 at Daytona, it’s a four-way battle up front between the Wayne Taylor Racing crew, the pair of Ganassi cars and the polesitting No. 60 Michael Shank Racing entry currently piloted by AJ Allmendinger. Those four are on the lead lap, with the No. 10 Corvette DP leading with Jordan Taylor at the wheel. The No. 02 is second, with NASCAR racer Kyle Larson acquitting himself nicely in only his second sports car endurance race. Scott Pruett, aiming to become the winningest driver in Rolex 24 history, is sitting third in the No. 01. However, there are still three other cars that are within a couple of laps and certainly have a shot with half a day of racing left to go.

The GTLM field has been decimated, including an accident that effectively took out both factory Porsche 911 RSRs. It’s down to the two Corvette C7.Rs, the Falken Porsche and the No. 25 BMW Team RLL Z4 GTE. Ollie Gavin in the No. 4 leads Ryan Briscoe in the No. 3 Corvette, followed by Patrick Long in the Porsche and Bruno Spengler in the BMW. All four are on the same lap.

The No. 54 CORE Autosport entry leads Protoype Challenge, a lap clear of the No. 85 JDC/Miller Motorsports car. Jon Bennett was in the No. 54 at the halfway mark.

It’s a Ferrari, Porsche, Dodge and Audi battle in GTD, with the four marques filling out the top four. The No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia leads at halfway with Jeff Segal at the wheel, but six cars are on the same lap and the lead changes regularly with every round of pit stops. The No. 48 Audi R8 LMS, the No. 33 Dodge Viper SRT, the No. 22 Porsche 911 America, the No. 93 Viper, the No. 73 Porsche and the No. 64 Ferrari are all still in solid contention.

Nine caution periods have interrupted the race, most recently for the incident involving the two GTLM Porsches. Four cars are officially retired – the No. 57 Krohn Racing Ligier Judd, the No. 70 Mazda SKYACTIV Diesel, the No. 2 HPD ARX and the No. 0 DeltaWing.

Two milestones have occurred in this event. One, the race was, for the first time in its history, led by a diesel engine when the No. 07 Mazda took the lead in the early going, thanks largely in part to its fuel economy. The other milestone is the youngest driver to lead the Rolex 24 at Daytona is now Chris McMurry, 17, who led the race in the No. 60 MSR Ligier Honda.