Nearly two hours of green-flag running was broken in Hour 15 of the Rolex 24 at Daytona by the race’s eighth full course yellow after Hugh Plumb spun the No. 64 Team TGM Aston Martin Vantage at turn six. The car appeared to be undamaged, but it needed to be recovered by a flatbed truck. The race spent 25 minutes behind the safety cars as the No.64 Aston Martin was collected. Race control also took the opportunity to do some minor track cleaning and maintenance.
The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 inherited the top spot under the full course yellow but Sebastien Bourdais moved the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-LMDh into the lead of the race in the final seconds of the hour. As one Cadillac was making a move for the lead, another was heading behind the wall as Pipo Derani guided the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-LMDh into its garage with a reported gearbox problem.
Helio Castroneves in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 dropped from the race lead to sixth in class as the car pitted multiple times under the full course yellow. The No. 60 Acura has been managing an oil issue that team owner Mike Shank said is not yet a major concern, but something the team will be keeping an eye on.
In LMP2, the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA 07 made an unscheduled pitstop after the full course yellow ended. The car was leading the race at the start of the hour but has now dropped down to fifth with Nicolas Lapierre behind the wheel. Ben Hanley in the No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR ORECA 07 currently leads the class.
LMP3 has turned into a two-horse race between the No. 17 AWA Duqueine D08 and the No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier JS P320. They have a two-lap advantage on the No. 87 FastMD Racing Duqueine which runs third.
Class leaders after the 15th hour:
GTP: Sebastien Bourdais, No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-LMDh
LMP2: Ben Hanley, No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR ORECA 07
LMP3: Nico Varrone, No. 17 AWA Duqueine D08
GTD PRO: Daniel Juncadella, No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
GTD: Philip Ellis, No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
Notes:
• Nick Tandy in the No.6 Porsche staying out during the full course yellow prevented the No.10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06 from getting one of its laps back. It is currently two laps down from the leading GTP cars with Filipe Albuquerque.
• The hood that flew off of the No. 93 Racers Edge Acura NSX GT3 earlier in the night struck the front of the No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing ORECA 07. Pieces of the hood became lodged in the air ducts of the No. 04 ORECA which necessitated a nose change.
• There have been eight official retirements, with a ninth likely imminent. The No. 43 MRS-GT Racing Ligier JS P320 is currently sitting in the garage with no work being performed after a fire in the rear. It has not been officially retired, but its future looks grim.
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