Rolex 24, Hour 1: Porsche front and center early

The 64th annual Rolex 24 At Daytona got off to a hectic start with two major incidents, but after the first hour, the two Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s have moved to the front of the field.

Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 took the lead on the opening lap and has held it ever since, though Kévin Estre in the sister No. 6 car has put his teammate under pressure since the last restart.

They’re pulling away from the third-placed No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 of polesitter Renger van der Zande, with the No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R (Louis Delètraz) in fourth, and the No. 10 WTR Cadillac (Filipe Albuquerque) in fifth.

Also on the lead lap, the No. 24 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor dropped a right-side wheel on the grass at the Esses and spun out from eighth on the grid. Nasr took the lead from van der Zande before the full course yellow came out at the end of the first lap.

Rao was given a harsh 120-second stop-and-go penalty for incident responsibility, and is now five laps down from the class lead. Fayer went behind the wall and spent 40 minutes in the garage, putting the No. 2 United Autosports 20 laps down. Kurtz only lost one lap, Lütke stayed on the lead lap after a quick nose change, but both were given 10-second penalty stops for improper emergency service stops, and now both their cars cars are a lap down.

The race restarted, but quickly went back to yellow when the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R lost control and spun around at Turn 1. Rookie Eric Zitza, son of 2000 Rolex 24 class winner Ron, was a passenger as the right front of his Porsche slammed the attenuator between the track and pit lane.

Zitza climbed from his wrecked car in some discomfort but was evaluated and released from the infield care center promptly. The No. 28 RS1 Porsche was the first official retirement from GTD and the race.

The race restarted at the 24-minute mark and has thankfully remained green ever since.

Three cars picked up early drive-through penalties afterwards: In GTP, Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac was brought in for going too early on the restart; in GTD, Giacomo Altoè in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Corvette spun the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari of Manny Franco down at Turn 6. Intersport Racing’s Jon Field also picked up a drive-through for speeding in the pits.

Sheena Monk in the No. 16 Myers Riley Motorsports Ford also had to pit to serve a mechanical black flag for tire operational requirements.

In the other classes, Ben Keating has taken the LMP2 class lead in the No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen ORECA 07-Gibson, after a successful undercut on previous leader PJ Hyett.

Hyett is second in the gold No. 99 AO Racing ORECA, followed by the surprisingly quick George Kolovos in the No. 343 Inter Europol Competition car.

The two Millennium Yellow Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs run first and second in GTD Pro. Polesitter Alexander Sims leads in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports car, shadowed by the No. 4 of Nicky Catsburg.

Maro Engel runs third in the 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, with Frederic Vervisch in fourth aboard the No. 65 Ford Racing Mustang GT3.

And the GTD lead has changed hands a few times in this first hour, between Philip Ellis, Antonio Fuoco, and Frederik Schandorff.

It’s Ellis who leads in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG, putting distance between him and Fuoco in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo in second, and Schandorff in the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari in third.

HOUR 1 STANDINGS