Rolex 24, Hour 9: AO Racing reclaims LMP2 lead

Porsche's stranglehold on the first half of the 2026 Rolex 24 Hours continued in the ninth hour, though there were some changes of position to complement the fireworks display that was tough to see in the ongoing misty conditions.

The first of two rounds of stops during Hour 9 prompted a lead change, with Julien Andlauer in the No. 7 passing Laurens Vanthoor, who was struggling on cold tires, at Turn 1 up the inside for the lead.

That didn't last, though, for Andlauer, as the fifth caution of the race – called to allow marshals to snatch a stray wheel from the Pratt Miller ORECA from the circuit – forced another round of pit stops halfway through the hour. There, the Penske team took that opportunity to switch its two cars on pit lane. Vanthoor now leads by two seconds, with the No. 93 Acura of Alex Palou third and five seconds back after the IndyCar star made a move on Louis Deletraz's No.40 WTR Cadillac at the restart.

Which teams are truly in the running? Filipe Albuquerque, who drives the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Cadillac, gave his assessment as the teams battle through the night, double-stinting tires to save enough sets to single-stint at the end of the race.

"We have good pace," he said to the IMSA TV broadcast. "I think there are six cars that can win this. I believe the Porsches are very fast and I believe that the Cadillacs and Acuras are in a narrow window with them, too. But we need to wait to see when the sun rises, and it's hotter, and then which car is fastest when you're single-stinting tires."

It's all changed in LMP2. George Kurtz led the field at the restart for Crowdstrike by APR, but he had a spin at the International Horseshoe, which dropped him to seventh after he struggled to rejoin. That allowed AO Racing to retake the lead with Christian Rasmussen. Bijoy Garg is second in the No. 43 Inter Europol example, running ahead of the Polish team's second car.

Misha Goikhberg also lost time to a spin in the No. 51 Bryan Herta PR1 ORECA, but he's sixth and ahead of Kurtz.

Tommy Milner now leads GTD Pro in the No. 4 Corvette, after the Pratt Miller team opted to leave him out during the caution. That stop cycle shuffled the order, with Max Hesse now second in the No. 1 Paul Miller BMW and the No. 3 Corvette third.

AF Corse has cycled through to the lead in GTD with its No. 21 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Le Mans-winning factory driver Antonio Fuoco. Zach Robichon is second after taking over the wheel in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage from Mattia Drudi.

Drudi offered his thoughts post-stint: “I found myself leading with fresh tires," he said. "We need to do a certain number of double stints, but the car is working nicely, and the team is working well. Triple stints are not on our radar at the moment.”

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