Rolex 24, Hour 20: Movers and shakers in GTD Pro

Four hours remain in the 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona. 54 of the 60 starters remain in the race, and after a full course yellow, 10 cars in GTP are on the lead lap – led by the No. 25 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8.

With four hours and 45 minutes left, the FCY came out for an LMP2 incident involving Formula 1 alumni Sebastien Bourdais and Logan Sargeant. Bourdais in the No. 8 Tower Motorsports ORECA hit and turned the No. 18 Era Motorsport car of Sargeant, already many laps down. With a failed starter motor, the purple and white No. 18 ORECA couldn’t fire up again, and had to be towed back to the garage.

All GTP cars made green flag pit stops before the incident but the No. 25 WRT BMW, now driven by Marco Wittmann, stayed out during the FCY to gain track position.

The German leads overall, followed by the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 in second, after Felipe Nasr moved past the No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R of Jordan Taylor.

Taylor was then passed by Kevin Estre in the No. 6 Penske Porsche, who is now third, with Taylor in fourth.

Inter Europol Competition continues to lead LMP2, but now it’s the No. 43 ORECA 07-Gibson at the front following pit stops. António Félix da Costa leads the class, just ahead of the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA driven by Dane Cameron.

Nolan Siegel lost the lead due to a slow getaway from the pits – caused by a starter motor problem – but he’s back up to third in the No. 343 Inter Europol car, ahead of the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR car of Malthe Jakobsen.

The GTD Pro lead has traded hands a few times. The No. 911 Manthey “Grello” Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Ayhancan Güven went three-wide around the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Max Hesse and the No. 64 Ford Racing Mustang GT3 of Mike Rockenfeller at Turn 1, following a sketchy restart in which Harry King got a significant jump start. King was given a 60-second stop-and-go penalty for the infraction, and the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche has now dropped off the lead lap.

Hesse recently retook the lead from Güven at the West Horseshoe – only for Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R to pass both of them around the outside in the tri-oval. Milner leads from Güven, Hesse, and the No. 69 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Fabian Schiller) in fourth.

There’s also been a shuffle in GTD; Scott McLaughlin has muscled his way to the lead in the No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette, trailed by the No. 912 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche driven by Riccardo Pera – both Manthey Porsches are now firmly in contention to win their classes as it stands.

The No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW isn’t totally out of it, Jens Klingmann is still fourth, trailing the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Madison Snow, which is third.

Elsewhere in GTD, the No. 66 Gradient Racing Ford has retired from the race after a punctured radiator put it behind the wall, never to return. The No. 3 Corvette in GTD Pro returned to the race after a 48-minute service job to repair the right-rear suspension.

HOUR 20 STANDINGS