Classic 24 Hour races into the night at Daytona

The Classic Daytona 24 Hour presented by Mission Foods cruised through the midnight hour Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, with six of the race’s record eight Run Groups completing their first two of four on-track sessions at the race’s halfway mark at 2am ET. 

An all-Lola showdown has headlined the early fight in Run Group A, with multiple HSR Classics race winner Toni Seiler in his Waite-and-See 1970 No. 7 Lola T165 squaring off against the Alegra Motorsports 1969 No. 60 Lola T70 MkIII B shared by Scooter Gabel and Nick Padmore. Seiler emerged on top in segment one, but the momentum shifted in the second round, however, as Gabel and Padmore executed a well-timed pit strategy to leapfrog Seiler and take control of the two-car battle. The move put the No. 60 Lola in the driver’s seat heading into the next stages of competition with a 90-second advantage on the field.

In the accompanying Run Group B, Angus Rogers continued his standout weekend following a pair of HSR Daytona Historics race victories over the first two full days of competition in the SascoSports International/American Challenge presented by Hoosier and the B.R.M Chronographs Legacy Enduro. Now joined by co-driver Rocco Pasquarella in the KMW Motorsports 1973 No. 15 Porsche 911 RSR in the Classic 24, Rogers is halfway toward adding another victory in an already successful weekend after sweeping both of the opening Group B segments to build a two-lap lead.

Sharing the original Whittington Bros. Racing 1979 No. 94 Porsche 935, Alegra Motorsports co-drivers Carlos de Quesada and Billy Johnson took control of Run Group C in the second segment, capitalizing on the absence of the previously leading 1991 No. 27 Nissan R91CK. The duo converted the opportunity into a two-lap advantage over the remaining class competitors and will look to maintain that margin through the night with a chance of bringing the historic Porsche back to victory lane by Sunday’s checkered flag.

Meanwhile, Run Group D remained a three-car fight at the front, with Jackson Dunn leading the charge aboard his 2004 No. 111 Porsche 996 GT3 Cup after pacing the group through the first two segments. Dunn established an advantage of more than a minute over the two other Porsche entries, with all three remaining on the lead lap as the group headed into the overnight hours.

The closest battle for class honors emerged in Run Group E, where nine entries remained on the lead lap heading into the second half of the race. Despite the depth of the field, the Wright Motorsports-prepared 2019 No. 216 Porsche 991.2 GT3 R, shared by Jon Manship, Peter Toombs, Trent Hindman and Lonnie Pechnik, maintained its hold on the lead through both opening segments.

In Run Group F, Butch Leitzinger, Juan Gonzalez and Roberto Gonzalez grabbed the class lead on the final lap of the opening segment aboard the Mission Foods 2017 No. 81 Cadillac Dallara DPi after the Matador Motorsports 2017 No. 01 Cadillac Dallara DPi, shared by Pierce Marshall and Eric Foss, suffered an engine failure. The No. 01 had led 22 of the race's first 23 laps before the engine issue brought its run at the front to a premature end with just minutes left on the clock.

However, the Matador Motorsports crew mounted a determined effort to replace the engine ahead of the second segment, successfully returning the Cadillac to the grid and taking the segment win. Despite rejoining a lap down, Marshall and Foss remain second in class following the race’s second stanza and within reach of the sister Cadillac in the fight for the group lead.

In Run Group G, the father-and-son team of Mike Jordan and Andrew Jordan are a quarter of the way home in defending their 2025 class title. The Jordans won Saturday evening's opening segment with a 15.915s margin of victory in their JRT 2011 No. 77 Porsche 997.2 GT3 Cup,

The opening segments also brought significant setbacks for a handful of early contenders. In Run Group C, the striking yellow 1991 No. 27 Nissan R91CK, shared by Phil Quaife and car owner James Thorpe, failed to start Race 2 after the duo had established a five-second advantage over the de Quesada and Johnson Porsche 935 in the opening segment.

Run Group E also saw multiple early contenders see their challenges come to an end. Marc Montourand Louis-Philippe Montour in the 2021 No. 126 Audi R8 LMS GT3 suffered a tire failure on the final lap of the opening segment as the car crossed the line to finish second. Unfortunately, the Audi did not return for the second segment, apparently due to damage from the incident.

The pole-sitting 2016 No. 16 Lamborghini Huracán GT3, shared by Richard Meins and Rob Huff, also encountered an early setback after sustaining steering damage in wheel-to-wheel contact on the pace lap of the first round. They didn't take the start and subsequent efforts to return to the track in the second segment were unsuccessful, bringing a frustrating and far too early end to the quick Lambo team’s race.

As the featured marque for this year’s Daytona Classic 24, there was a strong focus on Ford throughout the morning in the lead-up to the green flag for the main event. The celebrations started with a 30-minute Ford Feature Race that exhibited around 20 various Ford-related cars, ranging from a 2008 Ford Taurus NASCAR Cup Series car to an unusual 1968 Bizzarini Corsa.

Grand Marshal Peter Miles – the son of 1966 Daytona 24 Hour winner Ken Miles – was joined in an open forum by versatile sports car champion and current HSR Race Director Dorsey Schroeder, Ford factory IMSA and WEC driver Billy Johnson, HSR and Peter Auto competitor John Spiers and fellow historic racer Dan Long to celebrate Ford’s accomplishments over more than a century of racing around the world. Long’s 1966 Superformance GT40, wrapped this weekend in the livery of Ken Miles’ 1966 Daytona winner, was on display during the panel along with a similar era Cobra recreation.

“It’s been a real honor to carry on the legacy of these cars,” Long said. “I’ve had the privilege of working with Peter in the past on a car that we showed at Barrett-Jackson. The reaction to this car with its new livery, celebrating his dad’s victory here 60 years ago, has been nothing but overwhelming.”

The spotlight group of 20 Sixties’ Endurance by Peter Auto kept the feel-good Ford vibes kept rolling as Emile Breittmayer overcame a pit stop time infraction to take the first segment checkered flag of the uniquely formatted event. Appropriately, he was driving the 1965 No. 109 Cobra Shelby Daytona Coupe, the extended fastback version of the legendary Shelby Cobra developed with aerodynamics for high-speed tracks like Daytona.

Lap after lap, Breittmayer masterfully controlled the sliding Ford-powered Shelby through the Le Mans chicane while extending his advantage over eventual second-place runners Thorpe and Quaife in the Valley Motorsports 1965 No. 43 Jaguar E-Type. One of the extremely rare 1965 Lightweight versions of the Jaguar E-Type prepared by CKL carrying the No. 26 finished third in the hands of Spiers and Nigel Greensall.

“That was a lot of fun, said Breittmayer, whose father Olivier Breittmayer is also part of the Peter Auto group, finishing seventh in the first segment in the 1963 No. 153 Jaguar E-Type. Both cars are prepared by Breitt Racing. “The car slides a lot on these tires, and that’s really nice to feel on this track. You’ve got to drive it – it’s really old-school driving. It’s so cool to have this car here in Daytona. It’s just incredible when you see the tribune (grandstands) and everything. You can feel the history of the track and it’s quite fun to discover it. Also, it was amazing to see the flyover and the American National Anthem. You can really feel the atmosphere, and it’s so nice.”

There was heartbreak in the Sixties' Endurance contingent as well. The 1965 No. 188 Ferrari 275 GTB of Andreas Rolner, Michael Holden, and Jacob Holstein suffered a gearbox failure in the warmup and was unable to start the first segment. Veteran HSR and Peter Auto competitor Greensall introduced the team’s engineering owner Marcell Vosslers to competitors in the HSR paddock that might be able to help him fabricate the components needed to repair the transaxle in time to start the second segment, a measure of the camaraderie and cooperative spirit that prevails in historic sports car racing on both sides of the Atlantic.