Penske Porsche Wins Rolex 24 At Daytona
Porsche is back.
The Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 GTP car won the Rolex 24 at Daytona, marking the brand’s first overall victory in the race since 2003.
Porsche leads all automakers with 19 wins since it first took the checkered flag in 1968.
The win was also the first for a Penske team since 1969.
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After seeing the Porsche cruise up front through the night, the Cadillac V-Series.R being driven by Tom Blomqvist took the lead, but Felipe Nasr’s Porsche was able to take advantage of a quick pit stop with a half-hour to go to move in front again.
The Cadillac was able to stay within a second or so until the final lap, when it got caught up in lapped traffic and lost touch with the Porsche.
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The NBC broadcast had actually shown there was another lap remaining at the time, but the checkered flag flew when the Porsche crossed the line at the end of lap 791 with 23:58:24.723 on the clock. IMSA has not yet explained why another lap wasn’t allowed.
It was the first Rolex 24 victory for Nasr and his teammates Matt Campbell, Dame Cameron and 2023 Indy 500 champion Josef Newgarden. Newgarden is the 17th driver to win the Indy 500 and Rolex 24.
The Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GTD Pro kept Porsche from making it two class wins, while Winward Racing’s AMG GT3 took the GTD title.
Ford’s first outing for the new Mustang GT3 suffered some growing pains with both factory cars losing their trunk lids on Saturday and the lead car having trouble with its rear wing that required a trip to the garage and a DNF.
Era Motorsports was the winner in the LMP2 spec series.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA RESULTS
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