The 2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona is underway and the first hour has seen the Cadillac‘s lead the race throughout the race, currently Dane Cameron heads the field in the #31 car.
There was early drama when the Lamborghini of Jeroen Mul careered off circuit, bringing out an early full-yellow period as the safety crews recovered the car from the barriers.
The #24 BMW also suffered issues as it ground to a halt with gearbox failure in the pitlane just short of the halfway mark through the hour. Further pitlane drama struck when a brief fire broke out in the #27 Lamborghini pit stall, thankfully the crew acted quickly and extinguished the fire quickly.
Joao Barbosa lead the race for the first sixteen laps until Cameron took the #31 Action Express Cadillac DPi-V.R in to the lead. Ricky Taylor took over the lead when the first round of pitstops started and lead until lap 24 when Cameron made the move to the head of the field.
Rebellion Racing’s #12 led the best of the rest and the first non-Cadillac car in fourth, ahead of the #22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi of Dubai 24h winner Brendon Hartley.
In the Prototype Challenge class James French held the lead in the #38 car ahead of Johnny Mowlem in the #26.
The GTLM class saw Joey Hand lead the class in the 66 Ford GT throughout the hour ahead of Toni Vilanders #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE. Jan Magnussen rounded out the top three ahead of Corvette team-mate Tommy Milner.
The Porsche team looked to be making early progress until the #911 RSR of Patrick Pilet suffered a right-front puncture, dropping him down the running order.
Christina Nielsen leads the GTD class after pitstops in the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3. The #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari led the early stages of the race before a driver change dropped them down the order. Patrick Lindsey is currently in second place in the #73 Park Place Porsche 911 GT3 R with the #11 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in third place.
Top 3 by class after 1 hour
P
31 Whelen Engineering Racing Dane Cameron, Eric Curran, Michael Conway, Seb Morris
10 Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor ,Max Angelelli, Jeff Gordon
5 Mustang Sampling Racing Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Filipe Albuquerque
PC
38 James French, Patricio OWard, Kyle Masson, Nicholas Boulle
26 Tom Papadopoulos, Johnny Mowlem, Adam Merzon, Trent Hindman, David Cheng
88 Scott Mayer, James Dayson, Alex Popow, Sebastian Saavedra
GTLM
66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Dirk Mueller, Joey Hand, Sebastien Bourdais
62 Risi Competizione Giancarlo Fisichella, James Calado, Toni Vilander
3 Corvette Racing Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen, Mike Rockenfeller
GTD
63 Scuderia Corsa Christina Nielsen, Alessandro Balzan, Matteo Cressoni, Sam Bird
73 Park Place Motorsports Patrick Lindsey, Jorg Bergmeister, Matthew McMurry,
11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Christian Engelhart, Rolf Ineichen, Ezequiel Perez Companc, Mirko Bortolotti
