As the Florida sunshine started to appear through the clouds, hour 18 of the Rolex 24 at Daytona was under a full-course caution for the first 20 minutes. due to the #57 Krohn Racing Ferrari being stranded at the start of it. The green 458 seems to have its electrical gremlins causing a major power loss in the process.
The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP, driven by Jordan Taylor continued to lead the field, as racing got back underway when the race went back under green, but Action Express‘ Joao Barbosa was given a stop-and-hold penalty for an avoidable contact situation, which bumped him down the order to 5th.
However, he was able to put in some good laps to get back to third, before he handed over to Christian Fittipaldi. There were further dramas for the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford, as Scott Dixon took the wheel for his stint, but had to pit due to a right rear puncture shortly after. Burt Friselle in the #9 Action Express car took the lead as the hour came to a close after pitstops involving the lead cars took place.
The GTLM class had a game-changing event, when the #912 Porsche 911 RSR piloted by Michael Christensen was pulled behind the wall into the garage with mechanical issues. This promoted the #55 BMW Z4 of Team RLL of Joey Hand into a top three position, before John Edwards in the #56 sister car took that place after a planned pitstop, with the #911 Porsche 911 RSR still in the class lead.
It was a case of a stalemate in the PC battle, with the #54 CORE Autosport still maintaining its lead over the #25 8Star Motorsports, with the #7 Starworks Motorsport car also in the top three. However, the #8 Starworks car was making leaps up the field, as Dutch driver Renger van der Zande was making great progress after some initial troubles for the team’s second car, running in sixth in class.
The #555 Level 5 Ferrari 458 Italia was still keeping its dominant lead in the GTD Class, as Snow Racing remained ahead of the #45 Flying Lizard Audi R8, as the the final 6 hours headed into increasing temperatures and glorious sunshine in Florida.
2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona standings after 16 hours
P
#9 Action Express Racing – Corvette DP – Frisselle/Frisselle/Martin/Giroux
#10 Wayne Taylor Racing – Corvette DP – W. Taylor/R. Taylor/J. Taylor/Angelelli #5 Action Express Racing – Corvette DP – Barbosa/Fittipaldi/Bourdais/Frisselle
PC
#54 CORE Autosport – ORECA FLM09 – Bennett/Gue/Braun/Wilkins
#25 8Star Motorsports – ORECA FLM09 – Potolicchio/Kimber-Smith/Marsal/Huff
#7 Starworks Motorsport – ORECA FLM09 – Popow/Fuentes/Tutumlu/Marcelli/Kaffer
GTLM
#911 Porsche North America – Porsche 911 – Tandy/Lietz/Pilet
#4 Corvette Racing – Corvette C7.R – Gavin/Milner/Liddell #56 BMW Team RLL – Z4 GTE – Mueller/Edwards/Rahal/Werner
GTD
#555 Level 5 Motorsport – Ferrari 458 – Ticker/Sweedler/Bell/Segal/Per Guidi
#58 Snow Racing – Porsche 911 – Snow/Heylen/Seefried #45 Flying Lizard Racing – Audi R8 LMS – Canache Jr/Pumpelly/Pappas/Winkelhock
