Ricky Taylor led the way for Wayne Taylor Racing as the Rolex 24 at Daytona moved into its final two hours.
Taylor had been in charge of the race during the previous two hours of running but was coming under increased pressure from the ESM Ligier JPS P2-HPD of Pipo Derani.
The Ligier was fortunate to stay in touch with Taylor after Johannes van Overbeek lost a lot of time when he picked up a drive through penalty.
However, a full course caution shortly afterwards allowed ESM to bridge the deficit, before putting Derani in the car for the final stint.
The caution was caused by a heavy incident involving the #02 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley DP of Kyle Larson. The NASCAR driver lost control of his machine entering the western part of the international horseshoe, colliding heavily with the tyre wall. Larson was unhurt, but the Riley was too damaged to continue.
Notably, this was the second brake failure for Chip Ganassi’s pair of DPs at the 2016 Rolex 24 at Daytona.
There was also drama for the #5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP which shot into its pit garage moments after inheriting the overall lead. Like the Riley, the issue was associated with something that had struck a sister car earlier in the race; this time it was the driveshaft that failed. Driver Filipe Albuquerque lost six laps but was able to return to the track in fifth position.
In GTLM, Corvette continued to lead with the #3 C7.R of Mike Rockenfeller doing well to hold off the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 of Daniel Serra. The two works Corvettes would have run together at the head of the class field, but a red-light infringement for the #4 car meant Rockenfeller was left unaided during the majority of his stint.
Prototype Challenge was still being dominated by JDC-Miller Motorsports at the end of the 22nd hour, while in GTD Patrick Long was looking to break away in the Black Swan Racing Porsche after making a move on the works Aston Martin of Richie Stanaway.
Follow the closing stages of the Rolex 24 at Daytona with our live text coverage.
