The 2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona has seen minimal action during the 21st hour thanks to a double caution caused by two Prototype Challenge class cars. The major battle at the front still sees the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta continue to lead as GTLM has the six leaders within one sector of each other.
The hour started off with drama in the Prototype class as the #55 Mazda Motorsports entered the pit lane with an oil fire. Spencor Pigot was unaffected, but the car remained stationary in the pits as it dropped out of the top five.
Not one to be usurped, the PC car of the #8 Starworks Motorsports brought out the first FCY of the hour after spinning into the inside of the turn one barrier. He eventually got running but the stoppage allowed the leaders to close up once again.
Cold tyres for the #26 BAR1 Motorsport car, saw Trent Hindman hit the barrier on his outlap. The organisers held off on announcing a caution, but as they threw the yellow, he eventually found reverse, resulting in a short stoppage with the pits remaining closed.
Delays during the cautions saw the top three in P close up to within five seconds of each other. It would be the #10 who would break away, chased by the #5 Mustang Sampling Racing at the end of another hour.
In GTLM, the Ferrari 488 of Toni Vilander started the hour as the man to beat, having scythed his way through the field before pitting and allowing the #69 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing car into the lead as the hour begun.
The battle between the two continued with a drive through for the #912 Porsche GT dropped them down two laps. Elsewhere, the #3 Corvette Racing remained the best-of-the-rest, catching the leading two at the end of the hour.
With fourth to sixth bunched up, they quickly caught the leaders. James Calado in the #62 breezed past the #66 after a few laps stuck behind, though failed to pull away as the hour ticked over.
The caution allowed the #33 Riley Motorsports cars to cycle back into the lead of GTD, but the restart would be key for them to maintain their advantage over the Michael Shank Racing pairing. The #63 driven by Sam Bird would lead during the end of the hour.
A third caution of the hour was called after the #81 DragonSpeed car hit the barrier, smashing its rear wing.
Top 3 in each class after 19 Hours
P
10 Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta – Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Max Angelelli, Jeff Gordon
5 Mustang Sampling Racing – Joao Barbosa, Filipe Albuquerque, Christian Fittipaldi
90 VisitFlorida Racing – Marc Goossens, Renger van der Zande, Rene Rast
PC
38 Performance Tech Motorsports – James French, Patricio O’Ward, Kyle Masson, Nicholas Boulle
26 BAR1 Motorsports – Tom Papadopoulos, Johnny Mowlem, Adam Merzon, Trent Hindman, David Cheng
20 BAR1 Motorsports – Don Yount, Buddy Rice, Mark Kvamme, Chapman Ducote, Gustavo Yacaman
GTLM
62 Risi Competizione – Toni Villander, Giancarlo Fisichella, James Calado
66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing – Sebastien Bourdais, Joey Hand, Dirk Muller
3 Corvette Racing – Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen, Mike Rockenfeller
GTD
63 Scuderia Corsa – Christina Nielsen, Alessandro Balzan, Matteo Cressoni, Sam Bird
33 Riley Motorsports – Team AMG – Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Mario Fernbacher, Adam Christodoulou
86 Michael Shank Racing – Ryan Hunter-Reay, Ton Dyer, Ozz Negri Jr., Jeff Segal
