Good pit stops saw the two Team Penske Acura’s retake their advantage at the front of the Prototype field in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, however a spin cost the #7 the race lead as the race reached its halfway mark.
Graham Rahal was able to jump ahead of both of the Action Express Racing Cadillac’s in the stop in the #7, while Simon Pagenaud is the new race leader in the sister #6 as Acura continue to impress in their first Rolex 24 and first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event.
Rahal lost control heading into turn one, rotating before coming to a halt, but the time lost saw him fall down to fourth, with the #5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac, now in the hands of Christian Fittipaldi, inheriting second ahead of the sister #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac of Mike Conway.
Less than twenty seconds separate the top four heading into the second half of the race, with Pagenaud just over four seconds to the good at the front of the field, while Fittipaldi and Conway spent the majority of the hour running nose to tail.
Luis Felipe Derani is in fifth position, with the #22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan having regained one of the laps it had lost earlier in the race, however they still remain one lap down, while two laps down in sixth is the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing JOTA entry of Felix Rosenqvist.
Less than two seconds separate the class leaders in GT Le Mans, with the two Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entries of Dirk Muller and Ryan Briscoe more than a lap clear of third placed Mike Rockenfeller in the leading of the Corvette Racing entries, with Marcel Fassler is a further lap down in fourth ahead of the #912 Porsche.
AJ Allmendinger ended the hour ahead of the GT Daytona class for Michael Shank Racing in the #86 Acura, with the American just ahead of the Lamborghini Huracan from GRT Grasser Racing Team, in the hands of Rolf Ineichen, while Paul Miller Racing’s Lamborghini remains third, with Andrea Caldarelli now driving their Huracan.
