Jaminet Out Front with Nine Hours to Go

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Porsche Penske Motorsport continued to control the Rolex 24 at Daytona with nine hours of the race remaining, as Mathieu Jaminet held the lead in the No. 6 car.

With 15 hours of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener down, Jaminet held an advantage of 1.8 seconds over Laurens Vanthoor in the sister No. 7 Porsche 963, the two cars having swapped positions from the 12-hour mark.

Tom Blomqvist ran third in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06s, 6.8 seconds off the lead, after challenging Jaminet for the lead following the most recent restart only to instead be reeled in and passed by Vanthoor.

The No. 60 Acura had enjoyed a spell in the lead in the hands of Colin Braun just after the eighth full-course caution of the race, which was called just after the halfway point of the race when the No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Charlie Eastwood suffered a race-ending fire.

That was shortly followed by the ninth FCY, triggered by a right-rear puncture for the No. 22 United Autosports LMP2 entry that left debris on track.

But Braun was passed for the lead by Matt Campbell in the No. 6 Porsche at the Bus Stop early in the 14th hour before the 10th caution of the race, triggered by another lead LMP2 contender, the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition car, stopping on track with a terminal gearbox issue.

Running fourth but 37 seconds off the lead was Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R ahead of Dries Vanthoor in the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8.

The sixth and final runner on the lead lap was the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni, which had been delayed by a pair of drive-through penalties during Bryce Aron’s stint.

Following the demise of the Inter Europol car, LMP2 was being led by Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 8 Tower Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson, 2.9 seconds ahead of Ryan Dalziel in the No. 18 Era Motorsport Oreca.

Malthe Jakobsen was third in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR example, just ahead of James Allen in the recovering No. 22 United Autosports car.

In GTD Pro, the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Alessio Picariello led the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Tommy Milner by 2.8 seconds.

The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO, which had seen a comfortable lead at halfway eliminated by the series of cautions, followed closely in third with Connor De Phillippi on board, albeit with another round of pit stops imminent.

Christopher Mies ran fourth in the best of the Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3s, the No. 65 car, 5.6 seconds off the lead.

AWA held sway in GTD with Marvin Kirchhoefer at the wheel of the No. 13 Corvette, 1.5 seconds clear of Phillip Ellis in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.

The No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 that had led in GTD at the halfway mark was retired owing to a broken wishbone that proved unrepairable.

Likewise, the No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari that was pushed behind the wall in the 12th hour was declared an official retirement, as was the No. 66 Gradient Racing Ford Mustang GT3 that had been struggling with clutch issues.