IMSA News: Porsche revels in Rolex 24 win
The No. 7 Porsche 963 fielded by the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team has won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and Porsche is ecstatic.
In an action-packed race witnessed by a record crowd, the two Porsche Penske Motorsport’s 519 kW (706 PS) Porsche 963 traded places at the front of the field with the No. 31 Cadillac.
Shortly after sunset on Saturday evening, the No. 6 car took the lead for the first time. However, several penalties kept throwing the car shared by Jaminet/Tandy/Vanthoor/Estre back down the field. Kévin Estre’s small slip in the pit lane exit on Sunday morning dampened the hopes of victory for this hybrid prototype.
In a nail-biting race between the manufacturers in the top GTP class, the last of 15 caution phases pushed the suspense to the edge: in a 32-minute duel, the final battle to glory went down to the wire between Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 car Porsche and Briton Tom Blomqvist at the wheel of the Cadillac.
In the last sprint, the Brazilian struggled with deteriorating tires but successfully fended off his rival’s attacks. To the surprise of the spectators, the checkered flag came out around 1:30 minutes before the end of the race. Porsche’s first overall win since 2003 and the sports car manufacturer’s 19th victory at Daytona was safely in the bag.
“What a fantastic win to start the year,” says a delighted Michael Steiner, Member of the Executive Board for Development at Porsche. “The entire Porsche Penske Motorsport works team and everyone at the development center in Weissach have worked extremely hard to lay the foundations for this success.
“My sincere thanks to all of our employees. We never gave up and didn’t let the tough setbacks from last year rock us. Now, we’re reaping the rewards of our hard work. In the final phase, the duel on the track made the unrivalled passion obvious. Nobody gave up, nobody backed off until the checkered flag. I found that absolutely thrilling, as I’m sure it did many motorsport fans around the world.”
“It’s difficult to put the emotions into words. We won the 2024 Daytona – amazing,” says a delighted Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President of Porsche Motorsport. “I’ve never experienced such a heart-stopping battle. We won one of the really big races today. Our package worked.
“Four Porsche 963, two from Porsche Penske Motorsport and two from our strong customer teams, made it through without any major technical problems – that’s quite a feat in itself. This was only possible thanks to the incredible work of everyone involved. Thank you so much! Second place for the Porsche 911 GT3 R from AO Racing in the GTD Pro class is also absolutely fantastic. Daytona was definitely worth the trip for us.”
“An amazing day for the entire Porsche Penske Motorsport organization,” said Roger Penske, Founder and Chairman of the Penske Corporation. “Both of our Porsches had great speed but more importantly, the reliability and the execution by our team allowed us to secure the overall win for the first time since 1969. Congratulations to the entire Porsche and Penske organization on this monumental victory.”
Strong results from customer teams in the top GTP class and GTD-Pro class
Finishing fifth and sixth, the two Porsche 963 fielded by the Proton Competition and JDC-Miller MotorSports customer teams rounded off the banner result in the top GTP class. At times, both race cars were even on course for the podium. The seasoned drivers and the youngsters at the wheel of No. 5 and 85 cars put in commanding drives with blistering lap times and clean performances.
In the GTD Pro category, AO Racing secured the second podium step with the Porsche 911 GT3 R. At the wheel of the No. 77 “Rexy” race car, works driver Michael Christensen from Denmark, former Porsche Junior Laurin Heinrich from Germany and Sebastian Priaulx from the UK drove a flawless race – as did the entire customer outfit from the USA. “This year’s 24-hour race once again underlined that you have to fight to the end. AO Racing kept its cool during its debut race in the GTD Pro class and secured a terrific result with second place,” commented Sebastian Golz, Project Manager Porsche 911 GT3 R. “All of the cars reached the finish line. Wright Motorsports managed to finish seventh in this grueling race and highly competitive field. That was obviously the maximum.” The identical 911 campaigned by Andretti Motorsports, Kellymoss with Riley and MDK Motorsports finished the race in ninth, eleventh and twelfth place.
Porsche kicks off the new IMSA season at the top of the table
With this win in the prestigious classic in Florida, Porsche has taken the lead in the manufacturers’ championship. After the season opener, the victorious drivers of the #7 car are also at the top the drivers’ leaderboard. Round two of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is set to be another highlight: the traditional 12 Hours of Sebring will take place on 16 March. The endurance race also counts as the second round in the Michelin Endurance Cup.
Drivers’ comments after the race
Felipe Nasr (Porsche 963 #7): “Wow! Right after crossing the finish line, I had to take a moment and let it all sink in. To have the decision in a 24-hour race come down to the very last few meters in a head-to-head duel – unbelievable. The Cadillac was very strong, especially in the final phase as temperatures rose. We gave everything tactically and driving-wise to take this victory. It worked. I’m super proud of everyone in the team.”
Matt Campbell (Porsche 963 #7): “We won the 24-hour race at Daytona – that’s just phenomenal! I can’t thank my colleagues Josef, Felipe and Dane enough. The team as a whole was simply perfect. We had an absolutely crazy battle with the Cadillac. It was back and forth over the entire distance. It was intense, exciting and exhausting. Now, it’s time to celebrate our success.”
Dane Cameron (Porsche 963 #7): “A fantastic day for us all. The Porsche 963 was extremely strong in today’s race and showed that we’ve made the necessary progress in terms of reliability over the winter. I’m proud of everyone who enabled us to achieve this. Our team simply worked flawlessly. This is the first victory for the 963 in one of the really big races, and my first overall victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona – it couldn’t be better.”
Josef Newgarden (Porsche 963 #7): “I’m over the moon and extremely proud. We had an outstanding car. The combination of Porsche and Team Penske was the perfect package. A massive thanks to everyone who helped us on the way to this huge success. A 24-hour race like this requires months of intensive preparation. I think we deserved to win. It’s a perfect start to the year. I wish the team a super successful season.”
Alessio Picariello (Porsche 963 #5): “I’m completely exhausted, but also relieved and delighted. It’s been a very intense weekend, and I learned an incredible amount. On top of that, I still had a fever on Friday. It doesn’t matter: when I got in the car, the adrenaline took over. I didn’t make any mistakes, kept our number 5 on course and so I’m satisfied with my performance.”
Richard Westbrook (Porsche 963 #85): “There are plenty of positives. On the one hand, we’re all thrilled to have the first 24-hour race with the Porsche 963 behind us and to have scored lots of points in the process. The fact that we made it over the distance so well is also due to the great kit and the good support we received from Porsche. Unfortunately, a few minor things set us back a bit at the very end. Now, I’m looking forward to Sebring like a kid on the way to the candy shop.”
Michael Christensen (Porsche 911 GT3 R #77): “I’m very pleased. Despite having started the race from pole position, second place was the best result we could achieve in this competition. We knew after the first hour that we weren’t quite fast enough. We had to drive perfectly, deliver flawless pitstops and choose the best strategy. That’s exactly what we managed to do over the entire distance and we all put in a first-class performance.”
Race result
GTP class:
1. Cameron/Nasr/Campbell/Newgarden (USA/BR/AUS/USA), Porsche 963 #7, 791 laps
2. Derani/Aitken/Blomqvist (BR/UK/UK), Cadillac #31, -2.112 s
3. Taylor/Deletraz/Herta/Button (USA/CH/USA/UK), Acura ARX-06 #40, -14.989 s
4. Tandy/Jaminet/Estre/Vanthoor (UK/F/F/B), Porsche 963 #6, -15.387 s
5. Bruni/Jani/Picariello/Dumas (I/CH/B/F), Porsche 963 #5, -44.479 s
6. Van der Helm/Westbrook/Hanson/Keating (NL/UK/UK/USA), Porsche 963 #85, – 2 laps
GTD-Pro class:
1. Serra/Rigon/Pier Guidi/Calado (BR/I/I/UK), Ferrari 293 GT3 #62, 733 laps
2. Heinrich/Priaulx/Christensen (D/UK/DK), Porsche 911 GT3 R #77, -34.999 s
3. Sellers/Snow/Verhagen/van der Linde (USA/USA/USA/RSA), BMW M4 GT3 #1, -2 laps
GTD class:
1. Ward/Ellis/Dontje/Morad (USA/UK/NL/CAN), Mercedes AMG GT3 #57, 731 laps
7. Adelson/Skeer/Heylen/Makowiecki (USA/USA/B/F), Porsche 911 GT3 R #120, -1 laps
9. Andretti/Chavez/Hargrove/Preining (USA/USA/CDN/A), Porsche 911 GT3 R #43, -3 laps
11. Brule/Udell/Hindman/Andlauer (USA/USA/USA/F), Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, -12 laps
12. Li/Fjordbach/Ten Voorde/Bachler (CHN/DK/NL/A), Porsche 911 GT3 R #86, -13 laps