IMSA Rolex 24 Hour 3: #7 Porsche leads BMW after caution
Nick Tandy had the Porsche out front as the clock turned just past 3 hours into the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.
–by Mark Cipolloni–
Hunter McElrea slid off at the West Horseshoe and hit the tire barriers to bring out the first Full Course Caution after two hours and eight minutes of green flag racing.
On the restart just after Hour 3, Tandy drove his #7 Porsche 963 around the outside of the kink to pass Frederik Vesti for the GTP lead. He now leads the class by just over a second from the two BMW M Team RLL cars.
Rene Rast is second in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8, and Philipp Eng is now back up to third in the #24 after the mishaps in the pits earlier.
#24 BMW with Vanthoor driving made a mistake entering his pit box, making light contact with the wall and having to be repositioned and losing time.
The No. 24 car then also had to serve a drive-through penalty for refueling on the jacks.
After sandbagging at the start, the #6 Porsche Penske 963 is now fourth with Mathieu Jaminet behind the wheel.
“It’s clear we struggled through speed in the opening stint. We seem to be strong now coming back through the field. Looking after the tires early in the race, we saw cars pushing hard and wanted to stay out of trouble early,” Campbell told reporters after his first stints in the #6 Porsche.
Vesti sunk to sixth in the #31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series R behind the Proton Competition Porsche of Julien Andlauer
In LMP2, United Autosports USA’s two cars run first and second.
In GTD PRO, the two Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3s have retaken the lead – Dennis Olsen leads in the #65 Ford, from Seb Priaulx in the #64, with Augusto Farfus shadowing them in the #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW.
Misha Goikhberg has assumed control of GTD for Forte Racing in the #78 Lamborghini, ahead of Casper Stevenson in the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin.
The No. 75 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo was an early front runner in the hands of Maro Engel, but a loose water pump belt caused overheating issues cost six laps after Kenny Habul had taken over.
The sole Lamborghini SC63 became the first retirement of the race after a water pressure issue struck.