The 62nd annual Rolex 24 at Daytona is now in the books, with Cadillac Racing taking second place overall, trailing the first-place Porsche by 2.112 seconds after 791 laps. The No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R qualified in pole position, but failed to hold off the No. 7 Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 after a thrilling series of battles. The No. 40 Acura ARX-06 finished third, 14.989 seconds behind the leader.
Per a report from motorsport.com, the No. 31 V-Series.R passed the No. 7 Porsche 963 with just 72 minutes remaining in the 24-hour endurance race after pitting three laps prior, taking the lead in a three-wide move around a GTD Ferrari. Driver Felipe Nasr then reported a “massive vibration” in the Porsche, falling behind Tom Blomqvist in the No. 31 Cadillac by 3.7 seconds. However, a moment at the International Horseshoe later cost Blomqvist 1.2 seconds.
Nasr managed to catch the No. 31 V-Series.R after the latter passed the fourth-place No. 6 Penske Porsche, but a restart was called with 30 minute remaining after the No. 12 Lexus RC F (GTD class) caught fire at pit out. The No. 7 Porsche managed to jump ahead of the No. 31 V-Series.R after the final pitstops, with the Cadillac requiring more fuel than the Porsche.
Despite the V-Series.R fighting for the lead through traffic, the No. 7 Porsche held on to the front position to the checkered flag, completing the race with a time of 23:58’24.723, just over two seconds ahead of the No. 31 Cadillac’s time of 23:58’26.835.
The No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R showed good pace during the first half of the endurance event, but was forced to retire at the end of hour 14 due to powertrain problems while running in fourth place.
Check out the video below for the final moments of the Rolex 24 at Daytona:
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