Diez: Penske Porsches lead the way at Rolex 24

Roger Diez

Roger Diez

Share this: Email | Facebook | X

After 24 hours of racing through day and night conditions, the 63rd running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona came down to a 38-minute sprint to the finish with the three lead GTP prototypes mere seconds apart. The mighty Penske Porsche 963 cars were 1-2 on the restart, chased by an Acura GTP and it looked like it would finish that way until the Acura passed the No. 6 Porsche and set out to chase down the leading No. 7. But it was not meant to be as Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Penske machine threaded his way through traffic and took the checker .122-second ahead of Tom Blomquist’s charging No. 60 Meyer/Shank Acura.

It was the second year in a row for a Penske victory at the endurance classic. The Penske Porsches led 517 of the 781 laps. The winning No. 7 car covered 2,975.61 miles in the 24 hours at an average speed of 123.98 mph despite 14 full-course cautions. Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthour joined Nasr in victory lane to receive the coveted Rolex watches awarded to the winners.

•••

Former Indy car and GTP pilot Sebastien Bourdais teamed with Sebastian Alvarez and Job Van Uitert to win LMP2 in the No. 8 Tower Motorsports ORECA. The GTD Pro race went to the No. 65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 driven by Dennis Olsen, Frederic Vervisch, and Christopher Mies. And in the GTD category, the No. 13 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R took class honors at the hands of Matt Bells, Lars Kern, Marvin Kirchhoefer, and Orey Fidani.

•••

Looking forward to next year, the Penske team’s quest for a threepeat at the Rolex 24 may be a bit more difficult. Reliable sources have reported that both Ford and McLaren are working on GTP prototypes that will debut in 2026. Both are formidable car constructors. If you saw the Ford Vs. Ferrari movie, you know how that battle turned out. And even though Ford no longer has the assistance of Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles (RIP), I think they will field a serious contender to the GTP ranks. And McLaren’s pedigree in building fast, winning racing machines is legendary.

•••

The racing season is well and truly underway with the Cookout Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium coming up Sunday, airing on Fox at 5 p.m. It has been 54 years since Cup cars have raced at the venerable facility. There are 39 drivers on the entry list. In addition to all the Cup regulars, Shane Van Gisbergen (SVG) joins the Trackhouse team as their third driver in his first full-time Cup season. Also on the entry list are two drivers making their NASCAR debuts, although both are Bowman Gray veterans. Tim Brown, 53, has won 101 Modified races at the track over the last 25 years, and will drive the No. 15 Ford for Rick Ware Racing. His arch-rival, Burt Myers, 49, has won 12 Modified championships at Bowman Gray. He will pilot the Team AmeriVet No. 50 Chevrolet. Practice airs Saturday at 3:10 p.m. on FS1 with three groups of 13 each getting two 8-minute practice sessions. Then the groups will be split into six or seven cars each with four minutes to set fast time. Heat races will air at 5:30 p.m., also on FS1. Sunday, Fox will broadcast the Last Chance race at 3 p.m. with the Cookout Clash airing at 5 p.m.

•••

Next up for NASCAR is the beginning of the regular season with the Duels at Daytona on Feb. 13, followed by the Daytona 500 on Feb. 16.