DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Five cars are in the hunt for the overall victory with two hours remaining in the 59th Rolex 24 at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
The 11th full-course caution of the twice-around-the-clock endurance classic waved with two hours, 25 minutes remaining after the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi suffered a flat right-rear tire and slowed dramatically, with smoke trailing from the back of the car.
That led to pit stops and a dramatic battle for the race lead when green-flag conditions returned on lap 733, with two hours, eight minutes and 20 seconds to go.
Dane Cameron led the field to the restart in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura DPi, but Cameron ceded the top spot to the dominant No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura DPi of Ricky Taylor in the bus stop chicane on the backstretch.
From there, Oliver Jarvis and Kamui Kobayashi dispatched the Meyer Shank entry as well, placing the No. 55 Mazda Motorsports DPi and the No. 48 Ally Cadillac DPi from Action Express Racing second and third, respectively, at the end of the 22nd hour.
Jarvis was .555 seconds adrift of the lead and Kobayashi just 1.364 seconds back, with the top five DPi cars all on the lead lap and within 3.3 seconds of one another.
The No. 01 Cadillac of Renger van der Zande, who took over for Dixon during pit stops, also remains in contention despite the tire issue that set them back slightly.
Ryan Dalziel led the LMP2 class by 5.435 seconds in the No. 18 Era Motorsport Oreca over the No. 8 Tower Motorsport Oreca of Matthieu Vaxiviere, while Spencer Pigot was on top of the LMP3 class by a full three laps in the No. 74 Riley Motorsport Ligier JS P320.
Alexander Sims maintained Corvette Racing’s domination of the GT Le Mans class, leading by 2.764 seconds over the No. 24 BMW Team RLL entry of Augusto Farfus after the sister No. 3 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg incurred a drive-through penalty for a pit lane violation.
And in GT Daytona, Maro Engel and the No. 57 Winward Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 maintained a narrow .467-second margin over the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Raffaele Marciello after a battle throughout the morning hours.
The No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Klaus Bachler sits third in GTD with two hours remaining.