IMSA Category

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — The middle eight hours of the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona had a decent amount of action that involved all three classes and some of the results were certainly shaken up. The GTD class-leading No. 29 Audi R8 LMS GT3 was given a stop and hold penalty for five minutes for a balance of performance violation. The team was determined to have refueled at their pit stops faster than the BoP regulations allowed for. The Audi was a lap ahead of theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer A fast start and few cautions have made this one of the stranger Rolex 24 at Daytona races ever. Only one full course yellow was called after the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA LMP2 machine ran out of fuel with James French behind the wheel. This all took place before the third hour ran to completion. After the fourth hour, there was a brief 15 minute rain shower but remarkably there were no incidents. There were several themes that played themselves out over the firstRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — The 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona is going green shortly and here we will have live updates throughout the race. 00:00- Race went green at 2:40 p.m. ET, The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi with Renger Van Der Zande leads over the No. 7 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi of Helio Castroneves. The two Ford GTs are 1-2, the No. 66 ahead of the No. 67 in GTLM. In GTD the No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari is leading over theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — The 2018 edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona is upon us and with 50 cars entered it is one of the more talent-filled rosters in the race’s history. Let’s make some predictions about Winners, losers and everything in between. Overall winner: No. 7 Acura Team Penske Team Penske has a stacked lineup with Helio Castroneves, Ricky Taylor and Graham Rahal behind the wheel. All three have extensive racing experience and know how to bring a car home in one piece. ThisRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The 56th edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona kicks off the racing year with one of the most star studded grids of the season. Among the starters of tomorrow’s endurance classic are three 2018 Formula One drivers who have come stateside to compete against the best of IMSA, as well as some of better talents from NASCAR and IndyCar. Fernando Alonso is continuing his exploration outside of F1 as the next chapter of his triple crown attempt (Monaco GP, Indianapolis 500 and 24 Hours ofRead More

By Josh Farmer, Contributing Writer  Highlighting the star-studded field of the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona are drivers from six drivers from the Verizon IndyCar Series – Ryan Hunter-Reay, Graham Rahal, Spencer Pigot, Simon Pagenaud, Sebastien Bourdais and Scott Dixon. Overall victories of the historic race have been captured by Dixon (2006, 2015), Bourdais (2014) and Rahal (2011). The 56th edition of the event will see Hunter-Reay lead the charge for the open-wheel crossovers. Driving for 2016 Rolex 24 winning team Wayne Taylor Racing, the 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner finds himselfRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — The checkered flag has dropped on final practice for the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona and it was extremely close at the sharp end of the grid. The No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi was fastest with Mike Conway putting in a lap of 1:36.865, just .181 seconds over the No. 37 Jackie Chan DCR JOTA ORECA LMP2 machine driven by Lance Stroll. Third fastest and just .253 seconds off fastest time was the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac DPiRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Qualifying for the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona was a tense affair and it came down to a last lap dash by Renger van der Zande as he pushed his Wayne Taylor Racing No. 10 Cadillac DPi to pole position ahead of Saturday’s racing classic with a fastest lap of 1:36.083. That lap was .007 seconds faster than Helio Castroneves’s in the No. 7 Team Penske Acura. Behind them, Action Express Racing has their No. 5 Cadillac DPi ahead of Performance Tech Motorsports’s ORECA LMP2 machineRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The largest class at the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona, GT Daytona (GTD) has 21 entries with no shortage of talent in GT3 machinery. The pro-am class mixes many seasoned endurance veterans with gentleman drivers looking to make their mark at the World Center of Racing. Let’s look at the GTD grid by manufacturer. Lamborghini The Lamborghini Huracan GT3 cars were devilishly quick at the Roar before the 24 and they have three cars at the Rolex 24 entered by GRT Grasser (two cars) and PaulRead More

While GT Le Mans (GTLM) has the smallest field at nine cars, there is no shortage of action between the manufacturers. Let’s take a look at the class by manufacturer. Corvette The brute strength of the C7.Rs cannot be overstated as the popular GM marque won back-to-back runnings in 2015 and 2016 with 2016 being a classic photo finish with the two cars so close to each other. Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fassler highlight a powerful driving lineup for the Chevrolet team and will be fightingRead More