Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. Porsche Wins The Rolex 24 At Daytona For The Second Year In A Row
One fo the closest finishes in the event's history, with less than 5 seconds seperating first and third overall.
It was twice around the clock again in Daytona, Florida, as the 2025 edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona kicked into high gear this past Saturday at 01:40 pm local time. The stage for the 63rd running of the legendary endurance race is of course the Daytona International Speedway. The world’s top drivers lined up for the rolling start in an attempt to etch their names in racing history. Surviving racing around a circuit for 24 continuous hours is no mean feat and one that involves precise preparations, a reliable car, solid driving and of course a good dose of luck. For this year’s race, the stars were aligned for Porsche’s 20th victory at Daytona. But don’t be mistaken it was a walk in the park for the winning Penske team, as after 24 hours of racing it came down to mere seconds between first and third. Here’s the rundown of this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.
As is tradition in endurance racing, the IMSA-sanctioned Rolex 24 at Daytona fields the very best of the best in the world of racing across multiple classes. The top-tier class is the GTP category, with big-budget factory teams such as Porsche, Cadillac and BMW battling it out for the overall win. A step below but no less intense is the LMP2 category, where every team runs a fixed chassis-drivetrain combination (in this case, an Oreca 07-Gibson). Then come the production-based GTD Pro and GTD classes, which are distinguishable by the driver combinations. The GTD Pro teams run a full professional racing driver line-up, whereas the GTD class is mandated to run a mix of professionals and (often highly capable) amateur drivers. In essence, it’s virtually identical to the ACO-run Le Mans 24 Hours.
Racing is done on the Sports Cars Course, which combines large sections of the famous banked oval with twistier bits in its infield, resulting in a rather challenging track altogether. Almost immediately after the starting line, the cars enter a sharp left-handed turn to enter the infield, before heading out on the banking again. The Backstretch leads into the aptly-names Le Mans Chicane, after which the drivers climb the banking once to complete a lap of the 3.56 mile-long (5.73 kilometres) Sports Car Course. The first running of the Daytona 24 Hours was back in 1962, and as many of you obviously know lends its name to Rolex’s famous Cosmograph Daytona (although the name didn’t appear until 1964. Fun fact; the earliest models of the iconic chronograph were actually called Le Mans, but that’s a story for a different time.
GTP Class
The top-tier class is the playground of global manufacturers, seeking to reap the potential benefits of “win on Sunday, sell on Monday!”. While that’s no longer exactly how things go, especially for these advanced hypercar-class racers, it’s still very much a game of bragging rights. Racing is done under the LMDh regulations, which IMSA labels the GTP class. The GTP entry list counted 12 cars this year, two more over the 2024 edition. Porsche was most present with four teams running the 963, followed by Cadillac and three of their V-Series R cars. BWM, Acura and Lamborghini shared the remaining spots.
Lamborghini made its debut in the Rolex 24 at Daytona this year, after entering its SC63 hypercar into the endurance mix at Le Mans last year. They enlisted the skills of former F1 driver Romain Grosjean and Daniil Kvyat, as well as Mirko Bortolotti and Edoardo Mortara for the event. Despite showing promising speed, issues with an overheating V8 in the back caused the team to retire the car. Painfully, they were the first to withdraw from the race. Cadillac on the other hand is known for the reliability of the V-Series R, but was outclassed by Porsche, Acura and BMW. The team of Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing saw the No. 24 car cross the finish line in fifth overall, a lap down from the top three, and behind the BMW of M Team RLL. Out of the 12 entries, three cars didn’t make it the full 24 hours.
It came down to the final half hour or so of the race to determine the eventual winner, with the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 driven by Matt Campbel in the lead, ahead of the No. 7 Porsche 963 in the hands of Felipe Nasr. The No.60 Acura’s Tom Blomqvist was in third place at that time. The lead swapped between Campbell and Nasr with just 20 minutes to spare and lap after lap the two Porsche drivers battled it out for the top spot. But Blomqvist, who was just seconds behind in his Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-6 wasn’t about to let up, and eventually wrestled his way past the No. 6 Porsche and claimed the runner’s spot behind Felipe Nars, who piloted the No.7 Porsche 963 to victory alongside Nick Tandy and Lars Vanthoor. This closely fought finish meant there were just 4.4 seconds between first and third! It also gave Porsche its 20th overall victory as a manufacturer, and a staggering 24th if you include wins as engine suppliers as well!
LMP2 Class
The LMP2 category is always a tightly contested class, as all teams use the same chassis and engine combination. There’s of course a bit of wiggle room in terms of aero setup and such, but the cars are virtually identical for the most part. With a similar number of entries as the GTP class, and very familiar names lining up on the grid (United Autosports, AF Corse, etc) and top-level four-driver crews across the field, this edition shaped up to be another thrilling edition!
From very early on in the race, drama ensued as on the opening lap, entering the first corner, an LMP2 car spun, forcing the rest of the field behind it to find their way around the stricken car. After about two hours of racing, another LMP2 car caused the race’s first neutralisation as it embedded itself into the tyre wall. Heading into the night and Sunday’s early morning, it was impossible to tell who would come out victorious, as we saw multiple changes for the lead during those hours. Immediately after a restart, the No.40 Cadillac in the GTP class running on fresh but cold tyres caused drama as it took out not only itself, but three others, as well as causing two more competitors to collide, prompting yet another yellow flag situation. This included the eventual race winner, the No. 8 Tower Motorsports LMP car.
Despite the tendency for close finishes in the LMP2 class, it was the No. 8 Tower Motorsports car, driven across the line by Sébastien Bourdais (with teammates Sebastián Álvarez, John Farano and Dutchman Job van Uitert) that secured the biggest winning margin. While the GTP, GTD Pro and GTD classes all saw first and second split by less than two seconds, Bourdais inked out a lead of 44 seconds when he saw the chequered flag first! This was due to a good bit of luck though, as it gained the lead following issues for the No. 18 car and a penalty for the #52 car, both ahead of Bourdais in the closing stages of the race. The team of United Autosports USA finished in second place, with Riley’s Oreca Gibson-07 coming across the line in third. Remarkably, only two cars car of the entire LMP2 field failed to complete the race, with United Autosport USA’s No.2 suffering irreparable damage following a crash and Interpol Europol Competition’s No.43 car being faced with gearbox issues.
GTD Pro class
The GTD category is split between an all-professional lineup of drivers in the GTD Pro class and a mix of pro and amateur drivers in the GTD class. With 37 entries between the two, it’s the biggest field of the event, like every year basically. A GTD car can be any GT3 regulation-compliant race car essentially, which is always based on a production vehicle. This means you get a number of race-prepped Porsche 911s, but also Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Mercedes’, Ford Mustangs and so on. Despite the fact these cars are the slowest in the race, or rather least fast, the competition is fierce!
The GTD Pro class fielded 15 cars this year and was tense from the moment the green flag was waved. Before the first refuelling and tyre stops, the front-runners were pretty much bumper to bumper the whole way around the track, swapping places and paint in the process. For the majority of the race, it was a battle between the #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo and the two Ford Mustangs of the Ford Multimatic Motorsports team. After a tangle with a Lamborghini, the #48 BMW lost considerable ground and never managed to recover. Early morning on Sunday saw the Ford Mustang GT3s locked in battle with the #1 BMW M4 GT3 Evo, which eventually had to give up against the might of the Mustangs and dropped to fourth in class. The #65 Ford Mustang of Christopher Mies, Dennis Olsen and Frédéric Vervisch took home the win, closely followed by the #3 Corvette and the #64 Mustang. Astonishingly, 9 GTD Pro cars made it across the line on the same lap!
But the real highlight was the incident caused by Augusto Farfus in the #48 BMW. With about 4 hours remaining, Farfus blocked the class-leading Corvette while being a lap down on the car in an effort to help the sister BMW to catch up and potentially take over the top spot. While they are in no way forced to make way for leading cars, lapped cars do have the instruction to keep out of tight battles if it’s not for their own position. However, Farfus intentionally mixed with the other two, indirectly causing damage to the Corvette’s rear bumper and costing the team valuable time. What ensued was a penalty from the stewards of the race and a very high-speed ‘flipping of the bird’ by Corvette driver and victim Tommy Milner! A truly epic racing moment, but for all the wrong reasons…
GTD Class
The pro/am GTD class was the biggest field of the race, with 22 entries. The fact professionals share the driving seat with amateurs doesn’t mean this class is slow. On the contrary, even, they often battle it out with the GTD Pro teams for extended periods in the race. Nevertheless, the first-in-class finisher came in 25th overall but only four laps off the winners in the GTD Pro class. Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern and Marvin Kirchhöfer piloted the winning #13 (what’s in a number!) Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, ahead of the #120 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Adam Adelson, Ayhancan Güven, Tom Sargent and Elliott Skeer, and the #27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo of Mattia Drudi, Tom Gamble, Zacharie Robichon and Casper Stevenson.
But it wasn’t plain sailing for any of the teams. From the word ‘Go!’ the lead swapped many times, with one of the biggest gaps in the early stages being the 7-second lead of the #78 Lamborghini Huracan Evo over the #27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo. As the race progressed into the evening, issues with a stuck throttle pedal for the leading GTD #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-Benz AMG GT caused them to park the car in the pits but they would eventually fix it and get back out. As the team soldiered on despite losing 7 laps because of it, they managed to regain the lead of the race on early Sunday morning! In the end, though, they dropped down to 29th overall and 4th in class! Still, it was a commendable effort, to say the least!
As the race entered its final hours, the GTD class win was still up for grabs for multiple teams. With professional drivers in the cars across the GTD field, it came down to mere seconds in the end. Similar to other classes, the split between first and second was just 1.45 seconds and a total of 9 cars finished on the same lap altogether, exactly as in the GTD Pro class. In fact, the similarities don’t end there as third place was under 5 seconds back from the winners, similar to the podium spread in the GTP category!
So all in all, yet another thrilling end to the Rolex 24 at Daytona, with sensational driving across the board! And then there are people who say endurance racing is boring…
For more information, please visit Rolex.com or Imsa.com.
Editorial Note: The images used in this article are provided by and used with permission of Rolex, title sponsor of the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
