IMSA | Daytona, 3rd Hour: Cadillac immediately ahead of Porsche

The 2024 season of the IMSA SportsCar Championship officially began with the green flag waved at 1.40pm in Florida, kicking off the 24h of Daytona.

At the start there were some tense moments with the GTP Class drivers on the outside who hesitated compared to the poleman Pipo Derani and the Porsche-Penske which started on the inside.

The Cadillacs immediately took the lead with the #31 holding the position, while Sébastien Bourdais overtook the #7 Porsche of Felipe Nasr in just a few corners and followed the leader in the #01 V-Series.R.

In LMP2 Nick Boulle did well with the Oreca #52 of Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen to overtake the #04 of APR, while the battles between the GT3s immediately heated up, with the Lexus climbing to the top of the GTD PRO and GTD categories, while the Ferraris made a ferocious comeback.

Electrical problems instead hit the #13 AWA Corvette, which went in and out of the pits with a hiccuping engine and ended up at the back of the group.

But as often happens in IMSA, the apparent tranquility was interrupted by a first neutralization which occurred at the half hour mark due to Misha Goikhberg going off the track, turning at the 'Le Mans/Bus Stop' chicane and crashing disastrously into the barriers.

Lamborghini #78 damaged on the rear and unable to restart, therefore the race was already compromised for the Forte Racing team where Loris Spinelli was, and Full Course Yellow/Safety Car grouped everyone together, taking the opportunity in the meantime to make the first pit stop.

The green flag for the new start was waved 20' after the crash, but here are other accidents in just a few corners: at the 'Le Mans' chicane, Steven Thomas goes wide with the Oreca #11 of TDS which hits the #99 of the blameless PJ Hyett (AO Racing) going onto the escape route and seeing Dwight Merriman's #18 (Era Motorsport) spin towards him – fortunately without impact.

All three 07-Gibsons managed to restart, but a little further ahead the #20 of MDK by High Class skidded at the exit of turn 1, putting two wheels in the grass due to a mistake by Dennis Andersen and Mike Conway who was immediately behind he couldn't avoid it, destroying the front of his #14 VasserSullivan-branded Lexus.

New restart after a handful of minutes from the start of the second hour and Bourdais who forcefully regained the lead from the detriment of Ricky Taylor's Acura #10, which jumped in front during the pit stops, with Derani chasing Nasr for the podium GTP.

In the meantime, penalties have begun to pour in among the GT3s: Drive Thorugh imposed on the Ferrari #62 of Risi, the BMW #1 of Paul Miller Racing and the Lamborghini #45 of WTR Andretti for not respecting the minimum refueling time, and the Porsche # 77 of AO Racing for a protocol violation in the pit lane, sliding into the middle of the GTD group.

The Porsche #92 of Kellymoss with Riley and the Oreca-Era #18 also took the same punishment for overtaking under yellow flags, an error also committed by the Lamborghini #45 which therefore did an encore of DT.

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Brendon Hartley, Marcus Ericsson, #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden, #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken, Tom Blomqvist, #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX -06: Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta, Jenson Button

Halfway through the second hour, Danny Goldburg made a mistake in United's Oreca #22, spinning when the 'International Horseshoe' was braking, hitting the barriers with his right side, ruining the rear wheel and wing, and barely regaining the pits.

In the second round of stops, the Lamborghini #19 of Iron Lynx (minimum time not respected), the Ford #55 of Proton (operations outside the permitted area) and the Oreca #17 (speed limit violated in the pit) were caught. -lane), all taking a Drive Through.

But a few minutes later, right at the end of the hour, a bad mistake by Steven Thomas saw the TDS Racing driver lose control of his Oreca #11 exiting the 'Le Mans/Bus Stop' chicane, violently hitting the wall exit. Luckily the driver was uninjured and the new FCY neutralized the race, with everyone then returning to make stops.

Here huge mistakes for Mercedes #80 of Lone Star Racing and Ferrari #34 of Conquest who left the pits at a red light, being punished with a 60″ Stop&Go. Drive Through for the Corvette #17 of AWA, outside the speed limit in pit lane.

The Acura #40 of WTR Andretti had not stopped like its other rivals in the GTP Class and jumped into the lead, but gave it up at the end of the third hour to the advantage of the #01 Cadillac of Chip Ganassi Racing, which was about 4″ behind the #31 of Action Express Racing, in turn with a handful of seconds on the Porsches #7 and #6 of Team Penske.

The BMW #25 of Team RLL is in the wake of the official 963s, chased by the private #5 of the Proton Competition plus the Acura #10 of WTR Andretti and the BMW #24, protagonist of a long run in the grass in the 2nd hour in Jesse's turn Krohn. Further away from all the Porsche #85 of JDC-Miller Motorsports and of course the Acura #40, which slipped to the back after the stop.

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

#7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden, #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken, Tom Blomqvist

In the LMP2 Class, United's Oreca #2 placed itself at the top of the rankings with just over 2″ of margin over the APR #04. DragonSpeed ​​#81 was slightly further behind, taking third place on the podium from Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen #52, in full battle for the Top5 with the #99 'Spike' of AO Racing, the #88 of AF Corse and the Ligier #33 of Sean Creech Motorsport.

The Riley #74 was eighth with a half minute delay from the top, with the #18 of Era Motorsports further away, with the Tower #8 closing out the Top10. In the meantime, United #22 and MDK by High Class Racing #20 returned to action, albeit 22 and 54 laps late.

In the GTD PRO Class we find the McLaren #9 of Pfaff Motorsports in first position with a couple of seconds over the Corvette #3 of Pratt Miller Motorsports, but the Ferrari #62 of Risi Competizione made a great comeback – especially in Daniel's turn Serra – regaining third place in the wake of the Z06.

The 296 shook off the #23 Aston Martin of Heart of Racing, fourth with a good margin over the #4 Corvette and the #1 BMW of Paul Miller Racing. Open fight for seventh place between the Mercedes #75 of Sun Energy 1 and the Lamborghini #19 of Iron Lynx.

Ninth with 42″ to recover from the leader is the Porsche-'Rexy' #77 of AO Racing with the Ford Mustangs #64 and #65 of Multimatic behind who had a small problem with the trunk.

Iron Lynx's #60 Lamborghini and returning #14 Lexus round out the list.

In GTD he continues to have to get ahead of the Lexus #12 every time, which almost always remained in the lead trying to escape and this time grappling with the Mercedes #57 of Winward Racing.

The BMW #96 of Turner Motorsport and the McLaren #70 of Inception Racing finished over 25″ behind, with the Mustang #55 of Proton Competition and the Porsche #120 of Wright Motorsports behind.

The best Ferrari is the #47 of Cetilar Racing, occupying seventh place, 34″ from the top, keeping behind the Acura #66 of Gradient Racing, the Lamborghini #83 of the Iron Dames and the Ferrari #023 of Triarsi Competizione.