Porsche Penske Motorsport returns home from the 24h of Daytona with one of the most beautiful and exciting victories achieved.
As often happens, largely thanks to regulations that the IMSA SportsCar Championship adopts favoring spectacle, the 62nd edition of the Florida race was also decided only in the sprint.
The restart from Full Course Yellow with 33 minutes still to go saw Felipe Nasr keeping his nerve at the wheel of the 963 #7 with which he had managed to leap into the lead just after the last stop, putting Tom Blomqvist's Cadillac behind him .
The Brazilian gritted his teeth resisting enormous pressure from his rival racing on the V-Series.R #31 of Action Express Racing, and despite the worn tires he crossed the finish line with a couple of seconds of margin over the Anglo-Swede, giving the Weissach manufacturer the 36th success in IMSA, the third in the brand new GTP Class for the German LMDh and the 23rd in Daytona.
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden
“Immediately after crossing the finish line I took a moment's break; it's incredible that a 24-hour race is decided in the last meters, but the Cadillac was very strong, especially in the final phase, when the temperatures rose. We gave it our all. maximum in terms of tactics and leadership to achieve this victory”, beamed Nasr.
“Everything worked at its best, I am very proud of all the members of the team because the race was played on a razor's edge right in the last stop. I must say that there was an excellent call from the team, giving me the 'opportunity to get back into the lead at the end.”
“Then it was my turn to keep the Cadillac behind, but after 24 hours of racing, a finish like that really gives you a lot of emotions, despite knowing that it wasn't over yet. I kept my concentration until the finish line, there was a lot of traffic and, despite that, Tom was always behind putting pressure on me.”
“I'm happy that it went like this, after all the hard work done and the difficult year we had in 2023, especially in Daytona; I think this is the best gift we could have given ourselves. I'm also very happy for the team and for what they've done during the week”.
“This is what Tim Cindric (president of Team Penske) also said on the radio; at that moment I was a bit confused, I didn't understand if there were two white flags displayed, because I was concentrated on every corner, braking point and traffic. I made sure I didn't make any mistakes until the end and I'm happy to have done it with these guys, a huge effort for everyone.”
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
#31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken, Tom Blomqvist, #7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden, #6 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Nick Tandy, Mathieu Jaminet, Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor
Nasr shared the wheel with Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Josef Newgarden, all equally competitive and precise in avoiding big mistakes during a race that was anything but simple.
“We won the 24h of Daytona: it's just phenomenal! I have to say thanks to Josef, Felipe and Dane, the whole team was just perfect in an absolutely crazy battle against the Cadillac; a push and pull over the whole distance, intense, exciting and exhausting”, comments Campbell excitedly, on his first overall success at Daytona, the second considering the one in 2022 in GTD PRO with the 911.
“Now it's time to celebrate our success, it's amazing the way this race always comes into your hands and then fades continuously, but above all the way we dealt with the Cadillacs. Hats off to them, they gave us “It's a tough time. To finally get our first big win in the world with this car is great.”
Cameron, making his first success in Florida after the 16 achieved in his career in IMSA, had not achieved anything since 2019: “I'm very proud of these guys, last year we had a lot of problems in the long races and we worked a lot to fine-tune this car; it was a fantastic day for all of us.”
“The 963 was extremely strong in the race and showed that we have made the necessary progress in terms of reliability over the winter. I am proud of everyone who allowed us to achieve this result.”
“Our team simply worked impeccably: it's the 963's first victory in one of the most important races and my first overall victory at Daytona: it couldn't have been nicer.”
First success also for Newgarden, who had never managed to achieve it in IMSA before: “I'm over the moon and extremely proud. We had an exceptional car, the combination of Porsche and Team Penske was the perfect package”.
“A huge thank you to everyone who helped us achieve this great success. A 24-hour race like this requires months of intense preparation and I think we deserved to win. It's a perfect start to the year and I wish the team a great season successful”.
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden
The bitterness, however, is on the other side of the garage because the 963 #6 of Mathieu Jaminet, Nick Tandy, Laurens Vanthoor and Kévin Estre had been equally competitive and able to lead the race, fighting against the Cadillac in some phases.
After recovering from a penalty, a mistake by Estre on cold tires saw the car end up in the grass on Sunday morning, sliding backwards and then also finding itself in contention in the middle of the pack on the last restart.
Here a blow suffered by the Acura #40 in turn 1 effectively cut off the legs of the 963, relegating it to fourth place and with many regrets.
But the satisfaction for the triumph is enormous, also the result of a result which, numbers in hand, was achieved in so-called inferiority because in terms of race pace the Cadillac had a couple of tenths in its pocket which often kept it at the top of the standings .
“It was an extraordinary day for the entire Porsche Penske Motorsport. Both 963s had great speed, but above all the reliability and skill of our team allowed us to take the overall victory for the first time since 1969. Congratulations to everyone the members of Porsche and Penske for this monumental victory”, are the words of a very emotional Roger Penske.
“If we think about 1969, when we won here with the Lola, things were very different in those days. Today to see the competitiveness of the cars and drivers and that 0″6 or 0″7 make the difference after 24 hours of racing, it's incredible , so congratulations also to Felipe. I consider it one of the most important victories we have achieved and I still struggle to believe it. The team must now aim for success at Le Mans.”
Photo by: Bob Meyer
#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden
Jonathan Diuguid, CEO of Porsche Penske Motorsport, adds: “The whole day was basically oriented and organized to achieve one final goal. There were several opportunities at the end and luckily the neutralization came and the whole team performed at their best the procedures”.
“The pit crew was extremely good all day, every time we had damage it was repaired quickly. It was about creating opportunities and in the end we made them.”
“There was a lot of talk about the four-driver line-up we had in both cars. The fact that all four winners led the race at some point shows how strong they were. The #7 and #6 were in contention for win, Felipe took it to the finish line, but none of these guys did anything wrong, and that's what put us in a position to stand out.”
“Everything could easily have gone the other way around because it was a really hard-fought race. I was asked a couple of times if we still had anything in our pockets: there was nothing left, we were expressing ourselves to the maximum. We saw it at the early morning, when it was cold and still dark; this was the strength of the car. We had already noticed it last year at Sebring, for example. Here too it paid off. When the day came, it was a close fight “.
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden
The Director of the official Porsche LMDh program, Urs Kuratle, was also very happy and returned to the Le Mans theme: “Pressure to win the Sarthe now? Ask me tomorrow! The positive thing is that we know that the car can do it, and I think we have demonstrated in quite impressively that all four cars got through the race without any major technical problems; that helps us a lot. But it's also no secret that we're not quite there yet, there's still a lot to do ahead of Le Mans and all other races”.
Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President of Porsche Motorsport, comments: “It is difficult to express emotions in words, an incredible victory. I have never experienced such an exciting battle and today we won one of the most important races”.
“Our package worked, four Porsche 963s, two from Porsche Penske Motorsport and two of our strong customer teams, managed to get through the race without any major technical issues, which is a feat in itself. This is This was only possible thanks to the incredible work of everyone involved. Thank you very much!”
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