The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship concluded its first race of the season. They were at Daytona International Speedway for the 61st running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Five classes competed to not only win trophies, but brand new Rolex watches.
In GTP, Meyer Shank Racing’s Tom Blomqvist drove the pole-winning No. 60 Acura ARX-06 to a 4.190-second victory over Filipe Albuquerque in Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport.
It’s Meyer Shank’s second straight Rolex 24 win, and Helio Castroneves won his third Rolex 24. Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport overcoming a mechanical issue and going three laps to down to finish in second place.
In LMP2, the No. 55 Proton Competition ORECA driven by James Allen edged out the No. 04 Crowdstrike by APR ORECA driven by Ben Hanley by 0.016 seconds at the start/finish line. It was the closest finish of the five classes.
In LMP3, the No. 17 AWA Duqueine D08 driven by Wayne Boyd was the only car on the lead lap. The LMP3 cars either faced mechanical or other issues during the race. The No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier driven by Joao Barbosa finished in second place 11 laps down.
In GTD Pro, the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG driven by Maro Engel beat the No. 3 Corvette Racing driven by Antonio Garcia by 3.916 seconds. It was also the final race for Cooper MacNeil who officially retired after the race.
In GTD, the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage driven by Marco Sorensen beat the No. 44 GRT Magnus Aston Martin Vantage by 5.363 seconds.
