2021 Rolex 24 results - MotorSportsTalk

]

Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Filipe Albuquerque drove the Wayne Taylor No. 10 Acura DPi to victory in the 2021 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona by a results margin of 4.704 seconds over the No. 48 Cadillac.

As time was running off the clock one thing was certain. This would be a record setting race.

After 23 hours, 52 minutes the separation between Wayne Taylor’s No. 10 Acura led the No. 01 of Chip Ganassi was less than a second. One team was going for three consecutive wins; the driver behind the wheel of the second-place car was also vying for his third straight victory after being released by Taylor late last year.

“I could almost see (van der Zande’s) eyes in my mirror,” Albuquerque said after climbing from the car. “He was so hungry for this. Especially with the whole story – leaving Wayne Taylor for another team.

“He was faster definitely. But it’s one thing to catch and another thing to pass. He was really pushing hard. I was lucky they had a puncture.”

ONE FOR THE RECORD BOOKS: Wayne Taylor wins his third consecutive Rolex 24

Wayne Taylor Racing became only the second team to win three consecutive 24 Hours of Daytona, joining Chip Ganassi Racing from 2006 through 2008.

And Taylor was not the only person going for three straight. Kamui Koboyashi was looking for his third consecutive win in his first three attempts at the twice-around-the-clock classic after also being released from Taylor.

In addition to Taylor’s record-tying threepeat, another record was set for the most cars on the lead lap as five DPis complete the 807 laps.

Acura also recorded its first overall win.

After van der Zande’s tire failure, there was another close battle for second. Kobayashi in the Mazda No. 55 passed Harry Tincknell in the closing laps to secure second. Mazda was also going for their first overall win.

One of Johnson’s co-drivers, finished second twice for the third time. He has not yet won the Rolex 24 hours, but came close in 2005 for Howard Boss (11 laps behind winner Wayne Taylor) and in 2008 with Bob Stallings (two laps behind Chip Ganassi)

Making his Rolex 24 and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut, Chase Elliott earned marks for consistently improving, but his effort was slowed by mechanical failure. An issue with the gear box sent the No. 31 Cadillac DPi 22 laps off the pace. But the failure had a silver lining as it also allowed Elliott to get back behind the wheel for additional track time. Elliott finished the race, running the last stint and finishing eight overall.

RESULTS: Click here for the overall finishing order and here for the class breakdown.

In LMP2

The No. 18 Era Motorsport entrey of Dwight Merriman, Kyle Tilley, Ryan Dalziel and Paul-Loup Chatin completed 787 laps and beat the No. 8 Tower Motorsports entry. Merriman was behind the wheel for the final stint. He finished third with this same team last year. In 2020, Dalziel was with rival Tower Motorsports and finished fourth in class.

In LMP3

The No. 74 Riley Motorsports entry of Gar Robinson, Spencer Pigot, Stott Andrews and Oliver Askew completed 757 laps and beat the No. 33 Sean Czech Motorsports entry by three laps.

In GTLM

The No. 3 Corvette Racing entry of Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg completed 770 laps and beat their sister No. 4 car by 3.519 seconds Taylor was behind the wheel when the field crossed under the checkers. Tommy Milner led the 4 car that was also driven by Nick Tandy and Alexander Sims.

Upon the completion of his stint, Garcia left the race after driving eight hours because he had tested tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) virus. Garcia’s last stint in the car came at 9 a.m. and caused the three-driver lineup to rely on the two remaining drivers to complete the race.

In GTD

The No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes of Russell Ward, Philip Ellis, Indy Dontje and Maro Engel complete 745 laps and beat the No. 75 Sun Energy 1 Mercedes by 16.329 seconds. It was the first win for all four drivers in the Rolex Kenny Habul was behind the wheel of the second-place car when it crossed under the checkers.

As with the DPi series, five cars also finished on the same lap in the GTD class.

STATS PACKAGE FOR ROLEX 24 HOURS OF DAYTONA:

Fastest laps by driver

Fastest laps by driver after race (over the weekend)

Fastest laps by driver and class after race

Fastest lap sequence

Fastest lap sequence

Lap chart

Race analysis by lap

Stint analysis

Best sector times

Race distance and speed average

Weather report

NEXT: The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will resume with the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring March 17-20.

Rolex 24 Results: January 30-31, 2021 (IMSA)

]

One crazy finish in the 24 hour endurance race at Daytona International Speedway!

Teams are set for the green flag in Daytona Beach, Florida. The 3.56-mile track is set to host 24 consecutive hours of racing in the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship.

View full Rolex 24 results below.

Rolex 24: Menu

TV | Roar Before 24 Results | Rolex 24 Results

5 classes of sportscars will take the green flag. Drivers are fighting for a win in each respective division. Stars from all over the world of motorsports are in the field including NASCAR champions Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson.

The No. 31 Whelen Engineering DPi will lead the field to the green flag. The team grabbed the pole after the win in the Roar Before the 24.

Rolex 24

Race Report

Below is the full report of the race lead over the 24 hour event starting with Saturday’s green flag.

Saturday

January 30, 2012

Green flag, the No. 31 Cadillac DPi leads the field of 49 cars into Turn 1.

We’ve got drama early. The No. 25 BMW driven by Bruno Spengler sends the No. 79 Porsche driven by Kevin Estre for a spin. 10 minutes later, Estre has lost his rear bumper and a full course yellow is out. Sepngler has been handed a penalty.

6:40pm: Felipe Nasr holds the lead. However, a driver change is set to take place as Chase Elliott jumps behind the wheel of the leading machine for the first time. The No. 5 Cadillac DPi team takes over the lead.

8:30pm: Scott Dixon and Sebastien Bourdais battle for the race lead. Dixon wins that battle for now in the No. 01 Cadillac.

9:00pm: Bourdais returns to the lead.

10:00pm: Full course yellow. Loic Duval takes the lead away from Scott Dixon on the restart. The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac leads.

Dixon is all over him to reclaim the lead. He takes the spot away, Dixon returns to the lead.

11:00pm: Kamui Kobayashi to the overall lead in the No. 48 Ally Racing machine. Pit stops are pending.

11:59am: Jimmie Johnson is handed the race lead after a pit stop. Johnson runs a double shift and falls to 2nd in the process.

Rolex 24 at sunrise

Sunday

January 31, 2021

6:00am: The No. 01 Cadillac DPi leads in the sunrise of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

10:00am: A full course caution for debris has shaken up the leaders. Alexander Rossi currently leads in the No. 10 WTR Acura.

12:30pm: Filipe Albuquerque has taken over the cockpit of the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing machine and holds the race lead.

1:40pm: Full course yellow. The field will bunch up once again as the race comes to a close.

We’re heading into the final hour of the race. Here’s the running order:

DPi: Albuquerque leads in the No. 10 Acura DPi. Harry Tinckell trails by 2.8 seconds in the #55 Mazda DPi.

LMP2: Gabriel Aubry leads in the #8 Oreca LMP2. Paul-Loup Chatin trails by 55 seconds in the #18 Oreca LMP2.

GTLM: Jordan Taylor leads in the #3 Corvette. Augusto Farfus trails by just 1 second in the #24 BMW.

LMP3: Spencer Pigot leads in the #74 Ligier. Joao Barbosa trails by 4 laps in the #33 Ligier JS machine.

GTD: Maro Engel leads in the #57 Mercedes. Raffaele trails by 10 seconds in the #1 Lamborghini.

Final Hour

56 minutes remain, Albuquerque hits the pit lane. Van Der Zande cycles to the race lead in the #1 machine.

50 minutes remain, we got a race as five cars remain in the lead lap, which would be a series record. Renger van der Zande leads the #48 of Kamui Kobayashi by just 0.4 seconds!

40 minutes remain, Kobayashi is on the bumper of the race leader! Albuquerque closing on both of them as he has new tires in the #10 machine.

34 minutes remain, The #10 of van der Zande hits the pit lane with Kobayashi hits the pit lane in the #48. van der Zande wins the race to the pit exit.

32 minutes remain, the #10 of Albuquerque pits just a lap later from the race lead. The second place runner of Tincknell pits with him.

30 minutes remain

30 minutes remain, Albuquerque cycles to the lead with van der Zande exiting the pit lane right on his bumper. Albuquerque only took two tires (6 seconds shorter pit stop) but he opens the gap as van der Zande is on colder tires.

25 minutes remain, Albuquerque leads van der Zande by 4 seconds but that gap is shrinking fast!

20 minutes remain, Albuquerque leads van der Zande by just 3 seconds!

17 minutes remain, Albuquerque has a mirror full of van der Zande! van der Zande looks to his outside in turn three then crosses under him off the corner but he can’t complete the pass.

7 minutes remain, trouble for van der Zande! He hits the pit lane with a right rear tire issue.

Felipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Alexander Rossi and Helio Castroneves take the overall race win in the #10 DPi machine for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Rolex 24 Results

Results

January 30-31, 2021

Below the Rolex 24 results are filtered by class:

DPi

  1. #10

– Ricky Taylor

– Felipe Albuquerque

– Alexander Rossi

– Helio Castroneves

Acura DPi

  1. #48

– Jimmie Johnson

– Kamui Kobayashi

– Simon Pagenaud

– Mike Rockenfeller

Cadillac DPi

  1. #55

– Oliver Jarvis

– Harry Tincknell

– Jonathan Bomarito

Mazda DPi

  1. #60

– Dane Cameron

– Olivier Pla

– Juan Pablo Montoya

– AJ Allmendinger

Acura DPi

  1. #01

– Renger van der Zande

– Kevin Magnussen

– Scott Dixon

– Marcus Ericsson

Cadillac DPi

  1. #31

– Felipe Nasr

– Mike Conway

– Pipo Derani

– Chase Elliott

Cadillac DPi

  1. #5

– Tristan Vautier

– Loic Duval

– Sebastien Bourdais

Cadillac DPi

LMP2

  1. #18

– Dwight Merriman

– Kyle Tilley

– Ryan Dalziel

– Paul-Loup Chatin

Oreca LMP2

  1. #8

– John Farano

– Gabriel Aubry

– Timothe Buret

– Matthieu Vaxiviere

Oreca LMP2

  1. #82

– Eric Lux

– Devlin DeFrancesco

– Fabian Schiller

– Christopher Mies

Oreca LMP2

  1. #51

– Cody Ware

– Salih Yoluc

– Austin Dillon

– Mathieu Jaminet

Ligier LMP2

  1. #11

– Thomas Steven

– Tristan Nunez

– Thomas Merrill

– Matthew Belol

Oreca LMP2

  1. #47

– Roberto Lacorte

– Antonio Fuoco

– Andrea Belicchi

– Giorgio Sernagiotto

Dallara LMP2

  1. #52

– Ben Keating

– Mikkel Jensen

– Scott Huffaker

– Nicolas Lapierre

Oreca LMP2

  1. #29

– Frits van Eerd

– Giedo van der Garde

– Job Van Uitert

– Charles Milesi

Oreca LMP2

  1. #20

– Dennis Andersen

– Ferdinand Habsburg

– Anders Fjordbach

– Robert Kubica

Oreca LMP2

  1. #81

– Rob Hodes

– Garett Grist

– Rinus van Kalmthout

– Ben Hanley

Oreca LMP2

LMP3

  1. #74

– Gar Robinson

– Spencer Pigot

– Scott Andrews

– Oliver Askew

Ligier JS P320

  1. #33

– Lance Willsey

– Joao Barbosa

– Wayne Boyd

– Yann Clairay

Ligier JS P320

  1. #6

– Moritz Kranz

– Hoerr Laurents

Duqueine M30-D08

  1. #91

– Cox Jim

– Murry Dylan

– Austin McCusker

– Jeroen Bleekemolen

Ligier JS P320

  1. #54

– Jon Bennett

– George Kurtz

– Colin Braun

– Matt McMurry

Ligier JS P320

  1. #38

– Rasmus Lindh

– Cameron Cassels

– Llarena Mateo

– Ori Ayrton

Ligier JS P320

  1. #7

– Mark Kvamme

– Ryan Norman

– Gabby Chaves

– Charles Finelli

Duqueine M30-D08

GTLM

  1. #3

– Jordan Taylor

– Nick Catsburg

– Antinio Garcia

Corvette C8.R

  1. #4

– Nick Tandy

– Alexander Sims

– Tommy Milner

Corvette C8.R

  1. #24

– Augusto Farfus

– Marco Wittmann

– John Edwards

– Jesse Krohn

BMW M8 GTE

  1. #62

– James Calado

– Alessandro Pier Guidi

– Jules Gounon

– Davide Rigon

Ferrari 488 GTE

  1. #25

– Philipp Eng

– Timo Glock

– Connor de Phillippi

– Bruno Spengler

BMW M8 GTE

  1. #79

– Cooper MacNeil

– Kevin Estre

– Richard Lietz

– Gianmaria Bruni

Porsche 911 RSR

GTD

  1. #57

– Russell Ward

– Philip Ellis

– Indy Dontje

– Maro Engel

Mercedes-AMG GT3

  1. #75

– Kenny Habul

– Raffaele Marciello

– Mikael Grenier

– Luca Stolz

Mercedes-AMG GT3

  1. #1

– Bryan Sellers

– Madison Snow

– Corey Lewis

– Andrea Caldarelli

Lamborghini Huracan GT3

  1. #16

– Ryan Hardwick

– Patrick Long

– Jan Heylen

– Klaus Bacher

Porsche 911 GT3

  1. #23

– Ian James

– Roman De Angelis

– Darren Turner

– Ross Gunn

Aston Martin Vantage GT3

  1. #96

– Bill Auberlen

– Robby Foley

– Aidan Read

– Colton Herta

BMW M6 GT3

  1. #97

– Maxwell Root

– Charles Eastwood

– Ben Keating

– Richard Westbrook

Aston Martin Vantage GT3

  1. #21

– Mann Simon

– Nicklas Nielsen

– Daniel Serra

– Matteo Cressoni

Ferrari 488 GT3

  1. #28

– Daniel Morad

– Michael de Quesada

– Billy Johnson

– Maxi Buhk

Mercedes-AMG GT3

  1. #88

– Rob Ferriol

– Earl Bamber

– Katherine Legge

– Christina Nielsen

Porsche 911 GT3

  1. #44

– John Potter

– Andy Lally

– Spencer Pumpelly

– Mario Farnbacher

Acura NSX GT3

  1. #9

– Zacharie Robichon

– Laurens Vanthoor

– Lars Kern

– Matt Campbell

Porsche 911 GT3

  1. #12

– Robert Megennis

– Zach Veach

– Townsend Bell

– Frankie Montecalvo

Lexus RC F GT3

  1. #63

– Ed Jones

– Bret Curtis

– Ryan Briscoe

– Marcos Gomes

Ferrari 488 GT3

  1. #42

– Alan Metni

– Andrew Davis

– JR Hildebrand

– Don Yount

Audi R8 LMs GT3

  1. #14

– Aaron Telitz

– Oliver Gavin

– Kyle Kirkwood

– Jack Hawksworth

Lexus RC F GT3

  1. #64

– Ted Giovanis

– Owen Trinkler

– Hugh Plumb

– Matt Plumb

Porsche 911 GT3

  1. #111

– Rolf Ineichen

– Mirko Bortolotti

– Steijn Schothorst

– Marco Mapelli

Lamborghini Huracan GT3

  1. #19

– Mikhail Goikhberg

– Franck Perera

– Albert Costa

– Tim Zimmermann

Lamborghini Huracan GT3

Links

Daytona International Speedway | IMSA

NASCAR drivers see varying results in 2021 Rolex 24 journey

]

The 2021 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona have come to an end, and scattered among the finishing order of forty-nine cars were various names that are more well known for their stock car experience rather than sports cars. While overall winner Wayne Taylor Racing‘s #10 DPi has no NASCAR background (instead being more for their IndyCar Series prowess), others in the field did, whether as former champions or even just drivers who ran a road course race as a ringer.

Drivers with regular NASCAR experience see mixed results, Johnson comes close in overall

Finishing second overall behind WTR is the #48 Action Express Racing DPi driven by a star-studded roster of Kamui Kobayashi, Simon Pagenaud, Mike Rockenfeller, and recently-retired seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson. Johnson, running his first Rolex 24 since 2011, started the race sixth and ran for the opening hour before turning over the Cadillac to Pagenaud. Two more stints came in the early morning that included enjoying time in the lead by the ninth hour. By the end of the day, Johnson had spent over 3 hours, 48 minutes, and 57 seconds in the car, considerably less than his team-mates with nearly double his amount, but he contributed to the team’s second-place finish.

It is Johnson’s third runner-up placement in the endurance race after doing so in 2005 and 2008. Johnson, who heads to IndyCar in 2021, was joined by familiar company on the #48 as longtime crew chief and Hendrick Motorsports Vice President of Competition Chad Knaus, who won the seven Cup titles with him, worked with him atop the pit box. Various other Hendrick personnel also worked on the #48 car.

“So close. What a race,” Johnson said in a social media video from sponsor Ally Financial. “First and foremost, I need to thank Ally for their support and creating this opportunity for myself and this incredible team to get together and take a run at winning the Rolex 24. Ended up P2, had an amazing day of racing. So many lessons learned, so many friendships kind of built through this process of racing with these other drivers and being a part of this race team.

“I definitely need to sleep. I think I got two hours of sleep through the entire 24-hour race, but I hope everybody enjoyed following it and I got to come back and do this again and try to get that watch.”

Meyer Shank Racing‘s #60 DPi finished fourth with Dane Cameron, Olivier Pla, Juan Pablo Montoya, and A.J. Allmendinger. Montoya and Allmendinger both boast versatile racing résumés that include full-time seasons and road course success in NASCAR, and the latter is set for his first full-time NASCAR season since 2018 when he races for the 2021 Xfinity Series championship. Montoya was the third driver in while Allmendinger, who worked with NBC as a commentator to begin the race, was the last.

Allmendinger, running his first Rolex 24 in a Prototype since 2016 and the 2012 winner, ran in the top five for much of his stints. Montoya hung out in podium range as the race entered its final hour. A three-time Rolex 24 winner seeking his first since 2013, he was fifth after the last pit stop and finished fourth.

Credit: Richard Dole/LAT Images

“I thought we had a very strong car from all the testing we did,” Montoya said in a team release. “When we started the race, it was off. We all struggled and at the end I could keep up with the lead pack but I had nothing to be able to compete with them. I was killing myself just to run at the same pace. Otherwise, I had a blast working with Meyer Shank Racing. You can’t win them all, and that is racing. It is cool to see Acura finally get a win here at Daytona, so big congratulations to them.”

Allmendinger explained he was “really proud of the effort by all the men and women at Meyer Shank Racing. We kept fighting through the race and never gave up. Having no mechanical issues the entire race with a brand new car is amazing. We came so close to a podium, and it’s disappointing not to, but overall I really enjoyed driving the Acura DPi. As always, it’s an honor to drive for Mike Shank, I can’t believe this was my 15th Rolex 24 with him. And I can’t thank Dane, Oli and JPM enough for helping me get up to speed and be a part of this team.”

The sixth DPi to cross the line was Action Express Racing’s #31 with Felipe Nasr, Mike Conway, Pipo Derani, and defending Cup champion Chase Elliott. Elliott, making his Rolex 24 début and entering the 2021 Cup season on a four-race road course win streak, was the car’s second driver and would ultimately raced for a smidge over five hours.

However, despite being the subject of much discussion from NBC’s race coverage and starting on the pole, he found himself off the pace due to various misfortunes that placed him 22 laps down after repairs. A gearbox failure ultimately did the #31 in and it finished eigth overall.

“I lost the drive and could hear a loud bang on the gearbox, that was the fourth gear done,” explained Nasr to NBC. While the ex-Formula One driver has never turned laps in NASCAR, he and AXR helped with testing the Cup Series’ 2022-bound Next Gen car at Daytona last August. “I don’t know what to say. I feel terrible for everybody. We put in such a good work all weekend. Last weekend starting on pole. I don’t know what to say, man. We’ve got to come back with better luck next time.”

In the LMP2 class, a pair of Rolex 24 newcomers and NASCAR veterans in Austin Dillon and Cody Ware took their #51 RWR Eurasia Ligier to a tenth-overall and fourth-class finish. Dillon, the 2018 Daytona 500 winner, was the second driver to pilot the Ligier after Salih Yoluç, while Ware, the 2019–20 Asian Le Mans Series champion set for full-time Cup racing with RWR, took over following Sven Müller.

The two NASCAR drivers would spend the most time in the car at over six hours each, with Ware doing the brunt of the work including taking over for the final stint. Despite losing power steering with less than three hours to go, the #51 was able to finish its first Rolex 24 in fourth.

Credit: Richard Dole/LAT Images

“I finally got to race in the #Rolex24 and came home P4 in LMP2[,]” Ware tweeted. “Austin, Salih, and Sven we’re amazing teammates and I was proud of our pace with the (Ligier) JSP217. WHAT A DREAM”.

The LMP3 team CORE Autosport fielded the #54 for Colin Braun, Jon Bennett, George Kurtz, and Matt McMurry, but trouble appeared to await them at every corner. After Braun, a Camping World Truck Series full timer for two years and series race winner who returned to stock cars as a relief driver in the ARCA Menards Series last August, took over the car from Kurtz, he reported struggling to maximise his car’s braking power, leading to a pit stop to change the brakes. The brakes would eventually be lost nearly entirely due to a broken fluid reservoir that sank the car further down the order, followed by another issue in the foot box that the team could not fix without spending too much time in the garage. Despite fighting back thanks to full-course yellow flags, debris and tyre punctures led to a fifth-place class finish.

“As soon as I got in the car I could tell we didn’t have the same braking capacity that we had in practice,” Braun said. “You couldn’t really attack for most of the race. The crew tried to sort it out and put in a valiant effort to get it fixed, but we never had a quick fix and had to keep, kind of, driving around the problem. It’s tough to diagnose a brake problem in the middle of the race when you don’t have any telemetry and very little experience with the car. George, Matt and Jon all did a great job of not turning this issue into a big problem. It definitely would have been easy to make a little mistake and have a big moment.

“Overall, I’m really proud of everyone. Certainly, we would’ve liked to contend. On pace, considering our brake issues, we were running pretty well. If we had a car to fight, we would have been in great shape. Beyond that we had no reliability issues, and nobody put a foot wrong. It wasn’t meant to be, but we have a lot to build on for Sebring.”

Of the GTD drivers in the field, only Andy Lally of Magnus Racing has raced in NASCAR as something besides a ringer. The 2011 Cup Series Rookie of the Year, who has become an Xfinity ringer in recent years, took over the #44 Mach 5-themed Acura from John Potter and would record the second-most seat time of his quartet behind Mario Farnbacher. The three and Spencer Pumpelly would suffer some setbacks such as a downed right-rear tyre and lost ballast, but managed to finish eleventh in the class.

Despite describing the race as “a tough day”, Lally remained positive on Twitter and added that “1) If it weren’t for tough days, the good days wouldn’t be so sweet. 2) Even on a day that we put a ton of time, heart and effort into before hand and it all went wrong, we are still incredibly fortunate to do what we do.

“On to Sebring”.

Pure ringers battle in GTD, Habul scores best class finish

Road course ringers, or drivers whose only starts in NASCAR have come on such tracks, comprised seven of the NASCAR-represented drivers. All seven were also in the GTD field and spread across five teams.

The highest-finishing ringer is Kenny Habul, whose SunEnergy1 Racing team finished second in the GTD class behind Winward Racing. Habul, who has fifteen Xfinity starts between 2012 and 2016 with four for his SunEnergy1 operation, began the Rolex 24 in the #75 Mercedes-AMG GT3 before turning it over to Mikael Grenier. Mercedes factory driver Raffaele Marciello and Grenier would race the car the most, with Luca Stolz having the third most and Habul the least as the only one with less than five hours of seat time. Marciello closed out SunEnergy1’s first IMSA race since 2018 with a runner-up finish.

Credit: Michael Levitt/LAT Images

Patrick Long and his Wright Motorsports companions finished fourth in the class. Long only has one start in the Cup and Xfinity Series each, both at road courses, but is a two-time winner in the now-ARCA Menards Series West. His co-drivers Jan Heylen, Trent Hindman (who replaced an injured Ryan Hardwick), and Klaus Bachler drove the #16 Porsche 911 GT3R first before Long took over. Heylen, a former Champ Car driver, carried the load of the work with eight hours in the car compared to his team-mates, none of whom broke the six-hour mark. The team ran in podium range for much of the race but was also involved in an incident with the Mustang Sampling/JDC-Miller #5 DPi that resulted in damage.

“Fourth place finish at #rolex24,” tweeted the team. “For the second year in a row, we came within seconds of the podium finish. These guys worked so hard to make this race happen, and unfortunate contact from another car set us back during the night. But we’re so proud of all the hard work for P4!”

Ninth in GTD was Alegra Motorsports‘ #28 GT3 piloted by Maximilian Buhk, Daniel Morad, Billy Johnson, and Mike Skeen. Johnson, a longtime Ford factory driver with five Xfinity and one Cup start, was the second driver in the car after Morad. Meanwhile, Skeen would have to wait a while before taking over as the last driver; a Trans-Am Series veteran who returned to NASCAR last summer as a ringer for the Daytona RC Truck race (his first since 2013), Skeen was a last-minute addition after Michael de Quesada tested positive for COVID-19. Johnson had a tad over seven hours of racing while Skeen had the second-fewest ahead of Buhk.

“After 24 hours of gruelling endurance racing, we crossed the finish line P9. It’s not where we wanted to be – but given some of the curveballs thrown at us this weekend and our first real outing with our new Mercedes-AMG GT3 we’re feeling pretty good about the results,” Alegra posted on Facebook.

Sandwiched between Braun and Lally were Katherine Legge and Earl Bamber of Team Hardpoint EBM, whose #88 finished tenth in class. All but one of Legge’s four Xfinity starts came on road courses, while Bamber débuted in the Xfinity Series on the Daytona RC last year. Rob Ferriol and Christina Nielsen were the first on deck before Legge took over, followed by Bamber. The 2017 FIA World Endurance LMP1 champion, Bamber was the fastest GTD driver by Hour 9, but the team struggled with understeer through the night. Ferriol would bring the car home in tenth. Legge and Bamber led the four in track time at over seven and six hours, respectively.

Forty-second overall and sixteenth in GTD was Vasser Sullivan‘s #14 Lexus driven by Aaron Telitz, Kyle Kirkwood, Oliver Gavin, and Jack Hawksworth. Hawksworth, a former IndyCar driver whose lone NASCAR race came at Mid-Ohio in 2019, was the last in the car and had five fewer minutes of track time than the second-fewest Gavin; he was also the team’s penultimate driver. The Brit is not the only Vasser Sullivan driver to have NASCAR experience, with 2019 Cup champ Kyle Busch being his team-mate for the 2020 Rolex 24.

Credit: Richard Dole/LAT Images

Rolex 24 NASCAR driver results