Tristan Nunez leads the Rolex 24 at Daytona with eight hours of racing remaining.
Nunez claimed the lead after the latest rounds of pitstops aboard the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-VR, having just been installed in place of Pipo Derani. The Action Express crew performed a shorter, fuel-only stop which allowed Nunez to leapfrog the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac of Tristan Vautier, which has led at various points in the four hours after the halfway mark.
Vautier’s team-mate Richard Westbrook was already in front at halfway in the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-VR. He then briefly lost it to Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais during a round of stops, only to regain it when Bourdais went behind the wall with electrical issues during a caution caused by the #71 T3 Motorsports Lamborghini of Misha Goikhberg.
At the restart, Westbrook was held up by traffic and lost the lead to the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 of Filipe Albuquerque, with Kevin Magnussen taking second in the #02 Chip Ganassi Cadillac as well.
Magnussen then took the lead of the race from Albuquerque with an aggressive move into the Le Mans Chicane. The Dane led for about an hour before he momentarily slowed on the oval with what since has been explained to be a fuel pressure issue. He lost the lead to the #31 Whelen Cadillac of Pipo Derani as a result.
Westbrook had meanwhile handed over the #5 Cadillac to Loic Duval, who moved himself back into second place by surpassing Will Stevens now behind the wheel of the #10 Acura.
This put the French driver in premier position when a thirteenth caution was called when the #7 Forty7 Motorsports Duqueine D08-Nissan caught fire. After the restart, Duval wrestled his way past Derani to retake the lead overall, which he and Tristan Vautier held until being jumped by current leader Nunez.
Vautier now sits in second from the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Simon Pagenaud, Stevens and the #02 Cadillac driven by Alex Lynn.
Two DPi runners have fallen away. Ganassi’s #01 car suffered the aforementioned electrical problems, while the #48 Ally Cadillac DPi-VR suffered suspension damage when Jimmie Johnson made contact with the AWA Duqueine out of turn one. Both Cadillacs are still running but 42 and 22 laps down respectively.
Colton Herta leads LMP2 in the bright #81 DragonSpeed USA ORECA 07-Gibson. The American squad moved into the class lead after the halfway point but lost it again when Pato O’Ward spun the wheels while on the jacks, leading to a penalty.
That moved the #29 Racing Team Nederland ORECA of Dylan Murry to the front, although Herta reclaimed the lead later. Murry then had to serve a penalty of his own for contact with the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Spencer Pumpelly at the Le Mans Chicane.
Herta now leads from the #8 Tower Motorsports ORECA 07-Gibson, although it too has to serve a penalty for a significant pitlane speed violation. Murry sits in third from the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA of Nicolas Lapierre
LMP3 is currently comfortably being led by the #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320-Nissan, with Felipe Fraga behind the wheel. Fraga leads the #36 Andretti Autosport of Rasmus Lindh by two laps.
Mathieu Jaminet leads GTD Pro in the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R from the Dennis Olsen-driven #2 KCMG Porsche and the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo with Davide Rigon behind the wheel.
All three drivers are ahead of the #97 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Daniel Juncadella.
The Proton-run Mercedes was leading since halfway with Maro Engel and Jules Gounon behind the wheel, but fell back after a pitstop botch. Juncadella now leads Vasser Sullivan’s Kyle Kirkwood in fifth and the second Proton Mercedes of Patrick Assenheimer, which is the last GTD Pro car still on the lead lap.
The polesitting #63 TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, a frontrunner in the early stages, has been retired with broken steering. Andrea Caldarelli took the car behind the wall in the fourteenth hour after the issue got progressively worse after a multi-car incident in the opening hours.
Jan Heylen leads GTD in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R. The Belgian moved ahead of the #57 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Lucas Auer at the last restart, with Ollie Millroy third in the #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3.
