Eight hours into the 24 Hours of Daytona, Pipo Derani in the #31 Cadillac prototype holds a slim lead over Kevin Estre in the #6 Porsche.
The front spots have been anything but static, with much of the early night hours feeling like the final sprint to the checkered flags.
Shortly after night fell, Rene Rast powered his #25 BMW prototype past Renger van der Zander for the third position, although the #01 Cadillac was able to stay within headlight distance with ease.
Van der Zander fought back a few laps later and challenged for third once more, making dramatic moves in the darkness.
The field was reset due to a caution, however, and the two were not able to continue their battle on track during this stint of the endurance event.
At the eight hour mark, it is Cadillac over Porsche over Acura, and it’s anyone’s guess who is going to have the advantage 16 hours down the road.
The LMP2 category is the one that has the most attrition this season, with five of the entries stopped and three of those retired from the race completely.
The Sean Creech Motorsports #33 has been in and out of the pits a couple times fighting alternator troubles on their unique Ligier chassis, and then brought out the seventh caution of the day by stopping on track once again while 40 laps down.
Growing pains continue to plague the entry, but as long as they can keep going back out on track, they can gain valuable testing data as they attempt to reintroduce a second manufacturer back into LMP2.
The caution for the car’s most recent troubles was not thrown for a few laps, however, allowing the two Cadillac prototypes and the #7 Porsche to pit before the field was bunched up.
Those three cars were able to take the lead as everyone else pit under the yellow, with the 2023 Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden hopping in to lead the field away in his #7 Porsche once the green was waved once again.
Newgarden fell down to fourth over the next hour, falling victim to the skills of drivers that have vastly more sportscar experience than he does.
The #99 AO Racing entry leads the LMP2 standings, with the dragon-liveried car making fans happy with a strong performance so far.
The #52 PR1 Mathiasen holds second place in category, with the #2 United Autosports entry sitting in third.
There was a really close call just after the seven-hour mark as the #75 Sun Energy 1 Mercedes GT3 seemed to lose power in the infield, and the prototypes that were steaming through nearly collected the GTD Pro entry.
Everyone was able to dodge around Stolz as he worked to re-fire the car, and disaster was avoided in the end.
Sheldon van der Linde holds the lead in GTD Pro after eight hours, putting the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW back into the top spot.
The South African’s lead is only just over four seconds, however, and he is having to watch his mirrors for any attacks from Daniel Serra in the #62 Ferrari.
In GTD, the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus is in the top spot. Aaron Telitz is just narrowly holding off Philip Ellis in the #57 Windward Mercedes.
