Renger van der Zande is leading the Rolex 24 at Daytona with eight hours remaining as the sun rises over the Daytona International Speedway.
After the battle for the lead originally was fought between the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 and the #48 Ally Cadillac DPi-VR, the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-VR was handed a penalty with Scott Dixon behind the wheel for speeding in the pit lane.
As the morning dawned, the fight developed and the battle for the lead switched to Dixon and the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-VR of Mike Conway. Dixon took the lead from Conway and then handed over the lead to Van der Zande, who was able to build and maintain a gap out front.
After a restart caused by debris on track, Kamui Kobayashi began to make moves in the #48 Ally Cadillac, moving from fourth to second and then challenging Van der Zande for the lead.
Kobayashi then made an ill-advised move up the inside of the Dutchman at turn one, causing the Japanese ace to spin out and drop back to fifth place where the car currently remains.
Van der Zande leads the #01 Cadillac ahead of the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura of Helio Castroneves and the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura in second and third, with fourth held by Pipo Derani in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac.
LMP2 is led by Gabriel Aubry in the #8 Tower Motorsport ORECA 07-Gibson. The car took the lead from the #47 Cetilar Racing Dallara P217-Gibson in the early hours of the morning, and the Dallara has since fallen away with mechanical troubles.
A quick restart has put the #18 Era Motorsport ORECA 07-Gibson, now in the hands of Kyle Tilley, into second in class, with Devlin DeFrancesco third for DragonSpeed.
The LMP3 order is more or less set in stone, with the #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 first in the hands of Oliver Askew, four laps clear of the #33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier of Joao Barbosa and Muelhner Motorsports sitting in third place.
A very tight GTLM battle currently sees Tommy Milner leading in the #4 Corvette C8.R, vaulting ahead after a swift stop in the last round of stops. Connor de Philippi sits in second in the #25 BMW M8 GTE, while Antonio Garcia holds third in the #3 Corvette.
Maro Engel leads GTD in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo after wrestling the class lead back fro the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Matteo Cressoni, which briefly led earlier in the hour. Third is held by another Mercedes: Kenny Habul in the #75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.
