Renger van der Zande is leading the Rolex 24 at Daytona after four hours of racing, with the back to green after a lengthy caution for a multi-car crash on the oval.
Van der Zande’s #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-VR took the lead from Will Stevens in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 at the restart.
Stevens had been leading since early in the fourth hour, shuffling to the front after a round of pitstops under caution due to a big crash for the #34 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Kyle Washington.
Stevens was jumped on the restart by the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 of Helio Castroneves, only for the four-time Indy 500 winner to suffer a puncture a lap later.
A lap later, the race was neutralized again when a multi-car shunt took out the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, #75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo and #6 Muelhner Motorsports Duqueine D08-Nissan coming out of the infield section and onto the tri-oval at Daytona International Speedway.
Tristan Nunez sits third overall in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac, ahead of Chip Ganassi’s Marcus Ericsson and the #48 Ally Cadillac of Mike Rockenfeller.
The white and purple Cadillac led the race early on thanks to a strong stint from Kamui Kobayashi, but when he handed over to Toyota team-mate Jose Maria Lopez the car became involved in multiple incidents.
Lopez was first rear-ended by the #01 Cadillac of Sebastien Bourdais before the Argentinean locked up at turn one. A late stop under caution for Rockfenfeller caused the car to drop down further and it now runs sixth.
LMP2 is being led by the #69 G-Drive Racing ORECA 07-Gibson of Dutch rookie Tijmen van der Helm, with Fabio Scherer second in the #20 High Class ORECA and Rinus VeeKay fourth for Racing Team Nederland.
The class was led for a significant time by the #52 PR1/Mathiasen ORECA of Mikkel Jensen, but the Dane spun the car behind the safety car at turn one, dropping to fourth.
Gar Robinson leads LMP3 in the #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320-Nissan from the #54 CORE Autosport Ligier driven by George Kurtz.
Felipe Nasr leads GTD Pro in the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R from James Calado in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo. Calado had jumped to the front under pitstops during the second caution after the front of the new class was previously dominated by Porsches.
Calado still holds second place with with Alexandre Imperatori’s #2 KCMG Porsche 911 GT3 R third followed by the #4 Corvette C8.R of Tommy Milner.
Alessio Picariello, previously running in the top three, has dropped back after serving a drivethrough penalty in the #79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche following contact with the #19 TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo at the International Horseshoe.
GTD is a Mercedes one-two, with Linus Lundqvist leading in the #28 Alegra Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo ahead of the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes of Mikael Grenier. Roman de Angelis sits third in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, the only remaining car for the Seattle-based squad.
Multiple cars remain behind the wall after four hours. The #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo and #12 Lexus RC F GT3 are undergoing repairs following a collision at turn one and the #98 NorthWest AMR Aston Martin has reported gearbox issues.
