Daytona 24 2026 Report Part 1
- DIVEBOMB Sportscars Team
- 2 hours ago
- 9 min read
As it stands, the race is under an extended full course yellow period (FCY) for foggy conditions. The No.7 Porsche has led a lot of the race, its main competitors had been the No.31 Cadillac and the No.93 Acura (which has now fallen off the lead lap). It now looks like the No.24 BMW will be fighting hard for the win, joined by the No.40 Cadillac.
GTP standings after 12 hours
1st No.7 Porsche
2nd No.31 Cadillac
3rd No.6 Porsche
LMP2 standings after 12 hours
1st No.99 AO Racing
2nd No.22 United Autosports
No.43 Inter Europol Competition
GTD Pro standings after 12 hours
1st No.1 Paul Miller Racing BMW
2nd No.911 Manthey Porsche
3rd No.4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports
GTD standings after 12 hours
1st No.35 DXDT Corvette
2nd No.13 13 Autosport Corvette
3rd No.96 Turner Motorsport BMW
As it happened
The race got under way with the No.7 Porsche Penske Motorsport car jumping the pole sitting No.93 Acura at turn one - the German car controlled for the most part since.
A multiple car crash occurred during the LMP2 start with big damage for the No.2 United Autosports which ended up going behind the pit wall, as well as big front end damage for the No.11 TDS Racing car. The crash involved a total of five LMP2 cars, which eventually brought out the Full Course Yellow.
The No.3 remained in the lead of the GTD Pro field as the No.57 Winward Mercedes took the lead of the GTD class. The race resumed after a short FCY with Kévin Estre making a quick move to make it a Porsche Penske Motorsport 1-3 in GTP.
The No.70 Inception Racing Ferrari managed to make its way up the GTD field, battling with the GTD Pro cars, momentarily before a FCY was called once again due to a heavy crash at turn one for the RS1 Porsche with Eric Zitza at the wheel.
Zizta lost control of the car after trying to make an overtake on another GT car, and spun into the tyre wall on drivers left. The race returned to green after 25 minutes of running under yellow.
The leaders in each class after the first half an hour were the No.7, No.99, No.3 and the No.70 respectively. The No.31 Cadillac that lost its pole position received a drive through penalty after Jack Aitken jumped the start.
Antonio Fuoco and Frederik Schandorff continued to battle for the GTD lead in a train of GTD Pro/GTD cars as the prototypes made their first pass through traffic. Phillip Ellis managed to make his way up into the GTD class lead in the No.57 as Corvette maintained a 1-2 in GTD Pro with the No.3 ahead of the No.4.
An hour into the race Kévin Estre took the No.6 Porsche Penske Motorsport GTP into the lead as Felipe Nasr blended out of the throttle to let the No.6 into the lead ahead of the No.7. Meanwhile, Ben Keating, aboard the No.52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen LMP2 car, worked his way into the class lead after the first hour.
The Porsche switch was partly due to the pitlane order as both pitted just after the on track swap allowing the No.6 to enter their pit stall easily ahead of the No.7.
A big fire erupted at the No.033 Triarsi Ferrari during its pit stop, but didn't stop it rejoining the race as the GT classes continued to cycle through the pits. The No.99 returned to the LMP2 class lead with PJ Hyett behind the wheel as the No.52 entered the pits.
After the initial pit stops the No.4 was able to get ahead of sister No.3 Corvette for the GTD Pro class race lead with the No.65 Ford Racing GT3 three seconds behind. The No.57 remained in the GTD lead, however, the No.021 Ferrari which was second in GTD at the time, was given a drive through penalty for improper pit entry.
Porsche managed to build an early 15-20 second gap over the rest of the GTP field as the No.99 car extended its lead in LMP2 to over twenty seconds. Just under an hour and thirty completed and Aitken had a scary moment in the No.31 going through the grass after the kink as he was pushed wide by a GT car. The Briton was able to avoid any damage.
Felipe Albuquerque was able to climb past the No.93 Acura and up into the podium positions in GTP as the top four in GTD Pro were separated by just one and half seconds.
The No.75 Mercedes suffered a spin at turn one, but was able to get underway quickly with no damage. The two Porsche 963s had a short fight into turn one for the overall lead with Nasr making the move on Estre to take the race lead.
The Porsche pair continued to dominate the top class as the second pit stops were completed as Laurens Vanthoor took over the No.6 and emerged from the pits in the lead, meanwhile, Julien Andlauer took over the No.7 from Nasr.
Alexander Sims and Frederic Vervisch continued to battle for second in GTD Pro as Nicky Catsburg pulled away in the lead in his No.3 Corvette. The No.62 Risi Ferrari then picked up heavy front left damage for driver Daniel Serra. The car then stopped out on track, and combined with the debris on track, this brought out the first FCY in a while after a prolonged period of green flag running.
The No.62 cut the track before the International Horseshoe and made contact with the No.033 Triarsi Ferrari as it rejoined. Just before the FCY, the No.6 car had a close moment with the No.9 Pfaff Lamborghini at high speed as the GT3 car attempted to enter the pits. Repairs had to be made to the No.6 as it pitted twice under the FCY, dropping it to last place in the GTP class as the No.7 remained in the lead.
As the race restarted the No.7 led the race ahead of the No.10 and No.93. The No.99 led LMP2 as Ford had a 1-2 in GTD Pro with the No.65 ahead of the No.64. The No.96 Turner Motorsport BMW led the GTD field at the restart.
The No.123 Porsche suffered damage after the restart with smoke billowing out for the right rear corner of the car as it recovered to the pit lane.
PJ Hyett continued behind the wheel of the No.99 AO Racing LMP2, remaining in the car since the race start. However, he continued to impress as he built a gap in the laps after the restart, pulling away from higher graded drivers.
The No.59 RLL McLaren went behind the wall after previously running at the front of the GTD Pro field, the car had a suspected electrical issue. The No.93 Acura climbed to second in GTP as the No.7 built a healthy race lead.
The No.75 Mercedes received a major stop and go plus one hundred seconds penalty for breaking stint energy requirements.
It remained a Ford 1-2 and a Corvette 3-4 in GTD Pro as Turner Motorsport remained in control of the GTD class.
There was a quick off for the No.45 Lamborghini, but nothing too major. The Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) car continued on with no further troubles.
Vanthoor in the No.6 began his fight back from the back of the GTP pack, getting the car back into the fight for the top five by the end of his stint.
The race had it's next FCY just before the three hour mark. The No.37 LMP2 spun off just before the second horseshoe, creating a lot of smoke, meaning the No.120 Porsche was unsighted to it's whereabouts. Both cars collided, both taking extensive damage.
As the race returned to green two LMP2 spun out of the International Horseshoe, but were able to get underway after a brief stop.
The class leaders began to chop and change as we headed into nightfall as teams focused on making it through the night. Drivers also began to rotate in each car for the night time stints.
The Aston Martin GTP stopped out on track several times with a suspected mechanical issue and eventually the team decided to take the car behind the pit wall in order to analyse the problem.
The No.99 AO Racing car continued to impress in the LMP2 category.
The race would return to FCY after the No.81 Dragonspeed GTD Corvette made heavy contact with the barriers at turn three after an incident with the No.73 LMP2. The No.912 Porsche received a massive stop and go plus 3 minute and 36 second stop for performing a improper pass around under the FCY.
During the FCY pit stops the No.85 JDC Miller Porsche 963 stayed out in order to cycle to the race lead as we went green ahead of the No.7 Porsche.
The Paul Miller Racing BMW managed to make its way up into the GTD Pro class lead passing the No.3 Corvette.
Nick Yelloly took over the No.93 under the FCY and made significant progress as the race returned to green and rose to second as the JDC Miller Porsche pitted. Just before that Laurin Heinrich made a pass to take the lead in the No.7 Porsche.
As the LMP2 class pitted the No.04 emerged from the pits ahead of the No.99 in the class lead as PJ Hyett returned to the AO Racing car.
At the next GTP pit stops, Felipe Nasr returned to the No.7 Porsche, the extra pit stop time handed the No.93 the race lead.
Jules Gounon, a Mercedes factory driver, battled hard to make his way up to the GTD Pro class lead in the No.69 ahead of the No.3 and No.4 Pratt Miller Motorsport Corvette’s with the No.1 Paul Miller Racing BMW just behind.
Alexander Sims, aboard the No.3 would subsequently take the GTD Pro lead ahead of Gounon. Meanwhile the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin moved into the GTD class lead.
Another change of lead came seven hours in, the No.7 overtaking the No.93 Acura in the International Horseshoe - a tricky place to make an overtake. It wasn't long before the No.6 was also in front of the Acura, putting the factory Porsches 1-2 again for the first time since the start of the race.
At the next round of pit stops, the No.93 continued its streak of pitting early to offset its strategy, while the Porsches came in at the more conventional time. Gounon passed the No.69 Mercedes over to Maximilian Goetz and the No.25 BMW received a drive through for an improperly attired pit crew member.
Soon after the sky went dark, the fog started to roll in - a problem which would plague a good part of the night. Despite the fog, the race went on - and Porsche led 1-2-3 in the GTP class. There was brief panic for BMW fans, when the No.24 came into the pits to have its nose removed and inspected, but it quickly returned to the race without losing too much time.
A change for the lead took place in the LMP2 class as AO Racing reclaimed the first place its held for so long in the race. At the midpoint, the No.99 car still leads comfortably.
As the firework show lit the sky, the FCY yellow boards lit the track as the Pratt Miller LMP2 lost a tyre on the track. Dis-fortune also hit Cadillac, the No.10 GTP car received a drive-through for speeding in the pit lane, similarly the No.60 Acura picked up a drive-through for having work done to it outside its pit box.
A further example of the tough nature of 24 hour racing, the No.04 CrowdStrike Racing LMP2 spun at the international horseshoe and dropped to seventh, having been competing right at the front for a big portion of the race.
Another strong LMP2 car had a spin, this time it was the No.2 United Autosports at the Le Mans Chicane, after contact with the No.73 Pratt Miller car.
An odd place to spin, the No.11 TDS Racing found himself pointing the wrong way on pit entry and then picked up a penalty for it. Meanwhile the GTD Pro class remained competitive, with five cars within five seconds after nine hours of racing.
Heart break hit for the No.93 Acura when its tyre fell off while out on track. Kaku Ohta had to drag the car back to the pits, but the pole sitter dropped off the lead lap and is now unlikely to be able to fight back to the front.
At the front of the LMP2 class, the No.99 AO Racing car squabbled with the No.22 United Autosports car for the top spot, the AO Racing car was leading with 12 hours and 53 minutes left when the FCY came out for foggy conditions.
Up to this point the safety car is still on track and doesn't appear to be going for a while.
The No.7 Porsche leads from the No.6, followed by the No.31 Cadillac ready to attack at the restart.
You can follow the remainder of the race from the DIVEBOMB live article: https://www.dive-bomb.com/article/live-imsa-24-hours-of-daytona
