The 64th edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona has (slowly) reached the halfway point, but under adverse conditions. There’s no rain, however, a dense fog has descended over the speedway and made visibility extremely low. Moisture is visible on the windows of every car in the field.
Just after 11 hours of racing, the full-course-yellow was displayed due to deteriorating conditions. During the yellow, most of the field came down pit road, including the No. 7 Penske Porsche. That team has controlled much of the race as it hunts a third consecutive win in the Rolex 24. After 12 hours, the crew managed to complete 481 laps around Daytona International Speedway.
#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre, Matt Campbell
Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images
Laurin Heinrich climbed out of the leading No. 7, handing it back over to teammate Felipe Nasr. Several other cars did the same, and others utilised the lengthy yellow to make brake changes or other fixes.
While it could have easily been Penske Porsches 1-2 at the halfway point, Earl Bamber managed to drive a wedge between them and pass the No. 6 Porsche of Matt Campbell before the caution.
The last six hours have been fairly procedural with no major incidents, but plenty of minor spins. After almost three hours of green-flag running, the yellow flag flew with just over 15 hours left for debris. While it could have easily been due to the combination of smoke/fog following the traditional 10pm fireworks, track workers did pick up an errant wheel.
#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly, Alex Palou, Kaku Ohta
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images
There were no other FCYs until the aforementioned caution for dense fog. During that time, there were various spins. The No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen entry spun on its own at Turn 1, the No. 04 CrowdStrike entry went for yet another spin at the International Horseshoe, and two other prototypes collided in a two-car spin at the back stretch chicane.
The No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA, which was a part of the Lap 1, Turn 1 fiasco, spun at pit entry. There were some nervous moments as it was pointing the wrong direction, but the driver managed to get it turned back around without further issue.
The biggest race-altering incident involved the No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura. The pole-sitting car, whose lineup includes IndyCar champ Alex Palou, lost a wheel and had to limp around the track, losing precious time. Kaku Ohta did a fine job getting it back to the pits, but the car, which was the best of the rest after the Penske Porsches, is now scored tenth in GTP.
#59 RLL Team McLaren McLaren 720S GT3 EVO: Max Esterson, Nikita Johnson, Juri Vips, Dean MacDonald
Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images
LMP2, GTD Pro, and GTD class leaders
In LMP2, ‘Spike’ has been firmly in control for most of the race as the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA leads the secondary prototype division.
GTD Pro has been Corvette duo’s playground, but at the halfway point, it was the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW leading the way.
And in GTD, the No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette leads the field as it continues to pace under caution for almost an hour.
IMSA indicated that the current FCY for fog could be quite long, but while it isn’t comfortable going back racing, it also wants to avoid a red flag.
Impressively, 55 of the 60 starters are still in the race as the Rolex 24 crosses the halfway point.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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