Porsche held on to victory in the 63rd running of the Daytona 24 Hours after fending off late challenges from Acura and BMW.
Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor took top honours in the factory #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 LMDh after Nasr passed the sister PPM entry of Matt Campbell at the Le Mans chicane with just 22 minutes remaining.
Campbell looked set to secure the runner-up spot in #6 963 LMDh he shared with Mathieu Jaminet and Kevin Estre, only for Tom Blomqvist in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura AR-06 to deny Porsche a 1-2 in the final 10 minutes of the race.
Blomqvist then set after chasing Nasr for the lead, but the Brazilian held on to score back-to-back wins for Porsche in the GTP class – and its 20th outright success in the Floridian endurance classic.
Although Cadillac, Acura and BMW all led the opening round of the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship at some point, Porsche emerged as the manufacturer to beat when the temperature dropped during the night.
Porsche largely maintained its advantage on Sunday morning, but a 22nd-hour caution period brought the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 and the #60 Meyer Shank Acura back into play.
#7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy, Laurens Vanthoor
Photo by: Porsche
As the full-course yellow flag was retreated, Nasr perfected the restart in the #7 Porsche to hang on to the lead – but Dries Vanthoor came back at him in the BMW and took first into Turn 1.
However, the Belgian had a big wobble coming out of Turn 2, allowing Nasr to strike back at Turn 4 and reinstate the status quo.
During the next round of pitstops, the #6 Porsche moved into the lead of the race from third place after skipping a tyre change, while Nasr went in the other direction in the sister car after completing full service.
Vanthoor then attempted to pass the new race-leading #6 Porsche of Campbell, but he outbraked himself at Turn 1 and took a long trip through the grass.
The race was neutralised once again when a Lamborghini GT car stopped on track, setting up a 38-dash to the finish.
Vanthoor lightly nudged Campbell’s Porsche as the race went back to green, but the contact was enough to damage an already loose nose cone, causing him to drop a lap off the lead to fourth.
BMW’s late troubles allowed Tom Blomqvist in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura to rise up to third in the closing stages of the race, behind the two leading Porsches.
#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Scott Dixon, Felix Rosenqvist, #85 JDC Miller MotorSports Porsche 963: Tijmen Van Der Helm, Gianmaria Bruni, Pascal Wehrlein, Bryce Aron
Photo by: Andreas Beil
As Nasr retook the lead in the #7 Porsche, Blomqvist continued his chase towards the front and demoted Campbell at Turn 1 to secure second place for Acura.
It marked a remarkable recovery for the #60 Acura shared by Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist, having dropped nearly a lap down at one point.
An off for Rosenqvist during the night required a nose change, while further time was lost due to a drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
Dries Vanthoor, Kevin Magnussen, Phillip Eng and Raffaele Marciello ended up a disappointed fourth in the #24 BMW after a race in which the Munich-based manufacturer was the closest to the pace of the winning Porsche.
Cadillac endured a torrid outing at Daytona International Speedway, with the best of its three LMDh cars finishing a lap down in sixth place.
The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series shared by Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Will Stevens and Brendon Hartley dropped off the lead lap shortly after dawn broke in Florida.
A drive-through penalty picked up by Albuquerque for locking up and crashing into the #25 BMW of Marco Wittmann in the 19th hour took away any remaining chance of a comeback.
#10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V- Series.R: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Will Stevens, Brendon Hartley
Photo by: James Gilbert – Motorsport Images
The sister #40 WTR Cadillac enjoyed multiple stints at the front early on with a rapid Kamui Kobayashi aboard, but the car sustained terminal damage in the eighth hour after Louis Deletraz took over the driving duties.
Deletraz went off at Turn 2 after a restart and smashed his Cadillac into the barriers, before spinning back on track and triggering a multi-car incident that caught out several LMP2 and GTD Pro runners.
The #31 Cadillac entered by Action Express Racing also shunted at night, but that accident was caused by a suspension failure and the team repaired its car just before the halfway mark.
Earl Bamber, Jack Aitken, Felipe Drugovich and Frederik Vesti finished 40 laps down in ninth place, behind the #25 BMW and the #93 Acura – both delayed by their own issues.
The second of the two Rahal-entered BMWs was already down in eighth when it was turned around by the Proton Porsche of Neel Jani in the ninth hour.
An overnight rear brake change dropped the car two laps, while a 3m12s penalty for an improper wave-by procedure and a puncture sustained in a collision caused by Albuquerque further dented the prospects of Marco Wittmann, Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijs and Rene Rast.
The #93 Acura engineered directly by HRC USA lost an hour in repairs on Saturday evening due to a rear suspension failure, leaving Nick Yelloly, Alex Palou, Renger van der Zande and Kakunoshin Ohta out of contention.
Lamborghini’s maiden Daytona appearance in the GTP class barely lasted an hour, with Mirko Bortolotti forced to bring the Italian marque’s SC63 LMDh into the pits due to water pressure issues after just 34 laps.
Proton’s customer Porsche joined the Lamborghini and the #40 Cadillac in the list of retirements.
More to follow
In this article
Rachit Thukral
IMSA
Porsche Penske Motorsport
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