Porsche won the Rolex 24 at Daytona for the third consecutive time, taking the chequered flag at the season opener of the 2026 IMSA SportsCar Championship — but not by as wide a margin as some might have expected.
The result looked like another dominant performance from the German manufacturer’s 963 LMDh, a car that many had tipped to lead the field after strong pre-race testing.
However, the winning #7 Penske Porsche entry driven by Felipe Nasr, Julien Andlauer and Laurin Heinrich crossed the line only 1.569 seconds ahead of the second-place #31 Action Express Cadillac shared by Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber, Frederik Vesti and Connor Zilisch, underlining just how close the race ultimately was.
The two Penske Porsches had built up a comfortable early lead of around 20 seconds in the opening stint, only for that advantage to evaporate through a series of full-course yellow periods during the race.
“I think it looked more dominant than it really was in the end,” said Porsche’s LMDh chief Urs Kuratle. “We all know: in the first 22 hours everyone tries to stay on the lead lap, and we did that too. So yes, it looked more dominant than it actually was. I am convinced of that.”
Cadillac rises in final stages
Kuratle said the last two hours were “actually quite interesting,” as the AXR Cadillac suddenly became a factor after being relatively quiet for much of the race — a situation influenced by both a grid penalty and several in-race sanctions
The #31 Cadillac was even a lap down at times and only benefited late through the numerous yellow flags in the closing stages.
"The whole field has improved all around," race winner Nasr said in the post-race press conference.
"There were times in the race that I felt like, 'okay, we got a pretty good pace'. But there were other times as well. The 31 was always quick out there, when you look at their sector times."
Nasr describes “extremely Intense” final hour
Despite the pressure late in the race, Nasr said the Penske car had been “in good shape from start to finish.” The conditions during the race were demanding, he said: "It was a big test just to keep the car on the track. You could see at the the Bus Stop [Chicane that] the car was just sliding everywhere. And not only us, you could see the Cadillac as well [sliding a lot]."
The competition appeared to cope with the conditions even better at times. In the closing stages, Aitken was able to put significant pressure on the leading Porsche.
"I was surprised that they light up really good in the end. They had a lot of pace and especially their traction zones were really good," he said.
"That last hour was so intense inside the car, and all the information the team was giving. The spotter are talking like, 'he's taking a different line here and there'. So there's a lot of things to process as the driver."
The #31 Cadillac repeatedly came dangerously close to the winning Porsche in the final laps.
"A couple of times I had to pick my line and brake as late as I could," Nasr said. "I could see he was also trying everything
"All I did was just drive with my heart and drive from what I know from my experience."
