Rolex 24, Hour 18: Porsche leads as race resumes after…

Porsche leads the Rolex 24 at Daytona with a quarter of the race remaining, as daybreak allowed action to resume following a prolonged caution period.

The Full Course Yellow was deployed shortly after midnight, with race control forced to neutralize the race as conditions rapidly deteriorated in the thick of the night.

Over the following six-and-a-half-hours, the visibility fluctuated, leading to the longest fog-related disruption in the race’s history.

The prolonged safety car period shook up the order across all four classes, as teams juggled strategy and worked to meet minimum drive-time requirements under yellows.

One of the most significant developments involved the two factory Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 LMDh entries, both of which spent extended periods in the pitlane for repairs.

The No. 6 Porsche made four separate pit visits during the 13th hour as Penske mechanics addressed damage sustained earlier in the race.

The No. 7 Porsche, which led the race at the halfway point, also made two unscheduled pitstops in the 14th hour, with mechanics having to remove the nose to carry out work on the front end of the car.

Those issues dropped both cars down the order and put them on offset strategies compared to the rest of the GTP field, although the SC allowed them to recover enough to lead for certain stages of the race.

Late restart

When the pitlane reopened before the restart, the entire GTP field with the exception of the No. 7 Porsche and the No. 25 BMW headed into the pitlane, putting those two cars at the front as the race went back to green.

Laurin Heinrich nailed the restart to stay in front in the No. 7 Porsche, while Matt Campbell jumped the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Kevin Magnussen to establish a 1-2 for the Weissach-based marque.

Louis Deletraz held fourth for the No. 40 WTR Cadillac, while Colin Braun was fifth in the best of the Meyer Shank Acuras.

Just after the restart, the race control announced a number of penalties, dropping several crews well down the order.

The No. 85 JDC-Miller Porsche, which had led at the start of the 18th hour, and the No. 24 BMW were awarded a drive-through penalty, while the No. 31 AXR Cadillac was slipped with a 30s stop/go. In each of the three cases, the reason for the penalty was not revealed.

LMP2

In the LMP2 class, Sebastien Bourdais defended his position to keep the No. 8 Tower Motorsport Oreca 07 at the front, although Formula E star Nick Cassidy put together a stunning performance to climb to second place in the No. 343 InterEuropol Oreca.

Tom Dillmann sits third in the other Inter Europol entry, while the No. 99 AO Racing car that had led at the halfway mark was down in sixth.

Meanwhile, the No. 4 Corvette returned to the top spot in GTD Pro, as Tommy Milner passed the No. 64 Ford of Ben Barker at the restart. Jules Gounon stands third, with Antonio Garcia fourth in the second of Pratt Miller Corvettes.

The GTD class is led by the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Robby Foley, who overtook the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari of Lilou Wadoux at the end of the 18th hour.