IMSA Rolex 24 Hour 21: #7 Porsche still leads
Three hours to go in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Matt Campbell in the #7 Penske Porsche is schooling Jack Aitken in the #31 Whelen Cadillac.
Campbell is opening the gap over Aitken every lap and the only hope Cadillac has is to get Pipo Derani back behind the wheel.
Colton Herta runs 3rd in the #40 Acura after the #6 Porsche slid off the track exiting the pits on cold tires with Kevin Estre behind the wheel.
The #5 and #85 Porsches have moved up to 4th to and 5th, but pit stops are juggling the order as the clock strikes Hour 21.
Era Motorsport and CrowdStrike Racing by APR are the main contenders in LMP2. The #18 Era Motorsport ORECA 07 of currently leads, and Connor Zilisch has returned to the cockpit – but the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA of Malthe Jakobsen in second pitted ten minutes prior.
As that evolves, the #52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA, now driven by Pietro Fittipaldi, runs a distant third in class.
GTD and GTD Pro gave us great action in the last hour, but the tables have turned somewhat after an incident across classes to begin this hour of racing.
Alessandro Pier Guidi is now in the #62 Risi Ferrari and has a ten-second class lead over the #1 BMW, now driven by Sheldon van der Linde.
There’s just over a minute back to the third-place #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, currently driven by Laurin Heinrich, the last car on the lead lap in GTD Pro.
The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 and #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 are separated by just over 13 seconds now – as Philip Ellis in the Mercedes leads Aaron Telitz in the Lexus. Meanwhile, Triarsi has ceded third place to the #32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes of Mike Skeen.