Porsche Penske Motorsport recorded its third victory in succession at the Rolex 24 at Daytona as the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship got underway for 2026. The Blue Riband event was not without its challenges, however, after overnight fog caused a six-hour-long full-course-yellow interruption.
After a close battle with Cadillac in the final hours, the win went the way of the #7 Porsche 963 driven by Felipe Nasr, Julien Andlauer and Laurin Heinrich. Brazilian Nasr became only the third driver in the race’s history to win three in a row.
Porsche started the race among the top contenders in the GTP class, posting rapid lap times during free practice and testing sessions. Pole position went the way of the #31 Cadillac Whelen, with Acura a close second with their #93 ARX-06.
Porsche dominance shows
Come raceday, it was Porsche who appeared to have the advantage on outright race pace. Despite requiring extensive repairs during the night and falling off the lead lap at times, the #6 car crewed by 2025 FIA WEC drivers Laurens Vanthoor and Kévin Estre, together with Matt Campbell, remained in contention well into Sunday.
Fog descended on Daytona International Speedway as Saturday turned into Sunday, reducing visibility to such an extent that the race was put into stasis under full-course yellow for over six hours. Multiple leading contenders, including both Porsches, utilised the overnight neutralisation for extended pit stops for repairs.
At the resumption early on Sunday morning, ten out of eleven GTP runners were on the lead lap – with the sole exception being the #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie. Despite Porsche’s dominance, Cadillac, Acura and BMW all had strong chances of podium finishes and even snatching the race win.
Cadillac challenge
After the final pit stops, the race came down to a straight fight between the #7 Porsche driven by Nasr and the hard-charging #31 Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken. The Anglo-Korean driver put in a number of valiant attempts at the lead, but Nasr’s defence held strong and the Brazilian crossed the line to complete his and Porsche’s historic achievement.
With just one previous Daytona appearance in GTP machinery between them, Heinrich and Andlauer belied their relative inexperience to support Nasr expertly and secure their first Rolex Cosmograph Daytonas.
Cadillac’s lack of fortune at the season-opener continues, with the US manufacturer’s winless run at Daytona continuing into its sixth year. The V-Series.R is yet to taste victory at the Rolex 24.
Podium for BMW
Third place went to the #24 BMW M Team WRT of Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor, Robin Frjns and René Rast. It was just reward for a solid effort from the Belgian team, who took over the running of BMW’s IMSA effort from Team RLL for the 2026 season.
Elsewhere, victory in LMP2 went to the #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca of George Kurtz, Toby Sowery and a pair of Peugeot factory drivers, Malthe Jakobsen and Alex Quinn. BMW and Paul Miller Racing took the spoils in GTD Pro thanks to an outstanding performance by Connor De Philippi, Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen. In GTD, the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Philip Ellis survived a late onslaught by the Magnus Racing Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim to take the team’s maiden Daytona class win.
The next round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar is the 12 Hours of Sebring on 21 March.
Images (c) Porsche AG (1 and 2), BMW M Motorsport (3)