A late update: Tower Motorsports gas been disqualified from its LMP2 win, and the victory in the class goes to United Autosport car 22
Daniel Goldburg, Paul di Resta, Rasmus Lindh and James Allen were 44 seconds behind at the finish. The disqualification was due to excessive wear on on a skid block.
This time it wasn’t as close, and the race actually went the entire 24 hours. The Penske Porsches both finished on the podium in GTP, with 7 car driven by Nick Tandy, Felipe Nasr, and Laurens Vanthoor coming home first. It was Vanthoor’s first Rolex win.
Meyer Shank’s number 60 Acura spoiled a Penske 1-2 by getting by car 6 late in the race. It was a triumphant return to IMSA for the Meyer Shank team, who sat out last year after being disqualified from the win in 2023. The team included IndyCar drivers Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist, who joined regular drivers Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist.
There was high attrition and 14 yellow flag periods, which seemed like more as several came in rapid succession in the middle of the night. 16 cars dropped out of the race, and several others got repaired and returned to action. A five car crash in turn 1 in the ninth hour took out cars from the top three classes. There was an audible groan from the crowd in the plaza watching on the jumbotron when AO Racing’s number 77 Porsche, “Rexy,” was involved.
As usual, the Rolex 24 is 21 and a half hours of getting into position to contend during the last 150 minutes. As usual, it was a show worth waiting for. It was evident most of the race that GTP would come down to four cars- the Porsches, an Acura, and the number 24 BMW. The BMW faded from the group with about three hours left, but by then it was clear that the 7 was the best car. The fight was for second, and the Acura prevailed.
In LMP2, Sebastien Bourdais adde to his Rolex collection in the Tower motorsports entry. He teamed with John Farano, Sebastian Alvarez, and Job Van Uitert.
GTD Pro saw a classic battle between Corvette and Mustang, which was fun to watch. The Mustang, in only its second year in IMSA, won, and the other team car finished third. Winning drivers in car 65 were Christoopher Mies, Dennis Olsen, and Frederic Vervisch.
Corvette prevailed in GTD, however, with the AWA entry, Drivers Marvin Kirchhofer, Lars Kern, Orey Fidani, and Matthew Bell piloted the car.
Alex Palou drove the number 93 Acura. The car encountered issues and finished 40 laps off the pace. Scott McLaughlin’s team finished ninth in GTD Pro.in the Trackhouse Corvette.
Notes
The amount of cautions allowed the leaders to complete only781 laps. Only the top three cars were on the lead lap at the finish.
The Lamborghini team, with Romain Grosjean as one of the drivers, did not last long and was the first car to retire.
Attendance at the Rolex 24 seems to grow each year. It is getting to the point where the track needs to exert more crowd control, especially in the general camping areas. I think reserved camping spots for everyone should be implemented. Humans are territorial by nature, and some seem to be trying to take more space than they need.
Ask First -AO Racing reported that fans took some damaged parts from Rexy’s crashed car without permission. While some teams are happy to give away some parts, fans need to ask before they tak anything. Some teams can’t afford to give away anything, even if it is damaged. I would hate to see a ban on giving parts away to fans, but if this continues, the track and series might have to say no more giveaways.
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 