At hour six of the 62nd running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, it was Matt Campbell and the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 leading the GTP field into the night.
Campbell made a daring move for the lead shortly ahead of hitting the quarter mark in the 24-hour race, passing Tom Blomqvist in the No. 31 Cadillac in Turn 1 and settling into the lead at Daytona Int’l Speedway with 18 hours and 44 minutes to go.
It was the first time a Porsche was at the helm of the field, as Cadillac drivers dominated the early hours.
At the six hour mark, Campbell had built an 11.392-second lead on his competitors.
Polesitter Pipo Derani was back at the wheel of the No. 31 Action Express Racing entry, chasing the taillights of the No. 7 Porsche from second. Renger van der Zande guided Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 01 Cadillac in third.
“We knew we were going to have a fight, and we do,” said CGR co-driver Sebastien Bourdais, who put the No. 01 in the lead earlier in the race. “I think the car shows that it’s got plenty of pace. I’ve never been in doubt of that. We knew we had the strong package as far as optimizing the performance level we have at our disposal, but it won’t be easy if it comes down to a drag race in the last 30 minutes.”
Rene Rast in the No. 25 BMW and Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 Acura were also running in the top five.
Hour 6: Class Leaders
Malthre Jakobsen leads the LMP2 field in the No. 04 Oreca.
Bryan Sellers has put his No. 1 BMW entry in first position in the GTD Pro class.
In GTD, Kenton Koch currently leads in the No. 32 Mercedes AMG.