DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – As the Rolex 24 reached the halfway mark at Daytona Int’l Speedway, a new team has moved to the front of the field.
The No. 5 Mustang Sampling/JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi shared by Joao Barbosa, Sebastien Bourdais and Loic Duval moved to the lead during the 11th hour when the race leading the No. 77 Team Joest Mazda was hit with a drive-through penalty for passing during a caution period.
That penalty dropped the No. 77 entry, shared by Oliver Jarvis, Olivier Pla and Tristan Nunez, to outside the top-five in the overall and DPi class rankings. By the halfway point in the race the No. 77 was back in fifth and continuing to charge back up the running order.
Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 10 Cadillac DPi sits second in the standings, followed by the Action Express Racing Whelen Engineering No. 31 Cadillac DPi in third.
The BMW Team RLL No. 24 BMW M8 GTE shared by John Edwards, Augusto Farfus, Chaz Mostert and Jesse Krohn continues to lead in GT Le Mans. Edwards was at the wheel of the No. 24 at the halfway mark, but he had the No. 912 Porsche driven by Laurens Vanthoor right behind him and within striking distance.
The biggest news in the GT Le Mans class was the drama that struck the new mid-engine Corvette. A major oil leak sidelined the No. 4 C8.R, leaving just one Corvette Racing entry in contention for the race win.
Paul Miller Racing’s No. 48 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 shared by Madison Snow, Bryan Sellers, Corey Lewis and Andrea Caldarelli remained steadfast at the top of the GT Daytona standings. Behind them a new challenger has emerged, as the No. 88 WRT Speedstar Audi Sport Audi R8 LMS GT3 has moved into second in the class.
In LMP2, PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports was back at the top of the rankings after giving up the lead for periods to the No. 81 DragonSpeed USA entry. Driving the No. 52 ORECA LMP2 07 for PR1 Mathiasen, Ben Keating, Simon Trummer, Nick Boulle and Gabriel Aubry held a nearly full lap lead on the DragonSpeed entry at the 12-hour mark.
The third caution flag of the race waved during the 11th hour of the race when the No. 19 GEAR Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 came to a stop on the track with a fuel pump problem, resulting in a caution flag to retrieve the stranded car.