2018 24 Hours of Daytona

rdf:langString 2018 24 Hours of Daytona

rdf:langString WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

rdf:langString The 2018 24 Hours of Daytona (formally the 56th Rolex 24 at Daytona) was an International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned 24-hour automobile endurance race for Daytona Prototype and Grand Touring sports cars held at the Daytona International Speedway combined road course in Daytona Beach, Florida, on January 27 to 28, 2018. It was the first of twelve 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship races, the 56th 24 Hours of Daytona, and the first in the four-round North American Endurance Cup. Renger van der Zande for Wayne Taylor Racing started from pole position and led for most of the opening hour. Filipe Albuquerque of Mustang Sampling Racing took the lead after the first round of pit stops and kept it for five hours before losing it to Team Penske's Hélio Castroneves. Whelen Engineering Racing (WER), Penske and Mustang Sampling traded the lead several times over the next 12 hours. Mustang Sampling's Albuquerque, Christian Fittipaldi and João Barbosa led the final third of the race to win in a record-breaking distance of 808 laps and 2,876.48 miles (4,629.25 km) and take the lead of the Prototype Drivers' and Teams' Championships. Mike Conway, Eric Curran, Stuart Middleton and Felipe Nasr were second in the sister WER car. Third were CORE Autosport's Jon Bennett, Colin Braun, Romain Dumas and Loïc Duval. Ford Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) drivers Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook, won the Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM) class, after passing the sister team of Sébastien Bourdais, Dirk Müller and Joey Hand at its final pit stop. The team led all bar nine laps in the category to claim CGR's 200th motor racing victory and the lead of the GTLM points lead. The pole-sitting Corvette Racing trio of Antonio García, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller completed the class podium. Having led the last four and a half hours, Mirko Bortolotti, Rik Breukers, Rolf Ineichen and Franck Perera of GRT Grasser Racing Team won the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) category to claim Lamborghini's first 24-hour race victory and the lead of the class points standings, despite starting from the back of the grid for failing a mandatory post-qualifying stall test. Michael Shank Racing's A. J. Allmendinger, Trent Hindman, Katherine Legge and Álvaro Parente was second and Andrea Caldarelli, Bryce Miller, Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow placed Paul Miller Racing's car in third.