Rolex 24, Hour 18: Paul Miller Racing BMW greets the sun with GTD PRO lead
The sun is rising over Daytona International Speedway as we enter the fourth quarter of the 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona.
With six hours left and 585 laps completed, Porsche Penske Motorsport is in command of the GTP class. Nick Tandy and Matt Campbell are fighting hard but fair for the lead as they pursue one another through traffic. Tandy in the No. 7 Porsche 963 has built a bit of a lead to the No. 6 of Campbell, now around five seconds at the interval.
Over 30 seconds behind the leading Porsches, the No. 24 RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 is third, ahead of the No. 60 MSR Acura ARX-06 and the No. 10 WTR Cadillac V-Series.R, at the end of the lead lap.
It is still cold but expected to get warmer as the end of the race approaches.
We've had 10 full course yellows but none since around 3:30am when the Inter Europol Competition LMP2 had its breakdown, and 13 official retirements including the No. 5 Porsche, No. 40 Cadillac and No. 63 Lamborghini from GTP.
AO Racing leads LMP2 at the interval with its No. 99 ORECA 07 LMP2. Christian Rasmussen has a six-second advantage over the No. 8 Tower Motorsports car of Job van Uitert. Colton Herta runs third in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR car, with the top three all very much in contention for the LMP2 win.
The No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports ORECA has rejoined the race after extensive repairs — miraculously so after Chris Cumming was involved in the six-car pile-up at Turn 2 last night, which took out the No. 2 United Autosports USA car.
GTD PRO is kicking off as the pace begins to rapidly pick up. Madison Snow set the fastest lap of the race in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO this hour, and just minutes ago he forcefully overtook the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Klaus Bachler for the class lead.
Dennis Olsen runs third, waiting to pounce in his No. 65 Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3, with the No. 3 Corvette Racing Z06 GT3.R of Antonio Garcia in a distant fourth but definitely not out of the hunt, ahead of the No. 69 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3.
AWA leads GTD at the interval courtesy of a strong drive from Englishman Matt Bell, who now has a narrow lead over the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG of Ralf Aron in second.
Aron has a buffer to Korthoff Competition Motors' Kenton Koch in third, then the Ferraris of Conrad Laursen for AF Corse and James Calado for Triarsi Competizione.
HOUR 18 STANDINGS
Story originally appeared on Racer
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