Penske Claims Third Straight Rolex 24 Overall as Battles Rage in LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD

Unofficial Results

Add yet another historic victory to Roger Penske’s iconic career of high achievement. Team Penske kicked off its 60th anniversary season Sunday with the overall victory in the 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona – Penske’s third straight win in the world-renowned sports car race. It featured an all-time Rolex 24 record attendance at the Daytona International Speedway road course to kick off the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Brazilian Felipe Nasr drove the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 across the finish line 1.569 seconds ahead of Brit Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R after a particularly spirited battle through the final hour between the two. The No. 24 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 was third, 21 seconds behind the winner, in the team’s first race running the IMSA BMW GTP program.

“The driving that he’s done for us and at the end there, probably one of the best drives I’ve seen,” Penske said of Nasr. “You know for our 60th it’s a big deal, and here at Daytona, to have three wins here is certainly special. Starts out the year the right way.”

The veteran Nasr’s work now equals and follows on the heels of fellow Brazilian Helio Castroneves’s three consecutive overall wins (2021-23) at Daytona’s famous 3.56-mile road course. Peter Gregg also achieved the feat when he won three straight in 1973, ’75 and ’76 (there was no race in ’74). Both Nasr’s co-drivers, German Laurin Heinrich and Frenchman Julien Andlauer, won their first Rolex 24s and Andlauer achieved his first WeatherTech Championship win of any kind.

Plaudits were earned for team and manufacturer as well. Team Penske tied Chip Ganassi Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing with its third consecutive win and 46th in any IMSA class. Porsche brought home its 21st overall Rolex 24 triumph, the most of any manufacturer.

“Three in a row, it’s just a very special day – I dreamed of that,’’ said Nasr. “We had a battle all the way to the end with the (No.) 31. … I was just trying all I could because I know in these final hours everyone is using everything they have inside the car, and the Cadillac was a strong car.

“The field has such good drivers,’’ Nasr said. “I have to acknowledge that the level of this race is getting higher and higher in this GTP (Grand Touring Prototype) class. It was pure racing. I used everything I had.”

Sunny skies and 70-degree temperatures – warmer-than-usual Rolex 24 weather – straddled a heavy overnight fog at the track that brought out a full-course caution flag for six hours, 33 minutes – the longest in Rolex 24 history.

When racing resumed after the fog just after 7 a.m. ET, the action picked up accordingly. The Penske Porsches battled closely with the BMWs and Cadillacs for the overall lead and, as is so typical of this legendary race, the final hours fed high drama.

Although the Nos. 7 and 6 Penske Porsches truly dominated the event statistically, combining to lead 521 of the 705 laps (74 percent of the race), they had to fend off a strong two-car BMW effort and a powerful Cadillac showing that also included a pair of Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing cars in addition to the runner-up No. 31 Cadillac Whelen entry – as well as a persistent push from the two-car Acura Michael Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 effort that claimed pole position. Nine of the 11 GTP cars led laps.

Twice in the final hour, Aitken was able to pull within less than a half-second of Nasr, pulling alongside in one particular attempt to pass heading into Turn 1. But Nasr was on his game, negotiating the 60-car field throughout the race and repelling Aitken’s attempts to overtake in the final 60 minutes.

“The guys all around from the team in the pit box to my teammates did a fantastic job to get us back into a position at the end of the race,’’ said Aitken, who was vying to put the No. 31 Cadillac in victory lane for a third straight WeatherTech Championship race dating to the final two of 2025. “The Porsches were very strong all race, very impressive. We tried to challenge them best we could and I got close to them a few times.

“Just really, really heartbreaking but we had great runs and I’m proud of that,” Aitken added.

“I had a couple moments where I stuck my nose in there, but it was always from just a bit further back just trying to make something happen. I never got a super great run on them. I was trying to find an opening here and there, and (there was) a fine line between making a gap open up and causing a bit of an accident.”

The Rolex 24 is the first of five IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races on the 2026 calendar. By leading at all four junctures when endurance points were awarded, the No. 7 Porsche has opened a significant lead over the competition.

LMP2: CrowdStrike Strikes It Big with LMP2 Victory

CrowdStrike Racing by APR claimed victory in a very competitive 13-car Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class, overcoming a first-lap incident seconds into the 24-hour race to regroup and win.

It went a long way to avenge a photo-finish runner-up showing for the team’s ORECA LMP2 07 two years ago at Daytona. That memory, when the No. 04 lost by 0.016 seconds, was seared into the memory of team owner and Bronze-rated co-driver George Kurtz. The No. 04 also finished second a year later, with Kurtz and two of his 2026 co-drivers – Malthe Jakobsen and Toby Sowery – on board then. Along with fourth driver Alex Quinn, all were elated to nail down the first Rolex 24 win for each of them.

The No. 04 recovered from that Lap 1 incident Saturday – collected in a multi-car melee heading into Turn 1 – but went on to lead often and convincingly. Its healthy 5.590-second win over the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA marked the largest margin of victory in the four classes competing in the 60-car field. Inter Europol’s second entry, the No. 343 ORECA, completed the LMP2 class podium.

 Back-to-Front for Paul Miller Racing BMW in GTD PRO

Starting from the rear of the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) field at the 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona turned out to be a minor setback for Paul Miller Racing.

Neil Verhagen’s front-row qualifying effort in the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO for the classic IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship endurance race was disallowed after the car was found to have camber in excess of the permitted limit.

But despite starting 15th and last, Verhagen and his co-drivers Connor De Phillippi, Max Hesse, and Dan Harper prevailed to win by 2.223 seconds over the No. 75 Mercedes-AMG GT3 fielded by 75 Express and driven by Kenny Habul, Maro Engel, Australian Supercars champion Chaz Mostert, and IndyCar star Will Power.

It was class victory No. 2 for Paul Miller Racing at the Rolex 24, the other coming in GTD in 2020 with a Lamborghini Huracán GT3. It was also PMR’s second consecutive GTD PRO win in WeatherTech Championship competition, as Hesse, Harper and De Phillippi shared PMR’s then-No. 48 BMW to cap off the 2025 season at Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

Starting from the back of a race is always a daunting prospect, but the PMR drivers weren’t too fazed because they knew they would have 24 hours to work with.

“If we were going to get disqualified from one, this would be the best one to get it done,” said Verhagen, who was victorious at Daytona in his third Rolex 24 start. “Obviously, we were a bit discouraged about losing the points for qualifying, but I don’t think we felt we were starting off on the wrong note or something like that.

“We just knew that we needed to work like a team and that’s what we did. We pulled off a flawless race.”

De Phillippi also earned his second Rolex 24 class win (2019 in GT Le Mans in a BMW M8 GTE), while Hesse and Harper took home the coveted Rolex Daytona timepiece awarded as a trophy for the first time.

GTD: Winward’s Daytona Mastery Continues

Phillip Ellis called his late-race battle with Nicki Thiim for the lead and the ultimate Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class victory at the Rolex 24 At Daytona “a little stressful.”

Ellis, in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, fought door-to-door with Thiim’s No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin GT3 EVO through Daytona International Speedway’s famous tri-oval with 10 minutes remaining in the annual 24-hour endurance contest. Slight contact between the cars sent both cars into lurid slides, caught masterfully by the drivers.

Ellis maintained a slim advantage under braking into Turn 1 and fought off another concentrated attack from Thiim before finally pulling away to a 1.367-second advantage over Thiim at the checkered flag.

Ellis shared his winning car with Russell Ward, Indy Dontje and Lucas Auer while Thiim sought to deliver a win in the Magnus Aston he shared with past Rolex 24 class winners John Potter, Spencer Pumpelly (who entered with a race-high 24 starts, although not consecutive) and team newcomer Madison Snow.

Tom Gamble, Zacharie Robichon, Mattia Drudi, and Dudu Barrichello (the 24-year-old son of former Formula 1 driver Rubens Barrichello) claimed third place in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

It was Winward Racing’s third GTD class win at the Rolex in the last six years, the others coming in 2021 and ’24. Making the day even better for the team owned by Russell Ward and his father, Bryce, their GTD PRO class entry finished third on its WeatherTech Championship debut.

Both class winners also won the Michelin Endurance Cup portion of the event, scoring the most points at the four awarded intervals at six-, 12-, 18- and 24 hours.

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship resumes March 18-21 with the 74th annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring at Sebring International Raceway.

 

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