Penske’s No. 7 Porsche Leads Four Hours Into Rolex 24

The No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Grand Touring Prototype in action Saturday afternoon at Daytona Int'l Speedway. (IMSA photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Seeking a second straight Rolex 24 at Daytona victory, the No. 7 Porsche 963 Grand Touring Prototype entry of Porsche Penske Motorsport found itself atop the leaderboard at the four-hour mark of the race early Saturday evening.

With Laurens Vanthoor at the controls, the No. 7 Porsche GTP led the sister No. 6 Penske Porsche of Kevin Estre by six seconds after 136 laps around the 3.56-mile, 12-turn Daytona Int’l Speedway road course.

Third and fourth at the four-hour mark were the pair of BMW GTP prototypes from Rahal Leterman Lanigan Racing, with the No. 25 ahead of the No. 24, with the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac closing the overall and GTP top five.

In Le Mans Prototype 2, the AO Racing No. 99 ORECA shared by Dane Cameron, PJ Hyett, Christian Rasmussen, and Jonny Edgar sat five laps behind the overall lead, but 48 seconds ahead in class over the No. 2 United Autosports USA machine of Nick Boulle, Garnet Patterson, Ben Hanley, and Oliver Jarvis.

GT Daytona Pro saw the pair of Ford Mustang GT3s from Multimatic Motorsports leading the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan, with Sebastian Priaulx in the No. 64 Mustang a slim seven tenths of a second clear of teammate Dennis Olsen in the No. 65 Mustang.

Marco Mapelli was wheeling the Pfaff No. 9 in podium position at the four-hour benchmark.

Finally, the Heart of Racing No. 24 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo topped the GT Daytona class order four hours into the twice-around-the-clock endurance classic, with Casper Stevenson behind the wheel.

Eighteen seconds adrift in GTD, but second in class was the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini, driven at that point by former full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series driver and now-CW Sports NASCAR analyst Parker Kligerman.

Of note, the all-star lineup of Shane van Gisbergen, Connor Zilisch, Scott McLaughlin, and Ben Keating for Trackhouse by TF Sport sat outside the top 10, nearly a lap down to the GTDPRO class leaders due to a drive-through penalty assessed right at the end of the second hour.

The infraction was due to tires left unattended over the pit wall during one of the team’s early pit stops.

Only one full-course yellow flag slowed the pace during the first four hours of the 63rd Rolex 24, while the race’s lone retirement to that point was the No. 63 Lamborghini SC63 GTP entry, which went out of action after just 34 laps due to water pressure issues.