Nasr Leads Porsche & Penske To Another Rolex 24 Victory

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With controlled dominance in the back half of the 63rd Rolex 24 at Daytona, Porsche Penske Motorsport took its second straight overall win in the twice-around-the-clock endurance classic Sunday afternoon at Daytona Int’l Speedway.

Just as he did a year prior, Felipe Nasr drove the No. 7 Porsche 963 Grand Touring Prototype home to the checkered flag, topping a late battle with Matt Campbell and the sister No. 6 Penske Porsche and then fending off a spirited charge from Meyer Shank Racing’s Tom Blomqvist in the final minutes.

Nasr made the winning pass with just under 21 minutes to go, driving around Campbell in the International Horseshoe – turn three of the 12-turn, 3.56-mile Daytona road course – on the 768th lap.

He then maintained a steady lead margin all the way to the finish, crossing the finish line 1.335 seconds ahead of Blomqvist’s No. 60 Acura ARX-06 after a thrilling 24 hours of action in the first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race of the season.

Though Nasr was part of the winning Rolex 24 squad in 2024, he was joined by two new co-drivers this time around in Laurens Vanthoor and Nick Tandy. The thrill of victory, however, was every bit as sweet.

“I like winning; that’s what I’m here for,” said a jubilant Nasr after his 12th career IMSA prototype win and second overall triumph in the Rolex 24. “I’m proud we did this again. Incredible work by everyone at Porsche Penske Motorsport for the two cars to run so strong all the way to the very end.”

It was actually the sister No. 6 Porsche that appeared to be in the cat bird’s seat at the start of the final hour, after Kevin Estre chased down Nasr before taking the lead with an hour and 10 minutes left when the penultimate round of pit service began.

Three minutes later, Campbell got behind the wheel of the No. 6 for the final stint during its next pit stop, holding the lead at the end of the cycle as Nasr tried to rally back.

The 14th and final full-course yellow of the race bunched the field up with 59 minutes left, however, after a blown tire stranded the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini GT Daytona entry in oval turn two and set the stage for a barnburner to the finish.

Racing resumed with 38-and-a-half minutes to go, and Nasr immediately capitalized by muscling his way past the No. 24 Team RLL BMW M of Dries Vanthoor for second place, stalking his teammate Campbell after that for the next 10 laps before a memorable battle for the win between the pair.

As Nasr brought the No. 7 home, Tandy watched emotionally from pit lane as he became the first driver in major sports car history to complete the Grand Slam by earning overall victories in all four worldwide 24-hour endurance races – the Rolex 24 at Daytona, 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Spa, and Nürburgring 24 Hours.

“This is one of the biggest sporting events in the world, and we’ve come out victorious, and this is one of the biggest moments in my professional career,” said Tandy, whose first overall Rolex 24 triumph marked his 22nd career class victory in IMSA competition.

“I had a chance to win here before in class, but the overall is something different and something that I’ve been wanting to try and achieve for a long time,” he added. “To win all four 24 hour [races] … just one is incredible for a driver, but to have them all is beyond anything I could have hoped for in my career.”

After earning the FIA World Endurance Championship title last season with Porsche Penske Motorsport, Laurens Vanthoor added his first overall Rolex 24 win in nine starts on Sunday, as well as the 11th class win of his IMSA career.

“I’ve been trying for this one for a while and came close a lot of times, and I don’t know how to put this into words right now,” said the elder Vanthoor brother. “I’ve dreamed of driving this car for (Mr.) Penske and for Porsche and to be in the chrome trailer as a winner … nothing compares.”

After taking over the No. 60 Acura from co-drivers Colin Braun, Scott Dixon, and Felix Rosenqvist late, Blomqvist surged past Campbell with four minutes to go, but didn’t have enough time to mount a charge on the No. 7 Porsche for the win.

It left Meyer Shank Racing and team co-owner Mike Shank second in his return to the Rolex 24 after a one-year absence.

Campbell and the No. 6 Penske Porsche co-driven by Estre and Mathieu Jaminet completed the overall podium in third. The top three cars were the only three to finish on the overall lead lap.

The winning car completed 781 laps over 24 hours – for a total race distance of 2,780.36 miles – and led a race-high 307 laps en route to the win.

After suffering damage during the final hour and having to make a late pit stop for repairs, Dries Vanthoor limped the No. 24 BMW M to the finish line in fourth place, a lap off the pace after restarting second following the final caution period.

The pole-winning entry was co-driven by Philipp Eng, Kevin Magnussen, and Raffaele Marciello, with fifth place overall and in GTP going to the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Will Stevens, and Brendon Hartley.

In Le Mans Prototype 2, Frenchman and four-time Indy car champion Sebastien Bourdais led Tower Motorsport to a surprise Rolex 24 class victory after the Era Motorsport No. 18 spun from the LMP2 lead inside of 25 minutes to go.

While Tower Motorsport had showed the potential for a podium finish in class, the team wasn’t the dominant force in LMP2, leading eight times for 118 laps but not even reaching the front until after the midpoint of the 24-hour affair.

Bourdais was determined, however, and earned his third Rolex 24 class win by a comfortable 44.697-second margin over the runner-up United Autosports No. 22.

“It wasn’t the most traditional way to win it, but we were in the mix all night long,” said Bourdais, who co-drove with John Farano, Sebastian Alvarez, and Job van Uitert. “It looked like it might be slipping away from us a bit once the sun came up, but then they tangled at the front and seemed to really want to give it to us.

“We’ll take it.”

In a unique twist, all three of Bourdais’ Rolex 24 class wins have come in different classes (2014 Prototype, 2017 GTLM, 2025 LMP2).

Paul di Resta brought United Autosports to the finish second, alongside Daniel Goldburg, James Aleen, and Rasmus Lindh, with the No. 74 Riley Technologies machine of Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, Josh Burdon, and former Formula One star Felipe Massa completing the LMP2 podium.

The No. 99 AO Racing entry, affectionately known as “Spike” in sports car circles, appeared to be on its way to LMP2 victory lane led by multi-time IMSA champion Dane Cameron before breaking a bell housing with an hour and 21 minutes to run.

That mechanical issue forced Cameron to pit road and ended the hopes of a class win for himself and co-drivers P.J. Hyett, Jonny Edgar, and 2024 LMP2 winner Christian Rasmussen. The team made repairs, but was left sixth in class and eight laps off the pace of the class-winning Tower Motorsport car.

Another LMP2 contender that fell by the wayside late was the AF Corse/PECOM Racing entry of Matthieu Vaxiviere, Dylan Murry, Nicklas Nielsen, and Luis Perez Companc, which lost a driveline and retired from the lead with two hours and 11 minutes to go after completing 697 laps.

Grand Touring class winners in the 63rd Rolex 24 were the No. 65 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 of Dennis Olsen, Christopher Mies, and Frederic Vervisch in GT Daytona Pro; and the No. 13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Matthew Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern, and Marvin Kirchhofer in GT Daytona.

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season continues Saturday, March 15 with the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring from Sebring Int’l Raceway.