Cadillac, Ford and Porsche were victorious at a wet and wild running of the 24 Hours of Daytona, with the former taking the overall win.
The opening race of the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship calendar was witness to plenty of thrills to go along with a few spills — and even some controversy. After a restart with less than an hour remaining left a pair of newly-minted Cadillac DPi-V.R prototypes duking it out for the top spot in their class, contact between the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing and No. 5 Action Express Racing cars saw the former cruise to the overall win. The Action Express car held onto the second spot, besting the No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Riley-Multimatic Mk. 30.
With about 30 minutes left in the race the GT Le Mans class-leading No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari GTE was overtaken by the No. 66 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT, which held on for the win. The Ferrari was also overtaken by the No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR, which finished second in the GTLM class.
The race’s tightest margin of victory went to the No. 28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, which held off the No. 29 Montaplast by Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 and No. 33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 to claim the win in the GT Daytona division.
The next race on the IMSA SportsCar Championship calendar is the 12 Hours of Sebring the March 15-18 weekend.
