24 hours of chaos and great racing at Daytona International Speedway
The Rolex 24 at Daytona is the start of the 2019 IMSA season. The 3.56-mile road course features 12 turns and full degrees of banking (31 degrees) via the portion on the NASCAR oval.
Below is the Daytona International Speedway race report as well as 2019 Rolex 24 results.
Hour 1: Oliver Jarvis put the Mazda on the pole. He led all four classes of the Rolex 24 Hour race to the green flag.
Hour 2: Alex Zanardi is making his debut in the 24 hour race at Daytona. However, when the car rolled to the pit for a driver change, they had issues with the steering wheel.
Zanardi is without legs. He uses a special steering wheel and brake lever to control the car. The crew had issues installed the special steering wheel during the first change of the day.
Hour 2: The Mazda was stuck behind a slower class heading onto the banking of the oval. He used the apron of the track to get around him. The Penske machine took the lane with less traffic around the outside. They split the Porsche and battled side by side around the banking for the race lead. Team Penske took the overall lead.
Hour 4: Fernando Alonso was on fire in his first stint of the race. He moved from 3rd to 1st as they rolled into turn one. He took the lead under braking.
Hour 6: Both Mazda’s went out of the race. The first one coasted to the garage area with mechanical issues. Moments later, the pole sitting car caught fire going into the bus stop.
Hour 11: The #31 Cadillac DPI approached the back bumper of Alonso. He grabbed a toe and took the lead heading into the back straight-away dogleg.
12 Hours: Halfway Mark
View full 2019 Rolex 24 race results below.
For comparisons sake, I thought it will be a nice addition to post the running order at the halfway mark of the race. Here are the results at the 12 hour mark of the the event.
GTLM: Right at the halfway mark, Antonio Garcia ran out of fuel. He ran out on the same lap that he was set to pull into the pits.
DPI
1. #31 Derani
2. #10 J. Taylor
3. #7 Rossi
4. #6 Montoya
LMP2
1. #18 Saavedra
2. #81 Lapierre
3. #33 Wright
4. #52 McMurry
GTLM
1. #911 Makowiecki
2. #912 Jaminet
3. #62 Molina
4. #66 Mueller
GTD
1. #33 Bleekemolen
2. #63 Vilander
3. #96 Klingmann
4. #86 M. Farnbacher
Hour 15: The rain started. Alonso has moved into the lead.
After 15 hours of racing, the track was heavily greasy. Oil, water and rubber don’t mix. Several cars were sent off the race track. The #4 Corvette was the first car to take the heaviest hit. He slid for several hundred feet of paved run-off before making contact with a tire barrier.
The field rolled around for a little over an hour under yellow.
Hour 17: The red flag was finally dropped on the event. The clock continued to run as Alonso remained the race leader.
Related: The Rolex 24 was set to go green; Then, they dropped the red flag instead
Hour 18 and 30 minutes: The green has dropped on the race for the first time since the 15 hour mark. Conditions are about the same as they were before the red flag.
It only took a straight-away. Several cars have piled up at the start/finish line. Visibility was slim as the field approached cars spinning across the track.
Hour 19 40 minutes: The field continues to coast around under caution. Ricky Taylor is the race leader. He’s also getting sick while coasting around under caution. Taylor bailed for the pit lane for a driver change.
Hour 20 45 minutes: The green is back out. There’s been 27 green laps in the last 5.5 hours of this race.
Hour 21: Felipe Nasr and Jordan Taylor are in a side by side battle for the lead of the race. The track is soaked and drivers are running outside of the normal race line.
Nasr has hydroplaned though turn one. Fernando Alonso has taken the lead. At the same time, the leader in the GTD class has gone for a spin. Engelhart takes the lead in GTD.
Hour 22: The rain is coming down harder. The red flag is back out. Three cars remain on the lead lap.
Final Hour: The cars remain under cover as the rain continues to fall. IMSA has planned an announcement for 2pm.
2:25pm: The race has been called. There was about 10 minutes remaining on the clock at the call. However, all the drivers were still out of the cars.
Wayne Taylor Racing wins the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona. It’s their 2nd win in a row.
View full 2019 Rolex 24 race results below.
2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona Results: Overall
Position | Final Driver | Car Number | Class
1. Fernando Alonso
#10 DPI
2. Felipe Nasr
#31 DPI
3. Alexander Rossi
#7 DPI
4. Loic Duval
#54 DPI
5. Devlin Defrancesco
#85 DPI
6. Sebastian Saavedra
#18 LMP2
7. Cameron Cassels
#38 LMP2
8. Simon Pagenaud
#6 DPI
9. Filipe Albuquerque
#5 DPI
10. Augusto Farfus
#25 GTLM
11. James Calado
#62 GTLM
12. Richard Westbrook
#67 GTLM
13. Laurens Vanthoor
#912 GTLM
14. Nick Tandy
#911 GTLM
15. Henrik Hedman
#81 LMP2
16. Mike Rockenfeller
#3 GTLM
17. Christian Engelhart
#11 GTD
18. Daniel Morad
#29 GTD
19. Jeff Segal
#12 GTD
20. Frederic Vervisch
#88 GTD
21. Trent Hindman
#86 GTD
22. Nick Cassidy
#14 GTD
23. Luca Stolz
#33 GTD
24. Matt Campbell
#73 GTD
25. Marcos Gomes
#13 GTD
26. Jens Klingmann
#96 GTD
27. Spencer Pumpelly
#44 GTD
28. Sebastien Bourdais
#66 GTLM
29. Oliver Gavin
#4 GTLM
30. Rene Binder
#50 DPI
31. Markus Winkelhock
#19 GTD
32. Jesse Krohn
#24 GTLM
33. Katherine Legge
#57 GTD
34. Toni Vilander
#63 GTD
35. Chris Haase
#8 GTD
36. Dirk Werner
#540 GTD
37. Gabriel Aubry
#52 LMP2
38. Ryan Hardwick
#48 GTD
39. Zacharie Robichon
#9 GTD
40. Taylor Proto
#46 GTD
41. Milos Pavlovic
#47 GTD
42. Olivier Pla
#55 DPI
43. Fabian Schiller
#71 GTD
44. Paul Dalla Lana
#51 GTD
45. Chris Miller
#84 DPI
46. Timo Bernhard
#77 DPI
47. Juergen Haering
#99 GTD