Felipe Nasr took the checkered flag in the 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona, delivering team owner Roger Penske his first overall victory in 55 years at the endurance race classic.
Nasr took the lead from Tom Blomqvist during a pit stop under yellow on Lap 768 with just over 45 minutes left. After a restart with 31 minutes remaining, Nasr fended off several challenges from the No. 31 Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R that had started on the pole position.
It was only the second overall victory in the Rolex 24 for Penske, who won on the Daytona International Speedway road course in 1969 with a Lola T-70/Chevrolet whose lineup included the late Mark Donohue.
RESULTS: Click here for overall l By category
“You think about 1969 we won here with a Lola, and things were a lot different in those days,” Penske told NBC Sports’ Kevin Lee in victory lane. “Just to think about today, the biggest crowd they’ve had here for a sports car race. My hat’s off to IMSA, obviously for Porsche to give us the equipment. But the drivers and at the end there with Felipe
“But just to see the competitiveness and six or seventh tenths of a second was the difference after 24 hours. That’s unbelievable. Hard to say.”
Even for the legendary team owner, it’s been a whirlwind eight months that started with a record-extending 19th win in the Indy 500 for Team Penske. In November, Ryan Blaney won the second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series championship for Penske.
The 86-year-old motorsports icon’s next big goal comes in June with the 24 Hours of Le Mans — one of the only major motorsports events that remains unconquered by Penske.
“Last year at Le Mans we stumbled and we had some good runs last year, but to come back here and have both cars run for 24 hours and then win the race, it’s hard for me to believe it,” Penske said. “I’ll tell you, this goes down as one of the biggest wins we’ve had. Now we have to go for the big one at Le Mans, you know that.”
Nasr, who joined Porsche Penske Motorsport last year, earned his first overall Rolex 24 victory after winning in GTD Pro two years ago.
“It’s just incredible to think we pulled that one off,” Nasr told Lee. “It all came down to the fuel game pretty much.”
His teammates on the No. 7 were Matt Campbell, Dane Cameron and Josef Newgarden, who became the second reigning Indy 500 winner to win the Rolex 24 in the past three years. Helio Castroneves took the checkered flag in the 2022 Rolex 24 at Daytona after scoring his fourth Indy 500 victory eight months earlier.
“I just showed up,” said Newgarden, who was making his second Rolex 24 start but first in the premier prototype category. “Porsche and Team Penske, they delivered the biggest result. But Felipe, the way he drove at the end, and Matt Campbell. These guys won this race. I was just happy to be here. What an unbelievable group. They’re going to cherish this for a long time.”
The No. 7 Porsche had led for more than five hours after Campbell had taken the overall lead on Lap 594. But Blomqvist charged into the lead in Turn 1 on Lap 749 by outbraking Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963.
“It’s incredible the way this race ebbs and flows and the way we took it to the Cadillacs today,” Campbell told Lee. “Hats off to them. They really gave it to us. To finally get our first big victory in the world is phenomenal. What a team. We finally got it done.”
The victory marked Porsche’s first overall win at Daytona in 14 years.
It’s also the first endurance victory for Porsche Penske Motorsport since entering the rebranded GTP category last year. After more than a year of developing the new hybrid prototype for the top class, the Porsche Penske 963s flamed out in last year’s Rolex 24 with 42nd- and 14th-place finishes marred by mechanical failures and crashes.
“I’m so proud of these guys; we had so many issues in the long races last year,” said Cameron, who won his first Rolex 24 after 15 years of trying. “So much work to tune this thing up. (Nasr and Campbell) were unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable.”
Blomqvist came up 2.112 seconds short of a third consecutive Rolex 24 victory, nearly closing the win for the second consecutive year after winning in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 last year. Blomqvist drove nearly the final three hours after taking the wheel from Jack Aitken.
''They were really quick at times; we were quick at times,” Blomqvist said of the Porsches. “We were maybe a little bit better having to take more care of tires and double stinting. They were really strong on restarts, especially during the night and when it was a little bit cooler. The last couple of stints, I was slowly chipping away, and we decided to take an early stop to try and undercut them, which we didn’t really manage, and thankfully, I was able to get by on track.”
The final yellow, coupled with short pitting, ended up biting the No. 31 because of its position on pit lane and Porsche’s better fuel efficiency.
“The whole goal was to make a gap because obviously, we were going to have a bit longer stoppage time at the next stop, and unfortunately, that (last) yellow ended our chances really, especially where we are on the pit lane and not really being able to react to the car behind,” Blomqvist said. “That hurt us, really. I think it was going to be a bit closer if that yellow hadn’t come out because I felt there at the end of the race, we had the pace advantage. It was just so difficult to pass.
“The Porsche was really strong on the straight. We were really good in the infield. It was hard to make anything count. There wasn’t cars there at the end of the race in terms of the traffic to kind of find an opportunity. Felipe did one small mistake where he went wide by a few meters, but other than that, there was no opportunity. Yeah, hats off to them. They were fantastic really.”
Pipo Derani filled out the runner-up lineup for the No. 31, which was the only car of the 10 Grand Touring Prototype entries to use three drivers instead of four. The No. 31 was trying to open the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season on top after winning the inaugural GTP championship last year.
“Nothing nothing better than fighting wheel to wheel with great competitors and having such an amazing finish to a race that has been like that from the beginning to the end,” Derani said. “But yeah, nail-biter. I think we had our moment. Tom did a fantastic job to to undercut really and get by Felipe. ... We gave everything we could. We came just short, but I’m really proud because I think we’ve done a fantastic job. Everyone involved in the team, we didn’t make a single mistake the whole week really.
“Came here with a very competitive car, been out front from the beginning to the end of the race, and had great battles. Nothing better to enjoy and celebrate motorsport with a race like this, and I hope next time if I’m not finishing the race, I hope these guys can make it a little easier on the heartbeat.”
Rounding out the overall podium, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s Louis Deletraz finished third in the No. 40 ARX-06 as Acura came up short in its bid for a fourth consecutive Rolex 24 win.
Other category winners:
LMP2: No. 18 Era Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 of Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel, Connor Zilisch, Christian Rasmussen
GTD Pro: No. 62 Risi Competizione 296 GT3 of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon
GTD: No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 of Russell Ward, Philip Ellis, Indy Dontje, Daniel Morad
Click here for updates from earlier in the race.
ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA RESULTS
Fastest laps by driver
Fastest laps by driver after race (over the weekend)
Fastest laps by driver and class after race
Fastest lap sequence
Leader sequence
Lap chart
Race analysis by lap
Stint analysis
Time cards
Pit stop time cards
Best sector times
Race distance and average speed