Cadillac Racing leads the Rolex 24 at Daytona after a troublesome opening six hours which saw numerous incidents.
Having recently completed a round of pit stops, Scott Dixon stayed behind the wheel of the race-leading #01 Cadillac DPi-V.R he shares with Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, and Alex Palou.
Dixon was flying out front and built a 10-second advantage before a caution nullified that lead at the end of the sixth hour.
The race has seen four caution periods so far, with an incident-filled opening quarter to the IMSA SportsCar Championship season-opener.
Most notably, the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Kenny Habul was eliminated in a multi-car accident after three hours, bringing out the third full-course yellow period.
Driven by Habul at the time, the Australian was amongst a group of GTD cars exiting Turn 7 back onto the speedway as they came together.
Also caught up was the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3, which then copped a swipe from the #6 Muehlner Motorsports LMP3 car as it tried to avoid the incident.
It came after a short burst of green flag racing following the second caution, brought on by a heavy impact for Kyle Washington in a GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R.
The race’s first caution came at the end of the opening hour when the #18 Era Motorsport LMP2 entry found the fence at Turn 6, necessitating lengthy barrier repairs.
Kamui Kobayashi led the first hour of racing in the #48 Ally Cadillac Racing DPi, with some opportune overtakes early in the piece.
The overall lead battle featured a handful of DPi competitors, including the #10 Konica Minolta entry, #01 Cadillac, and the #60 Acura, in addition to the #48 entry.
Van der Zande found his way to the front in the #01 Cadillac, as those around him hit trouble.
Jose Maria Lopez, who took over from Kobayashi in the #48 Cadillac, lost ground when he ran off the road after a pit stop, while Helio Castroneves suffered a puncture aboard the #60 Acura.
Pole-sitters Wayne Taylor Racing dropped two laps down with a puncture on the #10 Konica Minolta Acura in the hands of Will Stevens.
This series of dramas jumbled up the DPi order, with the #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac, #5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac, and #02 Cadillac Racing entry rising up the leaderboard.
In GTD Pro, the KCMG Porsche 911 GT3-R took over the lead from the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 after a lengthy duel in the fifth hour.
Mercedes-AMG’s Winward Racing moved into the GTD lead after four hours courtesy of Mikael Grenier’s overtake on the Lamborghini of Sandy Mitchell, however, the Mercedes made a pit stop under the most recent caution.
This promoted the #27 Aston Martin into the race lead in class, with the Winward Mercedes off-kilter in the pit stop sequence.
G-Drive Racing leads LMP2, while Australian Josh Burdon’s Andretti Autosport entry is on top in LMP3.
The race’s fourth caution came at the close of the sixth hour when a GTD Porsche nosed into the wall on the in-field section.
RESULTS: Rolex 24 At Daytona, Hour 6
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