Habul is competing in the GTD Pro class at Daytona, the third division of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, alongside compatriots Chaz Mostert and Will Power with Maro Engel of Germany.

Speaking on the broadcast just over two hours into the race, the two-time Bathurst 12 Hour winner offered a scathing assessment of his rivals – noting the bizarre first lap LMP2 crash.

“Surprisingly, a lot of crashes early on,” said Habul.

“First lap, I don’t know what that’s about. Very aggressive out there.

“As usual, the prototypes… mate, you’ve never seen a bigger bunch of pelicans in your life than those guys. They have no concept of being professionals, no concept of 24 hours.

“The way they attack, the risks they take, they chop everyone, they hit the GTDs. I got door-tapped three times, I got pushed into the marbles twice.

“Sooner or later, IMSA just has to man up and just say to these guys, look, it’s your race and it’s our race. This is not NASCAR where you just sideswipe someone and get a medal for it.”

Habul’s first stint was punctuated by a spin. Fortunately, he escaped any serious damage and continued.

“The car is good. Strong. No issues,” said Habul.

“I had a little spin there trying to pass somebody. I got the door closed on me, but kept going and the lap times were good.

“They told me the lap times were right up the front. Happy, everything good so far.”

Although Engel took the #75 car to the lead briefly having started third, it was a troubled first four hours for the 75 Express Mercedes-AMG.

The team copped a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane and then a 100-second stop-and-go penalty for failure to adhere to stint energy requirements.