The Meyer Shank Racing Acura which dominated the build-up to the Rolex 24 in Daytona has claimed victory in the event.
The #60 entry was piloted by Tom Blomqvist to the chequered flag in the opening IMSA SportsCar Championship race of the season.
It’s the entry that had dominated the Roar Before The 24 a week ago, qualifying fastest and topping practice ahead of Saturday’s race start.
The MSR entry headed the Konica Minolta effort driven by Felipe Albuquerque to make for an Acura one-two in the Rolex 24 in what is a new era for the competition with the debut of the GTP class.
Less than 4.2s split the two cars at the end of 783 laps, with Sebastien Bourdais only 5.4s further back in the #01 Cadillac.
Australian James Allen claimed class honours in LMP2 as part of the Proton Competition Oreca, while the leading LMP3 runner home was the #17 AWA Duqueine.
Aston Martin won the GTD Class courtesy of the Heart of Racing effort, while GTD Pro saw Bathurst 12 Hour winner Jules Gounon aboard the class-winning #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes.
It proved a difficult race for Porsche and its new 963, with the Matt Campbell #7 entry striking trouble in the sixth hour of the race.
The car suffered an electrical problem which cost it 35 minutes behind the wall, dropping 20 laps as a consequence.
It had been sitting comfortably amongst the GTP class runners to that point, eventually recovering to 14th have slipped outside of the top 50 early on.
The sister car also had dramas.
While running second, Nick Tandy spun in the infield section, damaging the splitter and rear deck.
He was able to recover the car to the pits where it was repaired but saw it fall from a competitive second to two laps behind the race leaders.
While ground was made during Caution periods, electrical problems befell the car which ultimately retired with gearbox failure.
BMW also struck problems with the #25 effort suffering issues with its hybrid unit in the first hour of the race from which it never recovered.
The car, which featured Colton Herta and Sheldon van der Linde, turned the race into an extended test session as it came home 48th, 131 laps down on the Rolex 24-winning MSR Acura courtesy of an MGU failure which cost it well over three hours of track time.
Herta, who had been cross-entered in both BMW GTP entries, was classified eighth in the #24 which also had electrical issues early on.
A leaking drink bottle in the Scott McLaughlin LMP2 Tower Motorsports car cost it time in the opening minutes of the race but recovered to fifth in class, and 11th overall.
There were further dramas for that car, which had an altercation with the eventual runners up which also caught out Scott Dixon aboard the #01 Cadillac.
The New Zealander was tagged by an LMP3 runner which pitched him into a spin as he avoided the drama ahead of him between the #10 and #8 in the fifth hour of the race.
A steering wheel swap was then needed to solve an electrical issue that struck the car during the night.
Race Results: Rolex 24
Discussion about this post