The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship has started with the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.

The Ligier JS P2 Honda cars of Tequila Patrón Extreme Speed Motorsports and Michael Shank Racing and the Panoz DeltaWing Racing car were the quickest cars during the first hours of the race.

Last year's winner, the No. 02 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entry was able to claim the lead by not pitting during a caution, and it was swapping the lead with the DeltaWing. The Patrón ESM and Shank Ligier-Hondas had a small collision that cost them some time and some positions.

The DeltaWing's well-started race ended during the fourth hour when it crashed into a stopped Prototype Challenge car. After the caution brought by the DeltaWing's incident, Olivier Pla lifted the Ligier-Honda of Shank into the lead.

The defending winner No. 02 Ganassi Ford Riley DP suffered from brake issues during the ninth hour and lost 11 laps. The 10th hour saw the most dramatic moment of the race; the race of the Honda-powered Michael Shank Racing Ligier ended with a blown engine from lead position.

A caution period with just over six hours remaining cut the gaps. There were six Prototype cars on the lead lap with minimal gaps when the 19th hour started. The No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP was leading, followed by the Patrón ESM Ligier-Honda, the Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) Corvette DP, the No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP, the VisitFlorida Racing Corvette DP, and the No. 01 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Riley DP.

Having led for Extreme Speed Motorsports during the first two hours, Pipo Derani performed again well at the wheel of the ESM Ligier-Honda and claimed the lead for the team during the 19th hour.

Two cars from top six fell out from the lead lap during the 19th hour. The No. 01 Ford Riley DP of Ganassi went behind the pit wall for a temperature assessment and lost three laps. The No. 31 Action Express Corvette DP had a more costly issue; repairing a failed rear-left driveshaft cost them 13 laps.

In the 20th hour, the Derani had given the ESM Ligier-Honda over to Johannes van Overbeek. Max Angelelli was now in the WTR Corvette DP in second place, catching and eventually passing van Overbeek for the lead.

A caution period lifted the No. 5 Action Express Corvette DP again into lead in the 21st hour as it had pitted before the caution. However, its lead didn't last long as it suffered a broken drive shaft, losing six laps during the repair and falling into fifth place behind the No. 01 Ford Riley DP of Ganassi. The WTR Corvette DP was leading with only the ESM Ligier-Honda and the VisitFlorida.com Corvette DP on the same lap. Right after the start of the 22nd hour, the ESM Ligier-Honda was given a drive-through penalty for pit road speeding, extending the gap to lead from three to 42 seconds.

The difficult race for the defending champions continued during the 22nd hour when Kyle Larson crashed the No. 02 Ganassi Ford Riley DP into a tire barrier. The incident brought a caution that enabled the ESM Ligier-Honda to cut the loss caused by the drive-through penalty.

With around two hours, 10 minutes remaining, the Patrón ESM team pitted the Ligier-Honda and Pipo Derani once climbed into the car, to have the final attack for the lead. In less than 30 minutes, Derani had caught Ricky Taylor who had a lead of about 15 seconds in the WTR Corvette DP. Almost immediately after catching Taylor, Derani passed him outside on the main stretch of Daytona.

With one hour, 25 minutes remaining, the ESM Ligier-Honda came to its penultimate pit stop. The WTR Corvette DP pitted a lap later and Ricky Taylor handed the car over to his brother Jordan Taylor, to try to catch Derani and finish the race. Unlike ESM, WTR changed tires at the penultimate stop.

With the gap at around seven seconds, both ESM and WTR had the final stop on the same lap. WTR had to have a driver change; Jordan Taylor had been sick and didn't feel well, so he was replaced by Max Angelelli. Angelelli was unable to catch Derani; instead Derani pulled away and won the Rolex 24 for Tequila Patrón Extreme Speed Motorsports by 20 seconds. The No. 2 Ligier JS P2 Honda was co-driven alongside Derani and van Overbeek by Scott Sharp and Ed Brown.

The ESM Ligier-Honda's win was the first for a Honda-powered car at the Rolex 24. It was also the first win for an LMP2 car in their third appearance at the Rolex 24, denying Daytona Prototypes the win in their last appearance at Daytona.

Max Angelelli brought the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype in second place. Alongside Angelelli and the Taylor brothers, the car was co-driven by Rubens Barrichello. Angelelli who finished the race for WTR stopped the car trackside after finishing the race. Reportedly he had inhaled fumes in the cockpit and he was taken to hospital for evaluation.

Verizon IndyCar Series driver Ryan Hunter-Reay finished the race in third place for VisitFlorida.com Racing. The No. 90 Corvette DP was co-driven by VisitFlorida.com full-time drivers Ryan Dalziel and Marc Goossens.

Corvette 1-2 in GT Le Mans

Photo: John Dagys

If the Prototype class had six cars on the lead lap at the restart just before the 18-hour mark, the GT Le Mans class had one more, seven; two Corvettes, two Ferraris, two Porsches, and one BMW. Yet also in the GTLM class mechanical issues dropped cars from the lead lap during the 19th hour. The No. 911 Porsche North America entry suffered a drive shaft issue and the No. 72 SMP Racing Ferrari suffered a turbo issue, leaving both out of the victory contention.

Corvette Racing achieved a one-two lead during the 19th hour with the No. 4 car leading the No. 3 car. They were able to keep the positions until the 21st hour when the No. 4 Corvette was given a one-minute penalty for ignoring the red light at the pits. The No. 4 dropped into fifth place, behind the No. 3 sister Corvette, the No. 68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari, the No. 912 Porsche, and the No. 25 BMW Team RLL car, remaining still on the lead lap.

Coming into the final hour, Earl Bamber in the No. 912 Porsche was leading Oliver Gavin in the No. 4 Corvette by 7 seconds and Antonio García in the No. 3 Corvette by over 25 seconds. Bamber was the first of those to pit, a lap before Gavin. Gavin exited the pits just ahead Bamber, yet couldn't stay ahead with cold tires.

García was able to have some quick laps before his final stop around 15 minutes after Bamber and Gavin. By pitting later, he also had a shorter stop, yet narrowly lost to Bamber and Gavin at the pit exit. Meanwhile Gavin had got his tires work and caught Bamber. Gavin dived inside Bamber and with some contact from him, Bamber's car spun at a hairpin, enough for Gavin to go past for the GTLM class lead. Bamber was able to challenge Gavin for some time before the Corvette driver drove away from him. Bamber had to give up one more position to a Corvette driver, as some ten minutes later García passed him to claim Corvette a 1-2 lead.

The final ten minutes were tough racing between Corvette teammates. García's car was better than Gavin's by the end of the race but Gavin defended well. Three minutes before the checkered flag, García was already past Gavin but went wide at the exit of Turn 1, allowing Gavin to take the lead back. García had one more attempt to pass Gavin on the final lap, coming alongside him but not quite enough to cross the finish line first. The winning No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R was co-driven alongside Oliver Gavin by Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler, while the second-placed sister Corvette's co-drivers alongside Antonio García were Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller. In the overall results, the Corvettes finished in seventh and eighth places as the best non-Prototype cars, 14 laps behind the overall winner.

The No. 912 Porsche finished in third place. The No. 68 Scuderia Corsa was the best of the Ferraris. The fifth-placed No. 25 was the best BMW as the No. 100 retired after a heavy crash. The two brand-new Ford GTs suffered from reliability issues; the No. 66 lost 32 laps to the GTLM winner and the No. 67 lost 162 laps. Without mechanical issues the Ford GTs pace was promising, though. The No. 67 had the second-best fastest lap of all GTLM cars.

Magnus Racing wins in GT Daytona, JDC-Miller Motorsports in Prototype Challenge

The GT Daytona class was won by the No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3, driven by Andy Lally, John Potter, René Rast, and Marco Seefried. The victory was very narrow, the second-placed No. 540 Black Swan Racing Porsche lost only by three seconds, and the third-placed No. 93 Riley Motorsports Viper by five seconds. In the overall results, the GTD winner was 14th, 33 laps from the winner.

The No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports entry, driven by Misha Goikhberg, Kenton Koch, Chris Miller, and Stephen Simpson, won the Prototype Challenge class in a dominant fashion. The No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry finished in second place, four laps behind the No. 85. The third-placed No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports entry finished five more laps behind the No. 85. In the overall results, the PC winner was 18th, 34 laps from the winner.