The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona started in Saturday afternoon.

The early part of the race was dominated by the Ligier JS P2 Hondas of Tequila Patrón Extreme Speed Motorsports and Michael Shank Racing, and the Panoz DeltaWing Racing car. Mikhail Aleshin started the race on pole for SMP Racing, however he got passed by Patrón ESM's Pipo Derani and Shank's Oswaldo Negri in the first corners of the opening lap.

The Panoz DeltaWing Racing team didn't run in Thursday's qualifying and thus started the race as the last of the Prototype field of 13 cars. During the first hour, Katherine Legge in the DeltaWing progressed through the field into second place. After that, the DeltaWing was swapping the lead with the the Patrón ESM Ligier-Honda which had a different pit cycle, due to not pitting during the first caution period.

The race got a new leader after a caution period one and a half hours into the race. The defending Rolex 24 winner, the No. 02 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entry stayed out while most others pitted, thus claiming the lead. On the lap after the restart, John Pew, now at the wheel of the Michael Shank Racing Ligier-Honda, hit the rear of the Patrón ESM Ligier-Honda, now driven by Johannes van Overbeek. The ESM Ligier spun as a result of the contact, yet neither car suffered serious damage.

Because of different pit cycles, the No. 02 Ganassi Ford Riley DP was swapping the lead with the DeltaWing. However, DeltaWing's well-started race came into a premature end during the fourth hour. The No. 8 Prototype Challenge car of Starworks Motorsport had stopped in the middle of the track at Turn 1. Despite limited visibility in that place and some cars only narrowly avoiding hitting the stopped car, there was no full-course yellow but only local yellows were waved. Andy Meyrick at the wheel of the DeltaWing failed to avoid hitting the stopped car on track. That destroyed both cars' races, yet fortunately both Meyrick and Chris Cumming of the No. 8 Starworks car were reported to be OK after the crash.

The crash of the DeltaWing brought out a caution period. The No. 55 Mazda Motorsports car had pitted just before the caution and inherited the lead from cars pitting during the caution. Jamie McMurray in the No. 02 Ganassi car overtook Jonathan Bomarito of the No. 55 Mazda at the restart, yet right after that had a collision with a Corvette GTLM car and spun.

Bomarito was leading in the Mazda Prototype but Olivier Pla in the Shank Ligier-Honda was the quickest man on track. During his stint, he lifted the car into lead. Following Pla, AJ Allmendinger was the following man at the wheel of the car. Allmendinger had a solid stint, keeping Michael Shank Racing in lead after seven hours. The No. 55 Mazda fell from the lead battle as it lost nearly three laps due to ECU issues. Its sister car, the No. 70 Mazda, had dropped out of the race already during the first hour, suffering a transmission failure.

During the eight hour, Michael Shank Racing lost the lead during caution periods. Just before the eight-hour mark, Oswaldo Negri had lifted the team's Ligier-Honda back to lead. Ricky Taylor for Wayne Taylor Racing is in second place and Tony Kanaan in the No. 02 Ganassi Ford Riley DP in third place.

Porsche, Corvette, and Ferrari in GTLM top 3

Photo: Michelin Alley

In the GT Le Mans class, Earl Bamber in the No. 912 Porsche North America entry is the leader after eight hours. Jan Magnussen in the No. 3 Corvette Racing entry is in second place and James Calado in the No. 72 SMP Racing Ferrari is in third place. The following three places are also held by a Corvette, a Ferrari, and a Porsche, ahead of the two BMW Team RLL cars in sixth and seventh places.

The Rolex 24 is the first race for the new Ford GT. The two Ford GTs have had a difficult debut race at Daytona. The No. 67 Ford suffered a gearbox issues during the first hour and is 21 laps behind the GTLM leader after eight hours. The No. 66 Ford had a lenghty pit stop during the second hour, due to brake line issues. After the stop, the car stopped on track causing a caution period, yet it got started to continue the race. Later the No. 66 Ford suffered shifting issues and is 32 laps from the GTLM leader.

PR1/Mathiasen leads in PC, Paul Miller Racing in GTD

The No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry leads the Prototype Challenge class after eight hours of racing. It is followed by the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports entry in second place and the polesitter No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports entry in third place.

In the GT Daytona class, the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini leads ahead of another Lamborghini in second place, the No. 16 Change Racing entry. The No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi is in third place after eight hours.

The Rolex 24 At Daytona continues until 2:40 pm Eastern Time on Sunday.