Wayne Taylor Racing brings the first ever Daytona 24h win for Cadillac
The #10 Cadillac DPi V.R of Wayne Taylor Racing wins the 2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona, the 55th edition of the greatest American endurance race. This is the first ever victory for Cadillac in a history of Daytona 24 hours.
In a thrilling finish, after a contact with Action Express Racing’s #5 Cadillac, with seven minutes to go, Ricky Taylor took the victory with 0.671 seconds gap over Filipe Albuquerque. Other two drivers in the #5 Cadillac were Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi. The #90 crew of VisitFlorida Racing in the Multimatic-Riley prototype completed the podium of Prototype class. The drivers of the #90 car were Marc Goossens, Renger van der Zande and Rene Rast.
Ricky Taylor was sharing the car with his brother Jordan, Max Angelelli and Jeff Gordon. Jordan brothers celebrates their first Daytona win, for Angelelli this is his second triumph while Gordon became the fourth driver in a history who wins both Daytona 500 and Daytona 24h. Other three are Mario Andretti, AJ Foyt and Jamie McMurray.
#66 Ford GT – 2017 Daytona 24h winner in GTLM class
Bumper-to-bumper fights in both GT classes
In the GTLM class, seven leading cars ended the race in the same lap, with #66 Ford GT taking the victory 51 years after Ford GT40 won the first ever 24-hour race at Daytona International Speedway. The drivers of the victorious Chip Ganassi Racing’s car were Dirk Muller, Joey Hand and Sebastien Bourdais.
Porsche GT Team finished in the second place with #911 Porsche 911 RSR. With 33 minutes to go, Patrick Pilet jumped from P3 to P2, but he didn’t manage to overtake Ford. In the same situation, with 33 minutes on the clock, the #62 Ferrari 488 GTE of Risi Competizione lost the lead after a contact with #66 Ford, dropping to P3. James Calado stayed in the third place until the end, crossing the finish line second and a half before #3 Chevrolet Corvette.
Pilet was sharing the #911 with Dirk Werner and Fred Makowiecki. Other two drivers who climbed to the third podium spot along Calado were Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander.
GTD class winners – Alegra Motorsports
Porsche, Audi, Mercedes on the GTD podium
In the GTD class, Porsche factory driver Michael Christensen brings the victory to Alegra Motorsports team. He was sharing the #28 Porsche 911 GT3 R with Carlos de Quesada, Daniel Morad, Jesse Lazare and Michael de Quesada. Christensen crossed the finish line just 0.293 seconds ahead of Christopher Mies in the #29 Audi R8 LMS of Land Motorsports. His co-drivers in the #29 car were Connor De Phillippi, Jules Gounon and Jeffrey Schmidt.
Jeroen Bleekemolen in the #33 Riley Motorsports’ Mercedes-AMG GT3 was five second short from victory and has to be satisfied with the last podium spot. He was sharing the car with Ben Keating, Mario Farnbacher and Adam Christodoulou.
In a short field of Prototype Challenge class entries, with only five cars starting the race, #38 Performance Tech Motorsports’ crew won the race. PC class winners are James French, Patricio OWard, Kyle Masson and Nicholas Boulle.
Full results of the 2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona
Photos: imsa.com,
