{"id":32137,"date":"2024-01-29T12:34:29","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T16:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=32137"},"modified":"2024-01-29T12:34:29","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T16:34:29","slug":"detroit-at-daytona-penske-wins-cadillac-second-ford-vs-vette-pitt-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/detroit-at-daytona-penske-wins-cadillac-second-ford-vs-vette-pitt-films","title":{"rendered":"Detroit at Daytona: Penske wins, Cadillac second, Ford vs. Vette, Pitt films"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daytona Beach<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Roger Penske won his second Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona on Sunday, leading a Motor City onslaught on the Super Bowl of American sportscar racing.<\/p>\n

Team Penske\u2019s #7 Porsche 963 GTP racer beat the #31 Whelan Cadillac GTP of Ganassi Racing to the line by just two seconds after 24 hours of nail-biting racing, with the two top dogs swapping the lead multiple times.<\/p>\n

2024 Rolex 24 Horus of Daytona had it all from 11 automakers, Mustang vs. Corvette battle, a record nine female drivers and 15 IndyCar drivers; even Brad Pitt was there in a racing suit shooting a movie.<\/p>\n

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Victory: #7: Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963, GTP: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Josef Newgarden, podium. Courtesy of IMSA. <\/em>Michael L. Levitt, LAT Images<\/em><\/p>\n

The Rolex 24 set an attendance record, with the biggest crowd in its 62-year history. Here are the highlights:<\/p>\n

Penske leads the D in the D.<\/strong>\u00a0The last time \u201cThe Captain,\u201d 86, won a Daytona 24-Hour race was in 1969 when he was just 32 years old.<\/p>\n

Emotional after the race, he was nonetheless typically understated. \u201cThis was a good win for us, now we have to go win Le Mans.\u201d Le Mans, in the heart of France, is the world\u2019s most prestigious endurance race and one of the rare baubles not in Penske\u2019s trophy case.<\/p>\n

For Porsche, it was the 19th<\/sup>\u00a0time they\u2019ve been atop the Role 24 podium, a record. That number equals the number of wins Penske has at the Indy 500. Josef Newgarden, the IndyCar ace who won his first Indy 500 last year for Bloomfield Hills-based Team Penske, was on the four-man team that won the Daytona 24 Hour. Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasir rounded out the lineup, with the latter bringing the red-and-white Porsche across the finish line after a sterling duel with Cadillac driver Tom Blomqvist, who won the race a year ago for Acura.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n
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The Captain in Victory Circle: #7: Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963, GTP: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Josef Newgarden, podium, Roger Penske, NBC. Courtesy of IMSA <\/em>Michael L. Levitt, LAT Images<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cTo see Roger in tears, this means a lot. It\u2019s very special, and congratulations to Porsche, it was a team effort,\u201d said Newgarden, one of 15 IndyCar drivers in the highly competitive 59-car field.<\/p>\n

The Porsche Penske win was hard-earned over the #31 Cadillac that Pipo Derani had put on the pole, smashing the track record by two seconds. Porsche entered four GTP prototype cars in the contest \u2014 two from Team Penske \u2014 but it was the #7 that kept up with the Caddy\u2019s torrid pace from the start. The two hybrid-V8-powered machines never ran into serious reliability problems \u2014 even as their BMW and Acura competitors struggled with bugs.<\/p>\n

Ford vs. Corvette.<\/strong>\u00a0Detroit\u2019s two most famous muscle cars squared off in the GT class for the first time with all-new GT3 cars that the brands now offer for sale to customer racing teams across the globe. Corvette fielded two factory-backed teams managed by New Hudson\u2019s Pratt & Miller, plus two private entries from AWA. Mustang fielded two factory Ford Performance teams and one private entry from Proton Competition.<\/p>\n

\"Ford<\/figure>\n
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Ford Mustang at Rolex 24. #64: Ford Multimatic Motorsports, Ford Mustang GT3, GTD PRO: Harry Tincknell, Mike Rockenfeller, Christopher Mies, pit stop. Courtesy of IMSA Michael L. Levitt, LAT Images<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In anticipation of the Detroit face-off, the Rolex 24\u2019s official T-shirt featured the Mustang and Corvette.<\/p>\n

The Mustangs qualified well down in the field, but it didn\u2019t take long for them to find race pace with the #65 car at the hands of veteran Joey Hand spearing through the field of Lamborghinis, Porsches and Ferraris early on. Four hours into the race at sunset, the GT competition was a Detroit shootout with the #65 Mustang running first and the Pratt & Miller Corvettes just seconds behind in third and fourth.<\/p>\n

\"Crovette<\/figure>\n
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Corvette at Rolex 24. #4: Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports, Corvette Z06 GT3.R, GTD PRO: Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg, Earl Bamber, pit stop. Courtesy of IMSA Michael L. Levitt, LAT Images<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Alas, the night would not be kind to the Motown muscle entrants. One of the Corvettes punted the sister #64 Ford Performance Mustang while under caution, sending it careening into the Proton Mustang, forcing the latter to retire with heavy damage. The #64 soldiered on, but many laps down. Before noon on Sunday, mechanical issues had befallen all of the Detroit GT competitors, with the #65 Mustang and both AWA Corvettes joining the Proton Mustang behind the wall.<\/p>\n