Yahoo Autos Rolex 24, Hour 17: Paul Miller Racing to the fore in GTD PRO
Pipo Derani has put in a long overnight stint to keep the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R in the lead of the 2024 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
Matthew Brabham brought out a full course yellow at the start of the hour when he and the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 spun off at Turn 3. “Spike the Dragon” has now dropped two laps off the lead in class. The yellow gave all the GTP class leaders the chance to pit together, and with seven hours left, Derani leads a quartet of Porsche 963s.
That trio is led by the two Porsche Penske Motorsport cars, with Nick Tandy in the No. 6 hunting down Derani, and Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 holding onto third place – ahead of the emerging privateers. Gianmaria Bruni is fourth in the No. 5 for Proton Competition, and Phil Hanson is fifth in the No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports ‘Banana Boat’. Jordan Taylor has slid to sixth in the No. 40 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06.
The Era Motorsport No. 18 ORECA continues to lead LMP2, with Connor Zilisch now driving. He’s pulled out a gap over Malthe Jakobsen in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA in second, and as the class wraps up a pit cycle, Tom Dillmann is third in the No. 52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA.
In GTD PRO, a well-timed pit stop from the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 (main image) has given Neil Verhagen the lead in the class, ahead of the two Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs – the No. 4 of Nicky Catsburg leading the No. 3 of Antonio Garcia.
Meanwhile, Davide Rigon in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 lost significant ground after a drive-through penalty was assessed to the car because its fire extinguisher was not properly manned.
Winward Racing is up front in GTD – Philip Ellis continues to lead the way in the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3. Robby Foley is second in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW, and Alessio Rovera is third in the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari.
The No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes of Scott Andrews and No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Parker Thompson are on different strategies but both are in contention for class honors.
