2025 ROLEX 24 RACE DIARIES: HOURS 1-3

on January 25, 2025

The 2025 24 Hours of Daytona is underway, and I’m here to document the race and my experience as a sportscar fan over the course of the 24 hours. With updates every three hours, I hope to tell this legendary race’s story as the platinum era continues into 2025

The race got underway, with Dries Vanthoor of the no.24 BMW setting the pace early on and opening up a comfortable lead from the first corner. Overall, the opening laps were rather calm, save for Ben Keating spinning his no.52 PR1 Matheson LMP2 at the very first corner

In GTD Pro, the opening exchanges were between Rolex 24 debutant Dan Harper and Lamborghini’s Andrea Caldarelli, while after locking out the front row the Ford’s slipped back to third and fourth respectively and further still after the pit stops at the top of the hour.

The non pro class however was all about Elliot Skeer, who had a comfortable getaway piloting the no.120 car into the lead during the early stages, though they’d relinquish the lead to the no.57 Winward Mercedes of Russel Ward by the end of the first hour.

Then more drama came in LMP2 when just over 15 minutes in, Ben Keating had an off in the West Horseshoe, wiping his near six second lead clean and when it happened again the next lap he was down in third place. PJ Hyett of the no.99 AO Racing car inherited the lead, which grew to 20 seconds before the first round of pit stops. Later on, the PR1 Matheson entry would suffer a drive through penalty.

It caused a stir though when the front nose was changed, despite no obvious damage. Following his costly excursions, Ben Keating was subject of the race’s first driver change as Rodrigo Sales stepped into the PR1 Matheson no.52 car for the second stint. Fellow LMP2 competitor Tower Motorsport’s no.12 car received a drive through penalty for speeding in the pits. They dropped back to dead last in their class as a result.

After the first pit stops in GTP, the order stayed roughly the same with the exception of the no.25 BMW. Sheldon Van De Linde had started from the back after electrical issues forced it out of qualifying. His pitstop was fast, seeing him climb to sixth, jumping both privateer Porsches.

Meanwhile during the first GTD Pro pitstops, Andrea Caldarelli’s Pfaff Lamborghini was delayed during the pitstops with an internal issue, slowing the no.9 car and releasing it back in 14th position in the class. Minutes later, the no.13 AWA Corvette received a drive through penalty, dropping it to 60th of the 61 cars in the event.

Perhaps the biggest news at this point was for Lamborghini’s GTP car. In its first race run by Riley Motorsports, the no.63 car barely got moving after its first stop and went behind the wall as the opening hour ticked over, effectively eliminating the car from contention. This was eventually confirmed as this year’s first official retirement. Such a shame for the crew, their race over before it ever truly got going.

Another car to go behind the wall was the no.75 Express Mercedes, after some slow running Kenny Habul pulled the car into the pits. Whatever problem the car had, it couldn’t be fixed in the pitlane. It returned to the race some 12 laps down, before heading back behind the wall a short while later.

After two excellent stints leading the race, Dries Vanthoor hit the pit wall upon entering, having wasted the majority of the 45 second lead he’d built up. Tom Blomqvist in the no.60 Acura briefly inherited the lead from the no.24 BMW as Phillip Eng set about continuing the work done by Vanthoor, who also mentioned the team was having issues with their radio. Things worsened when the team were given a drive through penalty for an improper fuelling procedure. Richard Leitz’s Proton Porsche and Ben Keating’s Trackhouse Chevrolet also suffered a similar fate following his pitstop. Both cars dropped far down the order in GTD Pro.

A third car was struck by a drive through penalty – the no.48 Paul Miller Racing car had been leading since the end of the first hour, and Dan Harper had been running brilliantly in his first stint. It meant that everyone’s favourite dinosaur, Rexy (also known as AO Racing’s no.77 car) lead the race for the first time.

LMP2 had more drama, with the no.11 TDS car being planted into the tire barriers by Hunter Mcelrea, bringing out the race’s first full course yellow and sending the car back to the garage. Commendably, the race had run green since the start.

After the GTP pit stops under the FCY, Fred Vesti led the race for Cadillac, as Rene Rast climbed to third and Phillip Eng in the sister BMW car was down in fifth. Kakuoshin Ohta’s no.93 Acura that had been leading prior to the interruption was dropped all the way back to ninth place.

On the restart, Nick Tandy showed no hesitance, charging into the lead of the race and for the first time Porsche showed their prowess after a quiet first couple of hours for the German manufacturer. Ford headed the field in GTD Pro with Dennis Olsen and Andy Priaulx leading the class, while in LMP2 United Autosports no.2 car made its way to the front. GTD’s leader was now Misha Goikberg in the no.78 Forte Racing Lamborghini. Having lead earlier on, and last year’s race winners Winward Racing’s no.57 Mercedes had throttle issues and went behind the wall.

Overall, a very enjoyable first three hours of my blogging career and the 63rd running of the 24 Hours of Daytona. But things are far from over… I’ll return with my next update in three hours, as motornerd.blog takes you through all the action this weekend.