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 GTD Pro battle raged on between Tommy Milner’s no.4 Corvette and the no.1 BMW of Paul Miller Racing of Connor Di Phillipi and after being adjudged to have made illegal contact with the Heart of Racing’s no.27 car, the no.32 Korthoff Competition Mercedes served a drive through penalty.

During the GTD Pro lead battle, in which Augusto Farfus – over fifty laps down – did not yield to Tommy Milner’s Corvette and received a drive through penalty after being accused of blocking. Seconds later, Miler’s Corvette made contact with the no.1 BMW of Paul Miller Racing of Di Phillipi, who was side by side in turn three before banging doors. The resulting damage was more than significant on Milner’s car in an incredibly controversial move. Farfus served his drive through fairly, staying put in twelfth position in the GTD Pro class. Milner, possibly out of grit, continued on.

A controversial move from Nick Tandy in the no.6 Porsche saw him cut the Le Mans chicane without taking the appropriate runoff – could be nerves, could be similar to how drivers cut the dunlop chicane at Le Mans to gain time. Then, the no.85 JDC Miller car was subject to a mechanical black flag requiring immediate fixing.

The tape slapped on the side of the no.4 Corvette was never going to be enough, and Tommy Milner received another mechanical black flag for the damage, potentially taking the car out of contention for the GTD Pro Class.

“It’s not how sportscar racing should be,” Milner said about the incident when asked by Radio Le Mans. “It’s not how this kind of race should go.”

With a commanding lead, the no.88 AF Corse LMP2 car stopped on track halfway through the infield, with Mathieu Vaxivierre holding his head in his hands in despair. The team’s Rolex run was over in the cruellest of circumstances. Spike inherited the lead, seemingly able to keep coming back from setback after setback as the full course yellow was brought out.

Then it was the penultimate frantic pitstops in GTP, with the Porsche of Felipe Nasr taking new tires and fuel in a clean stop, undercutting everyone else. BMW’s no.24 car pitted the following lap, as did the sister Porsche of Kevin Estre, who was replaced by Matt Campbell, winner of last year’s race with Porsche. Meanwhile in GTD Pro, Rexy looked to make up for Spike’s disappointment, now challenging for the lead of the class. In GTD, Ayhancan Guven was piloting the dominant no.120 Wright Motorsport machine in the lead. Sebastian Bourdais V Paul Di Resta was the fight in LMP2, with barely a second between them.

From third in GTD Pro, Connor Zillisch was sent into a spin in the first corner plummeting him down the order, but was deemed to have been at fault and was given a drive through penalty. Having been the subject of an aggressive love-tap from Vanthoor’s BMW, the no.021 car pulled into the pits with a smashed left hand side, before Vanthoor ran wide and chose to pit to get a new nose.

The damage for the BMW was too much, Dries Vanthoor’s antics ending their effort and seeing them plummet. A promising race ruined at the death.

GTD Pro was hectic all the way, and now it was Rexy who suffered and slid down the order after pitting to fix the damage. Dennis Olsen was embroiled in a titanic battle with Alexander Sims in the Corvette with the BMW of Paul Miller Racing and Kelvin Van De Linde nibbling at their heels.

It’s at this point I’ve sort of run out of the ability to actually put any of this insanity in words. The most hectic finish to a 24 race I’ve ever witnessed. Fifteen minutes left and three classes are STILL undecided. It’s still Sims’s Corvette V Kelvin Van De Linde’s BMW and its hectic! And then they collide in turn one, as VDL gets going its Dennis Olsen who will surely now take the victory as Sims looses enough time to remove him from contention.

In GTP, the Porsche’s scrambling away from the Acura, Nico Varrone gets a drive through for the contact with his teammate. Campbell then has to hold off the Acura as Felipe Nasr escapes up the road. Ford have never won a race with the Mustang GT3, they’re on course to win Daytona and make it a double podium. With four minutes to go Tom Blomqvist clears Matt Campbell to get into second place. 

In the end a frantic race was won by Porsche’s no.7 car. Laurens Vanthoor, Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy win the 2025 Rolex 24 at Daytona – for Tandy, he become the first driver in the history of motorsport to claim overall wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours of Nurburgring, the 24 Hours of Spa and now the 24 Hours of Daytona. Truly in the conversation for the greatest never to race in F1.

In LMP2 it was the Tower Motorsport no.8 car of Sebastian Bourdais, Sebastian Alvarez, John Farano and Job Van Uitert, with Bourdais taking his third class win in the race. Sebastian Alvarez and Job Van Uitert took their first class wins in endurance racing, with team owner John Farano adding another success to his plethora of LMP2 silverware.

Ford’s Mustang GT3 takes its first ever race win in a complete contrast to this race last year, where it infamously shed various pieces of bodywork. Now though, Dennis Olsen, Christopher Mies and Fred Vervisch take the car’s first win – and what a way to do it.

GTD was hectic, but won by AWA’s no.13  Corvette piloted by Le Mans bound Orey Fidani, Matt Bell, Lars Kern and Marvin Kirchofer in a thrilling race that went down to the wire. Orey himself started out in Porsche Cup competition before working his way up the IMSA ladder. It’s a great achievement for the team, and the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R’s first win in a major endurance event.

This race has been quiet brilliant in many ways, and it was fantastic to document my experience of the race (even if it was a bit frantic at times, and I nearly missed the halfway slot because I fell asleep) and extremely fun to add that extra layer of investment. It’s interesting because it forced me to care a lot more about all the little storylines and teams that I think often get overlooked in favour of the LMP2’s and GTP’s. I’m also aware that my craft will hopefully improve over time; this is just as much about building a journalism portfolio as it as focused on deepening my obsession with motorsport.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this race diary, and you won’t have to wait long for the next one. This time next weekend, the Bathurst 12 Hours will be on – and that can only mean one thing: Another race diary! 

See you then, 

Thomas Groves.

thumbnail credit – Osajus Photography from Asheville, NC, United States, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons