Thanks to a late full-course yellow and a restart with one hour remaining in the 2024 edition of the 24 Hours of Daytona, the field got reshuffled and fans were treated with an intense battle to the checkered flag.
Leading the race late, the #19 Porsche of Trading Paints Racing and Selena Ward held off numerous charges from Niclas Pedersen in the #3 Mayer Simspeed Performance Porsche, putting up a fantastic battle.
On lap 817 of 819, race leader Ward and Pedersen entered turn one side by side and fans rose from their seats.
Ward, a 32-year old Floridian from Miami closed off the inside line, looking to defend the lead with the checkered flag seemingly within reach. But Pedersen went wide and performed a daring crossover move, taking the inside line on the exit of the corner and completing the pass.
However, the series veteran from Denmark had little to no time to catch his breath as coming out of turn four, he was startled to find the two GT PRO class leaders, the #992 Porsche of DS Racing eSports Team and the #911 Porsche of RPM Racing collided and blocked the road, forcing Pedersen to go into the grass.
Somehow Pedersen held on and not only that, maintained the lead for the remaining two and a half laps to take victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona for the second consecutive year, holding off Selena Ward by a mere 0.944 seconds.
“It’s amazing, to win the Daytona 24 once is amazing. But twice? And back to back? Man, that’s just unbelievable. I can’t believe it, really.”, said Pedersen in the winner’s circle.
“We definitely had to work hard for it. I’ve got to give it to Selena (Ward) and the Trading Paints guys. They gave me all I could handle and would have been just as deserving to win this one.”
“That last caution really mixed it all up again, it was pretty crazy. Last year was a bit up and down and to come back this year and start strong means a lot for us and hopefully we can carry this forward this season.”
About the big scare coming out of turn four just after taking the lead, Pedersen said:
“Everything happened so fast. I had no time to think, to be quite honest. I just reacted as quickly as I could. It was all reflexes, really. I saw the GT come across the track and just went wide. I just saw the replay and how close it really was. I guess we really had luck on our side in that situation. That was wild, phew!”
So in the end, Pedersen along with his team-mates Kyle Birnie and Pascal Theis, who made his first start since Sebring last year, celebrated together, becoming the first repeat 24 Hours of Champions in the history of VSCA.
For Selena Ward, second place was a case of “oh so close, yet so far away”, crossing the line less than one second behind Pedersen. Still, her efforts and that of her team-mates Jordan Erickson, Thomas Hazard and Caeton Bomersbach put the GTP class competition on notice, that the team that moved up from LMP2 class over the winter, will have to be reckoned with this year.
Completing the GTP class podium, HAC Racing and the #111 Cadillac V-Series.R GTP with Christophe Demay, Daniel Keane and Matthew Routon took the checkers 3.360 seconds behind the race winner, easily making this the closest 24 Hours of Daytona top class finish in VSCA history.
Portugal’s marquee team in VSCA right now, DS Racing eSports Team and their #42 Cadillac took fourth place with series veteran Pedro Vargas along with team-mates Marco Vilela, Francisco Santos Pereira and Tomas Mora.
Starting from pole position and leading an impressive 235 laps, the #15 Composite Performance Cadillac took P5. Last year’s runner-up in GTD, Patrick Fogel who left MAD Sim Racing and moved to Composite Performance over the offseason, along with team-mates Nicholas Johnston, Andrew Parker and Brandon Walker, had a successful season opener but still had to feel a little disappointed after showing quite competitive pace throughout the event.
Series newcomers from Germany, Team Heartcore and their #830 Cadillac with Jan-Philipp Wied, Jakob Lehmann, Stefan Rossmann and Christoph Könneker took sixth place, but because of one of the lowest incident totals, earned fourth-most championship points in the race.
Defending series champions Grizzly Motorsports put their #1 Porsche P7 in the final race results, failing to lead a lap, but getting a solid points day in a challenging and very long race as Joshua Wolf teamed up with David Schmidt and Scott Meredith to start off the new season and championship defense.
Denmark’s Stop N’ Go Racing and the #278 Porsche with Morten Kofoed, Thomas Mørk and Thomas Sorensen finished eighth, one lap down. The team led 89 laps, making it a successful series debut for the team based in Copenhagen.
The second GTP class entry of DS Racing eSports Team, the #88 Cadillac with Nelson Clemente, Dan Marques, Rui Sousa and Pedro Espadinha finished ninth, four laps down.
Easily one of the cars most recognizable on the track, by way of its bright yellow and orange colors, the #73 Intend Sim Racing Porsche with Tomi Paatero, Emil Odobasic and Jeff Schroeder led the most laps of the race (307) and also had the second-fastest average lap time of the entire race.
With about 70 minutes remaining in the race, Paatero made a daring dive on the #911 RPM Racing Porsche into turn six, but struggled to slow the car down and went hard into the barriers. In the end the team wound up five laps down and finished tenth.
One lap behind, the #4 Porsche of Fischer Motorsport with Thomas Martin, Michael Matthias and Neill Forbes took eleventh place, battling with mechanical issues for parts of the race, setting the team back.
The most prominent VSCA team from Spain, World Of SimRacing Team’s #51 Cadillac had an overall disappointing 24 Hours of Daytona, taking P12 and seven laps down. Considered one of the quickest teams in the series the last two seasons, the team led 48 laps, but could not overcome a heartbreaking crash into the wall on the exit of the Le Mans chicane on lap 790, with less than fifty minutes remaining in the race. The #51 car was running directly behind eventual race winners #3 Mayer Simspeed Performance at the time, holding fifth position.
Multi-time race winners Torque Freak Racing and their #6 Porsche also had a tough race, finishing nine laps down in P13.
Disqualified from the event for having a “B” rated driver compete in their GTP class entry, the #50 Bravo Snow Schatten Acura - the only Acura in the field - failed to score any championship points but was credited as finishing P14.
#3 Porsche leads SportsCar Championship standings after big Daytona win
By way of winning the season opener, the #3 Mayer Simspeed Performance Porsche leads the championship with a 57-point cushion over HAC Racing’s #111 Cadillac and the Trading Paints Racing #19 machine.
The #830 Team Heartcore Cadillac and #15 Composite Performance Cadillac round out the top-five in points after Round 1 of 10.
#73 Endurance Cup standings draw a different picture
While the SportsCar Championship standings are based on official finishing positions, the Endurance Cup - the in-series championship including Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, Miami and Road Atlanta - rewards as many as five points on the 6 hour, 12 hour and 18 hour-mark of the race and at the finish.
By way of leading a race-high 307 laps, the #73 Intend Sim Racing Porsche leaves Daytona with a near-perfect 13 Endurance Cup points, while the #51 World Of SimRacing Team Cadillac sits in a comfortable second place, only one point back.
Race winners #3 Porsche of Mayer Simspeed Performance are third, two points back, tied with the #278 Stop N’ Go Racing and #15 Composite Performance entries.
MV Skinlab Grand Prix of Long Beach up next in February
With the longest race of the season in the review mirror, teams already look ahed to the next championship round, the MV Skinlab Grand Prix of Long Beach. The 1-hour and 40-minute Sprint Cup race will take place on the famous street course circuit in Los Angeles on February 17th.
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