Wayne Taylor Racing wins the 24 Hours of Daytona

We had to wait until the very last quarter of an hour to see the final hierarchy take shape for this 2017 edition of the 24 Hours of Daytona. The two almost twin duels between the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-VRs of the Taylor brothers, Jeff Gordon and Max Angelelli et du Action Express Racing de Barbosa – Fittipaldi – Albuquerque pour le général et entre Ford et Porsche en GTLM n’ont donné leur issue que dans les ultimes instants.

After a final pass through the pit box 36′ from the finish, Filipe Albuquerque led the race at the wheel of the No. 5 Cadillac with less than 10″ ahead of Ricky Taylor. The neutralization caused by the stop on the track of the No. 93 Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX of Andy Lally offered a short respite before Ricky Taylor sounded the charge.

The American attempted an attack a little over 6′ from the finish at the first turn, and came into contact with Albuquerque. The Portuguese, who started at a high speed, gave up command and saw Taylor cross the finish line as the winner. Despite the borderline maneuver, the commissioners did not wish to place the action under investigation.

Race control has delcared no action. # Rolex24 https://t.co/wnxpVNTvg7

— IMSA (@IMSA) January 29, 2017

The quartet Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Jeff Gordon and Max Angelelli thus offered a second success to Wayne Taylor's team after 2005, then under the SunTrust Racing banner.

Regularly placed at the forefront of the race, the Multimatic-Riley Mk.30 Gibson n°90 of VisitFlorida Racing of Rast – Goossens – van der Zande, was however unable to do anything against the Cadillac Dpi, and completed the podium. The Ligier Dpi-Nissan n°2 ESM of Dalziel – Derani – Sharp – Hartley was never able to join the fight for victory and fell just short of the podium.

No trace of the Mazda RT24-P in the top 5, the Japanese brand's DPi did not have success, notably with the start of a fire on the No. 55 of Spencer Pigot.

If in PC, the victory quickly took shape for the Oreca FLM09 n°38 of Performance Tech Motorsports of French – O’Ward – Masson – Boulle, in the two GT categories, the suspense lasted until the end.

In GTLM, all brands except BMW were able to win, but Dirk Müller helps Ford triumph at Daytona. The German, associated with Sébastien Bourdais, who adds Daytona to his Le Mans victory in 2016, and Joey Hand, regained the lead of the category a little over half an hour from the finish after a muscular overtake on the Ferrari 488 n°62 of the Risi Competizione of James Calado, at the start of the first turn.

Müller then resisted the return of Patrick Pilet (Porsche 911 RSR n°911), author of an exemplary race. The Auscitain, associated with Dirk Werner and Frédéric Makowiecki, finished second while the category podium was completed by the No. 488 Ferrari 62 from the Risi Competizione of Fisichella – Vilander – Calado.

In GTD, Michael Christensen – Michael de Quesada – Carlos de Quesada – Jesse Lazare – Daniel Morad won with the No. 911 Porsche 3 GT28 R from Alegra Motorsports. Christensen took the lead in the last hour and was ultimately ahead of the #8 Audi R29 LMS – Land Motorsport of Mies – of Phillippi – Gounon – Schmidt, and the Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°33 from Riley Motorsports of Bleekemolen – Christodoulou – Keating – Farnbacher.

Final classification 24 Hours of Daytona

Find the full report and analysis of the 24 Hours of Daytona, produced by our special correspondent in Florida, in issue 2099 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.