The No. 7 Porsche Penske 963 defended its two consecutive Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona overall victories with a hat trick win over the No. 31 Action Express Cadillac and the No.
24 BMW. It was Roger Penske's second Daytona win, following his 1969 victory with Mark Donohue and Chuck Parsons piloting a Lola in 1969. The two Porsche Penskes were the class of the field for the majority of the 24-hour feature, leading more than three-fourths of the race.
However, the No. 6 team suffered problems, collecting damage from contact in the opening two hours, while the No. 7 team completed a flawless performance in pursuit of its third consecutive victory.
The No. 7 team held the lead at each major milestone of the race, with Felipe Nasr holding off pressure at the end from Cadillac's Jack Aiken. Aiken and the No.
31 team battled back from multiple near-race-ruining incidents to take second overall, first with Aiken's pole being stripped following the stewards deeming there was too much wear on the rear skid block and then with Connor Zilisch in his first GTP start running the red light at the end of pit row during a record-breaking caution for fog in the middle of the night. This is the second time that Aiken and the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac have come up one spot short of the No.
7 team, finishing second in 2024 as well. The No. 24 BMW rebounded from a first lap mistake and spin to take the final spot on the podium in front of Porsche's No.
6 team with floor and sidepod damage. In LMP2, the No. 04 Crowdstrike entry rebounded from the opening-lap LMP2 crash involving team owner and driver George Kurtz to win its class ahead of the No.
43. The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing Team BMW M4 GT3 EVO rebounded from its stripped class pole to win in GTD Pro.
The closest battle at the end was left to the GTD category with Philip Ellis in the No. 57 Winward Racing TeamMercedes-AMG GT3 and Nicki Thiim in the No. 367 over Thiim.
Porsche's dominance at Daytona has been a recurring theme throughout its history, with the team having won the event a record-breaking 19 times. The No. 7 team's third consecutive victory is a testament to their exceptional performance and dedication to the sport.
As we look forward to future racing events, it will be exciting to see how the competition adapts and responds to Porsche's dominance.
The No. 7 Porsche Penske 963's three-peat win at the Rolex 24 Hour of Daytona solidifies its position as one of the most dominant teams in the sport. With a strong performance from Felipe Nasr, the team demonstrated its ability to withstand pressure and maintain its lead throughout the grueling 24-hour event.
