Sebastien Bourdais gave way to teammate Renger van der Zande as darkness prepares to give way to daytime in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. It was a quiet hour with little change and no major issues for any of the top-running cars as the sunrise begins to approach the Florida coast.
Tom Blomqvist has been installed in the No.60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06, and has been reeling in van der Zande in the leading No.01 Cadillac Racing V-LMDh. Blomqvist is currently 10 seconds behind the Dutchman, much closer than the nearly 30-second gap the hour began with.
The No.24 BMW M Hybrid has quietly moved up to fourth with others running into trouble around it. It is still one lap behind the leading trio, however.
In the GT classes, it’s the same faces with the No.79 WeatherTech Mercedes-AMG GT3 leading in GT Daytona PRO and the No.57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 leading in GT Daytona. The No.3 Corvette C8.R, currently second, and the No.32 Team Korthoff Mercedes-AMG GT3, currently third, are both looking to join the conversation for the lead of their respective classes.
Class leaders after the 17th hour:
GTP: Renger van der Zande, No.01 Cadillac Racing V-LMDh
LMP2: Esteban Gutierrez, No.04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR ORECA 07
LMP3: Joao Barbosa, No.33 Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier JS P320
GTD PRO: Jules Gounon, No.79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
GTD: Indy Dontje, No.57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
Notes:
The No.7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 received a top-off of battery cooling fluid during its latest pitstop.
The No.18 Era Motorsport ORECA 07 has spent the last forty minutes in the garage with an engine issue.
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