Lexus out of GTD Pro decision due to LMP2 crash

(Motorsport-Total.com) – Good start to the 2024 Daytona 24 Hours: Two crashes in the first hour have already thrown two GT cars out of the race altogether, including the main favorite from GTD Pro. The pace was once again more like a sprint than a 24-hour race. (24 Hours of Daytona 2024 in live stream!)

The first car with problems was AWA Corvette #13 (Fidani/Bell/Kern/Lynn) with a power steering problem. Especially painful: AWA Vettes from GTD had previously been spared problems in GTD Pro, unlike the factory cars, but now they appeared in the race. Since then, #13 has been built “behind the wall” (ie in the paddock).

Therefore, there were several events that can only be described as mysterious for the first hour of the 24-hour race. After 26 minutes, Misha Goikhberg put the Forte-Lamborghini #78 (Goikhberg/Spinelli/DeFrancesco/Mitchell) at the Le Mans chicane – the end of a business trip. This led to the first phase of yellow.

The race resumed 25 minutes later. In the first lap, three LMP2 cars flew off the Le Mans chicane and were lucky not to crash too much.

PJ Hyett in TDS-Oreca #11 (Thomas/Jensen/McElrea/Milesi) and Dwight Merriman in Era-Oreca #18 (Merriman/Dalziel/Zilisch/Rasmussen) clashed, then came Sean Creech-Ligier #33 (Willsey). /Barbosa/Edgar/Siegel) and Lance Willsey.

The situation was still unclear when there was a more serious crash in Turn 2, again involving LMP2. Dennis Andersen was pushed to the grass in the top class Oreca #20 (Lucas/Andersen/Hörr/Huffacker), but kept fighting.

This caused him to turn inside and Mike Conway in the Vasser-Sullivan-Lexus #14 (Hawksworth/Barnicoat/Kirkwood/Conway) could no longer avoid it. Both cars were badly damaged and are inconclusive – if they can be repaired at all. The accident resulted in a second bond.

Update: The Lexus recovered and returned to the track 37 laps back. LMP2 is still in the paddock.

United Autosports Oreca #22 (Goldburg/di Resta/Garg/Rosenqvist) caused another LMP2 incident. Dan Goldburg lost control of the car while braking for Turn 4 (“International Horseshoe”) when another LMP2 in front of him unexpectedly braked hard due to a breakaway forcing Goldburg to apply the emergency brake.

Cadillac determines the initial phase

The GTP class has not been involved in any incidents so far. Cadillac led almost continuously from the start, first with Action Express Cadillac #31 (Derani/Aitken/Blomqvist), and after 90 minutes with Ganassi Cadillac #01 (Bourdais/van der Zande/Dixon/Palou). Only the front of the Penske Porsche #6 (Tandy/Jaminet/Estre/L. Vanthoor) was cleared at the stop, but the Porsche held the lead lap.

WTR-Andretti-Acura #10 (R. Taylor/Albuquerque/Hartley/Ericsson) temporarily cut Cadillac’s lead and fueled its lead when stopped under yellow. This led to a brief interruption of Cadillac’s leadership. But shortly after restarting, the Acura crashed again.

The BMW M Hybrid V8 slid completely back to the back of the field. Once again the hole in the bottom of the yellow took too long. That was already in Petit Le Mans 2023. We still have to wait and see because it was only the first stop.

Still in the leadership ranks:
GTP: 10 cars
LMP2: 11 cars
GTD Pro: 12 cars
GTD: 21 cars