📷 © Luc Warnotte. Nine manufacturers fighting for victory in **GTD** and GTD PRO at **ROLEX 24** 2023.

With nine manufacturers (Acura, Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lexus, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche) fighting for victory during the 61st Rolex 24 At Daytona, GT Daytona (GTD) is the toughest class to win with the largest field.

Aston Martin first GTD win at Daytona.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 wins **GTD** class at ROLEX 24 2023.

Marco Sorensen and Heart of Racing teammates Roman De Angelis, Darren Turner and co-driver/team manager Ian James earned the legendary English marque’s first Rolex 24 victory in 13 attempts by claiming the GT Daytona (GTD) class trophy as well as the combined GTD - GTD PRO ranking.

The Heart of Racing pit crew lifted De Angelis and the #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 into the class lead with a superior pit stop with a little more than 2 1/2 hours remaining in the 24-hour endurance chase.

After taking over the wheel, Sorensen briefly lost the top overall GT spot to Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 from the GTD PRO class on a restart 40 minutes later. Hawksworth surrendered the point back to Sorensen five laps later and the #27 Aston held off the GTD PRO class-winning #79 Mercedes-AMG GT3 over the final 80 minutes to claim overall GT and GTD class honors.

“First win for Aston in nearly 60 years? I don’t know what to say,” Sorensen said. “We won the Daytona 24 outright, ahead of everyone (in GT). Every time I saw yellow flags toward the end, I was so upset. It was one big fight, and I’m just so happy we could bring it home.

“Amazing job by The Heart of Racing – I couldn’t have done it without them,” he added. “For the last four hours, Roman and I were flat out. We couldn’t have done any more. It’s very emotional – really, really special.”

The victory was the first in WeatherTech Championship competition for Sorensen; Turner and De Angelis own six career wins each, with James raising his total to 11. James’ triumph came in his 21st Rolex 24 start.

WeatherTech Racing first GTD PRO win at Rolex 24

📷 © Luc Warnotte. WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 wins **GTD PRO** class at ROLEX 24 2023.

Cooper MacNeil co-drove the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 to the GTD PRO class victory today alongside Mercedes factory drivers Maro Engel, Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon. The quatuor end second of overall GTD and GTD PRO class.

MacNeil claimed a prize he has coveted for more than a decade – the Rolex Cosmograph watch reserved for winners since the legendary Swiss firm took over as the title sponsor of the Daytona 24 Hours in 1992. McNeil earned his 12th IMSA race win, sharing honors with the WeatherTech Racing team’s season-long drivers Juncadella and Gounon and endurance ace Engel.

It was Engel who handled the anchor stint, engaging in a fierce battle with the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 driven by Jack Hawksworth and Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R GTD.

“Man, those restarts are like war,” said Engel, who won in IMSA competition for the third time – his second at the Rolex 24. “It was a big dogfight with the Lexus and the Corvette. But we got there in the end, with big thanks to my teammates and the whole WeatherTech family.

“I knew the pressure was on, but I woke up yesterday morning and told the guys, ‘I’m feeling it,’” he continued. “The last stint was definitely exciting in the car, and I can only imagine what it was like watching from outside.”

Juncadella and Gounon both earned their first IMSA race wins.

In late 2022, MacNeil announced plans to step out of the car after the Rolex 24 to focus on the future of WeatherTech Racing and the WeatherTech brand’s relationship with IMSA. His victory came in his 13th attempt at Daytona.

“This is lucky number 13 for me and my last IMSA race, so I couldn’t be happier than to win here with WeatherTech, Mercedes and Proton Competition,” MacNeil said. “It was a difficult race here at Daytona, and everyone strives to put everything together to win the Rolex watch. We came close in 2015, finishing second, but this year the Mercedes was in contention the whole time. We put the best AMG drivers in the car we could find in the world, and they drove their butts off.”

MacNeil admitted that knowing this would be his last race start, he battled some emotions – even once he was in the car.

“Once the helmet goes on, that nonsense goes out the window and you just focus on the job at hand,” he said. “My job was to go out and execute, and to keep the car clean, on the lead lap and in contention for these guys to fight for the win, as you saw Maro do.

“Winning my last IMSA race is tremendous.”

Magnus Racing complete Aston Martin success

📷 © Luc Warnotte. Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 at ROLEX 24 2023.

Making Aston Martin’s day even sweeter, the #44 Magnus Racing Vantage GT3 with drivers John Potter, Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly and Nicki Thiim finished second in GTD, crossing the line 5.363 seconds behind the #27. The win follows up Aston’s first Daytona podium, a second-place finish achieved last year by the Magnus car.

Corvette Second GTD PRO

📷 © Luc Warnotte. Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R at ROLEX 24 2023.

Garcia eventually prevailed for second place, finishing 3.916 seconds behind Engel with co-drivers Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner.

After a drive back from two laps down in the middle of the night – due to a flat left-rear tire and a rear brake change – the #3 C8.R moved back to not just contention for the Rolex victory but to the lead just before sunrise Sunday morning.

The chaotic events of the middle eight hours looked like they would give way with a caution-free run of more than five hours into mid-morning. Taylor drove a double-stint for his final laps in the car and led the class multiple times. At that point and with a little more than three hours to go, Milner took over from Taylor and drove two stints of hard, intense racing that saw the Corvette and two other competitors swap the GTD PRO lead.

Milner gave way to Garcia for an even more chaotic final one hour, 45 minutes. The top three cars – the 3 Corvette, the 14 Lexus and 79 Mercedes – swapped back and forth through three full-course caution periods in the span of an hour and 20 minutes before a final 26-minute run to the flag with Garcia coming home second in class.

An up-and-down middle eight hours saw Corvette Racing re-emerge from two laps down and back into contention for a class victory as daylight arrived Sunday. The three Corvette Racing drivers each drove triple-stints through the darkness as they rotated through the C8.R for the second time.

Garcia, who started the race Saturday, worked with the Corvette Racing engineers to improve tire performance through his three stints. By the time he handed over to Taylor a little before the 10-hour mark, the C8.R was in a better state than when Garcia took over as Taylor left the pitlane in the class lead thanks to a solid stop by the Corvette pit crew.

Things began to look dire near the 10.5-hour mark when the No. 3 Corvette suffered a left-rear flat tire just before Taylor came on the Turn 1 speedway banking while running second in class. He nursed the car back to pitlane even as the tire came off the wheel before the Corvette made it back to pit entry.

The team quickly changed tires but had to stop a lap later to change the Corvette’s rear brakes due to damage from the flat tire. It dropped the No. 3 C8.R to two laps down.

Critically, Taylor was able to stay ahead of the GTD PRO leader and not lose another lap before a full-course yellow just before the halfway point of the race. The Corvette Racing crew got a lap back during a pass-around before stopping for fuel and tires, and then the crew changed the front brakes a lap later to return the Corvette to full strength – and the lead lap – with just over 11-and-a-half hours to go.

Taylor gave way to Milner from the sixth position in class about an hour later with the Corvette rejoining in fifth. Less than an hour into his opening stint, the race’s eighth full-course caution drew Milner closer to the front. He ran third in class and seven seconds from the lead as the race entered the final eight hours.

ANTONIO GARCIA: “P2 at Daytona… it was a bit crazy out there. With the P3 cars ahead of us, it was a lottery especially in turns One and Three. Everybody was getting super crazy. When you have a car with ABS, you can just go for it and that’s what people are doing. But we did all we could. That was all we had. A lot of times, I was very surprised to be where we were. We seemed to be good on fuel, which seemed to be our only chance. We just didn’t have the outright pace.”

JORDAN TAYLOR:“The Rolex 24 is always kind of a stand-alone race for us every year. If you look at our race as a whole, we had some adversity during the night but came from two laps down. Everyone executed well. We were in the hunt most of the way. We didn’t have the outright pace, but it was a true Corvette Racing race where we battled our way back to second. We started with a third-place car and finished second, so that’s a win in our book.”

TOMMY MILNER:“Based on how everything was going in practice and in the Roar, I think P2 in the end is quite good. When you have a chance to fight for the win like that and for us to run up front for so much of the race, to miss it by that much at the end is tough. We knew going in that the Mercedes guys were quick, the Aston was quick, the Lexus was quick. It was a great job by the team to persevere and to keep pushing all throughout the race. My teammates did a great job. We were just missing a little bit of pace at the end. It was a good race for all three of us. We were racing super-hard and pushing super-hard. We just came up a little short.”

Mike Conway on GTD PRO podium

📷 © Luc Warnotte. Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 at ROLEX 24 2023.

Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat and Mike Conway completed the GTD PRO podium for Lexus with Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 and were 5th overall GTD-GTD PRO, 13.316 seconds behind the winning Aston Martin.

Inception Racing completed GTD podium

📷 © Luc Warnotte. Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 at ROLEX 24 2023.

Defending IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTD champion Inception Racing took third place of GTD class with #70 McLaren 720S GT3 shared by Brendan Iribe, Frederik Schandorff, Ollie Millroy and Marvin Kirchhofer and were 6th overall GTD-GTD PRO with #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3.

The top six cars in GTD all completed 729 laps of the 3.56-mile, 12-turn Daytona road course.