LMP2 at Rolex 24 What a finish!

IMSA

Feb 9

With nine identical Oreca LMP2 fighting for victory during the 61st Rolex 24 At Daytona, LMP2 class ended with the narrowest of victories by just 0.016 seconds.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports (#52), Crowdstrike by APR (#04), TDS Racing (#11 and #35), AF Corse (#88) led the race for 96,45% (734 out of 761) of the laps covered by the LMP2s and were the main leaders of the class. The winning Proton Competition (#55), without demerit, led the race for 15 laps, including 12 at the halfway mark.

PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport leading during first half

📷 © Luc Warnotte. #52 PR1 Mathiasen driven by B. Keating, P. Chatin, A. Quinn and N. Lapierre were strong leaders during the first half of the race.

Starting from pole position the #52 Oreca 07 LMP2 lead the race for several hours. Later on, and after a series of yellow flags, the team dropped back to third but took the lead of the class back during the night. At half of the race, the PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports team had lead 250 laps out of the 375 covered.
At the fifteenth hour, during a full course yellow, the #52 Oreca 07 LMP2 made an unscheduled pitstop. The team was served a penalty for a full service in a closed pit, and it made the #52 drop to fifth place.
The team climbed back up the rankings and was in third place until a spin in turn 3, with under 90 minutes remaining, costing them valuable time. The team finished the race in seventh position.

A photo finish win for Proton Competition.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. Proton Competition #55 Oreca LMP2 07 wins **LMP2** class at **ROLEX 24** 2023.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. Crowdstrike #04 by APR Oreca LMP2 07 ends second **LMP2** class at **ROLEX 24** 2023.

The #55 Proton Competition ORECA LMP2 07 went from the scrap heap to the top of the heap in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Three days after the car was significantly damaged in a Rolex 24 practice session, James Allen eked out the narrowest of victories by just 0.016 seconds over Ben Hanley in the #04 Crowdstrike by APR ORECA.

Three hours to the end #55 Proton Competition were still three laps back. A few full course yellow, enabled the #55 Oreca to be on the lead lap.

An intense four-car battle over the final 90 minutes led to the photo finish, with the #55 Proton and #04 Crowdstrike by APR entries swapping the lead with the #35 TDS Racing and #88 AF Corse ORECAs.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. 4 contenders for the win in the last 90 minutes: #35 TDS Racing, #88 AF Corse, #04 Crowdstrike by APR, #55 Proton Competition.

Hanley went to the front with 20 minutes left in the #04, overtaking Job Van Uitert in the #35 with a bold pass leading to the infield section that involved contact between the cars and sent Van Uitert off course and to an eventual fourth-place finish.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. AF Corse #88 Oreca LMP2 07 ends third **LMP2** class at **ROLEX 24** 2023.

Allen (#55) moved ahead of Nicklas Nielsen in the #88 AF Corse ORECA and into second place with seven minutes to go, then the 36-year-old Australian set his sights on Hanley (#04) ahead. Lapped traffic allowed Allen to slice the deficit and nearly grab the LMP2 lead on the next-to-last lap. Unsuccessful in that attempt but instilled with confidence, Allen drafted Hanley through Turns 3 and 4 of the Daytona oval on the last lap, pulled alongside in the trioval and nudged ahead as they took the checkered flag.

James Allen was on the wheel for the last stint: “I was behind the AF Corse car for quite a while, and I could see the Crowdstrike car was building a gap more and more and more and so by the time I did get past the AF Corse car, there was quite a distance. Honestly, was not at all thinking am I going to catch this guy up.

But slowly but surely the gap sort of kept coming down and I could see even from like the penultimate lap I was getting a good run going to the start-finish line. I actually got in front before the start-finish line, so I thought, no point in trying to force an issue or take any crazy risk. I've got the straight-line speed. I can do it still.

I did come out of the Bus Stop thinking, have I done this properly? Do I have enough time? Have I got an exit good enough? And luckily I did, and just got him right below the line. I don't think I was breathing coming out of speedway 4 up to the start line. It was such a crazy moment for me. I don't think I've ever had anything like that, and I'm probably not sure I will ever again. It was really such an amazing feeling.”

Even though he wasn’t sure he did.

“The spotter came over the radio and said we won, and I still didn’t believe it,” Allen admitted. “I was like, ‘Are you sure?’”

Proton Competition’s recovery after Thursday crash

📷 © Luc Warnotte. Proton Competition #55 Oreca LMP2 07 crash during ROLEX 24 Thursday practice.

It was quite the recovery for Allen and co-drivers Fred Poordad, Francesco Pizzi and Gianmaria Bruni, who each collected their first Rolex 24 victory. The #55 ORECA sustained significant damage in a practice crash on Thursday, but the Proton crew worked overtime to repair it for the race.

“It was quite a big hit in the barrier” said Proton Competition team owner Christian Reed. “We needed four new corners, a new gearbox and some body work. The guys worked until midnight and started in the morning at 6:00, and finally the car was not in perfect condition for the next session, but at least we could do a shakedown.”

“Luckily, ORECA makes a very strong tub because it was still intact,” explained Allen. “But the drive shaft was buried in the diff and took the gearbox with it. The whole rear end and all the bodywork had to come off, all the suspension. It was a very long job. It was really a big job by everyone on the team and I really appreciate it. They managed to get it done and the car was on the grid.”

Crowdstrike and #88 AF Corse complete the podium

📷 © Luc Warnotte. #04 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca LMP2 07 driven by G.Kurtz, B. Hanley, M. McMurry, E.Gutierrez ended second of LMP2 class at ROLEX 24 2023 ahead of #88 AF Corse driven by F. Perrodo, M. Vaxivière, J. Canal and N. Nielsen.

PR1 was the team that led the most laps in LMP2 with 264 of the class leader's 761 laps. #04 Crowdstrike by APR is certainly the second best in number of laps as a leader of LMP2 class with 170 laps and #35 TDS Racing is third with 165 laps in the lead. #88 AF Corse led during 51 laps and #55 Proton Competiton, 15 laps. Leading a high number of laps during the Rolex 24 At Daytona is certainly not a guarantee of victory. #04 Crowdstrike however finished second at 0.016" after the winner and #88 AF Corse third at 5.634" behind the victorious #55.

TDS Racing #35 ends in the same lap as winner

📷 © Luc Warnotte. TDS Racing #35 driven by F. Heriau, G. van der Garde, J. Pierson and J. Van Uitert was the best of the team’s two entries. They ended fourth of LMP2 class in the same lap as the class winner 13.101” behind.

Tower Motorsport, Rick Ware Racing and PR1 Mathiasen end the race

📷 © Luc Warnotte. #8 Tower Motorsports driven by J. Farano, S. Mc Laughlin, J. Newgarden and K. Simpson ended fifth of LMP2 class 2 laps behind the #55 winning car.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. #51 Rick Ware Racing with E. Lux, D. Defrancesco, A. Cindric and P. Fittipald behind the wheel ended sixth, 3 laps behind the class winners.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. #52 PR1 Mathiasen driven by B. Keating, P. Chatin, A. Quinn and N. Lapierre were strong leaders during the first half of the race but different setbacks saw them ending seventh, 4 laps behind the winning LMP2.

High Class Racing, Era Motorsport and TDS Racing #11 DNF

📷 © Luc Warnotte. #20 High Class Racing driven by D. Andersen, E. Jones, A. Fjordbach and R. Marcellio , #18 Era Motorsport with D. Merriman, R. Dalziel, C. rasmussen and O. Jarvis as well as #11 TDS Racing driven by S. Tomas, M. Jensen, S. Huffaker and R. Veekay had to abandon.