The Porsche 963 with starting number 7 of the Porsche Penske Motorsport factory team has won the 24 Hours of Daytona. The works drivers Felipe Nasr from Brazil, Dane Cameron from the USA and Matt Campbell from Australia as well as the American IndyCar star Josef Newgarden extended the impressive record of the record winner Porsche to 19th triumphs.

The No. 6 sister car finished fourth with works drivers Mathieu Jaminet (France), Nick Tandy (Great Britain), Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) and Kévin Estre (France). Right behind them were the Porsche 963s of the strong customer teams Proton Competition and JDC-Miller MotorSports. In the GTD Pro class, AO Racing's Porsche 911 GT3 R finished second.

In a thrilling race in front of a record-breaking crowd, the lead changed again and again between the two 519 kW (706 hp) Porsche 963 from Porsche Penske Motorsport and the number 31 Cadillac. Shortly after nightfall on Saturday evening, car number 6 moved into the lead for the first time. However, several penalties threw the car of Jaminet/Tandy/Vanthoor/Estre back again and again. A small slip by Kévin Estre in the pit exit on Sunday morning dampened the crew's hopes of victory.

The last of a total of 15 yellow flags brought the tension to the extreme in a race that was always close for the manufacturers in the top class GTP: The decision was made in a 32-minute duel between Felipe Nasr in the number 7 Porsche and Briton Tom Blomqvist at the wheel of the Cadillac. The Brazilian struggled with degrading tyres in the finale, but was able to successfully fend off all attacks from his rival. To the surprise of all spectators, the 24-hour race was waved off with the checkered flag around 1:30 minutes before the end of the time. Porsche's first overall victory since 2003 and the sports car manufacturer's 19th success at Daytona was thus assured.

"What a great victory to start the year," said Michael Steiner, Member of the Executive Board for Development at Porsche AG. "The entire Porsche Penske Motorsport factory team and everyone at the development centre in Weissach have worked extremely the foundations for this success. I would like to express my deepest thanks to all the employees. We never gave up and didn't let ourselves be impressed by hard setbacks last year. We are now reaping the fruits of our consistent work. In the closing stages, the duel on the track showed the incomparable passion. No one gave up, no one gave up until the chequered flag. That absolutely thrilled me, as I am sure many motorsport fans around the world."

"It's hard for me to put the emotions into words. We won Daytona in 2024 – it's amazing," says Thomas Laudenbach, Head of Porsche Motorsport. "I've never experienced such an intense fight. We won one of the big races today. The package is right. Four Porsche 963s, two from Porsche Penske Motorsport and two from our strong customer teams, drove through without any major technical problems – you have to manage that first. The great work of everyone involved made this possible: thank you very much! Second place for AO Racing's Porsche 911 GT3 R in the GTD Pro class is also absolutely top-notch. Daytona was absolutely worth the trip for us."

"A fantastic day for the entire Porsche Penske Motorsport organization," said Roger Penske, founder and chairman of Penske Corporation. "Our two Porsche 963s were superbly fast and, more importantly, very reliable. The team translated this into our first victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona since 1969. Congratulations to Porsche and the Penske organization on this monumental achievement."

Customer teams in the top class GTP and GTD-Pro with strong results
The two Porsche 963s of the customer teams Proton Competition and JDC-Miller MotorSports rounded off the top result in the top class GTP with positions five and six. Both race cars were even on the podium at timescourse. Both the experienced drivers and the youngsters at the wheel of car numbers 5 and 85 put themselves in the limelight with enormously fast lap times and clean performances.

In the GTD Pro category, AO Racing made it to second place on the podium with the Porsche 911 GT3 R. At the wheel of the No. 77 car, known as the "Rexy", works driver Michael Christensen from Denmark, former Porsche Junior Laurin Heinrich from Germany and Briton Sebastian Priaulx performed flawlessly, as did the entire customer team from the USA. "The 24-hour race has shown again this year that you have to fight until the end. AO Racing did not let itself be disturbed in its debut race in the GTD Pro class and secured a terrific result with second place," commented Sebastian Golz, Project Manager Porsche 911 GT3 R. "All cars reached the finish line.

Wright Motorsports was still able to finish seventh in this difficult race and highly competitive field. That was obviously the maximum." The identical nine-elevens of Andretti Motorsports, Kellymoss with Riley and MDK Motorsports finished the race in ninth, eleventh and twelfth positions.

Porsche starts the new IMSA season
as the leader of the standings With victory at the prestigious classic in Florida, Porsche has taken the lead in the manufacturers' standings. The successful drivers of car number 7 are at the top of the drivers' championship after the season opener. The second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be another highlight: the traditional 12 Hours of Sebring will take place on 16 March. The endurance race is also the second race in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup.

Drivers' comments after the race
Felipe Nasr (Porsche 963 #7): "Wow! So immediately after crossing the finish line, I have to calm down and let it sink in a bit. In a race over 24 hours, the decision is made in the very last meters in a direct duel – unbelievable. The Cadillac was very strong, especially in the closing stages with rising track temperatures. We gave everything tactically and driver-wise to get this victory. It worked. I'm super proud of everyone in the team."

Matt Campbell (Porsche 963 #7): "We are the winners of the 24-hour race at Daytona – simply phenomenal! I can't thank my colleagues Josef, Felipe and Dane enough. Overall, the team was simply perfect. We had a completely crazy battle with the Cadillac. Over the entire distance it was always back and forth. It was intense, exciting and exhausting. Now we are celebrating our success."

Dane Cameron (Porsche 963 #7): "A wonderful day for all of us. The Porsche 963 was extremely strong in today's race and showed that we have made the necessary progress in terms of reliability over the winter. I am proud of everyone who has put us in this position. Our team simply worked perfectly. This is the first victory for the 963 in one of the really big races and for me the first overall success at the 24 Hours of Daytona – it doesn't get much better than that."

Josef Newgarden (Porsche 963 #7): "I am extremely happy and proud. We had a great car. The combination of Porsche and Team Penske delivered perfectly. Thank you to everyone who helped us on the way to this huge success. Such a 24-hour race requires months of intensive preparation. I think we deserved to win. It's a perfect start to the year. I wish the team a super successful season."

Alessio Picariello (Porsche 963 #5): "I'm totally exhausted, but also relieved and happy. It was a very intense weekend where I learned an incredible amount. On top of that, I still had a fever on Friday. It doesn't matter: When I was in the car, the adrenaline outshone everything. I made no mistakes, kept our number 5 on course and I'm therefore happy with my performance."

Richard Westbrook (Porsche 963 #85): "I see a lot of positives. On the one hand, we are all very happy that we have the first 24-hour race with the Porsche 963 behind us and were able to score plenty of points in the process. The fact that we were able to get over the distance so well is also due to the great material and the good support we receive from Porsche. Unfortunately, at the very end, a few small things set us back a bit. I'm now looking forward to Sebring like a child looking forward to a visit to the candy store."

Michael Christensen (Porsche 911 GT3 R #77): "I'm very satisfied. Even though we started the race from pole position, second place was the maximum achievable for us in this competition. Already after the first hour we knew that we were not fast enough. We had to drive flawlessly, do a perfect job in the pits and choose the optimal strategy. That's exactly what we managed to do over the entire distance and together we did a first-class job."

Race results: GTP class:

1. Cameron/Nasr/Campbell/Newgarden (USA/BR/AUS/USA), Porsche 963 #7, 791 laps
2. Derani/Aitken/Blomqvist (BR/UK/UK), Cadillac #31, -2.112s
3. Taylor/Deletraz/Herta/Button (USA/CH/USA/UK), Acura ARX-06 #40, -14.989s
4. Tandy/Jaminet/Estre/Vanthoor (UK/F/F/B), Porsche 963 #6, -15.387s
5. Bruni/Jani/Picariello/Dumas (I/CH/B/F), Porsche 963 #5, -44.479s
6. Van der Helm/Westbrook/Hanson/Keating (NL/UK/UK/USA), Porsche 963 #85, - 2 laps GTD Pro class:
1. Serra/Rigon/Pier Guidi/Calado (BR/I/I/UK), Ferrari 293 GT3 #62, 733 laps

2. Heinrich/Priaulx/Christensen (D/UK/DK), Porsche 911 GT3 R #77, -34.999s
3. Sellers/Snow/Verhagen/van der Linde (USA/USA/USA/RSA), BMW M4 GT3 #1, -2 laps GTD class:
1. Ward/Ellis/Dontje/Morad (USA/UK/NL/CAN), Mercedes AMG GT3 #57, 731 laps

7. Adelson/Skeer/Heylen/Makowiecki (USA/USA/B/F), Porsche 911 GT3 R #120, -1 lap
9. Andretti/Chavez/Hargrove/Preining (USA/USA/CDN/A), Porsche 911 GT3 R #43, -3 laps 11th Brule/Udell/Hindman/Andlauer (USA/USA/USA/F), Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, -12 laps 12th Li/Fjordbach/Ten Voorde/Bachler (CHN/DK/NL/A), Porsche 911 GT3 R #86, -13 laps

All results under https://imsa.alkamelsystems.com.