24H Daytona: A Zuger takes GT3 victory
PERFECT RACING The Swiss Philip Ellis and Raffaele Marciello took the first two places in the GT3 class at the 24 Hours of Daytona as drivers in two American Mercedes teams. In contrast to the rain-soaked track at the qualifying event a week ago, the 59th edition of the endurance classic, which has been held at the legendary Daytona International Speedway since 1966 as a 24-hour race [...]
In contrast to the rain-soaked track at the qualifying event a week ago, the 59th edition of the endurance classic, which has been held as a 24-hour race at the legendary Daytona International Speedway since 1966, was held in ideal weather and track conditions throughout.
Third win in a row
The decision for the overall victory was made in dramatic fashion after a final caution period, which saw five representatives of the top DPi class join forces.
Dutchman Renger van der Zande put pressure on leader Filipe Albuquerque until he had to make a pit stop seven and a half minutes before the checkered flag fell with a slow puncture. As a result, the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac dropped to fifth place.
The Portuguese crossed the finish line 4.7 seconds ahead in the Acura ARX-05 to secure Wayne Taylor Racing's third consecutive overall win and fourth in five years. Joining Albuquerque on the car were Indy champions Alexander Rossi and Helio Castroneves, as well as Ricky Taylor, the team principal's son.
Meanwhile, Ricky's brother Jordan won the GTLM class with Antonio Garcia and Nicky Catsburg on Corvette.
Early exit for Rolf Ineichen
Swiss were this year only in the class GTD, which corresponds to the category GT3, at the start. Grasser Racing's Lamborghini Huracan, which Rolf Ineichen had qualified for third place on the grid together with works driver Mirko Bortolotti, initially held its own in the leading group with the Lucerne native as the starting driver, but fell far behind in the fourth hour with an electronics failure.
After an hour of repairs, the team resumed the race for testing, but withdrew the car after 13 hours because the gap was too large. In 2018 and 2019, Ineichen had won at Daytona with GRT.
Ellis successfully fights back
Soon the leading group also included the Mercedes-AMG of Winward Racing with Philip Ellis from Zug, who started from 5th place, and the brand colleagues of SunEnergy1 Racing, who started the race in 11th place, with factory driver Raffaele Marciello among the four drivers.
By nightfall, the Mercedes driven by Indy Dontje (NL), Maro Engel (D), Russell Ward (USA) and Ellis had established itself permanently in the top three and, with fast lap times, presented itself as a potential contender for victory. Even a slow puncture during the night only briefly slowed down the Winward quartet.
A preliminary decision was made four hours before the end of the race, when the leading Ellis engaged in a spectacular duel with the second-placed Ferrari over several laps. During an overtaking attempt, there was finally a contact in which, unlike the spinning pursuer, Ellis was able to hold on to the track and maintain the lead.
Perfect Daytona debut
As a result of this action, Raffaele's team partner Luca Stolz closed the gap to the front and positioned himself at the rear of his brand colleague. Short yellow phases allowed the next chasers to temporarily close the gap again, but the final drivers Maro Engel and Marciello were always able to pull away from the front when the lights went green.
After 745 laps, Engel made the first victory of a Mercedes-AMG GT3 at Daytona perfect. 16.3 seconds behind, the driver from Ticino crossed the finish line in second place.
Philip Ellis: "I'm speechless. It's crazy for Winward Racing to race here for the first time and win this thing. It's great to be a part of this success. It couldn't have gone any better. The key to winning was our consistency. We were just incredibly consistent for 24 hours. No penalties, no big incidents, nothing!"
24H Daytona 2021 Prov. results
