Penske Leads After 10 Hours; Land Penalized

Acura Team Penske occupies the top two spots in the running order as the field has been slowed for just the second full course caution of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Ricky Taylor in the No. 7 Acura ARX-05 holds the top spot over teammate Simon Pagenaud with Joao Barbosa slipping to third after his Action Express Racing team elected to make a brake change to his Cadillac DPi-V.R under the yellow.

The caution period came as a result of an accident for Roberto Gonzalez who ended up in the tire barrier in the International Horseshoe while exiting the pits in the No. 52 AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Ligier JS P217 Gibson.

Joey Hand continues to pace the GT Le Mans category in the No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT, while Adam Christodoulou of Riley Motorsports is out front in GT Daytona after the class leading Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 was hit with a stop and hold plus five penalty.

The Land car had a healthy lead of over a lap in class when the penalty was called.

In an interview with IMSA Radio, team principal Christian Land said he was told the penalty was caused by a fuel-flow rate during the team’s pit stops that was faster than what is required by series BoP.

The penalty dropped the Land Audi GT3 to seventh in class and currently is one lap behind the class leading Mercedes GT3.

Shortly before the caution, the No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi of Ryan Dalziel pulled into the garage citing a potential gearbox problem but soon returned to the track after rapid repairs, only to return shortly thereafter.

The No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Cadillac became the race’s first retirement due to a misfire that could not be repaired.