Trouble Hits Both Mazda Team Joest Entries in Hour 7

Wayne Taylor Racing leads the Rolex 24 at Daytona, but Mazda Team Joest hit a double setback when both of its Mazda RT24-P entries hit trouble within moments of one another.

The No. 55 Mazda went to the garage after stopping on track at the hands of Olivier Pla, who was able to limp the car back to the garage where the team diagnosed a fuel leak.

Just moments later, the No. 77 of Timo Bernhard came to a halt with a fire at the back of the pole-sitting machine.

That car was running on the lead lap at the time, while the No. 55 had already encountered several setbacks including contact with the GT Daytona-class Acura NSX GT3 of Katherine Legge.

Mazda has announced the No. 77 cannot be repaired and it has been retired.

The fire caused the yellow flag to be displayed for the fifth time in the race, eclipsing the four full course yellows from last year’s Rolex 24 within seven hours.

Kobayashi currently holds the top spot in the No. 10 Cadillac DPi.V-R over the No. 85 Cadillac DPi from Rubens Barrichello, while Juan Pablo Montoya holds third overall for Acura Team Penske.

Ben Hanley’s No. 81 DragonSpeed Oreca 07 Gibson leads in LMP2 ahead of Ryan Cullen in the sister entry. The two DragonSpeed cars are the only entries that remain on the lead lap in class.

Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber hold first and third in GT Le Mans for the Porsche GT Team, sandwiching the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE of James Calado.

In GT Daytona, meanwhile, Nick Boulle led the way for Park Place Motorsports, followed by the No. 29 Montaplast by Land Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Dries Vanthoor and the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports car driven by Luca Stolz.