Dixon Leads; Several Cars in Trouble at 13-Hour Mark

The 13th hour of the 53rd Rolex 24 at Daytona is more notable for the cars that have run into trouble, than the ones that have remained at the head of their respective classes.

An unscheduled stop to change a right rear tire took GT Le Mans class leader Oliver Gavin out of his position during the hour in his No. 4 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R.

Meanwhile the near flawless runs for the No. 1 Tequila Patron ESM HPD ARX-04b and No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier JS P2 Honda also went south in this hour.

The No. 1 team made a nose change and was involved in two full-course cautions during the hour. Meanwhile after the second restart in this sequence, John Pew in the MSR Ligier ran wide at the first hairpin and into the tire barriers, and has now fallen off the lead lap to be two-plus laps back.

Two more retirements have been confirmed. The No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Oreca FLM09 is retired with a hole in the motor per driver Renger van der Zande, and the No. 07 SpeedSource Mazda SKYACTIV-D is the second of the pair of Mazdas to retire, with overheating issues just pas the halfway mark of the race.

At the 13-hour mark with 11 hours to go, Scott Dixon still leads Jordan Taylor overall, albeit only briefly by half a second.

Other class leaders include the No. 54 CORE autosport Oreca FLM09, still a lap clear over the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports in Prototype Challenge, the No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R in GT Le Mans and No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Audi R8 LMS in GT Daytona.

The No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW Z4 GTE and No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR are lingering in GTLM with the pair of Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia GT3s and pair of Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper GT3-Rs giving chase. All of those cars are on the respective lead laps in class.