CGR Leads for Max Endurance Cup Points at Six Hours

Scott Dixon gave the No. 01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing crew maximum points at the first IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup checkpoint six hours into the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Dixon kept ahead of Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac driver Mike Conway after a restart from a full course caution to pick up five points for himself, Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais and Alex Palou, who are sharing the No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R.

The caution period occurred just after midway through the fifth hour when Team TGM’s Porsche 911 GT3 R went deep into the grass run-off at the International Horseshoe and needed to be recovered.

Conway secured four points for his No. 31 Whelen-backed Action Express crew, followed by three points for Richard Westbrook in the JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac.

A significant moment in the DPi battle occurred at the start of the fifth hour when former leader Will Stevens had a wild spin at the Turn 1 left-hander, resulting in a puncture for his Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05.

Stevens then crawled almost a full lap back to the pits, which dropped defending winner WTR two laps off the overall lead as the only DPi car no longer on the main lap.

KCMG led the GTD Pro class at the six-hour mark with Dennis Olsen running ahead of Risi Competizione Ferrari driver Davide Rigon.

Risi moved into the lead courtesy of a well-timed pit stop ahead of a caution-ridden fourth hour, but Olsen put the pressure on Rigon over the next green flag stint.

The lead changed in the pits during the most recent caution period when Rigon lost time due to a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo delaying his exit from the Risi stall.

Pfaff Motorsports was third at one-quarter distance, ahead of the No. 97 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG and the sole Pro-class Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

One of the early GTD Pro contenders, WeatherTech’s No. 79 Porsche, spent time behind the wall due to an air jack failure that has removed it from the podium battle.

Tom Gamble led GTD on six hours in the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 from The Heart of Racing, picking up maximum Endurance Cup points in the process.

Nico Mueller and Nico Lapierre ran three seconds apart at the head of LMP2, with the former in front aboard the High Class Racing Oreca 07 Gibson and the latter driving for PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports.

A close-fought LMP3 fight was led by CORE autosport driver Colin Braun with Andretti Autosport’s Rasmus Lindh and Sean Creech Motorsport’s Joao Barbosa in close view.

Additionally, an IMSA spokesperson has confirmed that all drivers involved in the multi-car accident at Speedway Turn 1 midway through the fourth hour were checked and released from the circuit medical center.

Positions After 6 Hours