Larson to Top After 10-Hour Mark at Daytona

Two young Americans have engaged in a titanic bout for the lead over the last hour in the 53rd Rolex 24 at Daytona.

With the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP hamstrung by its earlier connector issue, the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP and No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford, driven by Ricky Taylor and Kyle Larson, respectively, took advantage.

Taylor and Larson exchanged the lead several times, with Larson emerging ahead prior to its most recent pit stop sequence just before lap 300 and the 10-hour mark.

Larson now leads with Jordan Taylor second in the No. 10 car.

Scott Sharp took the overall lead briefly as those two cars pitted in the No. 1 Tequila Patron ESM HPD ARX-04b.

Action Express has resumed, three laps down, still with Joao Barbosa behind the wheel.

CORE autosport took a greater lead in the No. 54 Oreca FLM09 in Prototype Challenge as the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Oreca FLM09 has ran into trouble, not long after Colin Braun (CORE) passed Alex Popow (Starworks) for the class lead.

GT Le Mans saw a seriously intense battle among five cars.

Any of the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia, pair of Corvette Racing Corvette C7.Rs, No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR, and the No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR had stints in the lead, with the No. 62 emerging ahead in class at the 10-hour mark in the hands of Pierre Kaffer.

GT Daytona also saw a good scrap, with Australian V8 Supercars ace Shane van Gisbergen (No. 22 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT America), Mike Skeen (No. 81 GB Autosport Porsche 911 GT America and Spencer Pumpelly (No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT America) having their turns at the front of the field.

The No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca FLM09 has retired due to too much damage. The car stopped at turn 6, relatively unharmed, with James French behind the wheel to bring out a full-course caution.

Earlier in the race, the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda joined the list of retirements in the seventh hour with an oil pump failure.

Other cars in trouble include the No. 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT America in with motor issues, and the No. 24 BMW Team RLL BMW Z4 GTE, which was hit on a restart and went back behind the wall. The BMW lost more than 25 laps but has since resumed.