Briscoe Recovers from Penalty to Retake Lead

Long-time overall leaders Wayne Taylor Racing recovered from a Sunday morning penalty setback to retake the top spot with four hours to go in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The No. 10 WTR Cadillac DPi-V.R had been out front for nearly five hours into daybreak; however, a mistake from Ryan Briscoe in the pits saw the car lose the lead as well as drop a lap down.

Briscoe ran through a red light at pit exit under the race’s fourth caution in the 18th hour for Felipe Fraga’s stopped No. 74 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, with the WTR car handed a 60-second stop and hold penalty for the infringement.

It saw Briscoe fall to fourth overall before the Australian got back onto the lead lap courtesy of a pass around under the fifth caution in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opener.

Joao Barbosa in the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi inherited the overall lead as a result of Briscoe’s dramas, however, the WTR car jumped Barbosa in the pits with just under four hours left on the clock.

Barbosa holds onto second overall ahead of Olivier Pla in the No. 77 Team Joest Mazda RT24-P in third.

Christina Nielsen’s No. 19 GEAR Racing by GRT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo caught fire shortly before the 19th hour, with Nielsen able to get the car stopped and escape the flames, bringing out the fifth caution.

The GT Le Mans category lead remains hotly contested between Porsche GT Team and BMW Team RLL.

John Edwards in the No. 24 BMW M8 GTE sat in the class lead shortly before the end of the 19th hour after prevailing in an intense battle with the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR of Mathieu Jaminet.

However with four hours to go, Jaminet drove around Edwards for the lead as the BMW fell into the clutches of the GTLM field behind.

Frederic Makowiecki is third aboard the No. 911 Porsche narrowly in front of the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Nicky Catsburg and Risi Competizione’s No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Daniel Serra completes the top-five.

DragonSpeed remains at the head of the LMP2 field with Harrison Newey at the wheel of the No. 81 Oreca 07 Gibson, with Corey Lewis out front in GT Daytona for Paul Miller Racing in the No. 48 Lamborghini.