After more than 2,400 miles and 23 1/2 hours of racing, the most prestigious North American sports car race came down to eight minutes and a final five-lap sprint. The first race of the unified United SportsCar Championship – the NASCAR-owned and IMSA-sanctioned series born from the merger between American Le Mans and Grand-AM – ended with a NASCAR flair.
A late, full-course caution swallowed Joao Barbosa’s 13-seccond lead and gave Max Angelelli a last-ditch chance to win the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Barbosa never gave him a chance, pulling away on the restart with 8:23 to race Sunday to give Action Express Racing its second victory in four years. Co-driver Sebastien Bourdais won the Rolex for the first time, while Christian Fittipaldi won for the second time.
Ford was shut out in its debut of its new EcoBoost engine. The #01 car of Chip Ganassi Racing team [including Jamie McMurray] wasn’t able to defend its race win because of a series of problems that plagued the car starting very early in the race. Ganassi’s #02 entry [including Kyle Larson] was taken out of contention when it developed a flat rear tire while Scott Dixon was running second with roughly five hours remaining.
Michael Shank Racing’s entry [including A.J. Allmendinger], the 2012 race winning team, was halted by a broken gearbox.
CORE autosport finished a lap ahead of 8Star Motorsport to win the Prototype Challenge class.
Porsche North America claimed the GT Le Mans class with its No. 911 RSR entry.
The crowded GT Daytona class had the most thrilling – and controversial – finish of the race. The victory initially went to Flying Lizard Motorsports when IMSA officials penalized Level 5 Motorsports for avoidable contact on the last lap. But hours after the race ended, IMSA reversed its decision and gave the victory to Level 5.
