How canny Porsche strategy snatched Daytona spoils from Cadillac
A close battle between Penske Porsche Motorsport and the Action Express Racing Cadillac team for honours in the Daytona 24 Hours went down to the final round of pitstops, when it was settled in favour of the 963 driven by Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Dane Cameron and Josef Newgarden. Here's how it triumphed in the IMSA SportsCar Championship's blue ribband event
Porsche claimed a first outright victory at the Daytona 24 Hours since 2003 – and its first with a prototype since 1995 – after coming out on top in a late strategic battle with Cadillac. The American marque’s Action Express Racing squad rolled the dice at the penultimate round of pitstops, only for a final-hour safety car to undo what had appeared to be a tactical masterstroke. It was then the turn of Porsche Penske Motorsport to make the aggressive call when the leaders pitted for the final time under yellows. That, and a faultless performance from Felipe Nasr over the 32-minute sprint to the flag, finally ended the long victory drought.
Nasr prevailed in the Porsche 963 LMDh he co-drove with Matt Campbell, Dane Cameron and Josef Newgarden by the slimmest of margins. Tom Blomqvist, in the Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh shared with Jack Aitken and Pipo Derani, was a tad over two seconds behind at the flag. But if not for the 15th and final safety car of the opening round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, the finishing order would almost certainly have been the other way around.
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