Customer Porsche loses Daytona 24 Hours lead as works team overcome dramatic collision

A customer Porsche 963 lost the Daytona 24 Hours just before the six-hour mark, after an earlier dramatic collision for the leading works #6 car.

Shortly after the first chaotic hour of the race, the #6 assumed control of the race, with Kevin Estre passing the sister #7 Porsche Penske machine of Felipe Nasr for the lead.

After the second round of stops, Laurens Vanthoor (6) and Julien Andlauer (7) took over driving duties, but Vanthoor was soon back on pit-road for repairs after contact with an LMP2 car, dropping the car down the order and out of the leading fight.

After another stop, the #6 got a break with a full-course caution following contact between the GT3 cars of Daniel Serra and fellow Ferrari driver, and 2025 Le Mans winner, James Calado. 

Serra was forced to retire on the spot, as the race then settled into the night. 

As the clock approached 19 hours remaining, another FCY was called following a heavy crash for the #81 DragonSpeed Corvette of Matteo Cairoli, thus bunching the field up again. 

Upon the restart and as the clock ticked to one quarter distance completed, the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsport entry of Tijmen van der Helm, Nico Pino, and Kaylen Frederick was leading, with Lauren Heinrich within striking distance in the #7 works Porsche, along with the #93 Acura Meyer Shank of Nick Yelloly also in contention, with the #6 down in seventh overall. 

But the #85 was off-sequence and pitted moments before the 18-hour mark was reached, plummeting down the order as Heinrich assumed the lead.

In LMP2, the AO Racing #99, currently being driven by Jonny Edgar, was leading, with GTD Pro being led by Neil Verhagen in the #1 BMW Paul Miller Racing machine. 

GTD is being led by Thierry Vermeulen in the #34 Ferrari Conquest Racing entry.