Porsche survives late scare from former F1 driver to win historic Daytona 24 Hours

A final-hour attack by one-time F1 driver Jack Aitken was not enough to deny the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport car a historic third-straight win in the Daytona 24 Hours.

The race, which was effectively suspended under a full course yellow period for over six-and-a-half hours between 00:47 and 07:19 Eastern Time due to heavy fog over Daytona, with the #7 crew of Felipe Nasr, Julien Andlauer, and Laurin Heinrich leading.

In the final hour, Nasr was behind the wheel of the #31 Cadillac Whelen, driven by former Williams F1 racer Aitken, who launched a major assault on the leader after the final round of pit-stops. 

Nasr had a moment off track coming out of the pits for the final time as Aitken pressured his fellow ex-F1 driver, including going side-by-side into the braking zone for Turn 1 as he harried the leading 963 machine.

Nasr ultimately brought the Porsche home ahead in the thrilling chase as the #7 became the first car to win the Daytona 24 Hours for three straight years. 

Aitken's charge brought second for Cadillac, with the #24 BMW was steered to third place overall by Dries Vanthoor as the #6 Porsche 963 recovered from contact in the third hour of the race to take fourth place.

The car lost pace in the closing hour as the scale of the damage took its toll, but Kevin Estre brought it home fourth. 

The victory is a record-extending 21st victory for Porsche in the Daytona 24 Hours, as Nasr, the only driver to be a part of the #7 crew for all three wins, joined the likes of Brian Redman, Andy Wallace, Derek Bell, Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Dixon, and Helio Castroneves as a three-time winner.

Porsche's victory comes after it announced last year that it was withdrawing from the World Endurance Championship and would not be competing for overall victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Full and complete results for the 2026 Daytona 24 Hours are available to view here.

The report continues below.

Thrilling finish in GTD

In the final minutes of the race, a thrilling battle played out for class victory in GTD between the #57 Winward Racing and #44 Magnus Racing entries.

Phillip Ellis and Nicki Thiim were the respective drivers, with the two making contact at over 180mph in the final 10 minutes, battling for the class win.

Ultimately, Ellis stayed ahead to claim the honours.

In LMP2, the defending class winners, the #22 United Autosports finished fourth as the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR machine claimed victory.

The GTD-Pro class was won by the #1 Paul Miller Racing entry, narrowly beating the #75 Express crew, featuring two-time IndyCar champion and 2018 Indy 500 winner, Will Power.