Paul Miller Racing triumphs in the BMW M4 GT3 EVO
Acclaimed victory for the #1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Paul Miller Racing in the GTD-PRO class. Connor De Phillippi, Neil Verhagen, Max Hesse and Dan Harper celebrated the first Daytona class win for BMW M Motorsport since the GTLM triumph for BMW M Team RLL in 2020. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 squats a double podium.
#1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO from the back to win
There was a huge jubilation at Paul Miller Racing. De Phillippi, Verhagen, Hesse and Harper had to start from the back of the GTD-PRO field after a technical infringement in qualifying, but worked their way through the field with determination and took the lead in the closing stages. Harper crossed the line to take the win despite being out of radio contact with his team in the final hour of the race.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO
The three former BMW M juniors, Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen, were able to celebrate their greatest success to date together in Daytona. This triumph was somewhat on the cards after they had already celebrated great successes in the last IMSA season – albeit in different cars.
Neil Verhagen (#1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Paul Miller Racing, 1st place GTD-PRO): "Simply incredible! It doesn't feel real yet. I don't think I'll realise what we've achieved here today until tomorrow. I have to let it sink in first. Paul Miller Racing did a great job. We had a perfect race. It wasn't easy at the end because we had no radio contact with Dan. That made energy management complicated, but fortunately everything worked out great in the end."
📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO
Connor De Phillippi (#1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Paul Miller Racing, 1st place GTD-PRO): "Winner of the Rolex 24 of Daytona: What a day! I'm just so proud of this team and everyone at BMW M Motorsport in Munich and here in the USA. What a team effort! We weren't the clear favourites, but we knew we had a chance to finish on the podium or even win this weekend if we drove clean and had an undamaged car at the end. Each of us did a perfect job. Dan drove phenomenally for the last three hours – I'm really speechless. One of our rivals made a small mistake and that was all it took to take the lead – and Dan never looked back. I'm just so happy with this victory because it's a race that's very hard to win. I'm proud to have won with these three guys."
Dan Harper (#1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Paul Miller Racing, 1st place GTD-PRO): "I still can't believe it. I was counting down the laps at the end because I could see the Mercedes getting closer and closer. Unfortunately, I lost my radio relatively early on, so I had no information on lap times or distances – but at least I could see the gap in the rear-view mirror. In the end, my tyres were simply cooked, I was really just hanging on. I tried to hit my marks and get through the traffic cleanly. I'm really proud of all my teammates and team members. We won Daytona."
Max Hesse (#1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Paul Miller Racing, 1st place GTD-PRO): "I'm just over the moon and super proud of BMW M Motorsport, Paul Miller Racing and my team-mates. At times it didn't look like we had the fastest car, but we focussed on being competitive in the warmer conditions at the end. That worked out really well and we were able to fight for victory in the last six hours." Source: BMW
Double podium for the Mercedes-AMG GT3
The Mercedes-AMG GT3 proved its competitiveness with strong results at the 24-hour race in Daytona with a double podium in the GTD Pro category. The #75 car of Team 75 Express with Maro Engel, Kenny Habul, Chaz Mostert and Will Power crossed checkers flag in 2nd place and the #48 car of Team Winward Racing with Jason Hart, Maxime Martin, Scott Noble and Luca Stolz in third place.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Team Winward Racing ahead of #75 car of Team 75 Express.
Maro Engel, 75 Express #75: "First of all, a big thank you to Kenny and the entire 75 Express team. Kenny put together this “Aussie Express”, as we nicknamed it, with Chaz and Will, and brought me into the team. It was great fun driving with them. We gave it our all in the race and are very happy with second place. Of course, it was close, but that’s how it is sometimes in sport. It was a great race by everyone."
📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. #75 car of Team 75 Express with Maro Engel, Kenny Habul, Chaz Mostert and Will Power (left), #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Team Winward Racing with Jason Hart, Maxime Martin, Scott Noble and Luca Stolz (right)
Maxime Martin, Winward Racing #48: "Third place in the GTD Pro class was a great team effort. In the end, we lacked a little speed to achieve an even better result. We made the most of our package and I think we can be more than satisfied. It's a good start to the 2026 motorsport year." Source: Mercedes
Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports recorded fourth-place
The #4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports entry of Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone just missed the GTD PRO podium in their Corvette Z06 GT3.R, finishing fourth.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. Both of the Pro-class Corvette GT3s
Both of the Pro-class Corvette GT3s were the forces of the race through the first 20 hours. The pair of yellow Corvettes combined to lead for 319 laps – 160 coming from the #3 trio of pole-winner Alexander Sims, Antonio Garcia and Marvin Kirchhöfer. The cars ran in formation for much of the race – before and after a lengthy six-and-a-half, full-course yellow period due to fog – before the race went sideways.
It started with a suspension issue for the #3 Corvette with a little more than five hours to go that cost the team 46 seconds in its garage.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. #4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R
The sister Corvette continued to run at the front as late as two-and-a-half hours to go – due in part to a third-to-first move by Milner – before Varrone was shoved off-track shortly after a restart. That cost the No. 4 team time and track position back to seventh before the drive-back by Catsburg to the end.
NICKY CATSBURG, #4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Somehow it all went away for us. Of course there was the incident when the Ferrari smashed us off. I feel like even without that, it was not going to be easy. It seemed like everyone at the end of the race had an extra switch and could power up a bit. But that definitely did not help. Big hats off to the team. The execution was amazing with zero mistakes. The car was good and the setup was good. I think we finished second if you look at the full-season contenders so that’s not too bad. It’s unfortunate because I felt like we were going to come away with a new watch.” Source: Corvette Racing
Manthey finished in fifth place.
#911 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R with Klaus Bachler, Ricardo Feller, Thomas Preining, Ayhancan Güven finished the 24-hour race in fifth in the GTD Pro class.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R #911
Ayhancan Güven (Porsche 911 GT3 R #911): “We were consistent and made no mistakes – that’s exactly what everyone expects from our top Manthey team. After a disappointing qualifying result, we systematically fought our way back with a strong performance. In the final quarter of the race, we were running at the front, but in the battle for the class win, we just didn’t have quite enough pace. It’s disappointing, but overall, it was still an impressive showing from our team.” Source: Porsche
Related Info
📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. ROLEX 24 GTP Ranking behind the top 3
📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. Porsche-Cadillac-BMW podium at ROLEX 24
📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. First 12 hours photos dump
📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. Albuquerque-Vesti about Cadillac's work at Daytona
