With a more than 6,5 hours period of Full Course Yellow to wait for visibility to come back, the 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona lowered the chances for the ones who suffered damages during the first 11 hours as they had less laps to recover lost laps.

Lets review the (mis)fortunes of the ones who didn’t make the podium.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. From left to right: from left to right, top 3: #7 Porsche 963, #31 Cadillac V-Series.R, #24 BMW M Hybrid V8

Estre/Vanthoor/Campbell take fourth

Both factory Porsches were the dominant force for most of this year’s Daytona 24 Hours with #7 Porsche leading 375 laps and sister #6 Penske Porsche leading 146 laps. The factory team led 521 laps of the 705 covered or 73,90% of the race.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. Both Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 Saturday after 2 hours (left) and with 3 hours left Sunday morning (right).

The #6 car suffered damage from collisions with another car, leaving the car with residual damage.

Kévin Estre (Porsche 963 #6): “First, it’s amazing for the team to score another win. Unfortunately, we nudged another car at the start. The team couldn’t fully fix the damage, so we’ll never know just how strong our 963 could have been without that incident. Compared to our sister car, we were always slightly on the back foot – competitive, yes, but never quite matching of the #7 Porsche.” Source: Porsche

The #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 finishes fifth

Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly, four-time and reigning Honda-powered NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion and 2025 Indy 500 winner Alex Palou and Honda Super Formula race winner Kaku Ohta drove back from adversity to claim a top-five finish in the 64th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The #93 Acura ARX-06 started from pole position and led 43 laps in the early stages of the race. However, a loose wheel shortly before the halfway mark put the #93 one lap down to the IMSA GTP field. Ohta, behind the wheel at the time of the incident, was able to safely drive the car all the way back to pit lane, preserving the #93's chance to fight later in the race.

The wheel issue, however, was soon followed by the longest caution flag in Rolex 24 history at six hours and 33 minutes—or 120 laps—rendering the team unable to get their lap back until racing resumed in the morning.

The Acura MSR #93 team would get their lap back in the morning hours and work their way through to field to cross the line in fifth place. Ohta would drive five hours and 17 minutes of the event, gaining incredibly beneficial experience in his second season doing select races in the IMSA championship.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. Acura ARX-06 #93

Nick Yelloly (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06): "P5 today, but that's not what we came here to achieve. We didn't have the pace that we had hoped for and we couldn't really chase or fight for most of the race, particularly when the heat came up. Onwards and upwards to Sebring where I hope we can resurrect our pace problems a little bit and get back on that podium."

Renger van der Zande (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06): "P5 in Daytona, it's not the result that we came for. We wanted to win so bad, but the pace was just not there. I think we have a lot to improve on the pit stand and on the car. We will go home with a bag of homework and hopefully we'll come back stronger when we return for Sebring."

Alex Palou (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06): "I'm happy that we finished. Last year we didn't finish on the lead lap and this year we finished in the top five. Of course, it's never the best day when you're not fighting for the win, but I think it's been a positive two days. I got a lot out of the car; I just don't think we really had much more speed in it. This prepares us well for Sebring in a couple of months!"

Kaku Ohta (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06): "We led a lot of laps towards the beginning of the race, but unfortunately, we ran into an issue during one of my stints when I exited pit lane and the left front tire came off. I was able to bring the car back to the pit box, but it was a hard setback to recover from. Everyone on the #93 Acura did their best, and we executed almost perfectly all race long. It was just some poor luck that came our way. It's a shame that we couldn't quite finish on the podium, but we progressed relative to last year's outing. We'll keep moving forward and focus on the next one. I'm so thankful to HRC and Acura for this opportunity. HRC and MSR have assembled such a great group to learn from in IMSA and I can't wait for the next one." Source: Acura

Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing finish sixth

Only one of the two Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R crossed checkered flag with #40 sponsored by DEX for Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz and Colton Herta finishing sixth. With only two laps in the lead the #40 Cadillac V-Series.R lost serious space after midnight probably due to something broken in the back of the car.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. #40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R

Louis Deletraz: “Well, we made it to the end and congratulations to the 31 for the second place and to Cadillac. We made it to the end and no mistakes by the drivers and no mistakes from the team. I think sometime after midnight something broke at the back of the car, to be confirmed, but we lost a lot of pace out of it. I think we were quite good on deg (degradation), but then again when its losing pace, we just didn’t have it. We had good strategy on fuel and its good points on the championship. Looking forward to more and can’t wait to get to Sebring already.”

Colton Herta: “Hard fight to the end for us in the 40 car. Was not the race that we wanted, but good points for the full-time guys. We never gave up and tried our hardest, so proud of that and definitely some stuff to look at and get better on for Sebring. Looking forward to that one.”

Jordan Taylor: “Yeah, obviously not a great day for the whole team and for us. I think we salvaged sixth place there at the end with a good call on fuel strategy, but overall, disappointed because a couple of times I thought we were in the mix for the race. So, just hopefully we can go to Sebring with a little more pace and win there.”

JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 seventh

Porsche customer team JDC-Miller MotorSports put in an impressive drive, with the American outfit’s Porsche 963 even holding the lead at times – only to fall back to seventh in the final stages.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at ROLEX 24 at Daytona 2026. #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963

The second BMW M Hybrid V8 eighth

The #25 car and drivers Philipp Eng (AUT), Marco Wittmann (GER), Kevin Magnussen (DEN) and Raffaele Marciello (SUI) had to pit again for refuelling shortly before the end due to an alternative strategy and dropped back to eighth position. It was also the first race for both BMW M Hybrid V8s with the heavily revised aerodynamic package.

Marco Wittmann (#25 BMW M Hybrid V8, BMW M Team WRT, 8th place GTP): "The whole team put in a great performance and achieved much more than we expected after the Roar and qualifying. We were able to fight for the podium with both cars. In the end, our sister car made it – congratulations! When you're in a good position as a team with two cars, you split the strategy. We had gambled on a late yellow phase, which might even have brought us victory. Unfortunately, this poker didn't work out. Nevertheless, we can all be proud of how we completed this race. We always remained calm, even when there were setbacks. As newcomers, we definitely achieved our goal. We can build on this with a view to the upcoming races." Source: BMW

#60 Acura ARX-06 ninth

The sister #60 Acura ARX-06, piloted by Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, IndyCar legend Scott Dixon and open wheel and NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger spent much of the race in the hunt for a podium finish. The quartet of drivers—who already share 10 Rolex 24 wins between them—were running in the top five before needing a late-race splash of fuel to make it to the checkered flag, ultimately finishing ninth.

Tom Blomqvist (#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06): "Very disappointing result for us. We had pace at times but we were so far out of position and then we were out of sync with the strategy so we were kind of on the back foot. Relying on luck is never a nice thing in racing and more times than none that doesn't play out well. We have a lot of homework to do ahead of Sebring, to figure out why we struggled for pace compared to some of the competition."

Colin Braun (#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06): "Not the day we were looking for on the #60 side. Congrats to the #93 guys on a top five. Our race it felt like we were up there, but I think we struggled with the rear [tire] degradation as it got warmer. The guys did a great job on the strategy options to try and make something happen. We had a great strategy going with our tires, but the long caution period kind of deleted that plan and changed the game for us. But overall, AJ, Scott and Tom all did a great job and the guys in the pits had some nice clean stops."

Scott Dixon (#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06): "It was tough, maybe one of the toughest 24 hours I've ever done. The car balance was really tricky, degradation was really tough. We made it to the end but it was a particularly hard one.

AJ Allmendinger (#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06): "I enjoyed the process, it was definitely difficult. I just love working with Mike Shank and MSR. I wish it would have gone better and I wish I could have done more. But at the end of the day it was a fun challenge. Even through the tough times, I had a lot of fun with it. I don't know if it will be my last or not, but at the end of the day I've had a really good time." Source: Acura

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