24 Hours of Daytona: Former F1 driver STUNS at Rolex 24 as historic record broken

An ex-Formula 1 driver has secured a historic victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona after a late shootout for the win.

This year's Rolex 24 went right down to the wire at the top of the field, although 2024 F1 driver Kevin Magnussen's team was taken out of the running late with mechanical issues and some front wing contact.

READ MORE: NASCAR rule change hands LEGEND major Daytona 500 boost

Felipe Nasr, who raced for two seasons in the open-wheel championship with Sauber, was instead the F1 driver on the winning #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport team, alongside Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor.

It looked for a while like the #6 Porsche Penske car, then being driven by Matt Campbell, might complete a huge 1-2. However, Meyer Shank’s #60 Acura, piloted by Tom Blomqvist, passed Campbell as he tried in vain to chase down Nasr in the #7.

READ MORE: Indy 500 LEGEND set for NASCAR debut at Daytona 500

PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT GO BACK-TO-BACK! 🏁

Congrats to co-drivers Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor on WINNING the Rolex 24 at Daytona. pic.twitter.com/T29WqJWohA

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) January 26, 2025

Record broken at 24 Hours of Daytona

Nick Tandy's presence on Nasr's winning team was hugely significant, as it sees the British driver become the first man to win the grand slam of 24 Hour events – Daytona, Le Mans, the Nurburgring and Spa.

Who won each Rolex 24 category?

Dennis Olsen won the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class in the #65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3, alongside Christopher Mies and Frederic Vervisch.

In the GTD class, Corvette won with a customer entry from AWA, driven by Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern and Marvin Kirchhoefer.

Tower Motorsports rounded out the category champions, winning the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), thanks to former F1 star and American open-wheel series legend Sebastien Bourdais, along with John Farano, Sebastian Alvarez and Job Van Uitert in the #8 ORECA LMP2 07.

How many people watched the Daytona 24?

The race was free to watch on YouTube outside the US and select countries, and racked up well over two million views over the course of the day-long event.

Speaking ahead of the race, IMSA President John Doonan said: “We tried something last year at Sebring without any promotion that has taken our YouTube channel subscribers on the IMSA YouTube channel from 250,000 subscribers to knocking on the door of 700,000 before today’s race starts."

It's not yet clear how many fans in the US watched on Peacock, NBC and USA.

READ MORE: NASCAR team announce MAJOR 2025 signing

Related

24 Hours of Daytona

24 Hours of Daytona Today: Rolex 24 start times, schedule and how to watch live FREE

• January 25, 2025 20:21

Daytona

Axed F1 star to make Daytona debut in 2025

• December 20, 2024 17:00