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Daytona 24 Hours: Action Express Cadillac ahead at H6, Alonso stars

Action Express Racing led the Daytona 24 Hours at quarter-distance, while a storming triple stint from two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso hauled the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac into contention

Alonso took over the #10 WTR Cadillac DPi-V.R from Jordan Taylor during the race's first caution period just before the two-hour mark, and hit the front of the pack midway through the fourth hour having started his stint in eighth.

A caution triggered by the #24 BMW M8 GTE stopping at the pitlane exit closed the pack up towards the end of the third hour, and once racing resumed Alonso passed Eric Curran's in the #31 AXR Cadillac and Dane Cameron in the #6 Acura ARX-05.

He then caught and passed the lead Acura of Helio Castroneves after an entertaining fight, before finally closing down Rene Rast in the polesitting #77 Mazda RT24-P to snatch the lead.

The Spaniard stretched out a lead before another caution was caused by the Juncos Racing Cadillac going off at Turn 1, but after that he rebuilt the gap before handing over to Kamui Kobayashi with 12 seconds in hand.

A further caution just before the six-hour mark, caused by a crash involving the #52 PR1/Mathiasen LMP2 and the #84 JDC-Miller Cadillac, allowed the #31 AXR car of Pipo Derani to vault ahead of the #10 WTR car by not stopping.

Juan Pablo Montoya ran third in the #6 Acura, followed by Timo Bernhard in the #77 Mazda and Ricky Taylor in the #7 Acura.

The second Mazda was delayed when Harry Tincknell was hit from behind by Katherine Legge in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX, and runs sixth.

The #18 DragonSpeed ORECA-Gibson driven by World Endurance Championship regular Roberto Gonzalez leads the LMP2 class, ahead of the sister car driven by Ben Hanley.

Corvette Racing led the way in GT Le Mans after six hours, with Oliver Gavin leading James Calado in the Risi Competizione Ferrari behind the safety car.

The #911 Porsche that had led prior to the caution period slipped to third, ahead of the best of the BMWs - the #25 that has Augusto Farfus at the wheel.

The #24 BMW that Alex Zanardi drove in the early part of the race lost six laps to the class leaders when the car fell off the jacks during a steering wheel change, causing damage to the steering column.

Felipe Fraga leads the GT Daytona class in the #33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3.

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