Daytona 24 Hours: Action Express Cadillac leads, #6 Penske hits trouble
One of Penske's two Acura contenders dropped out of contention with just over four hours of the Daytona 24 Hours remaining, as Action Express led the way under caution
The #6 Acura ARX-05, the last of the cars on the lead lap, was running fourth behind the safety car with Simon Pagenaud at the wheel when the Frenchman returned to the pitlane with a broken oil pump.
Penske mechanics scrambled to take the rear end off the car, and after several minutes elapsed the stricken machine was taken behind the pitwall, where it remained at the 20-hour mark.
The sister #7 Acura remains well in contention, with Ricky Taylor having led the way at the time of Pagenaud's problem before handing over to Helio Castroneves.
Having pitted just before the long red flag period, the #31 AXR Cadillac DPi-V.R cycled through to the front when the remaining contenders for victory hit pitlane.
Pipo Derani now leads Castroneves' Acura and Jordan Taylor - who took over the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac from two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso, who had led the race.
Taylor pitted for a second time under the caution just before the 20-hour mark, dropping behind Castroneves in the process.
CORE Autosport's Nissan DPi is now fourth with Romain Dumas now at the wheel as a result of the issues for the #6 Acura, four laps down, while the lead JDC-Miller Cadillac of Tristan Vautier is fifth, seven laps down.
The #81 DragonSpeed ORECA, which now has Henrik Hedman at the wheel, still commands the LMP2 class by a lap.
In GT Le Mans, Risi Competizione led until it pitted just before the end of Hour 20, promoting Joey Hand to the lead of the class in the #66 Ford GT ahead of the sister #67 machine of Ryan Briscoe.
Both Porsches pitted under the latest caution, with Frederic Makowiecki running third in the #911 car.
GT Daytona continues to be led by AJ Allmendinger at the wheel of the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX ahead of Dries Vanthoor in the #29 Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS.
At the 20-hour mark, the current full-course yellow period - the 12th of the race - had been going for nearly 90 minutes amid continuing efforts to dry the track using a jet dryer truck.
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Yamamoto ‘never imagined’ scoring podium on injury comeback in Super Formula
Pourchaire “worried” for Super Formula prospects after nightmare debut
How Cassidy emerged triumphant from "mayhem" in Portland FE slow-burner
Newgarden fastest in rain-shortened first day of Indy 500 Open Test
IndyCar drivers offer ideas and format tweaks for Thermal exhibition race
Why Penske remains ambitious for its WEC learning year
New Time Attack competition for 1990s F1 cars launched by AGS successor
Red Bull in no rush to finalise 2025 F1 line-up
Oliveira reckons MotoGP “looks too easy” on TV now
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
How canny Porsche strategy snatched Daytona spoils from Cadillac
How a battle of two US titans will grip IMSA in 2024
How IMSA's GTP revival proved worthy of its name
How Porsche's Daytona hiccups evoked the premiere of its Group C king
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments