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Estre held a lead of just over six seconds in the No. 6 Penske Porsche, as the German manufacturer engaged in a fierce battle with Cadillac Action Express Racing after the halfway mark of the IMSA SportsCar Championship opener.
At the start of the 13th hour, Laurens Vanthoor took the lead in the #6 963 thanks to staying in the car during the pit stop, while AXR lost time when Jack Aitken made way for Tom Blomqvist.
The Swedish driver had just passed Vanthoor when the eleventh yellow flag of the race was displayed, as marshals rushed to recover Dries Vanthoor’s number 24 BMW that had stopped on the track at the exit of Turn 3.
The pit stops that followed changed the order, with Vanthoor regaining the lead ahead of Rene Rast in the number 25 BMW, and Blomqvist dropping to third in the leading Caddy.
At the restart, Rast jumped on the Porsche to put BMW in the lead and even managed to establish a small lead in his debut in the IMSA premier class.
However, Rast was unable to make any challenge to Blomqvist, who was able to overtake his BMW with ease into the final banked corner as Vanthoor’s Porsche lost positions.
Blomqvist lost the lead again as he headed to the pits at the start of the 15th hour, rejoining the track with a 13-second deficit to the number 6 Porsche, now driven by Vanthoor’s teammate Estre.
The reigning Daytona winner reduced the deficit to eight seconds when Estre made his own pit stop and joined the field in sixth, even behind Josef Newgarden’s sister Porsche.
But Estre was able to pass Newgarden and assumed the race lead again after Blomqvist returned to the pitlane to hand the number 31 Caddy to Pipo Derani, tilting the race again in Porsche’s favor.
The #40 Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti Acura that had previously been out of contention was now back on the lead lap, with Colton Herta helping its advance to third place during the overnight hours.
The Acura was fourth, but moved up one place when the #25 BMW it briefly led with Rast at the wheel had to be taken to the garage for repairs, dealing a double blow for the Bavarian brand.
Newgarden dropped to fourth place in the #7 Porsche after his pit stop, ahead of the 963 customers of Neel Jani (Proton) and Tijmen van der Helm.
Problems hit the #01 Cadillac in the 14th hour after Renger van der Zande stalled near the exit of the Le Mans chicane, causing the 12th FCY of the race.
The car entered by Chip Ganassi was later withdrawn from Daytona.
Era Motorsport leads in LMP2
Oliver Rasumssen put the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca 07 back in front in LMP2 after passing Matt Brabham’s #99 AO Racing car at the end of the 15th hour.
Previously, AO Racing had taken the lead with Paul Loup Chatin at the wheel, but their Oreca eventually dropped to third behind the No. 8 Tower Motorsports car of Ferdinand Habsburg.
Ben Hanley boosted the #2 Untied Autosports team that had led for much of the race into fourth place after taking over driving duties from Nico Pino.
Ferrari ahead in GTD Pro
In GTD Pro, it was Ferrari who once again led the class thanks to a charging stint from Daniel Serra in the #62 Risi Competizione 296 GT3.
The works Ferrari driver passed the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Tommy Milner to take the lead, while Sheldon van der Linde moved up to third in the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 of Paul Miller.
Daniel Juncadella in the number 3 Corvette was ahead of the trio, but pitted late in the 15th hour and rejoined the group in fourth place.
Mercedes ran 1-2 in the standard pro-am GTD class, with Indy Dontje in the number 57 AMG GT3 heading Kenton Koch’s number 32 machine.
The Inception McLaren that was leading at mid-race has dropped to third place, with Ollie Millrow now behind the wheel of the #70 720S GT3.