A Rolex 24 For The History Books

Team Penske photo

Saturday morning, January 24th, Daytona Beach.

Roger Penske walks into his Porsche Penske hauler where his six drivers and engineers are getting ready for their pre-race meeting. He has one thing to say at the start. Win a third-straight Rolex.

It's the one accomplishment the legendary owner hasn't achieved, that sports car rival owners Wayne Taylor and Chip Ganassi both can lay claim to. But with the talent level in IMSA's GT Prototype class, could that be possible?

If you're Penske, it is.

The Porsche 963 has been the dominant factor the past couple of seasons, both in IMSA and WEC. Since 2023, its racked up four teams titles, two a piece in IMSA and WEC, two IMSA Constructors titles and its drivers have won drivers titles in back-to-back years in IMSA, with Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor claiming the 2024 WEC Hypercar drivers title.

This year's Penske lineup again was stacked, with the IMSA regulars paired up with drivers who raced in WEC last season. Penske wanted that third straight watch.

Several other fast drivers were in the field. A.J. Allmendinger was making his return in the GTP class, with IndyCar stars Scott Dixon and defending champion Alex Palou in the two Acura Meyer Shank steeds. All eyes were also on the Action Express Whelen Cadillac, where rising motorsports phenom Connor Zilisch, fresh off his own Rolex victory in LMP2 last season, was making his class debut.

GT was also stacked with their own storylines, but none larger than Manthey making their return with two Porsches, one each in GTD Pro and GTD.

It didn't take long, after a couple of full-course yellows, for the Penske's to show their might. Both the 6 and 7 were at the head of the field for most of the race. But this is Florida in January, anything can happen.

If race morning was anything to go by, fog was to play a major factor in the race. It started creeping over the World Center of Racing in the late night hours, until it became too thick to race.

A Dense Fog Advisory was issued, not too long after that, IMSA officials declared it was too dense to race, something the spotters could've said an hour ago. The full-course yellow for visibility was thrown at 12:46am/et. Racing wouldn't resume until 7:16am/et. Six hours, thirty three minutes and twenty five seconds of running behind the safety car. A first for the race.

That wouldn't stop the 7 of Julien Andlauer, Laruin Heinrich and Felipe Nasr from winning Roger Penske's third-straight Rolex 24 at Daytona. For Nasr, it was also his third-straight watch.

The race also served notice to the rest of the paddock, while Action Express Racing may have had the final two battles last season, Penske is in it for the long haul in 2026.