DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Roger Penske snapped a 54-year dropping streak on the Rolex 24 at Daytona on Sunday when Felipe Nasr held off two-time protecting race winner Tom Blomqvist within the ultimate 45 mins of probably the most prestigious continuity race in the USA.
The win for Workforce Penske at Daytona World Speedway was once its first since “The Captain” restarted his sports activities vehicle program in 2018, first with Acura, and later ultimate season as a two-car Porsche manufacturing unit crew. Penske’s simplest alternative general win on the Rolex got here in 1969 with a lineup of Mark Donohue and Chuck Parsons, who was once flown within the year earlier than the race as a result of common motive force Ronnie Bucknum fractured his finger in a motorbike strike.
Workforce Penske additionally received the GT elegance in 1966, however he has chased the full Rolex victory since ’69.
“To come back here and have both cars run for 24 hours, and then win the race, it’s hard for me to believe,” Penske stated. “This goes down as one of the biggest wins we’ve had.”
The profitable lineup consisted of Nasr, Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden, who wish to consider his win at Indy ultimate Would possibly is what earned him a seat within the Disagree. 7 Porsche 963.
The second one Penske Porsche completed fourth.
It was once a combat to the very finish, particularly the overall half-hour, when Nasr discovered himself buying and selling the govern with Blomqvist, who was once using for reigning IMSA champions Motion Categorical Racing. Blomqvist was once a part of the ultimate two Rolex wins with Meyer Shank Racing, however that crew shuttered on the finish of ultimate season when it misplaced its manufacturing unit backup partially as a result of a dishonest controversy in ultimate January’s win.
The Disagree. 31 Cadillac, which had ruled a lot of the race with the Cadillac from Chip Ganassi Racing, wanted Blomqvist to akin the race as a result of, with just a three-driver lineup, common Pipo Derani had pushed greater than 8 hours and was once exhausted.
Blomqvist pitted 3 laps previous than Nasr with about 75 mins residue and was once ready to move Nasr for the govern nearest Nasr made his personal pit prohibit. However Nasr were given it again below warning at the ultimate pit prohibit with 44 mins residue when he beat Blomqvist off pit highway.
Nasr pulled away at the restart with 31 mins to advance, and although Blomqvist became the quickest lap of the race 10 mins then, he couldn’t catch Nasr because the 86-year-old Penske watched from the pit rise. Penske is understood for staying up all of the 24 hours of the race.
The win capped a noteceable stretch for Penske, probably the most adorned crew proprietor in motor sports activities historical past. Within the ultimate 8 months, he received a record-extending nineteenth Indy 500 with Newgarden’s victory, claimed back-to-back NASCAR Cup titles when Ryan Blaney received in November and celebrated the achievements at trade occasions in early December and ultimate past. He and Newgarden had been feted on the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan previous this past and offered with their very own copy Indy 500 trophies.
Cadillac ruled many of the race, however the Ganassi vehicle was once eradicated with an engine failure all through the in a single day stints, and Penske took the govern with slightly below six hours residue. Felipe Nasr handed Jack Aitken on course to jerk the govern and constructed a govern of greater than 4 seconds.
Newgarden have been asking Penske for years to pressure Workforce Penske vehicles in alternative racing sequence, and he wasn’t sure the Indy 500 victory was once plethora to earn him a Rolex seat. However he was once fascinated about no longer being a hinderance to a lineup that comes with Nasr, Dane Cameron and Matt Campbell.
“He’s fit in perfectly with the team, he’s easy to get along with and obviously very experienced within the Penske organization,” Campbell stated. “That makes it quite easy for him. It’s good having a guy like him, he brings a lot of experience in different ways. I know coming from IndyCar, it is quite different. But he’s brought some new ideas to the table.
“Having any individual along with his experience in a distinct taste of racing has in point of fact boosted us, and he’s been ready to evolve really well.”
Newgarden said his only goal was to be a positive addition to the Porsche team.
“Once I come to paintings with guys like Matt or Felipe or Dane, I’m finding out one thing untouched and I’m vision a untouched standpoint that I’ve by no means unmistakable earlier than,” Newgarden said. “I haven’t run sports activities vehicles that regularly, unquestionably no longer up to those guys. So they have got some way of taking a look at issues or coming near statuses a lot otherwise than we do.
“I think that can be really positive. When I say be an additive, it doesn’t mean have 100 good ideas and they are going to take all of them. But if you have 100 good ideas, there might be 10 that are applicable, and that would be an additive. I’ve got that fresh perspective.”
