47 cars and more than 150 drivers competed in the 57th edition of 24 Hours of Daytona. From great drivers like Alex Zanardi, Fernando Alonso, Juan Pablo Montoya, Rubens Barrichello to many known drivers like Pastor Maldonado, Jan Magnussen, Luca Stolz, Alexander Rossi and Pipo Derani, the 2019 race was full of action, drama, passion and rivalry down to the last moment, only to be restricted by the flags. Let's take a look at some of the most amazing moments that happened during the course of 24 hours.
Race Start and 1st Hour
All drivers got into their cars 10 minutes before the race. At 12:35 am, one of the two most successful drivers, Scott Pruett gave the "Drivers, start your engines!" command as all 47 cars started their formation lap up around the circuit.
The weather was quite chilly, with the track reaching more than 50° at start of the race. The sky was mostly clear, with forecast of track hitting rain during the twilight.
Pole-Sitter in DPi class, Oliver Jarvis led the field, ahead of #6 and #7 Acuras of Juan Pablo Montoya and Ricky Taylor.
The start wasn't really chaotic, with most of the field having a good exit. There was a minor contact between the LMP2 cars though, the #52 PR1 Mathiasen driven by Gabriel Aubry and #38 Performance Tech car driven by Kyle Masson having side-by-side collision but causing no problems.
Juan Pablo Montoya took the lead of the class, as Mazda #77 of Oliver Jarvis pitted, 30 minutes into the race. Ricky Taylor in #7 Acura followed his teammate in 2nd position.
In 4th position was Jonathan Bomarito, in the #55 Mazda DPi. Close behind were the Action Express drivers, Filipe Albuquerque in #5 and Felipe Nasr in #31 Cadillac, chasing down the Top 3 in great pace.
Jordan Taylor was next in the line, in 7th place driving the #10 Konica Minolta ahead of the two JDC Miller cars. Last in the DPi was #54 Nissan Onroak.
In P2 class, Kyle Masson led #38 Performance Tech ahead of the DragonSpeed cars.
In GTLM, #911 Porsche of Nick Tandy led into the opening of the race but the sister car, #912 had a splitter issue. Earl Bamber in #912 made unscheduled pitstop and gave the car to mechanics, who made a repair, making the New Zealander drop off the lead lap.
The other car in the pits was the #67 Ford GT, who had mechanical issues and lost up to 3 laps.
Meanwhile, #3 Corvette took lead of GT Le Mans class after overtaking the #911 of Nick Tandy, but the order of lead changed after the several cars pitted.
In GTD class, #86 Meyer Shanks Acura NSX GT3 took lead after first pitstops with Trent Hindman behind the wheel.
Following #86 Acura were Riley Motorsports' Mercedes with Ben Keating behind the wheel of #33 in 2nd and #11 GRT Lamborghini driven by Rolf Ineichen in 3rd place.
Class leaders at the end of 1st hour:
#6 Acura Team Penske Juan Pablo Montoya (DPi) #38 Performance Tech Kyle Masson (LMP2) #911 Porsche GT Team Nick Tandy (GTLM) #86 Meyer Shanks Racing Trent Hindman (GTD)
2nd Hour
Dane Cameron took the lead of DPi class at the end of second hour of the race in #6 Acura.
Montoya pitted in the second hour, handing the car to his co-driver Dane Cameron, who led the #6 Acura by 2 seconds ahead of #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac, being driven by Eric Curran.
The Colombian in #6 Acura was overtaken by #77 Mazda driven by Oliver Jarvis. Shortly afterwards, Montoya took back the lead of the race before pitting and giving his car to his fellow driver Dane Cameron.
After almost half-an-hour, the NGT Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R stopped on track due to engine blow as oil spilt and caused problems for the cars to maintain their position.
The pit was closed as yellow flags were waved. As pits opened again during the full course yellow period, Eric Curran moved ahead by 3 positions, thanks to the cars coming into pits.
As the session was green again, Rene Rast was in third position behind the Acura and Cadillac. In 4th was the sister Mazda, ahead of Helio Castroneves and Fernando Alonso in #7 Acura and #10 Cadillac.
In GTLM, the positions shuffled under yellow flag as several cars pitted, promoting #66 Ford into the lead.
The leader was Joey Hand in #66 Ford GT ahead of Tommy Milner in #4 Corvette and Patrick Pilet in #911 Porsche as green flags were waved.
The two Corvettes had a collision in pitlane due to unsafe exit, causing a front-end damage for #3 as it was getting fixed in the pitlane.
#11 GRT Lamborghini led the GTD class after 2 hours with Rik Breukers but Rik Breukers was given a 3 minute 40 seconds penalty for disobeying full course yellows.
The session was green flagged at 1 hour and 55 minutes into the race.
Class Leaders at the end of 2nd hour:
#6 Acura Team Penske Dane Cameron (DPi) #81 DragonSpeed James Allen (LMP2) #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Joey Hand (GTLM) #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Rik Breukers (GTD)
3rd Hour
Problems for the reigning winners of Daytona as #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac comes into garage as electrical issue dropped the car in 3rd hour of the race.
Christian Fittipaldi, returned the car into pits as the he spun on the track due to the electric failure.
Fittipaldi's co driver Filipe Albuquerque made a good start in the first hour, starting from 15th on a grid and making his way upto 7th position.
But the problems, first with the tail light that was being repaired under the full course yellows and then further issues stumbled the car down the DPi order.
After the race restarted, #6 Acura led the race. But after the race was yellow-flagged and restarted for the 2nd time, Rene Rast took the lead in #77 Mazda after Jarvis gave his car to him. Several cars swapped positions in pits.
In second place was #6 Acura of Dane Cameron. Following him in 3rd place was #31 Cadillac of Eric Curran.
In LMP2, #18 DragonSpeed led the race from the sister DragonSpeed.
In GTLM, Ferrari got lucky and took the lead, with #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari ahead of the #67 Ford GT due to pitstop shuffle. In third place was #911 driven by Nick Tandy.
In GT Daytona, Daniel Morad took the lead in #29 Montaplast Audi, ahead of #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus. Completing Top 3 of GTD class waa #86 Acura NSX of Meyer Shanks racing.
The second full course yellow was triggered by the #24 BMW, after Zanardi gave his car to co-driver Jesse Krohn, as the car stalled at the pit exit road due to power steering issue, bringing out the second cautionary flag.
Class Leaders at the end of 3rd Hour:
#77 Mazda Team Joest Rene Rast (DPi) #18 DragonSpeed Pastor Maldonado (LMP2) #62 Risi Competizione Miguel Molina (GTLM) #29 Montaplast by Land Motorsport Christopher Mies (GTD)
4th Hour
Fernando Alonso did a mega job in his #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac in 4th hour of the race.
He took over the car from Jordan Taylor in the 2nd hour of the race in 5th position.
He then fought various strong opponents, passing Eric Curran in #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac, Harry Ticknell in #55 Mazda and Dane Cameron in #6 Acura to take 2nd place.
Alonso's next target was #7 Acura of Helio Castroneves, as both had amazing battle for the lead of the race. Two laps later, Alonso took overtook Castroneves to take the lead of the race. After Castroneves got out of his #7 Acura, he said to the reporters:
“I had a great battle with Fernando, it was very comfortable, he gave me room. "
“He won Le Mans, he knows you don’t win the race now. But I was having fun.”
Fernando Alonso was then chased by Alexander Rossi in #7 Acura and #77 Mazda driven by Ticknell in 3rd place.
Meanwhile, Christian Fittipaldi returned in the race in #5 Cadillac, but with more and more problems, he loses 15 laps.
The LMP2 class was led by Matt McMurry in in #52 PR1 Mathiasen ORECA ahead of #81 DragonSpeed that was 2 seconds down. While #38 was a lap down in 4th.
#911 Porsche took the lead of GTLM class again with Frederic Makowiecki, ahead of #4 Corvette and #25 BMW. Meanwhile the leaders of GTLM in 3rd hour, #62 Ferrari, dropped to 4th place.
At 3 hour 50 minutes, third full-course yellow flags were waved as #50 Juncos Racing Cadillac, driven by Will Oven stopped at the entrance of the Chicane.
Class Leader at end of 4th Hour:
#10 Konica Minolta Fernando Alonso (DPi) #52 PR1 Mathiasen Matt McMurray (LMP2) #911 Porsche GT Fred Makowiecki (GTLM) #29 Montaplast by Land Motorsport Christopher Mies (GTD)
5th Hour
#10 Konica Minolta maintained its lead in 5th hour of the race, after Fernando Alonso pitted and handed over his car to Kamui Kobayashi.
At end of hour, Kobayashi in his #10 Cadillac led #77 Mazda of Tristan Nunez by more than 13 seconds, followed by the two Acuras, #6 ahead of #7.
In P2, #18 took the lead from #52 under pitstop. #81 DragonSpeed was in 3rd place while #38 Performance Tech car was last in LMP2 class.
The key moment of the hour was the spin of Harry Ticknell in #55 Mazda at International Horsheshoe, after #57 Acura of Katherine Legge hit the Mazda. No action was taken by stewards, who called it racing incident. The 2 cars continued under green but Mazda dropped down to 8th position and lost a lap as Jonathan Bomarito took over the car.
Class leaders after 5th Hour:
#10 Konica Minolta Kamui Kobayashi (DPi) #18 DragonSpeed Sebastian Saavedra (LMP2) #62 Risi Competizione Davide Rigon (GTLM) #33 Riley Motorsports Felipe Fraga (GTD)
6th Hour
Fourth full-course yellow was waved at 5 hours and 41 minutes into the race as Kvamme spun his #52 PR1 Mathiasen LMP2. He didn't rejoin the field until it was safe, but #84 JDC Miller car driven by Juan Piedrahita had contact. He went to the garage with significant damage. Many cars pitted under the cautionary period, causing the lead to change.
Most of the DPis, including the leader Kamui Kobayashi pitted as Pipo Derani took lead in #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac.
The #31 car received 5 points for Michelin Endurance Cup, as it had completed 6 hours in lead position.
In 2nd place was #10 Konica Minolta of Kobayashi followed by #6 Acura of Juan Pablo Montoya, #77 Mazda of Timo Bernhard and #7 Acura of Ricky Taylor.
DragonSpeed led LMP2 class with Roberto Gonzalez in #18 car. While GTLM was led by Tommy Milner in #4 Corvette. #33 Riley Mercedes led the GTD class, with Felipe Fraga driving the car.
Class Leaders after 6 Hours:
#31 Action Express Pipo Derani (DPi) #18 DragonSpeed Sebastian Saavedra (LMP2) #4 Corvette Racing Tommy Milner (GTLM) #33 Riley Motorsports Felipe Fraga (GTD)
7th Hour
Both the Mazdas got into problems in 7th hour of the race. First problem came for #55 Mazda, as the RT24-P stopped at International Horseshoe due to fuel leak, with explosion in rear of the car.
The car was sent to garage where it got repaired by the team. Olivier Pla returned to the race with #55, 3 laps down the lead.
After 6 hours and 43 hours into the race, Timo Bernhard, driving the #77 Mazda stopped near the chicane with fire in the engine. He got out of the car as the car was sent to garage to be repaired.
The #77 engine blow brought out the 5th full-course yellows, surpassing last year's record of 4 yellow flags in entire race.
Other than the Mazda disappointment, the #18 DragonSpeed in LMP2 of Roberto Gonzalez spun from 2nd position. He luckily rejoined with no places lost.
Up in front, Kamui Kobayashi took back the lead, as Pipo Derani pitted 10 minutes into the hour and dropped doqn to 8th position.
Class leaders at the end of 7th Hour:
#10 Konica Minolta Kamui Kobayashi (DPi) #81 DragonSpeed Ben Hanley (LMP2) #911 Porsche GT Team Nick Tandy (GTLM) #88 WRT Ian James (GTD)
8th Hour
The green flag was waved 1 minute into the 8th hour, after #77 Mazda blew up.
Kamui Kobayashi led the race, until he pitted for driver swap with Renger van der Zande.
Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron then led the race in #6 . cura. Jonathan Bennett took the lead after Montoya pitted in #54 Nissan, before giving the lead back to #6 Acura of Dane Cameron by pitting, with Cameron leading #7 Acura of Ricky Taylor.
DragonSpeed's Ryan Cullen led #18 DragonSpeed in LMP2 class, ahead of the other DragonSpeed.
Meanwhile, Matt Campbell suffered problems in GTD as he cut his rear-left tyres, forcing him to return to pits in #73 Park Place Porsche.
Another incident was that of #47 Precision Performance Lamborghini as he spun. Paul Dalla Lana also got into problems as he cut his tyre and returned to pits.
Leaders after the end of 8th hour:
#6 Acura Team Penske Dane Cameron (DPi) #18 DragonSpeed Ryan Cullen (LMP2) #62 Risi Competizione Alessandro Pier Guidi (GTLM) #33 Riley Motorsports Ben Keating (GTD)
9th hour
After the #47 Precision Performance Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO stopped on track, 6th yellow flag was waved.
After the race restarted, #7 Acura was ahead of #6. #10 Konica Minolta for Wayne Taylor Racing was in 3rd position .
#29 Montaplast Audi led GTD class, followed by #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus and #86 Meyer Shanks Acura NSX, both benefiting from pitstop shuffle.
Class leaders after 9th Hour:
#7 Acura Team Penske Ricky Taylor (DPi) #81 DragonSpeed James Allen (LMP2) #62 Risi Competizione Alessandro Pier Guidi (GTLM) #29 Montaplast by Land Dries Vanthoor (GTD)
10th Hour
10th hour of the race was almost clean, with no incidents or drama till the 56th minute of the race. Helio Castroneves led the race at the end of hour in #7 Acura, ahead of #10 Konica Minolta of Van Der Zande. #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac was 3rd with Eric Curran despite 26.8 seconds off the lead.
GRT Grasser Racing Team charged the field in with #11 Lamborghini maintaining a 27 seconds lead over #7 Starworks Audi R8. #44 Magnus Racing completed top 3 order, 51.3 seconds down the lead.
The #6 Acura ran into problems near the end of the hour, as Simon Pagenaud ran off the track at Turn 5. Replay showed the #6 Acura hitting the #19 Moorespeed Audi.
He rejoined the race with damaged bodywork at front. He pitted at the end of lap as mechanics repaired the car and Pagenaud resumed his race in 5th position.
Class Leaders at the end of 10th Hour:
#7 Acura Team Penske Helio Castroneves (DPi) #81 DragonSpeed Ben Hanley (LMP2) #912 Porsche GT Team Mathieu Jaminet (GTLM) #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Christian Engelhart
11th Hour
The 11th hour into the race brought seventh full-course-yellows early in the hour. #50 Juncos ran into problems due to a detached rear-right, causing the stewards to neutralise the race. Several cars pitted under the cautionary period.
25 minutes into the hour, race restarted with Van Der Zande taking the lead from #7 Acura, ahead of #31 Action Express Racing.
After a round of pitstops, Alexander Rossi took lead from #6 Acura and #10 Cadillac of Pagenaud and Jordan Taylor.
In GTLM, Porsche also continued 1-2, with #911 in front. In 3rd place was #62 Ferrari of Risi Competizione.
Class leaders at the end of 11th hour:
#7 Acura Team Penske Alexander Rossi (DPi) #81 DragonSpeed Henrik Hedman (LMP2) #911 Porsche GT Team Mathieu Jaminet (GTLM) #33 Reily Motorsports Felipe Fraga (GTD)
12th Hour
Halfway to the race, #31 Whelen Engineering led in the front, holding back #10 Konica Minolta driven by Jordan Taylor and #6 Acura Penske of Juan Pablo Montoya.
In LMP2 and GTLM, the lead stayed unchanged with DragonSpeed and Porsche leading with 1-2 in respective classes.
In GTD, Riley Motorsports stayed in top of the class with #33 Mercedes. #63 Ferrari was 2nd in place and #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 was third.
The biggest drama hit at closing stages of Hour 12 as #3 Corvette that was leading GTLM class at the time, ran out of fuel on the way to pits. The car stopped at the Bus Stop, causing 8th yellow flag of the race in 12 hours.
Class leaders at the end of 12th Hour:
#31 Action Express Pipo Derani (DPi) #18 DragonSpeed Pastor Maldonado (LMP2) #911 Porsche GT Team Frederic Makowiecki (GTLM) #33 Riley Motorsport Luca Stolz (GTD)
13th Hour:
As #4 Corvette C7.R ran out of fuel during 12th hour and brought out yellow flags, the #86 Meyer Shanks car driven by Justin Marks was penalised for overtaking during the neutral period of the race. The penalty dropped the #86 car from 2nd place down to 11th.
Meanwhile, the Corvette got refuelled in the pits and continued with a driver change, as Mike Rockenfeller took over the Corvette, almost 10 laps down the lead.
Jordan Taylor took the overall lead at front, building a 10-second gap over #6 Acura of Juan Pablo Montoya. In third place was Alexander Rossi in #7 Acura ahead of #31 Cadillac. Nasr quickly got ahead of the 2 Acuras and claimed second place at the waning moments of 13th hour.
In LMP2, DragonSpeed maintained it's 1-2 in class, with Porsche doing the same in GTLM. In GTD, #29 Land Motorsport Audi took the lead of class as #86 Acura NSX got penalised.
Class leaders at the end of 13th Hour:
#10 Konica Minolta (DPi) #18 DragonSpeed (LMP2) #912 Porsche GT Team (GTLM) #29 Montaplast by Land Motorsport (GTD)
14th Hour
14th hour started with an amazing battle for the overall lead between #10 and #31 Cadillac of Jordan Taylor and Felipe Nasr as Nasr overtook Taylor in his third try to take the lead of the race.
During the battle, it started drizzling lightly as Nasr took the lead from Alexander Rossi, who past Jordan Taylor to take 2nd place in #7 Acura. In 3rd place was #6 Acura of Dane Cameron. Jordan Taylor dropped to 4th position in his #10 Konica Minolta.
LMP2 class had DragonSpeed still leading with a superb 1-2, with #81 ORECA of Ben Hanley now ahead of #18 ORECA of Roberto Gonzalez.
#55 Mazda, that just got to 5th position, got into problems again as Olivier Pla spun at International Horseshoe, bringing out 9th yellow flag.
Class leaders at the end of 14th Hour:
#31 Action Express Racing (DPi) #81 DragonSpeed (LMP2) #911 Porsche GT Team (GTLM) #33 Riley Motorsports (GTD)
15th Hour
As rain started to get heavier, several teams pitted for tyre changes, shuffling the positions.
Nasr extended his lead in #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac while his rivals pitted for intermediate wet tyres. As it poured harder, several DPi runners had to pit again to shift to fully treaded tyres. Nasr then extended his leads to more than 1 minute and 30 seconds! Only to lose it later in the hour due to yellow flags, again.
Rubens Barrichello had bad luck as he ran into chicane and damaged his car's bodywork. He returned to the pit garage and lost as much as 11 laps there.
Sebastien Bourdais also had problem as he spun at International Horseshoe, dropping from 2nd to 5th place.
An investigation into #55 Mazda incident that happened in 14th hour concluded that the car lost power and got hit by some car from behind. #55 Mazda dropped to 9th place, with 40 laps down.
#31 car driven by Eric Curran and #7 Acura of Ricky Taylor pitted for the nose change during caution as Fernando Alonso took lead in #10 Cadillac.
The yellow flag was brought out by #18 DragonSpeed, running 2nd in P2 Class when Ryan Cullen got into problems as the car was stalled. Cullen restarted the car soon afterwards, with significant damage on front and missing the rear of the car.
The session restarted again with 3 minutes remaining in the hour.
Class Leaders at the end of 15th Hour:
#10 Konica Minolta (DPi) #81 DragonSpeed (LMP2) #62 Risi Competizione (GTLM) #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan (GTD)
16th Hour
The double world F1 World Champion and Le Mans winner Fernando Alonso led the race into the new hour, getting benefited from the pitstop just before the yellow flags.
The highlights of the hour included #33 Riley Motorsports overtaking #14 Lexus of Nick Cassidy. Stolz maintained a 11-second lead, helping him to recover from his spin moments later.
#5 Mustang pitted as Albuquerque hit the tyre barriers and shed debris in the pits. He continued as 7th overall, 19 laps down the lead.
The most chaotic moment of the hour was that of #4 Corvette of Tommy Milner, which slammed into barriers hard, which brought out 11th Full-Course Yellows with roughly half hour remaining.
Alex Zanardi took over the #24 BMW under the flagged session.
The caution was delayed with lots of standing rain water on the track.
With 8 hours remaining, the session was flagged as Alonso leads the race in #10 Cadillac ahead of #6 Acura of Dane Cameron, #7 Acura of Ricky Taylor and #31 Action Express of Derani.
Ben Hanley leads LMP2 in #81 DragonSpeed. Meanwhile. #62 Risi leads GTLM with Alessandro Pier Guidi and #33 Riley Motorsports leads with Luca Stolz in GTD.
Class Leaders at the end of 16th Hour:
#10 Konica Minolta (DPi) #81 DragonSpeed (LMP2) #62 Risi Competizione (GTLM) #33 Riley Motorsports (GTD)
17th Hour
After the cars ran behind the safety car for 46 minutes under yellow flags, the session was red flagged by IMSA officials who deemed the conditions "unsafe" with lots of standing water on the track.
Fernando Alonso effectively leads overall in #10 Cadillac, with #6 and #7 of Dane Cameron and Ricky Taylor in 2nd and 3rd.
#81 DragonSpeed of Ben Hanley continues to lead the LMP2 class by 3 laps.
Alessandro Pier Guidi led the GT Le Mans. Class in #62 Ferrari while a pitstop by Luca Stolz in #33 Mercedes promoted A.J. Allmendinger to top spot in #86 Acura.
Class Leaders at the end of 17th Hour:
#10 Konica Minolta (DPi) #81 DragonSpeed (LMP2) #62 Risi Competizione (GTLM) #86 Meyer Shanks Racing (GTD)
18th Hour
No action during the time, as the cars were parked on pit roads due to the heavy rain.
The red-flag stop is 5th time in over 50 years of the event, only the 2nd time for rain. The race was flagged for almost 4 hours in 1989 due to mist and fog and in 2006 and 2014 due to crashes.
The conditions were quite similar to that of 2004 race, when it rained for 18 out of 24 total hours with yellow flags and then race stoppage. It was more of a sprint race as the race restarted with only 2 hours 42 minutes to go.
As the race was stopped, there was no change in lead.
Class Leaders at the end of 18th Hour:
#10 Konica Minolta (DPi) #81 DragonSpeed (LMP2) #62 Risi Competizione (GTLM) #86 Meyer Shanks Racing (GTD)
19th Hour
The race restarted after 1 hour and 45 minutes as conditions were declared safe. But just 3 minutes into the race, the incident brought out yellow flags again.
Through the tri-oval, several cars spun due to visibility issues, with 3 cars getting damage.
Ryan Hardwick rejoined the race in #48 Paul Miller Lamborghini. But #9 Pfaff Porsche and #46 EBIMOTORS Lamborghini were unfortunate, as the Lamborghini had huge damage, bringing out the cautionary period. Porsche also had significant damage as it needed to be recovered to pits with it's front damaged.
The rest of the hour then had the race running neutrally.
No leaders in any of the 4 classes were affected by the changing phases of race as Fernando Alonso led DPi in #10 ahead of #6 and #7 Acuras of Dane Cameron and Ricky Taylor.
#81 led LMP2, with Ben Hanley leading the other DragonSpeed of Pastor Maldonado.
In GTLM, Alessandro Pier Guidi comfortably led the class with #62 Ferrari while A.J Allmendinger leads GTD in #86 Meyer Shanks Acura.
Class Leaders at the end of 19th Hour:
#10 Konica Minolta (DPi) #81 DragonSpeed (LMP2) #62 Risi Competizione (GTLM) #86 Meyer Shanks Racing (GTD)
20th Hour
With rain and cautions, the race was still under full course yellows for 20th hour.
#6 Acura had mechanical problems, forcing the car to shift to pit garage.
Ricky Taylor pitted from lead to driver change with Helio Castroneves in #7 Acura. Pipo Derani got promoted to lead in #31 Whelen Engineering car. Castroneves rejoined in 2nd place ahead of Jordan Taylor, who pitted just after Castroneves. Romain Dumas was 4th in CORE autosport Nissan.
In GTLM, Fords got the lead with #66 Ford GT ahead of #67. Frederic Makowiecki took 3rd position, ahead of #62 Ferrari, that got to 4th position now, following the driver change which put James Calado in the car.
The other Porsche, the #912 was in second place but spun at the trioval even with a slow speed as the New Zealander Earl Bamber faced the wrong way. He did a donut and rejoined the race again.
The only other unchanged lead except LMP2 was of GTD class, as A.J. Allmendinger continued his lead in #86 MSR Acura.
Class Leaders at the end of 20th hour:
#31 Action Express Racing (DPi) #81 DragonSpeed (LMP2) #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing (GTLM) #86 Meyer Shanks Racing (GTD)
21st Hour
After a long hiatus, the race resumed at 20 hours and 11 minutes only to be stopped again.
There were lots of incidents during the hour with Romain Dumas spun in CORE Nissan and Dominik Farnbacher in #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari. #11 Lamborghini was also hit twice from behind.
Another incident was that of #911 Porsche and #66 Ford, as #911 spun and collided with #66 Ford, also spinning the Ford in process.
Pipo Derani led the race into new hour, holding Jordan Taylor and lapped #5 Cadillac. He then pitted, as Jordan Taylor took the lead. #7 Acura pitted shortly afterwards, as Castroneves gave his car to Alexander Rossi, promoting Jordan Taylor to lead.
Jordan Taylor then led the race in the rain, and almost hit his car with #44 Lamborghini that spun, only to avoid it quickly.
24 minutes into the race, the session got yellow-flagged again when Marco Seefried got stuck in grass in #540 Black Swan Porsche.
The race resumed 20 minutes later. Lead changed in GTD as Allmendinger pitted to give the drive to Trent Hindman. #12 AIM Vasser Lexus got promoted to lead as a result with Jeff Segak behind the wheel.
Two other incidents were of importance in the hour, with #57 all-female Acura spun in the rain and pitted with damage at front bodywork. Katherine Legge was driving the car at the time. The other incident brought out another yellow flag as #540 Black Swan Porsche got into problems again and stopped after spin.
At the end of the hour, #10 Cadillac of Jordan Taylor led the race overall, with #81 DragonSpeed of Nicolas Lapierre leading the P2 class. #62 Ferrari of James Calado and #12 Lexus of Jeff Segal led GTLM and GTD respectively.
Class leaders at end of 21st hour:
#10 Konica Minolta (DPi) #81 DragonSpeed (LMP2) #62 Risi Competizione (GTLM) #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan (GTD)
22nd hour
The race was resumed at the beginning of the hour, as one of best battles in the race came around. #31 Action Express of Felipe Nasr attacked Jordan Taylor twice and took the lead at third attempt after a side-by-side contact. Jordan Taylor then pitted, dropping to third as Fernando Alonso took over. In GTLM, James Calado was under pressure by #25 BMW of Augusto Farfus.
A 15th FCY was brought out as #47 Park Place Lamborghini went into the sponsor board.
Things all went wrong for the leader of LMP2, as #81 DragonSpeed lost its rear wheel. The incident gave the teammate Sebastian Saavedra the lead in #18 DragonSpeed.
The race was resumed 26 minutes into the hour, but got under yellow flags again as Toni Vilander (also Finnish F1 commentator) heavily hit the #540 Porsche of Dirk Werner due to low visibility. The Scuderia Corsa Ferrari had lot of front damage, as both cars retired.
The race resumed 12 minutes later, with increasing rain. Nasr led Alonso at the time.
Daniel Morad past #73 Porsche of Matt Campbell to take lead of GTD.
Alonso took the lead in the last minutes of hour as Nasr went off the track due to standing water.
The leading LMP2 car of Sebastian Saavedra ran into problems as it got into contact, damaging the front that brought out another cautionary period which converted to red flag in turning of the next hour. He continued to lead the race as the 2nd place #38 car was several laps down.
Class leaders at the end of 22nd hour:
#10 Konica Minolta (DPi) #18 DragonSpeed (LMP2) #25 BMW Team RLL (GTLM) #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team (GTD)
23rd Hour
The penultimate hour was stopped as rain got heavier, with less than 2 hours remaining. With no action in the hour, all the places were unchanged.
Class Leaders at the end of 23rd Hour:
#10 Konica Minolta (DPi) #18 DragonSpeed (LMP2) #25 BMW Team RLL (GTLM) #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team (GTD)
24th and Final Hour
After double red flags in the same event for first time in the history of the race, the race was won by Fernando Alonso, Renger van der Zande, Kamui Kobayashi and Jordan Taylor in #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac of Wayne Taylor Racing.
Fernando Alonso earned his first Daytona cosmograph in his 2nd year of the race, 7 months after winning 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Fernando is now third Formula 1 World Champion to win the race, alongside Phil Hill and Mario Andretti.
It's Taylor's 2nd Daytona win, winning before in 2017 with Jeff Gordon, Renger van der Zande, his brother Ricky Taylor and Max Angelelli.
In 2nd place was #31 Whelen Engineering car of Eric Curran, Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr, finishing as runner-up for 2nd year. Acura Penske took 3rd with #7 car of Castroneves, Rossi and R. Taylor.
#18 DragonSpeed of Sebastian Saavedra won in LMP2 class, even with a damaged car.
In GTLM, Augusto Farfus, who was a replacement for Tom Blomqvist, took the win in #25 BMW M8 GTE with Connor de Phillippi, Philipp Eng and Colton Herta as co-drivers. The team tributed the victory to the long-time BMW Team Schnitzer Team Principal Karl "Charly" Lamm, who past away few days earlier.
Rolf Ineichen, Mirko Bortolotti, Christian Engelhart and Rik Breukers won the race in GTD for #11 GRT Lamborghini for a 2nd consecutive years.
With the race cut short by IMSA Officials 10 minutes earlier, the drivers were appointed but the job of the marshalls couldn't be denied, who tried their best to blow away the water and make it safer for the cars to continue.
With Daytona now out of the way, the next challenge for the drivers is 12 Hours of Sebring, in 6 weeks time as Wayne Taylor Racing leads the Michelin Endurance Cup.
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