After 24 Hours Of Racing At Daytona, The GTLM Class Win Was Decided By A Photo Finish

Oliver Gavin and Antonio Garcia battled right to the very end of the Daytona 24 for the GTLM class win, with the two Corvettes producing a stunning photo finish

Jack Leslie

31 Jan 2016

After 24 hrs, the #GTLM race was THIS close...are you kidding me!?!?!? 😱 What a race @CorvetteRacing! #Rolex24 🏁 pic.twitter.com/XDQeJEkVJ4
— Erik Valdez (@erikvaldez) January 31, 2016

The Tequila Patron ESM car of Pipo Derani, Scott Sharp, Johannes van Overbeek and Ed Brown claimed the overall win, with the Ligier JS P2 Honda finishing over 26 seconds clear of the Ligier JS P2 Honda.

In the PC class, JDC-Miller Motorsports claimed victory, with Chris Miller, Mikhail Goikhberg, Stephen Simpson and Kenton Koch sharing driving duties with the No. 85 Oreca FLM09.

In GTLM the amazing photo finish between the two Corvettes saw the No.4 of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fassler triumph. Finally in GTD, the No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS won with drivers Rene Rast, Andy Lally, John Potter and Marco Seefried.

Comments

What about the 911 RSR…didn’t it finish before them?

Third

What an excellent battle! to the very last second

What a great race. A shame about the #25 M6 GTLM, if not for the suspension failure it could have been in contention for the win. But that said, it was the car’s first shakedown so obviously issues like this will crop up. And I don’t even need to say anything about the Deltawing’s crash. Stupid marshals. Anyway, still a good battle.

By how much was M6 faster/slower during the race? Is there any sites with times?

That battle was really exciting to see. The last 10 minutes of the entire race had some really good moments. also in the GTD class

MURICAAAAAAA!!!!

Amazing finish! Congrats Corvette! I have to say though, out of the three new cars (488, M6, GT), the 488 had the best debut. Sad for Ford and BMW, but it’s the first race. All three manufacturers will be competitive and reliable at Sebring.

The BMW had a great debut. It made the typically uncompetitive Turner Motorsport team competitive again, and the #25 ran a good race. If not for that one suspension component in the #100, BMW could have challenged for the win. Oh well, it was the car’s first shakedown, what do you expect. I would have been shocked if nothing had gone wrong for them.

Everyone doubts the Corvette for some reason until it proves itself time and time again

Corvette race cars are above and beyond their road-car counterparts. They’re very competitive. A Corvette race car doesn’t use the roadcar’s leaf-spring rear suspension, opting for double wishbone suspension and coilovers instead, and it uses a 5.5L naturally aspirated race engine that only shares the fact that it’s a pushrod V8 with its road-going counterpart (6.2 LT1 engine).

I don’t think anyone was doubting the Vettes. Anybody with a half a brain knows Corvette is one of the most successful teams in racing.

yeah because race cars are so similar to their road car versions.. gb me a br.

CORVETTE FTW!

I’m pretty sure the ESM Ligier finished 26 seconds ahead of a Dallara-based Corvette DP, not the other JSP2 Honda, which was some 451 laps down because of a flywheel issue.
But still, probably one of the best season-starters a race series could possible have.