Porsche won the Rolex 24 At Daytona 2026 at Daytona International Speedway. The #7 Porsche 963 of Porsche Penske Motorsport covered 705 laps over 24 hours, a race distance of 4,039 km. The winning crew: Felipe Nasr, Julien Andlauer and Laurin Heinrich. The margin to second place was just 1.569 s — a sprint finish after a full endurance race. The fastest manufacturer also produced the winner.
How the Lead Was Won
Across the race we counted 15 lead changes among 6 different cars in the GTP class.
Manufacturer Pace
We rank pace by the average of each manufacturer’s fastest lap. That measures real speed over the distance instead of one lucky lap. The order at the top: Porsche (214.1 km/h), Cadillac (214.1 km/h), Acura (214.0 km/h).
Between the fastest and the slowest manufacturer in the GTP class lie 3.2 km/h. That is a wide spread. At this track, the concept differences show clearly.
Figure 1 sets the pace order side by side.
Who Went the Distance
The official result lists every starter as classified, so it does not mark retirements. We therefore measure how far each car actually got: a car counts as having gone the distance when it completed at least 95 % of its class winner’s laps.
By that measure 48 of 60 cars went the distance (80%). GTD Pro held up best at 87%, GTD worst at 76%. On average, a car covered 92% of the winning distance.
Figure 2 compares the classes directly.
Efficiency Over the Distance
Our efficiency score multiplies average lap speed by laps completed and compares that to the class average. It rewards cars that were fast and stayed out of trouble. A value of 1.000 is exactly class average.
The top score goes to #6 Porsche with 1.023. The winner, #7, is not on top here. Track position and strategy turned into a result that raw efficiency alone does not explain.
Figure 3 ranks the cars by that score.
Night Versus Day
Top-class cars averaged 212.5 km/h in daylight and 212.2 km/h at night. The difference is 0.33 km/h — faster in daylight.
In other words: no measurable night effect. Darkness costs concentration and makes traffic harder to read, but it does not slow modern prototypes down.
Figure 4 puts both phases next to each other.
The Closing Phase
In the final hour, 50% of the field held position within ±1 place (n = 60). The closing hour stayed busy, with position changes across the field. The biggest single move came from #11, 31 places back.
Figure 5 shows how settled the finish really was.
Fastest Lap and Class Gaps
The fastest single lap of the race belongs to #6 Porsche (Porsche Penske Motorsport): 1:35.826 at 215.2 km/h. Crew: Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Matt Campbell.
Between GTP and LMP2 sits a pace gap of 3.8 s per lap. That number decides how much traffic the leaders have to work through.
Class winners — GTP: #7 Porsche (Porsche Penske Motorsport), LMP2: #04 Oreca (Crowdstrike Racing by APR), GTD Pro: #1 BMW (Paul Miller Racing), GTD: #57 Mercedes-Benz (WINWARD RACING).
Putting the Race in Context
The winner averaged 168.1 km/h across 4,039 km. On a 5.729 km lap, that is the pace the whole strategy had to sustain.
We calculate the same metrics for every race in the archive: pace order, reliability by class, lead changes, winning margin, closing stability and efficiency. That makes this race directly comparable with every other round of the 2026 season — and with the seasons before it.
All figures are derived from the full classification of every race hour and are recalculated with each build.
