Larson on Top At Midnight

Sunday is here as the 53rd running of the 24 Hours of Daytona has nearly ten hours in the bag.

The #02 Ganassi Ford Riley was leading at the quarter post but had a radiator and splitter issue force them to the garage. Luckily, the crew was able to get the repairs done under a full-course caution and only lost two laps. The team has since overcame that gap and now lead with Kyle Larson behind the wheel. They have completed 299 laps and took the lead after Ricky Taylor pitted and dropped to second. The #01 Ganassi Ford Riley runs in third with Charlie Kimball as the driver.

Pole-sitter Oswaldo Negri, Jr. has the #60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier-Honda in fourth. Scott Sharp is fifth driving the #1 HPD ARX-04b. Mike Rockenfeller runs sixth in the #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP. Currently, the top six cars overall are on the lead lap.

The defending race winning #5 Action Express Corvette DP lost fuel pressure just prior to the nine hour mark. João Barbosa stopped on track at the kink and had to be towed back to the garage where the team quickly solved the problem. The Portuguese driver is currently eighth, three laps down. Rubens Barrichello is now behind the wheel of the #7 Starworks BMW Riley. The Brazilian is five laps back in eighth.

The top seven cars in GTLM are all on the same lap as Pierre Kaffer has the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari leading the class, ninth overall, six laps behind the overall leader. Tommy Milner has the GTLM pole-sitting #4 Corvette second in class, tenth overall with his teammate Antonio García ib 11th. Wolf Henzler is 12th as the #17 Team Falken Tires Porsche leads the factory Porsches with the #911 of Patrick Pilet ahead of the #912 of Jörg Bergmeister. Bill Auberlen is 15th overall in the #25 RLLR BMW Z4 GTE.

Colin Braun has overcome a flat left rear tire and continues to lead the PC class in the #54 CORE Autosport Oreca. They had dropped off the lead lap in class at one point. Braun is seven laps down overall and in 16th. The Texan has a three lap advantage over Tom Kimber-Smith who has the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 17th overall.

The top seven cars in GTD are all on the same lap, 14 laps down overall. The #81 GB Autosport Porsche leads the class with Pirelli World Challenge regular Mike Skeen now behind the wheel, 18th overall. Jeroen Bleekemolen is driving the #33 Dodge Viper and is second in class. Dion Von Moltke has the #48 Paul Miller Racing Audi third in class ahead of Anthony Lazzaro in the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari. Spencer Pumpelly is fifth in the #73 Park Place Porsche. Marcos Gomes is sixth in the #64 Scuderia Corsa with Al Carter in seventh in the #33 Dodge Viper.

The #70 Mazda Skyactiv-D Prototype retired after running in the top ten at the quarter mark of the race after having an oil pump failure.

The #51 AF Corse Ferrari and #007 TRG-AMR Aston Martin got together at turn six after François Perrodo spun the GTLM Ferrari and drove into the racing line leaving Brandon Davis' V12 Vantage nowhere to go. The #007 has since been repaired and Christina Nielsen is behind the wheel.