The #2 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier-HPD of Pipo Derani, Johannes van Overbeek, Scott Sharp and Ed Brown won the 24 Hours of Daytona by 26.166 seconds over the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP of Max Angelelli, Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor and Rubens Barrichello. This is Sharp's second 24 Hours of Daytona victory. He won in 1996 with Wayne Taylor and Jim Pace. Derani won on his Daytona debut. Rounding out the podium was the #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP of Marc Goossens, Ryan Dalziel and Ryan Hunter-Reay. All three cars finished 736 laps.
Fourth overall, five laps down, was the #5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of João Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Filipe Albuquerque and Scott Pruett. The #01 Ganassi Ford-Riley of Alexander Wurz, Brendon Hartley, Andy Priaulx and Lance Stroll finished 11 laps down in fifth. The #31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Dane Cameron, Eric Curran, Simon Pagenaud and Jonny Adam finished 12 laps down in sixth
The #4 Corvette of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler won in GTLM by 0.034 seconds over the #3 Corvette of Antonio García, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller. Gavin held off García at the line after battling for the final 20 minutes. It is Gavin and Milner's first victory in North America since Mosport 2013. Gavin and Milner won last year's 24 Hours of Le Mans with Jordan Taylor. Earl Bamber, Frédéric Makowiecki and Michael Christensen finished third in GTLM in the #912 Porsche. All three cars finished 722 laps. Alessandro Pier Guidi, Alexandre Prémat, Daniel Serra and Memo Rojas rounded out the top ten overall, fourth in GTLM, a lap behind the GTLM leaders. The #25 RLLR BMW of Bill Auberlen, Dirk Werner, Augusto Farfus and Bruno Spengler completed 721 laps.
Twelfth overall was the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella, Davide Rigon, Toni Vilander and Olivier Beretta, completing 709 laps. A lap behind the Ferrari was the #02 Ganassi Ford Riley of Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson.
René Rast conserved enough fuel to cost the #44 Magnus Racing Audi to victory in GTD. Rast, Andy Lally and John Potter all scored their second class victory and all three won together in 2012. Marco Seefried scored his first Daytona victory. The #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche of Tim Pappas, Nicky Catsburg, Patrick Long and Andy Pilgrim finished second in class, three seconds behind the Magnus Racing Audi. The #93 Dodge Viper of Ben Keating, Gar Robinson, Jeff Mosing, Eric Foss and Damien Faulkner finished third in class. All three cars on the GTD podium finished 703 laps. Fourth in GTD was the #98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Richie Stanaway, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda, one lap down in class.
The #85 JDC/Miller Motorsports Oreca of Stephen Simpson, Kenton Koch, Chris Miller and Mikhail Goikhberg won in Prototype Challenge. The #85 Oreca completed 702 laps and won by four laps over the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca of Tom Kimber-Smith, José Gutierrez, Robert Alon and Nicholas Boulle. Third in PC was the #20 BAR1 Motorsports Oreca of Johnny Mowlem, Brendan Gaughan, Marc Drumwright, Tomy Drissi and Ricardo Vera. The #20 Oreca completed 693 laps.
The second round of the IMSA season will be the 12 Hours of Sebring, which will take place on March 19th.
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