Corvette wins Daytona 24 hours, as Porsche and Ferrari win in GT class

Chevrolet has written another chapter in its storied motorsports history at Daytona International Speedway. A trio of Corvette Daytona Prototypes swept the overall podium at the Rolex 24 At Daytona with Action Express Racing leading the Bowtie charge. Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Sebastien Bourdais in their No. 5 Corvette DP gave Chevrolet its first overall victory in the Rolex 24 since 2001.

The winning trio was the strongest entry in the 67-car field that began the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. The No. 5 Corvette DP led 18 times for 272 laps – including the final 34 – and Barbosa posted the fastest lap of the race at 1:39.180 (129.220 mph). Barbosa held off Max Angelelli in Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 10 Corvette DP by 1.461 seconds following a restart with 10 minutes left.

“Today’s winning effort in the Rolex 24 At Daytona was the result of tremendous preparation, focus and execution put forth by our Corvette Daytona Prototype teams in the inaugural race of the new TUDOR United SportsCar Championship,” said Jim Campbell, US Vice President of Performance Vehicle and Motorsports. “The Chevrolet small black V8 delivered a combination of power, fuel economy and reliability all race long.”

Barbosa won overall at the Rolex for the second time, and Sunday marked his third career class win in the race. Fittipaldi added a second overall title to his résumé, and Bourdais won the Rolex 24 for the first time in his career.   After winning the last two DP engine manufacturer championships in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series, Chevrolet is off to its best possible start in the new TUDOR Championship – a merger of the Rolex Series and the American Le Mans Series. After the Corvette DP of Angelelli, and Wayne, Jordan and Ricky Taylor, Action Express’ No. 9 entry placed third with Brian and Burt Frisselle, John Martin and Fabien Grioix teaming together.

The Porsche 911 RSR took victory in the GTLM class, while, after some confusion, the IMSA revised their original decision to impose a time-penalty on the #555 Ferrari. The #45 Audi R8 LMS of Audi customer team Flying Lizard Motorsports, which had originally been declared as the winner of the GTD class, was moved back to second place.