DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – What a year Helio Castronevesthe ageless Spider-Man of motorsport.
Castroneves climbed the fence for the third time in a calendar year on Sunday after claiming another crown jewel win, this time a second straight win at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The Brazilian racer finished off the race for Meyer Shank Racing, the team that helped him win the Indianapolis 500 record for the fourth time in May.
At Acura #60, Castroneves held Ricky Taylor in the final hour of a two-round race – an ironic result since Castroneves won his first career Rolex 365 days ago when his teammate Taylor is at number 10 Acura.
Castroneves denied Wayne Taylor Racing a fourth straight win at Daytona International Speedway, where he, of course, climbed the fence with his team to celebrate. Now rival team owner Taylor has gone to the winning lane to congratulate Castroneves.
Michael Shank’s victory comes on the 10th anniversary of Shank’s first win in North America’s most prestigious motorsport race. It was Rolex’s 50th run win with Justin Wilson and the late NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger gave Shank’s fledgling show credibility, and Castroneves since May has helped Shank show the group is a legit force.
Castroneves will drive the entire IndyCar season for Shank this year in a two-car effort that includes former Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud. Shank embraced Castroneves and Pagenaud to help his full-time IMSA motorsport drivers Olivier Jarvis and Tom Blomqvist win the 60th Rolex run.
The remarkable 24-hour race went to the final minutes in four of the five divisions. And it was a big day for the IndyCar Series, with 5 racers claiming a Rolex watch.
Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward and IndyCar rookie Devlin DeFranceco beat DragonSpeed USA from multiple laps to win the LMP2 class, with Herta going door to door in the final minutes with Tower Motorsport. Herta was the winner when the two cars almost collided and Louis Deletraz veered off course.
The new GTD Pro class was decided by a frenzied battle between a pair of Porsches and Pfaff Motorsports, the team that ran for IMSA co-champion Felipe Nasr as its endurance driver, won.
Riley Motorsports won the LMP3 class and Wright Motorsports won the GT Daytona class.
The field had 61 cars, the most since 2014, and was driven in record low temperatures. It had dropped to a 30-year low overnight but it was 53 degrees and mild sunshine as Castroneves climbed another fence.
