DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The North American professional racing season kicked off Saturday afternoon when the green flag dropped on the 54th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the twice-around-the-clock endurance race featuring four classes of cars in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Six hours in, and the race was startlingly dramatic, with massive problems for the highest-profile entries, the two Ford GTs. This was the first outing for the factory-backed cars, which were built to honor the Ford GT’s victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 50 years ago, something Ford hoped to duplicate at the race in mid-June. The Rolex 24 At Daytona was intended to be a shakedown for the two Ford GTs, which have been remarkably reliable in testing, but, as motorsports veterans say, testing isn’t racing.

The No. 67 Ford GT suffered an electrical problem that locked it into sixth gear less than 30 minutes into the race, while a similar electrical gremlin locked the No. 66 into first gear later in the afternoon. There also was a problem with flat tires that was similarly difficult to explain.

“We did log a lot of miles in testing, and we didn’t have a lot of problems,” said Joey Hand, co-driver of the No. 66. The good news: Hand took his Ford GT to the class lead before problems occurred, so when the car was running properly, it was fast. The team’s plan was to log as many miles as possible, and learn what they could before the next race, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in Central Florida.

The other big surprise was the arrow-shaped DeltaWing, which — with its ultra-narrow front end — looked unlike any other car out there: Driver Katherine Legge drove the DeltaWing to the overall lead, and it looked as though the star-crossed design might finally score a solid finish, and maybe a win.

But as night began to fall, one of the Prototype Challenge cars spun in a corner, and DeltaWing driver Andy Meyrick — who took over for Legge — ran into it, tearing the nose off the car. Repair work continued, but the fairy tale that would have been a DeltaWing win was over for now.

All that aside, it was a reasonably typical Rolex 24, run under clear skies after a wet few days of pre-race practice.  At the six-hour mark, NASCAR racer AJ Allmendinger, a past Rolex 24 winner in the Michael Shank Racing No. 60 Honda Ligier, made the most of his guest driver role by taking the lead over the No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype driven by rookie Jonny Adam, who had never seen the 3.56-mile Daytona road course until the Roar Before the 24 practice earlier this month.

In the Prototype Challenge class, Jose Gutierrez led in his No. 52 Chevrolet-powered ORECA, while 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Nick Tandy was leading the GT Le Mans class in a Porsche 911 RSR. In the GT Daytona class, the largest of the four with 22 entries, Alessandro Balzan in the No. 63 Ferrari 458 GT3 was leading at the six-hour mark.

Fifty-four cars started, and the only thing that’s certain is that 54 cars won’t finish when the checkered flag flies Sunday afternoon.
FS2 airs the race until 10 p.m. ET Saturday, and overnight, IMSA.tv and the IMSA mobile app will live stream both video and commentary from 10 p.m.-7 a.m. This year’s coverage includes additional at-track and in-car cameras throughout the overnight hours.

Sunday, FS1 picks up the action at 7 a.m. and coverage shifts to FS2 at 10:30 a.m. before FS1 returns with complete coverage through the checkered flag at 2:40 p.m. and the Victory Lane celebration through 3 p.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. —  Just before AJ Allmendinger‘s first driving stint in Saturday’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series veteran admitted a win in the Michael Shank Racing Honda would be as popular and sentimental as they come.

And it was his No. 60 Honda that was out front six hours into the twice-around-the-clock event at Daytona International Speedway.

While Allmendinger awaited his driving time Saturday evening, he spoke about the extra motivation for his team — honoring former driver Justin Wilson, who was killed competing in an IndyCar race last season.

Wilson co-drove with Allmendinger in this race five times, including 2012 when the dark horse Michael Shank team won the 50th running of the Rolex. Allmendinger and Wilson were close friends.

“When it comes to the competition side of it, everyone’s pumped up,” Allmendinger said before climbing into the car. “The series gave Honda a little more motor and they did their homework, it’s really fast. What’s different is Justin not being here.”

That was a meaningful and moving theme for Allmendinger, especially this weekend at a place he would normally be spending good times with his dear friend.

“We’re all pushing hard because we want to win it for Justin and in his memory,” Allmendinger said. “I was doing OK until this morning when Mike Shank put up a picture on Twitter.

“I knew it would be different, I knew it would be tough. But for me this is the race I always saw (Wilson) at.

“No matter if we were racing together … it was great to see his smiling face. It’s difficult now, but it gives us a little more reason to go out there and try to get it.”

Of the other three NASCAR drivers entered in the Rolex — Nationwide Series regular Brendan Gaughan and defending Rolex champions Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson — only McMurray had turned in any time behind the wheel. His Chip Ganassi Ford prototype was fourth overall even following a spin and a collision with a GTLM class Corvette on a restart.  

“It’s so hard on those restarts to predict how hard you can push,” McMurray said after climbing out of the Ganassi car. “Our car is better than I expected so we just have to get through the night.”