Acura retains Rolex 24 lead as Alonso begins first stint

Acura Team Penske retained its advantage at the head of the field with two hours down in the Rolex 24 at Daytona as Fernando Alonso embarked on his opening stint for Wayne Taylor Racing.

Having led an Acura one-two at the one-hour mark, Juan Pablo Montoya continued to head the field in the #6 Acura DPi car after a brief battle with Oliver Jarvis in the #77 Mazda Team Joest entry before handing the car over to Dane Cameron.

Cameron took over at the third round of pit stops, which were triggered by the first full course caution of the race after the #99 NGT Motorsport Porsche 911 RSR suffered an engine failure and dropped oil on the circuit.

At the two-hour mark, Cameron ran two seconds clear of Action Express Racing's Eric Curran in the #31 Cadillac DPi, while Jarvis' teammate, Rene Rast, sat third overall.

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Two-time Formula 1 world champion Alonso took over from Wayne Taylor Racing teammate Jordan Taylor in the #10 Cadillac DPi at the third round of pit stops, working his way up to P6 in the early part of his first stint to sit nine seconds back from the race leader.

The second AER car had managed to get into contention for the lead after an impressive first stint from Filipe Albuquerque, only for the team to be forced into changing the rear deck of the #5 Cadillac due to a broken tail-light.

James Allen led the LMP2 field at the two-hour mark, while Joey Hand managed to hit the front of the GTLM field in the #66 Ford GT, albeit after opting for an off-kilter strategy. Corvette's Tommy Milner and Porsche's Patrick Pilet sit P2 and P3, having both made three stops.

Alex Zanardi jumped into the #24 BMW M8 GTE for his first stint at Daytona, immediately lighting up the timesheets in GTLM to sit P5 in class, racing with his hand-controlled car.

In GTD, Townsend Bell led for the AIM Vasser Sullivan team in the #12 Lexus RC F GT3, sitting two seconds clear of the #29 Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3.