2018 Rolex 24 At Daytona Statistical Recap (January 29, 2018)

Filipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi won the 56th annual Rolex 24 At Daytona on Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, at a record pace of 119.72 mph over the course of 2876.48 miles. The pair won driving the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi.

Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook and Scott Dixon co-won the GTLM class, while Mirko Bortolotti, Franck Perera, Rolf Ineichen and Rik Breukers co-won the GTD class.

Here are some fun and interesting statistics from the 2018 Rolex 24 At Daytona.

Statistics from the 56th Rolex 24 At Daytona

Overall

- The race was completed in 24 hours, 1 minute and 32.128 seconds, at an average speed of 119.72 miles per hour. The average race speed was a race-record, besting the previous best of 114.794 mph set in 1982 by Rolf Stommolen, John Paul Jr. and John Paul Sr.

- The last time there was not a GT car in the top 10 overall was 2012, when all of the top 10 finishers competed in the Daytona Prototype category.

- A total of 132 drivers have won the Rolex 24 overall, with Filipe Albuquerque becoming the 132nd driver. A total of 517 drivers have won the race in their class, with first-time winners Sunday including Richard Westbrook, Rolf Ineichen, Mirko Bortolotti, Franck Perera and Rik Breukers.

- A total of 808 laps were completed, surpassing the previous record of 762 laps (1992).

- A total of 2876.48 miles were completed, surpassing the previous record of 2760.96 miles in 1982.

- For the first time in the history of the race, none of the race class winners were from the United States. At least one driver from the U.S. had been a class winner in every Rolex 24 since 1962.

- This was the seventh consecutive race in which at least 50 cars competed in the Rolex 24. The 2011 race was the last with under 50, at 48 cars.

Prototype

- This was the third overall victory in the Rolex 24 for both Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi, and first for Filipe Albuquerque. It was also the fourth Rolex 24 class win for Barbosa, third for Fittipaldi and second for Albuquerque. The trio has competed together in the Rolex 24 in each of the last three seasons.

- In 16 Rolex 24 races, Barbosa has finished on the podium in class eight times (first competed in Rolex 24 in 2001, and has competed in every race since 2006). Barbosa is also now one of 16 drivers with four or more class victories in the Rolex 24. Only four drivers have five or more class victories in the race.

- In 13 Rolex 24 races, Fittipaldi has finished on the podium in class six times (first competed in Rolex 24 in 2003, and has competed in every race since 2011).

- In six Rolex 24 races, Albuquerque has finished on the podium three times, and all six of his races have resulted in a top-10 finish (has competed in every race since 2013).

- For the first time since 2014, an American-born driver was not part of the winning driver lineup in the Prototype class. Barbosa and Fittipaldi were also part of that victory, winning with Sebastien Bourdais.

- Albuquerque is the second Portuguese driver to win the Rolex 24, behind Barbosa.

- Portugal claimed two co-winners of the Rolex 24 overall for the first time in history. Barbosa was the only driver to win for Portugal previously, in 2010 and 2014.

- Fittipaldi’s victory gave Brazil an overall victory in the Rolex 24 for the fifth time in the last seven races (2012 – Oswaldo Negri; 2014/2018 – Fittipaldi; 2015 – Tony Kanaan; 2016 – Pipo Derani). Overall, it was the seventh race in which Brazil had a winner in the Rolex 24, with Fittipaldi co-winning in 2004 and Raul Boesel winning in 1988.

- This marks the fourth time in class and second time overall a No. 5 has won the Rolex 24.
- This was the second consecutive year a Cadillac has won the Rolex 24 overall and second in any class in the race’s history. Cadillac is the first manufacturer to win the race overall in back-to-back years since Porsche in 2009 and 2010.

- This marks the first three-driver lineup to win the race since 2014. The previous three races featured four-driver lineups.

- Second-place finishers Eric Curran, Felipe Nasr, Mike Conway and Stuart Middleton all scored career-best finishes in the Rolex 24, and Curran, Duval and Middleton their first podium in the race. Nasr finished third in his Rolex 24 debut in 2012 with Michael Shank Racing.

- Lois Duval, Romain Dumas, Colin Braun and Jon Bennett finished third. It was the first podium for Braun and Bennett since their win in 2014. It was Dumas’s third podium (also finished third in GT classes in 2002 and 2008).

- Johannes van Overbeek was competing in his 16th consecutive Rolex 24, which led all competitors in the Prototype category (though some of them were in the GT category). Van Overbeek finished 18th in the Prototype class and 48th overall after problems early in the race.

GTLM

- This was the third class victory for Scott Dixon, second for Ryan Briscoe and first for Richard Westbrook. Dixon also won overall in 2006 (Daytona Prototype) and 2015 (Prototype), while Briscoe won in class in GTLM in 2015.

- Dixon has now competed in 15 consecutive Rolex 24 races, the most of any competitor in the GTD class (has competed in every Rolex 24 since 2004). He has six finishes in the top five.

- Briscoe now has three class podiums and four class top fives in the Rolex 24. He is the second Australian to win the Rolex 24 more than once, joining David Brabham

- Westbrook, making his 11th consecutive race, earned his fourth class podium in the Rolex 24. He is the first driver from the United Kingdom to win his class since 2016, when Oliver Gavin won the GTLM class in a Corvette.

- This is the second consecutive year in which Ford has won in class and its 22nd Rolex 24 class victory.

- Sebastien Bourdais, Dirk Mueller and Joey Hand finished second. Their No. 66 Ford GT led at 20 of the 24 hour intervals (didn’t lead at end of 17th, 22nd, 23rd and 24th hour intervals).

- Chip Ganassi has now won 200 professional motorsport races as a team owner. Of those 200, 56 have come in sports cars, and eight in the Rolex 24. Those Rolex 24 wins came in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2015 overall (and Daytona Prototypes), and 2017 and 2018 in class (GTLM).

GTD

- The quartet of Mirko Bortolotti, Franck Perera, Rolf Ineichen and Rik Breukers were all first-time winners in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

- For Lamborghini, it marked the first time for the Italian marquee to win the Rolex 24.

- This was the fourth Rolex 24 for Bortolotti. His previous best finish was 15th in 2017, driving a Lamborghini for the Grasser Racing Team.

- This was the first Rolex 24 for both Perera and Breukers. Perera’s victory gave France a class victory in the Rolex 24 for the second consecutive Rolex 24 year (Bourdais, 2016 GTLM).

- For second-place finisher Trent Hindman, it was his second consecutive podium. He also finished second in the PC class in 2017.

- A.J. Allmendinger, second in the GTD class, has now led in all 12 Rolex 24 races in which he has competed. He now has four class podiums in the Rolex 24.

- Scott Pruett finished ninth in his final race. It was Pruett’s 28th race in the Rolex 24. He ends his career with five overall victories – a record he shares with Hurley Haywood – and a record 10 class victories. In those 28 races, he finished on the podium 16 times. Pruett’s 28 races led all competitors in the 2018 race.

- Jorg Bergmeister finished 18th in the GTD class. It was his 17th consecutive Rolex 24, which leads all drivers in all classes competing in the 2018 race.

Sources

- 2018 Rolex 24 At Daytona race results