Ganassi seeks first win of sports car in new hybrid era

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Chip Ganassi Racing had two strong shots at winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona as both of his Cadillacs topped the board with roughly four hours remaining Sunday in the most prestigious endurance race in North America.

Scott Dixon paced the field in the No. 01 Cadillac, while teammate Alex Lynn ran third in the sister No. 02 Cadillac. Wedged in third was Simon Pagenaud in an Acura for defending race winners Meyer Shank Racing.

The race marked the debut of new hybrid technology for the top GTP class that makes IMSA the only North American motorsports series to make the electric switch. The top class uses a hybrid powertrain combined with a traditional internal combustion engine.

The changes lured both BMW with Bobby Rahal and Porsche with Roger Penske into the top level of IMSA sports car racing — field additions that doubled the competing manufacturers in GTP from a year ago and pushed the class to nine cars.

Although the manufacturers had 18 months to prepare, the end of the 2022 season in October created a tight turnaround in building the new systems and learning how to use them. There were slowdowns because of supply chain challenges and all nine teams showed up at Daytona unsure if they’d make it to the finish.

But as the race hit the homestretch, all nine entries were still running, even though a handful did have mechanical issues. One of Rahal’s BMW’s had a very early problem that plummeted the car to 51st on the 61-car field. A Penske Porsche had an issue and the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac had to change a gearbox 15 hours into the race.

Even so, the cars were still running — a major step in this changing era of IMSA sports car racing.

The hybrid debut on Saturday created the largest crowd for the Rolex in its 61 years as the unofficial opener of the racing season. An official attendance figure was not provided.

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