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This weekend, the cream of the racing world gathered in Daytona Beach, Florida, to kick off the 2018 racing season at the Rolex 24. It was a grid the likes of which we hadn’t seen in a long time. Veteran megastars from the worlds of Formula 1 and IndyCar, rising young hotshots making their names in GP2 and Formula E, and true talents from endurance racing came together in a field of 20 prototypes and 30 GT cars to fight for supremacy over 24 hours on the banking and infield at Daytona International Speedway.
When the checkered flag waved on Sunday afternoon, the winning car—the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R of Joao Barbosa, Filipe Albuquerque, and Christian Fittipaldi had covered a record-breaking distance: 808 laps and 2,876.48 miles (4,629.2km). Such a furious pace is unusual for the Rolex 24; mixed grids and the endurance format often breed incidents and lots of yellow-flag running behind a safety car. But 2018 wasn’t like that. There was drama a-plenty, and even some heavy rainfall, but only a handful of cautions made this year a 24-hour sprint for the finish and a sign that, while other racing series might have their problems, the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship is definitely one to keep an eye on this year.
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