Alonso, WTR win Rolex 24 as red flag ends race early

Fernando Alonso spearheaded Wayne Taylor Racing's charge to victory in a truncated 57th edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona that was brought to an early end under a red flag due to heavy rain.

Two-time Formula 1 world champion Alonso teamed up with Kamui Kobayashi, Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande in the #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi at Daytona to outlast rivals Mazda Team Joest, Acura Team Penske and Action Express Racing, making a crucial pass for the lead with a little over two hours to go in the race.

Alonso managed to forge a lead of 20 seconds during his first stint of the race, only for this to be wiped away by one of many full course cautions that kept the lead runners bunched throughout the race.

The Spaniard sat at the head of the field under the first red flag called for wet weather early on Sunday morning, which, combined with a number of cautions ran behind the safety car, limited the field to no more than 20 consecutive minutes of green flag running in a six-hour period.

- ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA: RACE RESULTS

Alonso sat second behind former F1 rival Felipe Nasr in the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac nearing the end of the 22nd hour as a heavy rain front arrived at the circuit, with a number of drivers struggling to keep their cars on-track.

Nasr made a costly error after hitting the standing water at Turn 1, allowing Alonso to move into the overall lead just minutes before the race was put under caution and then ultimately red-flagged with 1h55m left on the clock.

Despite officials' best hopes of resuming the race, it was confirmed with 11 minutes remaining that it would not resume, thus making Alonso, Kobayashi, van der Zande and Taylor the winners.

It marks Alonso's second 24-hour classic win in the past nine months following his debut victory at Le Mans last June, and comes in his second Daytona start. He also becomes the third F1 world champion after Phil Hill and Mario Andretti to win the Rolex 24.

Victory also yielded a maiden Rolex Daytona watch - traditionally awarded to the race winners - for Kobayashi and van der Zande, while Taylor claimed his second overall win following his 2017 success for his father's team.

Taylor had managed to keep the #10 Cadillac in contention at the front through much of the morning rain before handing over to Alonso, while both Kobayashi and van der Zande made invaluable contributions with their overnight stints.

DragonSpeed survived a late scare to take the class win in LMP2, having seen its hopes of a one-two finish dissipate in the final hour of running before the red flag. The #81 Oreca 07 Gibson had been running over a lap clear of the field, only to suffer a broken upright that forced it out of the race before the team's sister #18 Oreca crashed in the late deluge, suffering front-end damage.

Sebastian Saavedra was able to limp his car back to the pits before getting back on-track just before the red flag and retain the lead, giving him the class win alongside Pastor Maldonado, Roberto Gonzalez and Ryan Cullen.

BMW claimed victory in the GTLM class with Augusto Farfus, Connor de Phillippi, Phillipp Eng and Colton Herta after a late pass for the lead in the final leg of green-flag running. Farfus managed to squeeze ahead of Risi Competizione's James Calado, leaving the Welshman to settle for P2 in the #62 Ferrari 488 GTE.

GRT Grasser Racing Team managed to capitalise on the late downpour to seize the lead of the GTD class just before the red flag with Christian Engelhart in the #11 Lamborghini Huracan GT3, having edged ahead of Daniel Morad in the #29 Audi R8 LMS GT3 for Montaplast by Land Motorsport in the closing stages. Jeff Segal brought the #12 Lexus RC F GT3 home third in class for AIM Vasser Sullivan.