The 24 Hours of Daytona last weekend did not last 24 hours. Why? The organisers had made a mistake and are now also telling us why that mistake could not be fixed.
A blunder of sorts, you could call it. With 1 minute and 35 to go, the Penske Motorsport car (including Felipe Nasr in the #7 Porsche) was shown the finish flag. Too early, in other words. And that while the battle for victory was not yet over. The #31-Whelen Engineering Cadillac of Action Express Racing was one second behind.
IMSA, the organiser of the American counterpart of the WEC, provided more clarity on what exactly happened via a statement. 'Due to an officiating error in race control, IMSA inadvertently announced and subsequently displayed the white flag with under three minutes remaining in the race. At the end of the lap, the race-leading No. 7 GTP car then received the checkered flag with 1 minute, 35.277 seconds still remaining, ending the race short of the planned 24 hours by effectively one lap.'
'Based on Article 49 of the 2024 IMSA Sporting Regulations and Standard Supplementary Regulations, should the checkered flag be inadvertently or otherwise displayed before the leading car completes the scheduled number of laps or before the prescribed time has been completed, the race is nevertheless deemed ended when the flag is displayed.'
Statement IMSA
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