With 18 hours to go, one quarter race distance – the Rolex 24 at Daytona is looming as a battle between Ford and GM. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Memo Rojas held the lead at the six hour mark aboard the Ford Ecoboost Riley DP.

Wayne Taylor Racing, Action Express and Spirit of Daytona were also in the hunt with their Corvette GP entries.

The Oak Racing Morgan Nissan P2 car ran as high as second before being delayed with an alternator while the Muscle Milk Nissan Oreca was the top Le Mans style prototype in ninth place with Alex Brundle at the wheel.

The pair of ESM HPD entries struck issues with drive problems with the No.1 car and crash damage for the No.2

In GTLM the race is looming as a battle between SRT Viper and Porsche.

The No.93 Viper of Bomarito/Wittmer/Bell led the race ahead of the No.91 sister car.  The CORE autosport-run Porsche North America entries were third and fourth. Corvette Racing’s No.3 machine has moved up to fifth after a steady run from rear of the grid.

The race was delayed at sunset just before 5:00pm after a heavy accident between the Risi Ferrari of Matteo Malucelli and the No.99 Gainsco Racing DP of Memo Gidley. Melucelli’s Ferrari was limping back to the pits when he was struck by the unsighted Gidley who was blinded by the sunset.

Both drivers were admitted to Halifax Medical Center and were “awake and communicating and undergoing further assessment”. Further details to follow.