It has been a really good 14 months for Hélio Castroneves.
Castroneves, the exuberant Brazilian who turns 47 in just over three months, brought the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-05 DPi to overall victory in the 60th edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona on Sunday.
It was Castroneves’ second consecutive win in the world’s second-greatest sports car endurance race and the second overall win for team owner Michael Shank, who won the 50th race in 2012.
The Castroneves-MSR duo is only a year old, but they’ve accomplished victories in two of the U.S.’s most prestigious auto racing events, including the 2021 Indianapolis 500.
The entire No. 60 team, which included drivers Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis, and MSR newcomer Simon Pagenaud, celebrated in Castroneves’ signature “Spider-Man” form as they climbed the catch fence on the frontstretch of Daytona International Speedway.
Jarvis is a previous winner of the Rolex 24 in the GT class, but this was his first overall win. Blomqvist and Pagenaud also enjoyed their first triumphs in the twice-around-the-clock spectacle.
Since the end of the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, Castroneves has had a career rejuvenation. After the 2017 IndyCar Series campaign, he became a part-time IndyCar driver for Team Penske and didn’t see much success in the following three Indy 500s.
However, he won the IMSA DPi championship in November 2020 with Penske. It was his first championship in a premier-level racing series, and two months later, he won the Rolex 24 with Wayne Taylor Racing.
Then, he captured a record-tying fourth Indy 500 win with MSR in May 2021. It was his first 500 not in a Penske car and a victory that sealed his legacy as one of the greatest to ever compete in American open-wheel racing. Also, notably, Castroneves became the first driver in history to win the Rolex 24 overall and the Indy 500 in the same year.
Entering 2022, Castroneves has momentum on his side, and it’s as though he’s found the Fountain of Youth because he is as sharp and enthusiastic about racing as ever. And he’ll be running the full IndyCar schedule again in the No. 06 with MSR.
Meanwhile, Wayne Taylor’s No. 10 DPi finished second in class. The team comes up just short of winning its fifth Rolex in six years and what would have been a record-breaking fourth consecutive overall win. The JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac rounds out the DPi class podium with a third-place result.
LMP2
Eric Lux and IndyCar youngsters Colton Herta, Patricio O’Ward, and Andretti Autosport rookie Devlin DeFrancesco claim class victory in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Racing Oreca 07. Herta has now won the Rolex 24 in two classes — his first occurring in the GT Le Mans class with BMW Team RLL in 2019.
'@ColtonHerta passes FOR THE LEAD in LMP2!@PatricioOWard and the @DragonSpeedLLC team are LOVING IT! #Rolex24 pic.twitter.com/rgUwDZfmOn
— Motorsports on NBC (@MotorsportsNBC) January 30, 2022
The No. 29 of Racing Team Nederland finished P2 in class with Frits van Eerd, Giedo van der Garde, Dylan Murry, and fellow IndyCar driver Rinus VeeKay. Rounding out the podium was Tower Motorsport’s No. 8, which had a fierce battle with the No. 81. In the closing minutes, Herta and Louis Deletraz battled for the lead, and it ended in Deletraz going off-course at the Le Mans chicane and costing him a chance to bring home the Rolexes for his team.
LMP3
The Riley Motorsports No. 74 repeated victory at Daytona as Kay van Berlo and Michael Cooper captured their first IMSA wins. Gar Robinson and Felipe Fraga earned their sixth and fifth wins in IMSA as Fraga ran the fastest lap in class and drove the prototype for the final stint.
Sean Creech Motorsport claimed P2 in class, and CORE Autosport finished P3.
GTD Pro
WHAT A FINISH IN THE GTD PRO CLASS!@Rolex24Hours x @Daytona x #Rolex24 pic.twitter.com/qKSlt9wDpY
— Motorsports on NBC (@MotorsportsNBC) January 30, 2022
The most exciting finish of the Rolex 24 came in the newly-created GTD Pro class, which features pro drivers in GT3 cars. The battle in the final hours between Pfaff Motorsports and KCMG was nothing short of spectacular as Mathieu Jaminet in the Pfaff Porsche, and Laurens Vanthoor in the KCMG Porsche slammed doors as if they were racing NASCAR stock cars. It got to a point where race control warned KCMG about its aggressive maneuvers, and despite the threat, still managed to overtake the No. 9 car.
However, Jaminet wouldn’t give in, and on the final lap, the two collided again, resulting in the No. 2 Porsche spinning out and allowing Pfaff to take the class win. The No. 62 Ferrari of Risi Competizione ended up second and KCGM, in its Daytona debut, third.
GTD
As has usually been the case in recent years, the GTD class saw the most parity manufacturer-wise. Porsche, Aston Martin, Mercedes-AMG, Ferrari, and McLaren were the top-five finishers. The No. 16 Porsche 911 GT3R of Wright Motorsports driven by Ryan Hardwick, Jan Heylen, Zacharie Robichon and Richard Lietz earned the watches. It’s the first Daytona triumph for all but Lietz, who won in the GT class in 2012.
When Lietz won 10 years ago, it was for Magnus Racing, which finished second on Sunday with Jonathan Adam, Andy Lally, John Potter, and Spencer Pumpelly. Mike Skeen, Scott Andrews, James Davison, and Stevan McAleer were the final podium standers in the No. 32 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports.
As reported by the Associated Press’ Jenna Fryer, Shank’s IndyCar drivers have the 24 Hours of Le Mans already on their minds.
“MIKE! Let’s go to Le Mans,” Helio tells Shank.
— Jenna Fryer (@JennaFryer) January 30, 2022
Pagenaud adds, “C’mon, I speak French.” pic.twitter.com/WtDm2KI9kA
