The Porsche Penske Motorsport #7 963 took the chequered flag in a thrilling close to the contest, beating the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 by just 1.335s.
New Zealand’s Scott Dixon was part of the runner-up effort alongside Tom Blomqvist, Felix Rosenqvist, and Colin Braun.
Top Australian Matt Campbell completed the podium for Porsche in the #6 963 with Kevin Estre and Mathieu Jaminet.
Porsche Penske Motorsport looked like it might claim a one-two finish until Campbell faded in the closing laps.
Campbell had led the race inside the final half an hour but was beaten by Nasr in a head-to-head battle with 22 minutes to go.
“I like winning, that’s all, and that’s what I’m here for,” said Nasr post-race.
“I’m proud I did it again back to back. Incredible work by everybody at Porsche Penske Motorsport.
“The two cars run very strong all the way to the end, and hey, it’s never over until it’s over. So I did everything I could behind the wheel to get ourselves set up.
“And it’s just an incredible, incredible feeling. I just cried in the car. I don’t know what to say. Incredible.”
FOR 👏 THE 👏 LEAD!
Does it get better than this?!@Rolex24Hours | @Team_Penske pic.twitter.com/Hzc3rIcYXR— IMSA (@IMSA) January 26, 2025
It’s the second straight Daytona 24 win for Porsche and Penske.
“We didn’t talk to them about not racing each other, but obviously these guys are racers and fortunately we didn’t get into trouble,” said team owner Roger Penske.
“Terrific job by the whole team, when you think about all the drivers we had, they ran strong all day. And the cars, this Porsche car we have has just been amazing.
“And to think we did it two years in a row, it’s a credit to all the people here, all the people from Germany and from Porsche and our team here.
“So we’ve got one organisation, and now we’ve been able to say we did it again.”
Tandy’s win marked a major milestone in world motorsport, becoming the first driver to win 24-hour races at Daytona, Le Mans, Nurburgring, and Spa.
“It’s one of the biggest sporting events in the world, and we just emerged victorious,” Tandy said.
“I had a chance here to win before in class, but the overall is something different, and it’s something that I’ve been wanting to try for a long time.
“Luckily I got to share it with these two legends. To win all the four major 24-hour races, outright. One would be incredible, but all four…”
Australians star in LMP2, GTD
In the LMP2 division, Tower Motorsports claimed the top honours with Job van Uitert, Sebastien Bourdais, Sebastian Alvarez, and John Farano. Australia’s James Allen was second in the #22 United Autosports entry alongside Paul Di Resta, Rasmus Lindh, and Daniel Goldburg.
Compatriot Josh Burdon completed the podium for Riley with Felipe Massa, Felipe Fraga, and Gar Robinson in the #74 car.
In GTD Pro, it was an all-American podium bookended by Ford with Corvette taking second place.
The fan favourite #91 Trackhouse Racing by TF Sport Z06 GT3.R of Shane van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin with Connor Zilisch and Ben Keating was only ninth in class. They were class contenders until Zilisch spun with less than an hour to go from fourth place.
AWA Racing claimed GTD honours in its Corvette. Tom Sargent on his IMSA debut claimed second with Ayhancan Guven, Elliott Skeer, and Adam Adelson in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.
It was not all smooth sailing for the Antipodeans, with several incidents and retirements.
Scott Andrews was vying for the GTD win with Lone Star Racing until he was involved in a crash during a race restart. The #80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 was among several cars skittled at Turn 1.
Much earlier in the race, the 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Kenny Habul retired with a belt-related issue.
Garnet Patterson was among the front-runners in LMP2 until his teammate was caught up in a pile-up during an eighth-hour restart. That damaged the #2 United Autosports entry to the point where it couldn’t continue and the car was retired.
New Zealand’s Hunter McElrea speared off into the tyres in the Horseshoe, damaging the #11 TDS Racing car. They went several laps down and suffered a gearbox issue shortly thereafter.
Calamity for the Whelen Cadillac! What happened?
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📻: IMSA Radio@Rolex24Hours | @peacock | @WeatherTech | @MichelinRaceUSA pic.twitter.com/GeuF8QVw0Z— IMSA (@IMSA) January 26, 2025
Earl Bamber was a factor for outright honours until the #31 Cadillac Whelen Racing car suffered a failure and spun into the wall on the speedway with Frederik Vesti at the helm.
Fellow Kiwi Brendon Hartley was among the contenders but never looked a serious threat. The #10 claimed fifth.
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