DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Tower Motorsports found itself atop the pylon at the end of a competitive, chaotic and dramatic Rolex 24 At Daytona within the 12-car Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class full of ORECA LMP2 07 cars.

The quartet of Sebastien Bourdais, John Farano, Sebastian Alvarez and Job Van Uitert shared the winning No. 8 ORECA, emerging almost clear of trouble while contenders rose and fell like the temperatures over the 24-hour endurance classic.

Three such challengers dropped out in the eighth hour when Louis Deletrazs No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R spun and came back on course exiting Turn 2. The resulting contact eliminated the No. 2 United Autosports USA and No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports ORECAs, while despite incurring damage the No. 8 Tower car kept going.

By the halfway point, it appeared the second United entry, the Motul Pole Award-winning No. 22 car, along with defending class champions Inter Europol Competitions No. 43 car and AO Racings Spike No. 99 car were set to challenge. Penalties took the No. 22 and 43 down the order and heartbreak befell the No. 99 once the final couple hours happened.

AOs No. 99 car, with Christian Rasmussen driving, dropped out of the fight with just over 80 minutes remaining. The car pitted with a low battery warning and the team diagnosed the issue under the rear deck lid, losing several laps and ending Spikes victory charge. This car led a race-high 280 of 765 laps.

Era Motorsport, then, appeared in position to repeat its 2024 win with an adjusted lineup in its No. 18 ORECA, courtesy of a strategic move to take fuel only on its final stop before the last 40 minutes. Those hopes went away when Mathias Beches No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports car hit Paul-Loup Chatins No. 18 Era car into a spin at Turn 1. Beches No. 52 car was assessed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.

That promoted the Tower car, which kept enough relative momentum alive to stay in contention, back to the lead. Bourdais added his third Rolex 24 win, first in LMP2 to pair with a Prototype and overall win in 2014 and a GT Le Mans win with Ford in 2017, while his trio of teammates, Farano, Alvarez and Van Uitert all secured their first victories and combined to lead 118 laps.

Bourdais even admitted post-race that the rough-and-tumble affair extended to his co-driver Farano, who fought through back pain to keep driving and complete his stints.

I was part of the big one, big time, Bourdais explained. The car over my left fender, a car over my right fender and I dont think I had time to back off because I made contact because I was in the gearbox of the Pratt Miller car and it all came to a stop. It was like Days of Thunder.

Yeah, honestly, when it all cleared in front of me and the car still had four wheels on it and the steering wheel was straight, I was like, man, this is just a miracle.

For Bourdais, its also his second straight IMSA win albeit in a very different driving situation. With the end of the Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing program in GTP after the 2024 Motul Petit Le Mans season finale, Bourdais shifted into the highly competitive LMP2 class to remain in the IMSA paddock.

Its almost like it was awarded to us in some respect because it seemed for a minute that nobody wanted to win it, Bourdais laughed. Ive rarely seen someone torpedo another car like Beche did with Paul-Loup. It was just one incident like this after another in front of us or behind us or around us.

It was a weird race, but we had hopes at times. Sometimes it felt like it was a bit hopeless, and to come out on top no matter how you got there at some point, its just one of those races where nobody remembers how you got there, and personally its my third, but it never gets old winning. Im really happy that we could bring the result for John whos been running after that Rolex for a little while.

Despite some setbacks throughout, the No. 22 United car rebounded to a runner-up finish, courtesy of polesitter Daniel Goldburg sharing the car with Paul Di Resta, Rasmus Lindh and James Allen. That car finished 44.697 seconds in arrear of the Tower car.

Riley completed the podium with its No. 74 LMP2 entry, co-driven by Felipe Fraga, Gar Robinson, Josh Burdon and Felipe Massa.