Whether punctuating a sublime performance with the checkered flag, or punching the clock while getting there, nobody was better than Felipe Nasr in last year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.
The Porsche Penske Motorsport star delivered the first Rolex 24 win in 55 years for iconic team owner Roger Penske by outdueling Tom Blomqvist and fending off several challenges while finishing with a virtually flawless triple stint.
And perhaps most impressive was how cool he was under pressure during long stretches in the cockpit that ranked as the most Herculean performance in the premier category of the prestigious endurance race.
Among the 38 Grand Touring Prototype drivers, the Brazilian logged the most time behind the wheel — 9 hours, 15 minutes and 11 seconds in the No. 7 963. That accounts for more than a third of the one-day event despite having three teammates to divvy up the stints over 24 hours at Daytona International Speedway.
“I guess that’s why we get paid to drive,” Nasr, 34, said with a laugh Tuesday while recalling his victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener. “For sure there’s a lot of preparation when you’re talking about a 24-hour race physically and mentally. I try to maximize any of those minutes when I’m out of the car, especially during this race, because I know it’s very demanding.
“It’s a 24-hour race, and things are changing all the time. You have to be flexible, you have to be dynamic with the team, but also you have to keep yourself sharp when it’s the money time.”
Nasr and his Porsche Penske teammates will need to stay as sharp during their title defense this weekend. After employing four drivers on each of its entries last year (anticipating a mandate that IMSA walked back for 2025), the team will use six drivers – Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor on the No. 7 and Matt Campbell, Kevin Estre and Mathieu Jaminet on the No. 6.
Nasr likely will expect the same drive time as last year. Porsche Penske Motorsport used a trio for its 963s in the 2023 debut of the GTP class, and Nasr turned laps for 8 hours, 56 minutes and 21 seconds on the 12-turn, 3.56-mile road course.
That’s why it was stunning last year when Nasr’s time actually increased despite having an extra driver to share the load.
Over the final seven and a half hours of the race, the No. 7 963 was swapped exclusively between Nasr and Campbell (who put in 7 hours, 9 minutes, 3 seconds). Over the final 283 of 791 laps, teammates Dane Cameron (4:01:20) and Josef Newgarden (3:16:02) were relegated to cheerleading from the pit stand (but still received expensive timepieces for their trouble).
It was nothing personal. Nasr and Campbell simply posted lap times over the first half of the race that stamped them as closers. Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid said the team would have the same approach this year and lean on its fastest drivers after sunrise Sunday.
“The good thing about last year’s race and also with this year’s races, the conditions look like they’re gonna be pretty consistent for the duration of the race,” Diuguid said. “And so we can use the first 18 hours to say, ‘Hey, this guys performing at a high level or feeling more comfortable with where the track and the balance is. And at the end of the day, like you saw last year with Felipe and (Blomqvist), it’s going to come down to a dogfight at the end of the race. And so we’re going to make whatever decisions to make sure we have the best opportunity to win the race. And it could be any of the three guys in either of the three cars.
“It’s just going to be about how we’re performing, and it’s going to be an open discussion between the group on the timing stand, too, as well. We’re relying on (the drivers) to get the job done. And so they have a seat at the table when we’re trying to make the decisions on trying to figure out how to win the race at the end.”
It’s a good bet that Nasr could finish again after his first overall victory in the Rolex 24. He combined with Cameron for a career year of two wins, seven podiums and the GTP championship.
Nasr also has proved to be an endurance ironman. Last year at Daytona marked the fifth time in six prototype starts that he has driven at least eight hours (his record is 10 hours, 33 minutes in a 2019 race that was plagued by eight hours of rain that caused multiple yellow and red flags).
“You have to be sharp,” Nasr said. “So managing that energy, managing that build-up to the race is super important. And I’m not talking only about myself but also for the crew, the mechanics, engineers. It’s a very demanding race.”
And having four drivers doesn’t necessarily make it easier. Nasr said it’s easier for drivers to get acclimated with fewer teammates because they can turn more practice laps and replicate tire management.
“It has positives and negatives,” Nasr said. “For sure, it’s more efficient with three drivers when you’re spreading around the driving times and practice times. You get more done. But it might give you a little more resting time during the race when you have four drivers. Honestly, it could go well on both ways. So I’m ready and I feel we have a great group around the drivers and team the team behind us.”
After trying both the three- and four-driver formats the past two years, Porsche Penske Motorsport gained some valuable perspective. A four-driver stable inherently provides more wiggle room, but sometimes there’s an edge to rigidity.
“With three drivers, you’re a little bit more locked into the rotation, and you’re probably less flexible and less dynamic,” Diuguid said. “Maybe you’re making a decision on one or two guys around the last six hours of the race, but pretty much everything else is planned out before you start. With a four-driver lineup, you can react if somebody’s not feeling well or somebody’s better in the rain or things like that.
“And so in our case, I think our driver rotation will be pretty fixed before we start the race, unless something massively changes. It’s kind of an easier approach for us from that regard, but it’s also easy in a sense that all three guys in each car are performing on quite a similar level. So there’s really no negatives to that approach. And a lot of it’s around just resting time. If Felipe or Kevin jump out of the car and we say, Hey, we’re not going to see you for another four or five hours,’ it’s kind of difficult to go and beat on the bus door and wake him up and say, Hey, get your stuff together’ and shock him a little bit.”
But if that unexpected pounding on the door does come in the middle of the night, Nasr will be ready for it.
“I probably will get to sleep less,” Nasr said with a smile when asked about how his life will change with only two teammates at Daytona. “But I don’t think it’s any game-changer“.