VIDEO: Wild Finish at Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona as Drivers Clash on the Final Lap

The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona has officially concluded with Meyer Shank Racing’s Helio Castroneves emerging as the winner. However, the action was far from over for the fans. In the GTD Pro class, the two race leaders, Laurens Vanthoor and Mathieu Jaminet were tussling for the win.

As the two Porsche cars headed into the Le Mans chicane, they collided. In the end, Vanthoor ended up as the big loser, and Jaminet went on to win the race. Meanwhile, the Belgian driver could only sit and rue what could have been a fantastic victory.

He bemoaned, “For me, this is the only 24-hour race which I haven’t won yet, so it was a very big thing that I wanted to achieve. For the team it was a one-off, so for us it was clear that it was win or bust. I tried everything that I could, but unfortunately it was not enough. I will probably run the race in my mind 200 times. And not going to lie, I cried like a baby on the in-lap. But it is what it is: it’s motor racing.”

What happened at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona?

According to Jaminet, the race finish was fairly “stressful”. However, it did not come as a total surprise to him, as he was expecting some aggressive tactics. This is because the Porsches were almost glued to each other during the last three hours of the race.

In fact, Jaminet received a few ‘love taps’ from the Belgian driver. As a result, he was acutely aware that the KCMG driver would not give him any quarter. Vanthoor initially overtook, but Mathieu Jaminet was content with biding his time until he got the perfect opportunity. However, he knew that he only had one shot at making the move stick, and he pounced.

All in all, he would like to think that he enjoyed the battle, but he confessed that it was stressful. Ironically, Jaminet was racing for Pfaff Motorsports, Vanthoor’s former team. Interestingly, the Belgian won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona for them in 2021. This time around, Jaminet is sticking around for the whole season, while Vanthoor is only racing at Daytona and Nurburgring.

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