Cars & motorsport
Race Recap: The Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona
Last weekend’s 64th running of the legendary 24-hour endurance race will go down in the books as a perfectly emblematic version of a motorsports spectacle that equally tested the skills of the drivers and the machines. And watchmaker Rolex has been the race’s title sponsor since 1992.
By Mike Espindle
Executive Editor
To be fair, the watchmaker’s title sponsorship of the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona did begin 34 years ago, but Rolex’s connection to the race has a much longer history. In 1933, driver Sir Malcom Campbell wore a Rolex Oyster on his wrist as he set a new track speed record of 272mph (in 1933!).
Rolex eventually became the official timepiece of the speedway itself and began awarding race winners Daytona watches in the early 1960s. And you’d be hard-pressed to find a race fan who remembers a time when the towering Rolex 24-hour countdown clock wasn’t ever-present at the track.
Torture Test
Ahead of the race, recently retired Rolex testimonee, Jim Button, who took third place in the 2024 Daytona 24-hour race, said: “The Rolex 24 at Daytona is the perfect way to kick off the endurance racing season. The atmosphere is so pure, with flat-out racing for 24 hours. You are pushing the limit the entire time, with speeds up to 200 mph (322 km/h), steep banking, strong G-forces, and a short track that encourages lots of overtaking.”
Button further reports he was delighted to return to Daytona this year, as a spectator. His enjoyable relief perhaps speaks to the grueling challenges the drivers face.
For the uninitiated, the idea that seconds seriously count in a 24-hour endurance race seems a bit counterintuitive. However, every “pit stop,” whether for strategic re-fueling or to address critical mechanical problems, endangers your ongoing position on the track. Pit crew swarm each race car as it pulls into the pit, quickly addressing every issue with a garage-full of pneumatic tools.
However, when you watch a 24-hour Daytona race, you quickly surmise that a simple roll of duct tape can be the most important tool in the shed as the day-long race wreaks havoc on the bodies of the race cars themselves, and quickly restoring aerodynamics to reduce every factor of drag can make or break a victory.
Race Results
This year, the event was plagued by foggy weather, requiring a rare, safety-mandated speed reduction during the middle portion of the race. But it ended as it started, with signature sunny Florida weather, as final-leg driver Felipe Nasr brought the No. 7 Penske Porsche car across the finish line for first place. This was the third Daytona win for Nasr in as many years, with team members Laurin Heinrich and Julien Andlauer contributing to Nasr’s three-peat.
Just a second-and-a-half behind was driver Jack Aitken behind the wheel of the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac car. Aitken posed some problems for Nasr when, with 22 minutes left in the race, he surged alongside the No. 7 car, but a white-knuckled Nasr held onto his lead by inches and managed to pull away by the time the flag dropped.
Third place went to the No. 24 BMW team, which crossed the line a full 20 seconds behind these two furtive combatants. Even with the fog slowing things down, it was a memorable finish.
The Wrist Connection
On Rolex’s side, all of its motorsports involvements draw a straight line to shared values of precision, performance, endurance, and challenge-conquering, but the 24-hour Daytona race is particularly special since it shares a name with the watch model the company leans into to symbolize its high-octane partnerships, and for good reason.
Rolex’s latest Daytona timepiece, the Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona, debuted at Watches & Wonders in 2023 to celebrate the icon’s 60th Anniversary.
Sporting a new calibre 4131 automatic movement, this 40mm timepiece stands fender-to-fender with the estimable pantheon of Rolex Daytona models. The steel version currently lists for $16,900, and you can learn more at Rolex’s special Cosmograph Daytona webpage.