Written by Archie O’Reilly
The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona has kicked off the 2025 racing season, with drivers converging from all different disciplines to compete in the marquee endurance event. That included a host of familiar faces from the IndyCar world, both past and present.
As always, it was 24 hours of vigorous intensity and brutal attrition. Drivers had to face the cold of the long night - with 13 hours and 16 minutes between sunset and sunrise - and by the time daytime rolled back around, it remained just as closely-fought in every class.
Despite the fatigue of teams and drivers and battered race cars, it remained high quality to the chequered flag as the Roger Penske-owned Porsche Penske Motorsport team reigned supreme again. Brazilian Felipe Nasr, who tested an Indy car as recently as late last year at the Thermal Club, charged to the chequered for the second year in succession.
Penske adds the title of two-time defending Rolex 24 winner to three-time defending NASCAR Cup Series champion owner, two-time defending Indianapolis 500 winner and defending IMSA SportsCar Championship and World Endurance Championship (WEC) champion.
With a household IndyCar organisation victorious, here is a lowdown of some of the IndyCar drivers involved…
Scott Dixon & Felix Rosenqvist
Position: 2nd overall, 2nd in class
Entry: No.60 - Meyer Shank Racing (GTP)
There was no repeat of an overall victory for an IndyCar representative in 2025, with Josef Newgarden having been a part of Penske’s success at Daytona last year. But coming home second overall was a lineup complete with four drivers all having competed in IndyCar across the 2024 season.
It was a return to sports car racing for IndyCar outfit Meyer Shank Racing (MSR), who stepped aside in 2024 but have returned to the Acura stable with two cars for the 2025 IMSA season. And with a new IndyCar technical alliance with Chip Ganassi Racing, who lost their own sports car programme for 2025, there was a chance to tap into some driving talent.
MSR called upon six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, a three-time Rolex 24 winner with Ganassi, for driving duties in the No.60 Acura. The lineup was complete with MSR IndyCar driver Felix Rosenqvist, who handed the team their first IndyCar pole in 2024, and 2024 IndyCar features Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun.
Blomqvist and Braun were both key parts of MSR’s previous IMSA endeavour, with Blomqvist winning the 2022 title - in the final year of the DPi era - and back-to-back Rolex 24s in 2022 and 2023, the latter of which Braun was also a part.
Blomqvist’s performances earned him an IndyCar drive with MSR in 2024 amid the team’s sabbatical from IMSA competition, though this only lasted five races before David Malukas replaced him amid performance concerns. Braun also made his first IndyCar appearances at Thermal and Long Beach for Dale Coyne Racing last year.
With its IndyCar-heavy lineup, the No.60 often lingered around the podium spots in this year’s Rolex 24.
Dixon had three run-outs in the car amounting to six-and-a-half hours, putting in a lot of the hard work overnight. Rosenqvist ran solidly across four hours, with two relatively inconsequential hiccups on cold tyres - a lockup and contact sending him into a spin, then minor tyre barrier contact in a later stint.
When it counted most on a final-hour restart, Blomqvist took advantage of a wounded No.24 BMW with clinical execution to lift the No.60 into the podium spots. He went on to charge down the Porsche Penske pair, passing the No.6 of Matt Campbell in the final five minutes.
Nasr ultimately did enough to hold on ahead of Blomqvist, who in turn stretched his legs to break away from Campbell. Regardless, it was another heroic late-race stint from Blomqvist to cap off a successful IMSA return for MSR.
Blomqvist has still finished no lower than second in his top-class outings at Daytona, winning twice and driving to successive runner-up finishes after a similarly heroic drive in the No.31 Action Express Cadillac last year.
It did not work out in IndyCar for Blomqvist but he remains one of the very best sports car drivers in the world. There is a reason MSR were so desperate to keep him on their books after his IndyCar axe with a view to their IMSA return. The cream always rises to the top.
Christian Rasmussen
Position: 13th overall, 6th in class
Entry: No.99 - AO Racing (LMP2)
The second-best IndyCar driver on the results charts on Sunday was Ed Carpenter Racing sophomore Christian Rasmussen. The Dane won in the LMP2 class with Era Motorsports in 2024 and returned to the second division with AO Racing in ‘Spike the Dragon’ for 2025.
Rasmussen and the No.99 were fighting at the front all race long. No 24-hour race is without adversity for any entry, but roadblocks such as a tyre infringement penalty inside the final four hours when leading were not getting in the way.
With the race-leading No.88 entry retiring with a mechanical problem inside the closing two hours, Rasmussen inherited the lead on the home stretch. But after the car came in for its final stop, Spike would not restart and Rasmussen was left stranded.
Rasmussen ended up with over five-and-a-half hours of driving time and was the fifth-fastest LMP2 driver in terms of fastest lap. But unfortunately, what looked like a possible defence of his win in 2024 wound up a heartbreaking sixth in class for Rasmussen, eight laps off the class lead.
Colton Herta
Position: 14th overall, 7th in class
Entry: No.04 - CrowdStrike Racing by APR (LMP2)
After two years running Daytona in the GTP class with BMW M Team RLL and Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) with Andretti, Colton Herta switched to LMP2 for 2025.
Herta, a two-time Rolex 24 winner at GT and LMP2 level, teamed up with three-time Dale Coyne Racing IndyCar driver Toby Sowery in the No.04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR entry, which finished second in 2024 with Sowery a part of that lineup.
Despite a minor, inconsequential spin at one-stage, Sowery spearheaded the effort, boasting the highest drive time of any driver in the No.04 at six hours. By the time he handed over to Herta once night had started to cede, Sowery was chasing down the lead. But then disaster struck.
Inside the final quarter of the race, Herta misjudged and appeared to carry too much speed in the infield, seeming to lock the rears before spinning rearwards into the tyre barriers. What appeared to be rear assembly damage ultimately was a bigger repair, sending the No.04 behind the wall and out of win contention.
Herta had got away with a spin earlier in the race overnight but the damage from this second incident sent the No.04 10 laps off the class lead by the chequered flag. Impressively quick repairs meant the team were able to salvage seventh in class.
Álex Palou
Position: 15th overall, 8th in class
Entry: No.93 - Meyer Shank Racing (GTP)
While MSR had a fruitful return to IMSA on the No.60 side, its No.93 entry - the first time the team had run two cars in IMSA - was struck down with early bad luck, with Álex Palou at the wheel as the suspension failed inside the fifth hour of the race.
They did manage to get back out on track and finish 40 laps off the lead, picking up enough positions to finish eighth in the GTP class amid attrition. And Palou still ended up with almost six hours on track and was the seventh-quickest top class driver by way of fastest lap.
Scott McLaughlin
Position: 25th overall, 9th in class
Entry: No.91 - Trackhouse by TF Sport (GTD Pro)
Some of the greatest anticipation came from the all-star No.91 Trackhouse-backed TF Sport Corvette entry. Scott McLaughlin featured alongside former Supercars rival Shane van Gisbergen, young NASCAR superstar Connor Zilisch and one of the greatest bronze drivers ever, Ben Keating.
McLaughlin spent over six hours on track as the No.91 and its superstar lineup made it to the chequered flag relatively untroubled. There was a minor gearbox gremlin throughout but the Corvette remained in contention, with Zilisch, who ran over eight hours, chasing down a possible win late on before a spin.
Of note, Trackhouse owner Justin Marks, who is incredibly keen to run all of the bucket list races with his team, reaffirmed to IMSA Radio that he is very keen to be a part of the Indy 500 at some point in the near future.
Kyle Kirkwood
Position: 36th overall, 11th in class
Entry: No.14 - Vasser Sullivan (GTD Pro)
Kyle Kirkwood, who has become a staple of the Vasser Sullivan Lexus team’s endurance lineup, was on double duty for the team across its GTD Pro and GTD entries. And in the No.14 Pro entry, former IndyCar driver and NBC analyst, now newly-announced FOX Sports IndyCar analyst, Townsend Bell was making his racing return.
Kirkwood spent just shy of four hours on track in the Pro entry, with Bell running over a quarter of the race in the No.14. But it was an unfortunate 24 hours for the Vasser Sullivan team, who fell out of contention with the No.14 amid suspension damage overnight.
The 2023 IMSA championship-winning entry ultimately finished 19 laps off the GTD Pro lead.
Callum Ilott
Position: 41st overall, 10th in class
Entry: No.73 - Pratt Miller Motorsports (LMP2)
Another IndyCar-heavy lineup was that of Pratt Miller Motorsports in the LMP2 class. Callum Ilott, who was a race-winner in the top Hypercar category in the WEC in 2024 for Jota Sport, headlined the team’s drivers ahead of his IndyCar return with new outfit PREMA.
Also in the lineup was Pietro Fittipaldi, who completed a first full IndyCar season with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in 2024, and Indy NXT driver James Roe. But the No.73 was another struck down with an unfortunate 24 hours in the Pratt Miller team’s first LMP2 outing.
Roe was spun around in the early stages of the race, while bronze driver Chris Cumming was at the wheel as the No.73 suffered extensive damage in a restart incident at the seven-and-a-half-hour mark.
The day was not done but the No.73 was third-last of those still running at the end, 103 laps off the race lead. Ilott was notably the sixth-fastest LMP2 driver by fastest lap.
Kyle Kirkwood
Position: 46th overall, 15th in class
Entry: No.12 - Vasser Sullivan (GTD)
The second half of Kirkwood’s double duty in the GTD entry for Vasser Sullivan was no better. While he ended with over eight hours on track across both cars, the day of the No.12 ended after 19 hours.
Other drivers of note
Chief of stories among other drivers well-known in the IndyCar world was the success in LMP2 for four-time Champ Car champion Sébastien Bourdais. The veteran Frenchman’s main programme for 2025 is in the Jota Cadillac Hypercar in WEC but he stepped down to the LMP2 class for the Rolex 24 to win emphatically with Tower Motorsports.
One-time 2024 IndyCar driver Hunter McElrea, winner of the Endurance Cup in IMSA with TDS Racing in 2024, had a cruel Rolex 24 after a DNF in the race last year. The Kiwi found the tyre barriers inside the third hour, continuing after repairs but finishing 40th overall, ninth in class and 99 laps down.
In GTP, Romain Grosjean, who is becoming PREMA’s reserve driver in IndyCar in 2025 after four years in the series, did not get to race before his Lamborghini retired with a mechanical problem. Grosjean’s countryman Tristan Vautier, who returned to IndyCar after seven years in Detroit last year, saw his No.5 Porsche 963 retired after 11 hours.
Current Indy NXT driver Bryce Aron also got a GTP opportunity in a Porsche for JDC Miller MotorSports. He gained just shy of four-and-a-half hours of experience in the race as the entry finished sixth in class.
With Bell in a Lexus, his IndyCar broadcast partner James Hinchcliffe was also on track for Pfaff Motorsports, who led at one early stage amid their switch to Lamborghini for 2025. Hinchcliffe ran just short of two-and-a-half hours but involvement in the big restart incident shortly after nightfall saw the car retired after seven-and-a-half hours.
Recent AJ Foyt Racing driver Benjamin Pedersen was a part of the fourth-placed PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports LMP2 entry, while Tatiana Calderón was 18th in GTD, retiring short of the 15-hour mark.
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