Catalano Kicks Off Season on Top in Daytona

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Two of the three IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge winners to kick off the 2025 season dominated at Daytona International Speedway. The third, however, captured a surprising victory on the last lap of the 45-minute race.

Valentino Catalano won overall with an authoritative drive in the LMP3 class after a race-long battle with teammate Markus Pommer.

Adam Adelson, in the first of his three races at Daytona this month – he’ll also compete in the Rolex 24 at Daytona with Wright Motorsports – started things off strongly with a flag-to-flag victory in the debut of the new GTDX class, GT3-specification cars now entered in VP Racing Challenge.

Kiko Porto, meanwhile, dominated the weekend pace-wise in GSX but only captured the race win on the last lap when his closest rival, Steven Clemons, slowed unexpectedly from the lead.

Gebhardt Intralogistics Motorsports made its podium debut to cap off the 2024 season at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with drivers Catalano, in the No. 30 Duqueine D08 Nissan and Pommer, in the No. 31 Duqueine. They backed up that solid debut outing last year in Daytona this weekend.

From pole, Catalano led a majority of the race – only briefly losing the lead to his teammate on an exchange for one of the 26 laps – and resumed out front to secure the win by 1.071 seconds over Pommer.

Pommer, however, finished second on the road but third in the race results after he was given a 10-second penalty for a false start at the green flag for changing columns.

That promoted Brady Golan to second in his No. 80 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS P320 Nissan.

Golan, too, had a penalty – but his was pre-race after missing the pre-grid time which forced him to start from the rear of the P3 class field. Undeterred, the teenager gained four positions on the first lap to an eventual third place, which became second, 5.503 seconds in arrears, once Pommer’s penalty was applied.

Fourth on the road and the top-rated Bronze driver in class was Mirco Schultis, in the No. 70 Mishumotors Ligier.

IMSA introduced a Bronze Cup podium this race to award trophies to all of the top-three Bronze-rated finishers in each of the three classes.

Adelson Leads Flag-to-Flag in GTDX Class Debut

The debut of the GTDX class within VP Racing Challenge was largely uneventful. After starting from pole, Adelson led all 26 laps in the No. 24 Wright Porsche 911 GT3 Rwith a 30.236-second margin of victory.

While Adelson enjoyed a simple drive, the battle behind him was intense among three Ferrari 296 GT3 cars and a single BMW M4 GT3.

Like Golan in P3, AJ Muss in GTDX had a mission to complete from a pre-race penalty. The driver of the No. 66 Af Corse Ferrari qualified fastest but had all his times disallowed for exiting the car during qualifying, which dropped him to the rear of the eight-car GTDX grid.

From there, the snowboarder-turned-driver was on a charge and rose to second ahead of teammate Matias Perez Companc in the No. 50 Af Corse Ferrari.

Those two ended just ahead of the top-rated Bronze driver in GTDX, Dave Musial (the father of the father-son Musial pairing) in the No. 99 Conquest Racing Ferrari.

His margin over fellow series debutante Samantha Tan, in the No. 38 ST Racing BMW, was just 0.241 of a second.

Porto Secures Surprise GSX Win on Final Lap

A race-long battle between a pair of Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 cars, Porto in the No. 8 RAFA Racing entry and Steven Clemons in the No. 76 BSI Racing entry, ended when Clemons’ car slowed entering NASCAR Turns 3 and 4 of the Daytona International Speedway oval, and Porto flew past.

Gregory Liefooghe was second in the No. 43 Stephen Cameron Racing Ford Mustang GT4, 11.015 seconds behind Porto but only 0.059 of a second ahead of Patrick Wilmot, in the No. 12 Swish Motorsports BMW M4 GT4.

Wilmot concluded a late deal to drive with Swish owner Michael Dayton’s team for Daytona after a small fundraising effort and said he hopes to continue into the second event of the year at Circuit of The Americas.

Bronze Cup also had a late change in this class. Ian Porter (No. 68 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO1) was out front for most before stopping off course. Rob Walker (No. 53 Kingpin Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2) emerged as top Bronze in GSX, fifth in class.

The second 45-minute race of the weekend is at 1:20 p.m. ET on Sunday, streaming live on Peacock in the U.S. and on YouTube.com/IMSAOfficial outside the U.S.

RESULTS: Race 1