Cadillac’s hopes of winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona were undone when Louis Deletraz triggered a multi-car crash that put the No. 40 Cadillac V-Series.R out of the race.

The No.40 Wayne Taylor Racing entry had been leading the race with former F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi behind the wheel before Deletraz took over and triggered the multi-car crash.

From leading to crashing…

Having fallen to sixth in the GTP class, the Swiss racer was battling the No.60 Meyer Shank Acura of Tom Blomqvist when he lost control entering Turn 1 midway through the eighth hour.

He skidded onto the grass where he hit the barrier before sliding back onto the track, stopping in front of oncoming traffic.

While the first four oncoming cars were able to take avoiding action, Chris Cumming in the No.73 Pratt Miller ORECA 07-Gibson could not and hit Deletraz. Cumming was then collected by several other drivers with others going off to avoid the collision.

BIG WRECK AT DAYTONA! 😳

📺: Peacock | #Rolex24 pic.twitter.com/kcckmxBrg1

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) January 26, 2025

“Yeah, very cold tyres; it’s actually really tough at night,” Deletraz told NBC Sports. “Yeah, big impact, actually. I’m fine. Luckily, we have a very strong car. Cadillac made a very safe car.

“I just felt like I went on power, lost it straight away. I think I didn’t have enough heat in the tyres. And after that, I got hit by an LMP2.

“I feel very sorry for the team, for my teammates. Yeah, just really ashamed that it happened so early in the race. And yeah, that’s not so great.

“I think we started warming up (the tyres) slightly too late. I opened up on Turn 1, I saw the JDC car coming in quite hot, so I just gave him space.I was very safe, just wanted to exit that corner and yeah sadly I didn’t exit it.”

Delétraz loses it on the exit on cold tires. Boulle, Cumming and Bourdais slam into the Wayne Taylor Cadillac. The GT3 cars fly in there, unsighted, and Pepper crashes into Hesse, breaking the suspensions on both GTD Pro leading cars.#IMSA #Rolex24 pic.twitter.com/fEZHQWlpBB

— Vincent Bruins 🧡 (@VincentJBruins) January 26, 2025

Midway through the race Porsche Penske Motorsport held down the 1-2 with Felipe Nasr in the No.7 ahead of his stablemate Matt Campbell in the No.6. Scott Dixon in the No.60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing was third.

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