Sebastien Bourdais referred to the ‘cruel’ reality of racing after Tower Motorsports‘ were stripped of their 24 Hours of Daytona LMP2 class win.

Tower Motorsports finished first at the checkered flag on Sunday 26 January at the 63rd running of the Daytona 24 Hours.

IMSA performed the usual post-race technical inspections on each of the class-winning entrants including Tower’s #8 Oreca 07 LMP2.

They exceeded the maximum 5 millimetre wear on the skid block underneath the car and so lost their first Daytona win.

In a statement on Instagram, Bourdais said: “Racing can be cruel but governing bodies can be far worse.

“Tower Motorsports won the Rolex 24 LMP2 class. The third rear damper that controls ride height failed allowing the rear to come down too much subsequently over-wearing the rear skid [block].

“In recent memory, IMSA always used common sense when enforcing rules that were breached by technical failure. Unfortunately, not today.

“I want to thank everyone in the team for their flawless execution and dedication.

“Making them look like cheaters makes me sick as they always operate by the book.

“I sure hope we get a chance to win more races in the future. Thank you all for your support.”

United Autosports USA were promoted to victory after Tower Motorsports were penalised and moved to the back of the 12-car class.

The Anglo-American team secured their first 24 Hours of Daytona victory with the #22 Oreca 07 just seven months after their second at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Within a press release statement by United Autosports, CEO Richard Dean commented: “… It’s never nice getting handed the win a couple of days after, but that’s part of it, you’ve got to pass all the necessary tests.”

READ MORE: Petit Le Mans winner Sebastien Bourdais joins Tower Motorsports

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Tower Motorsports have lost their LMP2 win at the 24 Hours of Daytona due to a technical infraction thus gifting it to United Autosports USA.

The LMP2 team won the 63rd running of the Daytona 24 Hours on 25-26 January last weekend owing to drivers Job van Uitert, Sebastien Bourdais, Sebastian Alvarez and John Farano.

Tower Motorsports took victory at the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship season-opener but have now lost that win following a post-race technical inspection, which they perform on all first-placed cars in each class.

Their #8 Oreca 07 LMP2 entry exceeded the maximum allowable wear to the regulated area of the skid block on the underside of the car which is a maximum of 5 millimetres, according to FIA Technical Regulation 3.5.6 regarding skid blocks.

Tower Motorsports appealed against the decision to remove their victory which demoted them to 12th place – last in the all-Oreca 07 LMP2 category.

Unfortunately for them, their protest was denied and so the #22 United Autosports USA team inherited their first ever win at the 24 Hours of Daytona having won their second Le Mans 24 Hours last year.

As the other class entries are promoted, co-drivers Rasmus Lindh, James Allen, Paul di Resta and Dan Goldburg are the unofficial 2025 Daytona 24 Hours winners in the LMP2 class.

It marked the team’s second IMSA win after the Road America sprint round last year.

See here for the updated provisional race results following this development.

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Sebastien Bourdais took victory for the #8 Tower Motorsports Oreca team in the LMP2 class of the 2025 Daytona 24 Hours with the help of team-mates Job Van Uiter, Sebastian Alvarez, and John Farano.

The Frenchman was in the car for the final stint, and converted a strong performance into a call win. The #99 AO Racing entry looked set to win with an hour remaining, but fell down the order after late mechanical problems.

Ben Keating in the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca led from pole position, but dropped to third after some errors, having the ascendancy to Rasmus Lindh in the #22 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson, with teammate Garnet Patterson second in the sister #2 car. The #99 AO Racing Oreca, with PJ Hyett at the wheel, moved into third shortly afterwards.

LMP2 was to cause the first full caution yellow flag period, due to Hunter McElrea of the #11 TDS Racing Oreca 07 underestimating the T5 horseshoe, with the action not stopping there.

David Heinemeier Hansson’s #18 Era Motorsport Oreca 07 made contact with James Roe’s Pratt Miller #73 Oreca at the exit of T1, but despite the innocuous nature of the incident, the Oreca was to earn a drive-through for incident responsibility for his troubles.

The #99 AO Racing Oreca took the lead, now with Dane Cameron driving, and pulled out a 46 second gap on Nick Boulle’s #2 United Autosports and Luis Perez’s #88 AF Corse. Cameron retained the lead into the sixth hour, and the car continued to do so when Britain’s Jonny Edgar took over as darkness began to descend.

‘Spike’ was able to stay in contention and remained on the lead lap, despite Edgar having to take a drive through plus 10 second penalty. This handed the lead to the #04 CrowdStrike Racing Oreca of Toby Sowery.

Deletraz accident throws up chaos

Around the halfway point, the #2 United Autosports Oreca, driven by Nick Boulle, collected the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series of Louis Deletraz which bounced back onto the circuit after crashing on cold tyres.

This handed the lead back to the #22 Oreca, with Lindh back onboard, with Tom Dillmann second in the #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca. Cameron kept the #99 AO Racing in the hunt.

The #8 Tower Motorsports of J. van Uitert took the lead under the rising sun, with Sowery and Colton Herta keeping the #4 CrowdStrike in the mix, but the IndyCar driver sent it tumbling down the order after a crash took off its rear wing. Car #99 was now back in the lead, with Cameron back behind the wheel.

The #88 AF Corse was in contention also, but with Matthieu Vaxiviere at the wheel, the car stopped on-track, bringing out the full course caution.

This handed #99 back the lead, with Edgar driving, followed by the #22 United Autosports USA Oreca driven by Paul di Resta. Van Uitert was back in the #22 and back in the lead, with Ryan Dalziel’s #18 Era Motorsport Oreca in close pursuit.

It looked as if the #99 AO Racing would come through its previous strife to take victory, but with Rasmussen at the wheel, the car was forced to pit due to a potential alternator issue.

The #8 was back in the lead, and with Sebastian Bourdais at the wheel, it pulled a gap, and duly took the class victory, ahead of di Resta in #22 and the #74 Riley of Felipe Braga in third. Rasmussen was able to get going again, and took sixth place, but scant consolation for a gutting end to its running.

Editor’s Note:

The #22 United Autosports USA Oreca 07 LMP2 inherited the win after the #8 Tower Motorsports entrant failed its post-race inspection.

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Tower Motorsports’ team owner John Farano will return to racing at the 24 Hours of Daytona since his accident last year at Laguna Seca kept him out of the race seat.

The team has confirmed their full driver crew for their #8 Oreca 07-Gibson entry ahead of the opening IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race, and for the full 2024 campaign.

For the Daytona 24 on 27-28 January, Farano will be joined by Michael Dinan, Scott McLaughlin and Ferdinand Habsburg.

Farano and Charlie Eastwood will be the full-season drivers for the 12 Hours of Sebring and onwards, with Dinan as their Endurance Cup driver.

Last year at the fourth round on the 2023 schedule, Farano crashed into a wall and was unable to get out of the car on his own, followed by a trip to the hospital for further checks.

He missed the Centenary Le Mans 24 Hours which took place on the following month as a matter of precaution, and did not participate in any further IMSA races as other drivers replaced him.

Habsburg drove at the Daytona 24 for the team in 2022, finishing third in the LMP2 category.

Triple Supercars champion and Penske IndyCar driver McLaughlin took part in his maiden Daytona 24 for the team in 2023, in which he finished fifth though claimed his first IMSA win at the second round in Sebring, followed by a challenging Petit Le Mans finale.

Eastwood announced his World Endurance Championship LMGT3 campaign with TF Sport, and so he will balance an IMSA LMP2 programme with his commitments revolved around driving the new Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Tower Motorsports’ fifth place from this year adds promise for more as the Daytona 24 approaches, as the team front a capable and talented driver crew for 2024.

Farano and his team set their eyes on a prestigious Daytona 24 class-win against 11 other LMP2 competitors, as well as the hotly contested IMSA LMP2 title.

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French outfit TDS Racing and Canadian motorsport team Tower Motorsports have announced they will be joining forces to race a Vaillante-sponsored LMP2 entry at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The team, which will be known as Tower Events Vaillante, operated by TDS, will be joined by current Acura factory driver Ricky Taylor, Tower Motorsports owner John Farano, and former Audi man, and current BMW racer Rene Rast.

Farano, 63-years-old, last raced at Le Mans in 2019, recording a DNF as the team did not complete the final lap of the race. That year the team was run by RLR M Sport, with Farno joined by Norman Nato and Arjun Maini.

Rast and Taylor have 12 Le Mans starts between them. Both raced LMP2 at the French endurance classic last year, with Rast DNFing late on in the race in the #41 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson, while Taylor finished 11th, 7th in class, for Cool Racing.

“To compete in the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans, and in particular this year’s edition being the 100th year anniversary of the event, is a distinct honour and a dream that very few racers worldwide will have the privilege to be a part of,” said the Canadian.

“This is a race that every driver in the world wants to win, and I wholeheartedly believe that Tower Motorsports with TDS Racing has the resources to achieve this goal. We have two highly skilled teams joining forces, which will result in one of the best prepared cars, supported by a dedicated and hardworking crew that will be ready to compete at the highest level.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be joined by Ricky Taylor and René Rast, who will not only add to our leadership team, but who are also two world class drivers that I feel very fortunate to have as co-drivers.”

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Tower Motorsport has become the latest team to officially confirm its 2022 plans, fielding a full-season entry in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.

The #8 ORECA 07-Gibson, which rounded out last year’s campaign with a class victory at Motul Petit Le Mans, makes its return to the LMP2 grid with a revised black, orange and white colour scheme.

Canadian gentleman driver and team principal John Farano will form the full-season pairing alongside reigning European Le Mans Series champion Louis Deletraz.

Rui Andrade, reigning ELMS champion in LMP2 Pro-Am, joins the team for the four Endurance Cup rounds. Le Mans winner and WEC champion Ferdinand Habsburg completes the line-up for his second start in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

“I am very excited to be racing alongside Louis for the full 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and thrilled to have Rui join us for the full Michelin Endurance Cup Championship, and having Ferdinand anchoring the team for the 24,” said Farano. “I have already had the pleasure of testing at Daytona with these amazing drivers who immediately put their speed and talents on display.

“I am very much looking forward to another great season with Rick Capone (Capone Motorsports) leading our technical crew (Erwan, Richie, Martin, Damien, Daniel, Alain, JJ, Jan, and John) and our amazing engineering group led by Matthieu Leroy and supported by Viktor and Townsend whom I am sure will continue to field one of the best performing cars on the grid.”

Tower Motorsport finished third in the LMP2 standings in 2021, behind champions PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports and runner-up WIN Autosport.

The team’s announcement brings the number of entries in the LMP2 class at Daytona up to ten. It joins two-car entries from PR1/Mathiasen and G-Drive Racing and single car efforts from DragonSpeed, Era Motorsport, High Class Racing, Racing Team Nederland and United Autosports.

All teams in the class will be fielding ORECA machinery, as opposed to last year when Cetilar Racing entered a sole Dallara P217-Gibson.

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