The number eight Tower Motorsports Oreca-Gibson 2025 Daytona 24 Hour LMP2 class winning car, driven by Sebastien Bourdais, Job van Uitert, Sebastian Alvarez, and John Farano, has been unceremoniously stripped of its victory and kicked to the back of the class after a technical infraction uncovered by the series on Wednesday. After an early-race crash pushed Tower down the order the team clawed its way back to what was, for three days, a hard-fought victory for the storybooks. During the series’ lengthy post-race inspection process it uncovered that the Tower car had worn its underfloor plank beyond the maximum allowance and was thus disqualified from its class win, reports Racer.
The team had to give up the trophy, and each of the drivers had to give back their victory Rolex, as they were now the property of United Autosports and its drivers Nick Boulle, Ben Hanley, Oliver Jarvis, and Garnet Patterson.
Tower appealed IMSA’s decision, offering that it did not willingly violate the technical regulations, though this was quickly swatted down, because a worn plank is a worn plank, regardless of how it happened. It’s pretty cut and dried.
“Tower Motorsports is deeply disappointed by IMSA’s decision to penalize our No. 8 LMP2 entry following post-race technical inspection at the 24 Hours of Daytona. Our team strongly contests this ruling and maintains that we did not intentionally violate any technical regulations,” Tower team manager Rick Capone wrote in a statement.
“The infraction cited by IMSA relates to excessive wear on the skid block, an issue that can naturally occur over the course of an intense endurance race due to variables outside of a team’s direct control. The No. 8 car has consistently passed technical inspection throughout the event and in previous competitions without issue. We firmly believe that this outcome does not reflect any wrongdoing or competitive advantage on our part.”
Whether advantageous or not, the rules are the rules and sometimes that’s how the cookie crumbles.
According to team driver Bourdais, who is already in Dubai to test his WEC full season ride with Cadillac, the car’s ride height damper failed over the course of the race allowing the car to sink lower than normal, and in the process the skid plank was worn beyond the allowable five millimeters.
Newly promoted victors United Autosport were understandably excited by the late announcement of its promotion to victory.
“We came to Daytona with one very clear goal and we have achieved it,” said Richard Dean, United Autosports CEO. “To win the Rolex 24 At Daytona any year is pretty special, but to win it only a few months after celebrating victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours makes it an extra-special moment. Zak and I would like to thank the entire team for their dedication and commitment. We can all be very proud of what we have achieved.”
Motorsport is cruel sometimes, but for every take there is a little give.