James Allen in the No. 55 Proton ORECA-Gibson 07won the LMP2 class at the 2023 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona by an incredible 0.016 seconds over the identical machine of Ben Hanley
Heading into the closing stages of the race, Allen had been third behind both Hanley and the AF Corse car of Matthieu Vaxiviere, clearing the latter with just seven minutes left on the clock before setting after Hanley.
Hanley had earlier rebuffed an attempted pass by Job van Uitert in the TDS entry at the inside of Turn 1, causing the Dutchman to spin. Allen made his first attempt around the outside into Turn 1 at the start of the final lap, but the Australian had to regroup as 2020 Daytona LMP2 winner Hanley ushered him out wide.
The four-time race-winner in the European Le Mans Series, who was previously team-mates with Hanley at DragonSpeed in 2019, was able to slipstream the leader going through Speedway Turns 3 and 4 and barely nosed ahead at the finish for a memorable win.
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