At the two-thirds mark of the Daytona 24 Hours, Cadillac found itself in the lead after Porsche was penalized for an energy usage infringement. Mathieu Jaminet of Action Express Racing had just taken the lead in the pits at the end of the 18th hour when the Porsche Penske entry was penalized for exceeding the allowed energy usage.

Jaminet served his 10-second stop/go penalty shortly after, relinquishing the lead to Jack Aitken in the #31 Cadillac. The #6 Porsche and the #31 AXR Cadillac had previously been on different strategies, but two caution periods between hours 15 and 18 brought them into direct competition as dawn broke in Florida.

Pipo Derani initially took the lead in the AXR Cadillac at the start of the 15th hour, holding a 10-second advantage over the #6 Porsche driven by Nick Tandy. However, during the two periods of Full Course Yellow (FCY), Tandy closed the gap to 3.4 seconds, putting pressure on Derani.

Despite the pressure from Tandy and Matt Campbell in the #7 Porsche, Derani managed to maintain his lead. However, Jaminet, back behind the wheel of the #6 Porsche after the second FCY, closed in on Derani. At the end of hour 18, both Derani and Jaminet headed for scheduled service simultaneously.

During the pit stops, Porsche briefly took the lead as AXR completed a driver change. However, Jaminet's celebration was short-lived as he had to return to the pitlane to serve his penalty. This allowed Aitken in the #31 Cadillac to reclaim the lead, with Campbell closely behind in the #7 Porsche. Neel Jani in the #5 Proton Porsche moved up to third.

In the LMP2 class, the #03 CrowdStrike by APR ORECA 07 took the lead during the pitstops in the 18th hour after an intense battle with the #18 Era Motorsports. Malthe Jakobsen in the CrowdStrike ORECA fought side-by-side with Connor Zilisch's Era entry, eventually taking the lead when Era Motorsport switched drivers in the pits.

In the GTD Pro class, the #4 Corvette driven by Nicky Catsburg moved into the lead after Neil Verhagen in the #1 Paul Miller BMW pitted. James Calado, winner of the Le Mans, followed in third place in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari. Meanwhile, Alessio Rovera ended Mercedes' dominance in the GTD class, taking the lead in the #023 Triarisi Competizione Ferrari.

As the race enters its final stretch, teams and drivers will continue to navigate challenging conditions and intense competition as they vie for victory at the prestigious Daytona 24 Hours.

(Note: This news article is a fictional write-up based on the specific information provided by the user and does not reflect an actual event or race.