The Rolex 24 at Daytona is underway after a somewhat depleted Daytona Prototype field took to the green flag at Daytona International Speedway.

A number of cars, including the #01 Lexus Riley of defending race winners Chip Ganassi Racing, started from pitlane, with AJ Allmendinger taking the lead of the race from Michael Shank Racing team-mate Oswaldo Negri off the line.

Allmendinger led for the early laps before losing out to Max Angelelli although the NASCAR ace remained in contention through the early laps. Matt Plumb held third for Sigalsport, while Negri slipped to fourth.

In the GT class, contact at the first corner saw the #29 Alegra Motorsports and the #14 Autometrics Porsches hit trouble, with the early battle for the lead being between the #67 TRG Porsche of Spencer Pumpelly and the #70 Speedsource Mazda of Sylvain Tremblay, with the Mazda battling into the class lead.

With the first caution being thrown shortly before the half hour mark due to debris on the track after Helio Castroneves suffered a puncture in the Penske-Taylor Pontiac Riley, the teams have started making their opening stops of the race, leading to a shakeup of the order at the front.

Further updates to follow...