Matt Campbell assumed the lead at the start of Hour 6 in his No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963, carrying an 11-second advantage over Derani of Cadillac Racing.
The gap widened to 15 seconds, half an hour later. Derani, along with the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R of Renger van der Zande, pitted despite having 50% energy remaining. Campbell also pitted on the following lap, and Josef Newgarden took over driving duties.
A caution occurred shortly after, triggered by the No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 of Nolan Siegel stopping in Turn 7. Following pit stops, Newgarden led the race, followed by Derani and van der Zande.
Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 Acura ARX-06 (Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti) moved from sixth to fourth on the restart. Derani closed in on Newgarden, eventually making an impressive outside pass entering Turn 1 roughly 12 minutes into the seventh hour to take the overall lead.
Kevin Estre in the No. 6 PPM 963 used a pit strategy to climb up the leaderboard but received a 10-second penalty, dropping him back. Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R ran strong in second.
In Hour 8, Albuquerque experienced a power issue and stopped in Turn 3, causing the eighth caution. Derani led the restart, followed by Bourdais and Felipe Nasr, who took over from Newgarden.
Bourdais briefly took the lead but went off in Turn 5 due to hitting debris, forcing a pit stop. Derani regained the top spot with a 5-second lead over Nasr.
Pato O’Ward in the No. 2 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07, reclaimed the lead with a 4-second advantage over Josh Burdon in the Riley.
Malthe Jakobsen (Crowdstrike Racing by APR) initially led with a 4.6-second gap over Riley’s Felipe Fraga but relinquished the top spot after a pit stop. Colin Braun took over and held a 31-second lead half an hour into the sixth hour.
During the caution for Siegel, Braun made another quick driver change, bringing in George Kurtz. Alex Quinn of AO Racing quickly took the lead after the restart, building a 13-second lead over Jakob Smeichowski in Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports.
Through subsequent cautions and pit changes, O’Ward took over from Ben Keating. In GTD, Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette GT.3 R (Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports) overtook the lead from Paul Miller Racing’s Bryan Sellers and held a 1.5-second lead over the No. 64 Mustang.
