Demoralized Renger van der Zande says "Porsche is playing with us" in Rolex 24

Renger van der Zande started the Rolex 24 from pole position, but said "that was very demotivating" as he struggled to keep pace with the Penske Porsches

Penske clearly showed in the very first stint of the 2026 Rolex 24 Hours that they are the team to beat in the 64th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The two factory Porsches were the only cars capable of lap times under 1:37 minutes in the first six hours. The No. 60 Acura eventually broke into the 1:36s as the race progressed, but barely.

Renger van der Zande, who completed the starting stint in the # Meyer Shank Acura (van der Zande/Yelloly/Palou/Ohta), sounded downright demoralized during a post-stint interview with the media.

"That was a very demotivating stint. I'm afraid that was the last time we'll see the Porsches for the rest of the 24 hours. They're just playing with us. It felt awful—it wasn't fun out there," said the 39-year-old.

However, the Dutchman is not surprised by the German dominance: "I had hoped that we could hold our own, but that wasn't the case."

He did his best to keep touch with the two-time defending winners, but to no avail: "The tire wear on the rear axle is pretty bad. I tried to keep up at the beginning and probably burned up my tires in the process. That came back to haunt me at the end of the double stint."

He continued: "We're focusing on our plan and trying to get the best out of our Acura and the team. If we still have a chance at the end, we'll take it. But this first stint has more or less shown us where we stand."

He has little hope of closing the gap solely by adjusting the stabilizers or tire pressure during the race: "We can still improve, but that won't make up for the deficit."

Ricky Taylor: Do they have even more in them?

Ricky Taylor from the #10 WTR Cadillac entry (R. Taylor/Albuquerque/Stevens) was also impressed by Porsche in the opening stint, in which the two Porsches at times built up a lead of 20+ seconds.

"What really scares me is that Porsche doesn't usually show everything at the start of the race. And then they build up such a lead. Now I'm really worried that they have even more tricks up their sleeve," said the older of the Taylor brothers, sounding alarmed.

Although their dominance seemed slightly less pronounced in the second stint on a set of tires, the overall picture remains bleak for the competition. "They look particularly strong on a fresh set of tires. We're all watching, but they're definitely the ones to beat," Taylor sums up.

And while the #7 Porsche remains the most dominant GTP car, the sister #6 Porsche (Vanthoor/Estre/Campbell), which reportedly suffered floor damage due to some early contact, is right back in the battle for the lead after fading for a few hours. At the moment, nothing is slowing these Penske Porsches as they march into the night.