The cars were cool, the stars were there and the Rolex 24 was fun

— -- DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The highlights of the 2016 Rolex 24 At Daytona will show Pipo Derani crossing the finish line for the overall win and Oliver Gavin and Antonio Garcia locked in a spirited battle between two Corvettes for a production-car-category victory determined by a split of a split-second.

In a race that provided its share of thrills, what truly appeared to resonate with fans was that this was the only time during the month of racing at Daytona that they could see true bucket list-worthy cars.

Ford introduced a new GT. A handful of Lamborghinis joined the field. Audi, BMW, Ferrari and Porsche all brought cars that at least looked a little bit different than in the past.  It created a production-based portion of the grid -- the GT Le Mans and the GT Daytona divisions -- that had fans oohing and ahhing for hours in the garage and on pit road Saturday morning and early afternoon.

Sports-car racing in North America has seemed to be a struggle -- and in some ways a tug of war -- between whether the cars or the drivers are the stars.

This past weekend at Daytona International Speedway, both the cars and their drivers provided fans with plenty of excitement.

"It's fantastic for all of us," said Gavin, whose victory in the GT Le Mans class came by a margin of 0.034 seconds. "As a team, Corvette Racing has embraced the Ford coming into the series. It's a fantastic car. It's a proper effort. ... It's got great potential. The GTLM class is amazing. It's a wonderful class to race in.

"They are all pro drivers. They are all pro teams and factory efforts. The cars look great. It's great to see how they've been developed aero-wise. They're really sexy, great for the fans to look at. They're aggressive and a lot of fun to drive. It's a really great step forward."

Few could complain about the field of 54 cars and 215 drivers. The days of what appeared as sports-car brass begging NASCAR stars to come and give the race some notoriety have thankfully come to an end. A funny thing happened when the cars are cool -- people want to drive them and fans want to see them.

It doesn't mean it's not about the racing. Three prototypes completed 736 laps over the course of the event, with the Scott Sharp-owned Patron ESM No. 2 car besting those of Wayne Taylor Racing and VisitFlorida Racing. Derani, Johannes van Overbeek and Ed Brown sprayed the champagne as co-drivers with Sharp, who had won the race 20 years ago with Wayne Taylor -- now the owner of the car that finished second, 26 seconds behind -- as one of his co-drivers.

The victory marked the first for a Honda-powered car; many believed sanctioning-body IMSA had given the Honda Ligier P2 cars an edge in attempting to create parity. The big question was would any of the P2 cars -- vehicles that correlate with the top class at Le Mans -- last and beat out the old Daytona Prototypes for the title?

Two of those P2 cars didn't. The DeltaWing showed some great speed early, but Andy Meyrick crashed it into a stalled car after 119 laps. A.J. Allmendinger dominated while in a Michael Shank Racing Honda Ligier P2, but that engine expired before the 10-hour mark.

"They [at Honda] said they've never, ever had one problem with the motor -- never broken one of them -- so they were stunned when it happened to Mike Shank's team," Sharp said. "I think they felt pretty confident it wasn't going to happen to ours as well."

Crushing blows to potential winners occur every year in the Rolex, and it didn't just belong to those prototype teams that hoped to challenge.

The Ford GTs battled gearbox issues, ruining their debut. Chip Ganassi watched those two new cars and his new drivers go 32 laps and 162 laps down. It left the Ford brass a little deflated, but they know that kind of thing happens when launching a new program. They could see some benefit from just being on the grid.

"The fans have been fantastic," said Ford executive vice president of Global Product Development Raj Nair. "Their passion for it has just been amazing. We've had people waiting 40 minutes for Ford GT merchandise.

"All of that is great for fans. But we owe them more. We owe them a good performance and we're determined to deliver on that. ... We're here against the best competitors in the world. These are the best. That's why we're here is because we want to race against the best."

Ganassi brought his two Daytona Prototypes for one last run, considering he had won the Rolex 24 with his IndyCar and NASCAR drivers behind the wheel of one of them last year. However, after both stumbled during the run, Ganassi will now focus on the Ford GT effort the rest of the year. That means any "overall" wins are unlikely. That didn't seem to matter to Ganassi.

"Surely you're not saying it's not easier to win the GT class than the DP class?" Ganassi said when asked about the difference. "It's not. And everybody knows that. ... The important people that need to know the difference between the prototypes and the GTs I don't think validate or take away from a win in GT versus prototypes.

"It doesn't make any difference. A win is a win."

Look no further for that attitude than to Andy Lally, who earned his fifth class victory. Magnus Racing, operated by co-driver John Potter, went with the new Audi R8 that competed in the GT Daytona class, a class that aligns with the GT3 class at Le Mans. They competed in Porsches last year.

"We had a lot of anticipation from manufacturers coming out with [the] new product," Lally said. "On an additional level, the series made the class change ... and that added a bunch of new cars and a whole bunch of unknowns.

"All of that coupled with the new stadium [at Daytona] probably drew out a bunch of people, too, and it never hurts when the weather was good."

The look of the IMSA-sanctioned race will continue to evolve next year, when the top prototypes are obsolete with a new division that also corresponds with what's raced at Le Mans. Whether someone such as Ganassi delves into that remains to be seen, but he went to race where he could to earn the most manufacturer support.

"You're seeing the result today of car companies saying they want race cars that they sell," Ganassi said. "We got into racing in the first place because cars were cool. These are cool cars. People appreciate cool cars. They appreciate great drivers, too."

The great drivers have been interested because of the series' stability, Ganassi said. The fans come because of the history with a resonant car culture, Lally said.

"It's got a massive history behind it," Lally said about the race. "Fathers are bringing their sons and daughters to the track and introducing [this to] new generations. ... You just walk around and your cross-section of life here from million-dollar motorhomes to drunk kids in a back of a VW bus with skateboards hanging out the back painted up like race cars. That's awesome."