Gregory Hovesen bided his time to get by Youp de Vos to take victory at Daytona International Speedway. Hovesen, who qualified on pole position, left it until the last lap of the race to pass de Vos for the lead and became the series' third winner.
Nicolai Pedersen streaked past de Vos late on to take second while Balazs Erdelyi took fourth for the third race in a row ahead of Dani Neo, who secured his first series top five.
Ryan Woodrow was another to pop their top-six cherry ahead of Silverstone winner Luciano Witvoet, who got back on the scoresheet with seventh, while Kadin Richardson rounded off the top eight.
David Bozga lost the championship lead after a nightmare race, which ended after a matter of corners following contact with Andrea Pagnini on lap one.
Hovesen leaves it late
Having not even finished on the podium before the Daytona meeting, Hovesen announced himself to his rivals by taking pole position from Pedersen and de Vos, with Erdelyi back in fourth.
At the start, Hovesen retained his lead and set about leading a breakaway of five cars who spent lap after lap tucked in behind one another, trying to get crucial slipstream.
With Daytona also becoming an economy run where fuel saving would be essential, Hovesen and Pedersen worked together to conserve fuel, with the Canadian letting the Dane through into the lead on lap 10. The pair held their positions until their mandatory pit stops on lap 16, when they refuelled and changed tyres, while de Vos, who stayed out a lap longer, only refuelled.
Now the chase was on with Pedersen and Hovesen glued together as they reeled in de Vos, eventually swapping positions on lap 20, with the Canadian retaking second.
Despite having a clear track in front of him, de Vos was struggling with fuel, and by the penultimate lap, Hovesen could smell blood and was on the back of the Dutchman's gearbox.
On the final lap, Hovesen made his move, slingshotting past de Vos into Turn 1 to retake the lead, with Pedersen following suit later in the lap to secure a Ford 1-2.
Bozga's run of podiums comes to an indemnious end as lap 1 chaos ensues
Having finished on the podium in the last races, Bozga was hoping Daytona would be the place where he finally sealed his first CRS win.
Starting from seventh, Bozga, along with the rest of the field, managed to get through the first couple of corners cleanly and in the same order. But at the Rodriguez International Horseshoe, the Belgian was spun round by Pagnini, sending him smashing into the barrier and out of the race, costing him the championship lead.
Pagnini was involved in another incident with Alexander Paulick later in the race, forcing him to pit for repairs, which cost him a lap and dropped him to 15th at the finish.
There was also pandemonium, further down the field with Konrad Kula off on the opening lap, while Mihai Neg was tapped from behind by Woodrow, sending the Romanian into a spin. Neg tried to make up ground late on but had his progress halted after spinning out on the exit of Turn 1 during his battle with Kodi Cosford on course to 10th.
Kyle Domark was another driver involved in the opening-lap drama with the American losing it on the exit to the Bus Stop. While he managed to recover, a late spin brought his day to a close.