Grand Am Rolex 24 at Daytona

[MOTV8]

If you've been REALLY jonesing for some "proper" racing action, like me, you prolly caught a little of this past weekend's Rolex 24 at Daytona. If you missed it, or just wondered how the only two Corvette entries faired (uh....not good), then read on. If you'ld rather have hot pokers stuck in your eyes than read about crappy Daytona Prototype and Grand Am racing, like me, then maybe CaHd's Warped section is more your speed. That's where I'm headin'....

Brumos and TRG triumph in epic Daytona 24

31 years after they last won in the 24 Hours of Daytona, Brumos Racing emerged victorious in one of the classic endurance races of the 21st century, the 2009 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The pole-sitting #58 Porsche-Riley, driven by 2004 Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice, Spaniard Antonio Garcia, sportscar regular Darren Law, and latterly by David Donohue, held on to edge out the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus-Riley of Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Juan Pablo Montoya, who pressed Donohue right to the checkered flag after losing the lead with half an hour to go. The Lexus engine had been down on power to the Porsches and Fords all weekend, and so the fact that Montoya held off the Porsche-powered Brumos cars until then and remained in touch right to the end in a car he is relatively unfamiliar with is a remarkable achievement, a tribute to the abilities of the former F1 star.

But it is Brumos who are celebrating, with the #59 car of Joao Barbosa, Terry Borcheller, JC France and Daytona legend Hurley Haywood finishing in 3rd. Max Angelelli brought home the #10 SunTrust Ford-Dallara home in 4th, also on the lead lap - Brian Frisselle, Wayne Taylor and Pedro Lamy also drove valiantly in what was the team’s first Daytona 24 with the car. The top four cars all finished on the lead lap and at one point were all right together scrapping over the win, but traffic put paid to the efforts of the #59 and #10 cars.

It is a historic win for Brumos, giving Porsche their 21st overall win in the race, their first overall win since TRG’s triumph in 2003, and their first prototype win here since powering the Porsche 962-based Kremer K8 to victory in 1995. It is also a poignant personal success for David Donohue - father Mark took the win 40 years ago. With this landmark win for him, he now steps out of his shadow. Buddy Rice joins a select group of drivers, including the likes of AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti and Al Unser Sr and Jr, to win both the Indy 500 and the Daytona 24. And it’s a fifth straight win for Riley in the event.

But there was heartbreak for other teams who had been in the running. GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing were one of the big favourites going into the event with the #99 Pontiac-Riley, but serious gearbox gremlins, which appeared whilst Jimmie Johnson was waiting at the end of the pit lane for the line of cars behind the pace car to pass, forced long repairs early on which ruled them out of contention. They finished 21 laps down in 7th. The race was also one to forget for Penske Racing, who had been looking very strong. But whilst lying in 2nd and catching the leader and eventual winner, the transmission went haywire, and they too spent a long time in the garage. Despite leading 191 laps, more than any other car bar the #58, they finished 6th, 18 laps down.

In between them and the SunTrust car was the #02 of Ganassi, which had various niggling problems including the nose section flying off that dropped them off the lead lap. It was a disaster for the Ford-powered cars too. A bad batch of parts led to engine failures for both Michael Shank Racing cars and both lime green Krohn Racing cars. The strong Doran Racing entry and Canada’s AIM Autosport car also failed to finish. By the end, of the Ford-powered cars only the SunTrust #10 was left.

Porsche dominated the GT category too. TRG and Farnbacher Loles brought 11 cars between them and so were always going to be the favourites. TRG emerged on top with a 1-2 finish, with the #67 car of Jorg Bergmeister, Andy Lally, Patrick Long, Justin Marks and RJ Valentine leading home the #66 car of Ted Ballou, Emmanuel Collard, Tim George Jr, Richard Lietz and Spencer Pumpelly. The #86 FLR car driven by Dominik Farnbacher, Kevin Roush, Eric Lux and Matthew Marsh had led much of the GT battle but problems pushed them down the order. Instead, the final step on the GT podium was completed by another Porsche, the #33 Wright Motorsports car driven by Sascha Maassen, Phillip Martien, Patrick Pilet and BJ Zacharias.

The top Pontiac was that of Banner Racing, last year’s GrandAm GT champions, who played conservatively in order to focus on the championship battle at a track where the Pontiacs are not strong. Former F1 driver Jan Magnussen brought home the car, having been partnered by Paul Edwards and Kelly Collins. But the race was a disaster for Mazda. The #70 SpeedSource car that had won the 3 GrandAm races at Daytona suffered freak fuel cell damage in just the first hour, and lengthy repairs immediately dropped it out of contention. The other SpeedSource Mazda , the #69, hit trouble shortly after, ruling it out of the battle as well. The Racers Edge Mazda struggled too. The other MX-5, that of Dempsey Racing, owned by Grey’s Anatomy actor Patrick Dempsey, suffered a big accident in the early night time, again forcing lengthy repairs. One of the two Corvettes and the lone Ford Mustang both failed to finish, and neither did both Ferraris.

So, an absolute classic race that will be remembered for many years to come. It’s a great result not only for Brumos, TRG and Porsche but for GrandAm. This is by far their biggest race of the year, so maybe this will spark renewed interest in the Rolex Sports Car Series, something that is vital in this period of economic downturn. But you’ll have to wait until April 26th for the next race, the Bosch Engineering 250 at Virginia International Raceway.

1. (58) David Donohue, Antonio Garcia, Darren Law and Buddy Rice, DP; Brumos Racing; Porsche; 735 laps, 108.992 mph.

2. (01) Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, DP; Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates; Lexus; 735.

3. (59) Joao Barbosa, Terry Borcheller, JC France and Hurley Haywood, DP; Brumos Racing; Porsche; 735.

4. (10) Max Angelelli, Brian Frisselle, Pedro Lamy and Wayne Taylor, DP; SunTrust Racing; Ford; 735.

5. (02) Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Alex Lloyd, DP; Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates; Lexus; 731.

6. (16) Timo Bernhard, Ryan Briscoe and Romain Dumas, DP; Penske Racing; Porsche; 717.

7. (99) Jon Fogarty, Alex Gurney, Jimmie Johnson and Jimmy Vasser, DP; GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing; Pontiac; 714.

8. (2) Rob Finlay, Casey Mears, Danica Patrick and Andy Wallace, DP; Childress-Howard Motorsports; Pontiac; 702.

9. (67) Jorg Bergmeister, Andy Lally, Patrick Long, Justin Marks and RJ Valentine, GT; TRG; Porsche GT3; 695.

10. (66) Ted Ballou, Emmanuel Collard, Tim George Jr., Richard Lietz and Spencer Pumpelly, TRG; Porsche GT3; 694.

11. (33) Sascha Maassen, Phillip Martien, Patrick Pilet and BJ Zacharias, GT; Wright Motorsports; Porsche GT3; 691.

12. (07) Kelly Collins, Paul Edwards and Jan Magnussen, GT; Banner Racing; Pontiac GXP.R; 689.

13. (86) Dominik Farnbacher, Ansbach, Eric Lux, Matthew Marsh and Kevin Roush, GT; Farnbacher Loles Racing; Porsche GT3; 688.

14. (57) Jeff Bucknum, Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell, GT; Stevenson Motorsports; Pontiac GXP.R; 684.

15. (88) Steve Johnson, Dave Lacey, Robert Nearn, James Sofronas and Richard Westbrook, GT; Farnbacher Loles Racing; Porsche GT3; 680.

16. (87) Dominik Farnbacher, Wolf Henzler, Leh Keen, Dirk Werner and Richard Westbrook, GT; Farnbacher Loles Racing; Porsche GT3; 676.

17. (69) Emil Assentato, Nick Longhi, Matt Plumb and Jeff Segal, GT; SpeedSource; Mazda RX-8; 675.

18. (26) Gerardo Bonilla, Jerome Jacalone, Joe Jacalone, Shane Lewis and Randy Pobst, GT; Gotham Competition; Porsche GT3; 675.

19. (55) Christophe Bouchut, Raphael Matos, Scott Tucker and Ed Zabinski, DP; Level 5 Motorsports; BMW; 665.

20. (13) Jared Beyer, David Martinez, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor, DP; Beyer Racing; Pontiac; 662.

21. (32) Patrick Barrett, Mike Forest, Thomas Merrill, Al Salvo and Jeff Westphal, GT; PR1 Motorsports; Pontiac GXP.R; 656.

22. (97) Galen Bieker, Ryan Eversley, James Gue, and Tom Long, GT; Stevenson Motorsports; Corvette; 650.

23. (09) Guy Cosmo, Jason Pridmore, Scott Russell and Jeff Ward, DP; Spirit of Daytona Racing; Porsche; 649.

24. (30) Dane Cameron, Doug Peterson, Bryan Sellers and Dion von Moltke, GT; Racers Edge Motorsports; Mazda RX-8; 647.

25. (68) Duncan Ende, Josemanuel Gutierrez, Steve Miller, Chris Pallis and Scott Schroeder, GT; TRG; Porsche GT3; 625.

26. (89) Pierre Kaffer, Giacomo Petrobelli, Gabrio Rosa, Giorgio Rosa and Allan Simonsen, GT; Farnbacher Loles Racing; Porsche GT3; 622.

27. (85) Richard Campollo, Michael Gomez, Daniel Graeff, Wolf Henzler and Ron Yarab Jr., GT; Farnbacher Loles Racing; Porsche GT3; 604.

28. (70) Jonathan Bomarito, Nick Ham, David Haskell and Sylvain Tremblay, GT; SpeedSource; Mazda RX-8; 591.

29. (63) Kurt Kossmann, Bruce Ledoux, David Quinlan, Dan Watkins and Steve Zadig, GT; TRG; Porsche GT3; 572.

30. (44) Ross Bentley, Keith Carter, Daniel Harrington, Glenn Nixon and Steve Paquette, GT; Bullet Racing; Porsche GT3; 519.

31. (77) Matteo Bobbi, Memo Gidley, Fabrizio Gollin and Brad Jaeger, DP; Doran Racing; Ford; 504.

32. (35) Lawson Aschenbach, Hiram Cruz, Omar Rodriguez, Milo Valverde and Lance Willsey, GT; Orbit Racing; Porsche GT3; 454.

33. (65) Marco Holzer, Bryce Miller, John Potter and Craig Stanton, GT; Riegel/ Stanton/ TRG; Porsche GT3; 379.

34. (75) Oliver Gavin, Tracy Krohn and Eric van de Poele, DP; Krohn Racing; Ford; 374.

35. (40) Patrick Dempsey, Charles Espenlaub, Joe Foster, Tim Lewis Jr. and Jep Thornton, GT; Dempsey Racing; Mazda RX-8; 343.

36. (56) Cesar Campanico, Luca Drudi, Christian Montanari, Max Papis and Luca Pirri, GT; Mastercar-Coast 2 Costa Racing; Ferrari 430 Challenge; 324.

37. (21) Jason Daskalos and Jim Stout, GT; Battery Tender/ MCM Racing; Pontiac GTO.R; 321.

38. (61) David Empringham, John Farano, Alex Figge, Burt Frisselle and Mark Wilkins, DP; AIM Autosport; Ford; 301.

39. (22) Ryan Dalziel, Carlos de Quesada, Chapman Ducote, Jean-Francois Dumoulin and Tomas Enge, DP; Alegra Motorsports; BMW; 292.

40. (52) Costantino Bertuzzi, Joe Castellano, Nathan Swartzbaugh, Cort Wagner and Jay Wilton, GT; Mastercar-Coast 2 Costa Racing; Ferrari 430 Challenge; 292.

41. (60) Colin Braun, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Oswaldo Negri and Mark Patterson, DP; Michael Shank Racing; Ford; 262.

42. (14) Jack Baldwin, Claudio Burtin, Cory Friedman, Mac McGehee, Martin Ragginger, GT; Autometrics Motorsports; Porsche GT3; 259.

43. (31) Romeo Kapudija, John Lewis, Bob Michaelian, Jim Michaelian and Pepe Montano, GT; Battery Tender/ MCM Racing; Porsche GT3; 245.

44. (45) Leo Hindery Jr., Bill Lester, Darren Manning and Kyle Petty, DP; Victory Junction-Orbit Racing; BMW; 216.

45. (64) Jim Lowe, Jim Pace, Tim Sugden and Johannes van Overbeek, GT; JLowe Racing; Porsche GT3; 201.

46. (76) Nic Jönsson, Darren Turner and Ricardo Zonta, DP; Krohn Racing; Ford; 159.

47. (6) AJ Allmendinger, Ian James and John Pew, Michael Valiante, DP; Michael Shank Racing; Ford; 153.

48. (15) Paul Morris, Tom Nastasi and Boris Said, GT; Blackforest Motorsports; Ford Mustang; 52.

49. (42) Joe Nonnamaker, Wayne Nonnamaker, Will Nonnamaker and Joe Sahlen, GT; Team Sahlen; Corvette; 24.

___

Race Statistics

Time of Race: 24 hours, 26.465 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 0.167 seconds.

Caution Flags: 25 for 117 laps.

Lead Changes: 51 among 53 drivers/9 cars

[P51tj]

34. (75) Oliver Gavin, Tracy Krohn and Eric van de Poele, DP; Krohn Racing; Ford; 374.

Olie should of stayed with the Vette Crew!!!