In a race considered like one of which there is counted with greater number of super stars of international motoring, it was a sport trio of pilots of cars the one that was located in the top of Rolex 24 AT Daytona in its edition 43. Wayne Taylor, Max Angelelli and Emmanuel Collard put their car with the 10 no. SunTrust Racing Pontiac Riley in the line of the victory of the classic race.
Although no. 10 led the greater number of returns of 710- competition -282, the event presented/displayed by the Series Grand American Rolex Sports Car had a record of 43 changes of leader distributed between eight cars and 16 different pilots.
When coming near the end of the day, the no. 20 CITGO Howard-Boss Motorsports Pontiac Crawford de Andy Wallace, Jan Lammers and of the ex- champion of NASCAR Tony Stewart marched between first when machine no. 10 made contact with enemy with another right vehicle before hour 16, bringing about one long shutdown in pits and giving a leadership of three returns to car no. 20.
“It was very difficult for me because we were leading the race”, Collard said. “We were fast. To have this class of problems was difficult, because it cost three returns to us. I thought that the race had not finished but almost, because car 20 was very fast, and also because they were closely together of us. But we returned after that. We had a good strategy, the equipment did a good work and we returned”.
Car no. 10 stayed in the fight in spite of the incident, and when they still lacked 19 hour and a half, they returned around the leader with machine no. 20. The following two hours 10 no. and no. 20 interchanged the leadership several times and in that point everything seemed to indicate that they would go on the other battles in the Daytona Prototype. Nevertheless, the decisive moment of the race arrived when as soon as they lacked little more than two hours for the end. The gear box of car no. 20 was broken, and left to the car outside containment.
With the bad luck of equipment no. 20 team, Angelelli could ahead sail the rest of the way towards the victory, arriving 11 returns with respect to the no. 4 The Boss Snowplow Howard-Boss Motorsports Pontiac Crawford lead by Butch Leitzinger, Elliott Forbes-Robinson and the star of NASCAR, Jimmie Johnson. This was the second consecutive victory of equipment no. 10 in a race of the Series Grand American Rolex Sports Car in the Daytona International Speedway, since Angelelli and Taylor gained in Paul 250 Revere presented by Porsche Waxes in past July.
“In fact, I bought all the catalog of Rolex, each of them, but never I bought this”, said Angelelli. “It wanted This it to win. That was in 1999. It has spent long time, I did but it, finally is here. Now I am going to add this collection, in the top”.
For Taylor, owner of the equipment and copilot, this was the second victory in the general of 24 Rolex AT Daytona - first he was in 1996. Also it marked an impressive return motoring for Taylor, native of the near Altamonte Springs (Florida). Taylor had retired of the competition and returned the last year after to feel attracted by the Daytona Prototype.
“Fodder that to gain this race is for the second time certainly the outstanding note of my race. Fodder that when I gained my the first Rolex 24 in 1996, I said to him to all which I obtained more attention than if it had gained the sport championship world-wide of cars, or that if it had gained races throughout. Certainly that one was the maximum. It was a great event, the victory lasted a year to me and this is still better. The competition standard is very superior. There were 15 cars that could gain this race with pure speed, without retirements. So it was really good for gaining this. Especially being my city, and it soothes of SunTrust. It could not better be”.
The second place occupied car no. 4 after an incredible recovery. The car marched comfortably between the five first and during 14 hours it seemed to be a solid contender to go by the victory when it found a problem mechanical it left that it to 17 returns of the leader. Towards the end the equipment recovered those six returns.
“He is really hard to finish this race”, said Forbes-Robinson. “I have confronted problems before when it was running with Dyson in the Porsche where we competed during all night very, very hard. Of some way it is entertained. Simply you must run all along hard. Not only these following the rate. You must try to run hard. I really did not think that we had an opportunity because there were many good cars and pilots there outside. I am surprised of to have finished so well”.
In the same way, equipment no. 20 perseveró in spite of its deception and returned to the competition after to have spent a time in the garage. The equipment was compensated by its efforts with a third place. This it is the second consecutive year that Wallace and Stewart finish in the third place of the class Daytona Prototype in Rolex 24.
“I could feel the difference with respect to the last year, as much in intensity as in rate”, Stewart said. “All seemed to go thorough and all maintained a very hard rate all the day. He was funny. It was an funny race. You did not feel as if outside giving you were only returned. You were giving the 98 or 99 percent all along. He is so funny to come here and to be in a situation that is as different as knowledge that you must share the car with other two pilots”.
In the fourth place, to 12 returns of the winner no. 02 New Century Mortgage was located Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley de Stefan Johansson, Cort Wagner and of the pilot of NASCAR, Jamie McMurray, whereas Didier Theys and its copilots Fabrizio Gollin and Matteo Bobbi completed the group of the five first driving car no. 77 Doran Racing Lexus Doran, 13 returns behind.
Several of the main contenders by the victory underwent mechanical problems throughout the way. Car no. 03 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley of stars of the Series IRL IndyCar Scott Dixon and Darren Manning and of the pilot of NASCAR Casey Mears fought by the first positions good part of the race but in the hour the 16 problems with the brakes forced Dixon to enter the area of the garage. The car finished finally in the sixth place.
After to take in pole position, the no. 01 CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley de Scott Pruett, Luis Diaz and Ryan Briscoe it found his first problem mechanical as soon as passed 100 minutes of race and for the third hour of competition his hopes to gain the general they had disappeared. Nevertheless, no. 01 continued fighting until it concluded the test and it remained with a seventh place.
The no. 58 Red Bull Waxes Racing Porsche Fabcar de David Donohue, Darren Law, Lucas Luhr and Sascha Maassen finished in the eighth place, followed by the no. 44 Doran Racing Pontiac Doran of the NASCAR champions, Bobby and Terry Labonte, the star of IndyCar, Bryan Herta and the excellent pilot of sport cars, Jan Magnussen in ninth. For the first time from 1988, the nine first in crossing the goal were only prototypes, and the first car of GT - the 71 no. Farnbacher Racing Porsche GT3 Cup- occupied the tenth place.
It was a difficult race for car no. 49 Crown Royal Ford Multimatic of the quartet integrated by the pilots of NASCAR NEXTEL Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth, the pilot of Nextel, Greg Biffle and the Canadian Scott Maxwell, since they found problems during the race. Finally its car could not follow ahead 45 minutes of the end and was in position 29 of the general.
Car no. 2 CITGO Howard-Boss Motorsports Pontiac Crawford de Milka Duno, Give Wheldon and Dario and Marino Franchitti were On guard to fight in the morning by the leadership and the victory to early hours. Nevertheless, Duno and the no. 36 TPC Racing Porsche GT3 Cup were joined and hit to the entrance of pits as soon as passed hour 18, ending the good race that came doing both. No. 2 was in position 33 of the general.
The car, winner 2004 no. 54 Kodak EasyShare Bell Motorsports Pontiac Doran handled by Ralf Kelleners, Christian Fittipaldi, the champion of the Daytona Prototype in the 2003, Terry Borcheller and the Canadian star of Champ Car, Paul Tracy, had problems of brakes before the beginning of the race and was outside containment before first half of the route was fulfilled. They finished in square 49 of the general.
For the no. 79 Pixar/Newman Racing Ford Crawford it was a difficult race. The actor and winner of the Oscar, Paul Newman, Michael Brockman, and the champions of Champ Car Sebastien Bourdais and Cristiano give Matta. The car was involved in several trompos during the race and it retired with mechanical problems being in position 51 of the general.

THE NO. 71 FARNBACHER RACING THE USA GAINED THE VICTORY IN CLASS GT

After to take from pole in its debut in the Rolex Series car no. 71 Farnbacher Racing the USA Porsche GT3 Cup de Wolf Henzler, Dominik Farnbacher, Shawn Price and Pierre Pret had a spectacular weekend in 24 Rolex AT Daytona, cattle the race in class GT with a margin of 3 returns with respect to the no. 37 TPC Racing Porsche GT3 Cup de Mike Fitzgerald, Manuel Matos, Emil Assentato and Nick Longhi.
“All the race was phenomenal, I cannot think that we won”, Farnbacher said. “You cannot describe it. To win in Daytona in beautiful. It is the greater more beautiful distance of the United States. Not yet I can believe it. I am going to give him to the clock father because it did all the possible one so that I was here”.
The Farnbacher equipment crossed several challenges during the competition, including presented/displayed by the no. 00 Aussie Assault de Paul Morris, Marcus Ambrose, Craig Baird and John Teulan; the no. 36 TPC Racing Porsche GT3 Cup, of Randy Pobst, Michael Frock coats, Spencer Pumpelly, John Littlechild and Jean-Francois Dumoulin; and the no. 61 TRG East Porsche GT3 Cup de Robert Nearn, Dave Lacey, David Shep, Greg Wilkins de Mark Wilkins among others. No. 71 finished tenth in the general, to 46 returns of the winner of the race.
Equipment no. 61 finished in third position of class GT, five returns behind the winner in its category, followed by the no. 73 Baldwin-Tafel Racing Porsche GT3 Cup de Jack Baldwin, Jim Tafel, Craig Stanton, Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis. The group of the five first in this class completed no. 65 Gallery/TRG Car team of Andy Lally, Marc Bunting, Kevin Buckler, Carlos de Quesada and Hugh Plumb.
The pilots of 16 years Colin Braun, Adrian Carrio and Braun Coleman finished in his the first 24 Rolex AT Daytona well, crossing the goal in the seventh place of their class and 17vo. of the general. They drived car no. 16 TRG Porsche GT3 Cup, next to their instructor, the veteran pilot, Ross Bentley.

FINAL CLASSIFICATION 24 HOURS OF DAYTONA

1 - Angelelli-Taylor-Collard (Riley-Pontiac) - Suntrust - 710 returns
2 - Leitzinger-ForbesRobinson-Johnson (Crawford-Pontiac) - HowardBoss - to 11 returns
3 - Wallace-Lammers-Stewart (Crawford-Pontiac) - HowardBoss - to 11 returns
4 - Johansson-McMurray-Wagner (Riley-Lexus) - Ganassi - to 12 returns
5 - Gollin-Bobbi-Theys (Gild) - Gilds - to 13 returns
6 - Dixon-Manning-C.Mears (Riley-Lexus) - Ganassi - to 16 returns
7 - Pruett-Diaz-Briscoe (Riley-Lexus) - Ganassi - to 22 returns
8 - Donohue-Law-Luhr-Maassen (Fabcar-Porsche) - Waxes - to 30 returns
9 - Magnussen-Labonte-Herta-Labonte (Gild) - Gilds - to 35 returns
10 - Henzler-Farnbacher-Price-Ehrete (Porsche 996) - Farnbacher - to 46 returns