Felipe Nasr clinched the Sunoc Challenge with pole position at Donington Park in September (Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography)

Motors TV and Channel 4 are to broadcast a documentary program following Sunoco Rolex 24 at Daytona Challenge winner Felipe Nasr on his journey to the podium at Daytona International Speedway.

Brazilian Nasr won the 2011 British Formula Three International Series, also winning the Sunoco Challenge competition that offered a Daytona Prototype drive to one competitor from three British racing series using Sunoco’s race fuels.

Following the conclusion of the F3 season Felipe tested for Action Express Racing at Daytona before returning to the famous track, this time with Michael Shank Racing for the official test and the the 50th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Nasr, along with the rest of the four man team in the no.6 entry finished the race in third overall while Michael Shank’s other entry won overall.

The Hayfisher Productions made show will also feature Aaron Steele who won another competition organised by Sunoco to complete in the Grand-Am 200 Continental Tires Series race that supported the Rolex 24.

The show will premiere on Motors TV’s European network at 3:10pm and one Motors TV UK at 3:45pm on Saturday February 11. The first showing on Channel 4 will be at 7:30am a week later (Saturday Febraury 18).

A repeat is scheduled for 2:30am on Wednesday 22 February on Channel 4. The program will enjoy regular repeats on Motors TV – both in the UK and across Europe throughout February.

Audi R18 during the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans (Photo Credit: Rolex/Jad Sherif)

Race organisers the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) have announced the 56 entries invited to the 80th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this June 16-17.

The list includes some surprises, with a total of four Audi R18s at the top of the list, including two powered by hybrid technology leading the field as no.1 and 2 with lead drivers Andre Lotterer and Allan McNish. The complete driver line-ups are yet to be confirmed as the ACO only require a single driver to be named at this stage of the process.

The two Audi hybrids will be joined by the two Toyota TS030 Hybrids that will also contest much of the FIA World Endurance Championship, though they miss the opening round of the new series at Sebring at the start of March, only joining for the 6 hour event at Spa-Francorchamps.

Despite the well publicised departure of the Peugeot Sport squad the LMP1 class maintains a strong line-up, featuring several experienced teams.

Rebellion Racing return with two Lola-Toyota coupes and the French OAK Racing squad have three cars on the entry list – one in LMP2 and two Morgan-Judd labelled machines in the LMP2 ranks. Henri Pescarolo’s team have a two car team using two different cars, the first the Pescarolo 03 – derived from the disastrous AMR-One chassis – the second the Dome S102. Both will be powered by Judd engines.

The premier class is completed by three teams making their LMP1 debuts at Le Mans.

After several season of running in the LMP2 category in the American Le Mans Series Dyson Racing are granted two entries for their Mazda powered Lola coupes. Two HPD ARX-03a from UK teams Strakka racing and JRM complete the class, Strakka moving into LMP1 afte two season in the lower prototype class with HPD machinery.

LMP2, often the poor relation on the Le Mans entry list in past years, has been transformed into the largest and, perhaps, most competitive looking class due to content the race.

After the success of the ORECA 03 chassis and Nissan engine in 2011 the components dominate the 18 car field with six teams using the both to create the same package that took Signatech Nissan to the class title in the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

As you would expect the team return, this time with a two car entry, as do Greaves Motorsport, defending class champions at La Sarthe, with Alex and Martin Brundle and Lucas Ordonez already confirmed in one car, Ordonez joining Greaves after racing with Signatech in 2011.

Amid those returning with the ORECA chassis Alan Docking Racing – under the guise of ADR-Delta – enter a sole car with Australian John Martin as lead driver. Martin drove in Superleague Formula in a car prepared by ADR. As well as outings in the series Martin has driven in British F3 and for his home nation in A1GP. He also showed his 24 hour credentials by comfortably setting the pace in last October’s Britcar 24 Hours.

The class also includes two more American teams. Level 5 Motorsports return for another year at Le Mans, this time with an HPD powered ARX-03b chassis, while Starworks Motorsport – less than a week after finishing as runners-up in the Rolex 24 are to make their Le Mans bow as part of an ambitious full season in the World Endurance Championship, also with the latest iteration of the ARX chassis.

One of the less eye-catching, but more headline-grabbing entries is the Colin Kolles run Lotus entry, actually using a Lola chassis with Lotus badged BMW-based Judd engine.

The German manufacturer’s withdrawal from endurance racing – in favour of their DTM program – is one of the major changes in the GTE Pro ranks, along with the decline in Lotus’ works GT assault, reduced to just a single entry on the reserve list for 2012.

In recent years the GTE Pro class (nee GT2) has been the location of some of the closest racing in ACO regulation racing, yet the entry list for Le Mans shows the class as a shadow of that that arrived for the 2011 event.

2011 winners Corvette Racing enter their normal two cars, boasting an altered driving line-up after the departure of Olivier Beretta from the GM fold and the arrival of young American Jordan Taylor in the team’s endurance set-up.

Corvette Racing will return as defending champions in GTE Pro, facing reduced opposition to retain the title

As well as BMW and Lotus Risi Competizione are Le Mans absentees for another year, though the Ferrari 458 contingent is strong enough to make it the best represented marque in class.

AF Corse bring two cars, with Giancarlo Fisichella and Andrea Bertolini – long a Maserati driver in GT1 series – as nominated first drivers.

Small British team JMW Motorsport and Luxury Racing return for a second year with the newest GT racer from Maranello. Luxury Racing have one car in each of the GTE classes, one of many to take advantage of the 2012 eligibility of the Ferrari 458 for the lower of the two GT classes.

After the failure – and cancellation – of the AMR-One last season Aston Martin Racing drop back to their GT racing roots. Stefan Mucke will lead one car in the GTE Pro ranks with Fischer Racing/Young Driver graduate Christoffer Nygaard helming the team’s GTE Am entry while familiar Aston Martin man Darren Turner waiting on the reserve list in a third car.

The Nygaard led Aston is part of a bumper GTE Am category – numerically boosted in some part by the eligabilty of the newer generation of cars as five teams bring the Ferrari 458 to the class.

Luxury Racing enter a sole car, led by Pierre Ehret after he moved from CRS Racing following the British team’s decision to concentrate on the role in developing the new McLaren MP4-12C. Long time endurance racer Tracy Krohn’s eponymous team returns as do Monegasque outfit JMB Racing. Perhaps the most eye catching of the Ferrari teams are the two AF Corse entries – taking the team’s total commitment at Le Mans – one led by American Robert Kauffman, a man unfortunately best remembered for his role in Mike Rockenfeller’s high speed accident during the night of the 2011 event.

Also bringing a two car team – after their triumphant 1-2 finish in the Am category’s Le Mans debut are Larbre Competition, though after splitting their allegiance between Corvette and Porsche machinery in 2011 switches fully to the US marque. The Porsche representation on the 2012 grid is lower than in past years. Only Flying Lizard Motorsports and Team Felbermayr-Proton run the latest Porsche in the Pro class, but both bring a second car for the Amateur class alongside three other 997.

After contesting the Pro class in 2011 both IMSA Performance Matmut and Prospeed Competition drop into the amateur ranks with one car each – a Patrick Pilet led GTE Pro class car, however, is first reserve for the former.

The final Porsche in the GTE Am comes from the James Watt Automotive led JWA-Avila squad and driver Paul Daniels – both long term, if low key visitors to Le Mans in the GT classes.

The field is completed by the radical looking Delta Wing project, taking the 56th pit created for experimental cars at Le Mans.

After the opening two rounds of the new FIA World Endurance Championship at Sebring, then Spa the field for the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans will form up for the official test day on June 3 before the race itself on June 16-17.

Audi R18 (Photo Credit: Audi Motorsport)

Four Audi R18 will line up this June for the 80th 24 Hours of Le Mans with the two lead cars equipped with hybrid technology for the first time.

In the official entry lists for both the inaugural FIA World Endurance Championship and the French endurance race the hybrid machines, numbered no.1 and no.2 were listed with lead drivers Andre Lotterer and Allan McNish respectively. Only the lead driver needs to be nominated at this stage, with the remainder of the driver line-up unconfirmed.

“To develop the hybrid technology for Le Mans is at least as ambitious and challenging as our diesel project was in its early stages,” explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “The first test results are very encouraging and we are intrigued to see just how this technology performs in combination with our ultra lightweight technology on the race track at Le Mans. As before, we still, however, see potential with the conventional drive – just as our colleagues do in production development.”

The two hybrid hours, will be joined by two works-backed Toyota hybrid entries in the LMP1 class.

Furthermore both hybrid R18 are entered to contest the full World Endurance Championship season, beginning with 12 Hours of Sebring in March. The Audi entry will grow to three for selected WEC events with a ‘conventional’ R18 TDi with lead driver Timo Bernhard.  Audi Motorsport have names Sebring and the 6 hour race at Spa-Francorchamps in May, which will again serve as the dress-rehearsal for Le Mans a month later, as outings for the third car.

A fourth ‘conventional’ Audi will make a one-off appearance for Le Mans with Briton Oliver Jarvis nominated as lead driver. Jarvis has driven for Audi for the past four seasons in the DTM championship and will be making his second 24 Hours of Le Mans start after driving an Audi R10 TDi for Colin Kolles’ team in 2010 alongside Christijan Albers and the late Christian Bakkerud.

Nasr's no.6 Riley Ford during the Rolex 24 at Daytona (Photo Credit: Rolex.Stephan Cooper)

Felipe Nasr’s Sunoco Rolex 24 at Daytona Challenge year came to a fairy tale end as the 19-year-old took the checkered flag to finish third overall in the 50th running of the Rolex 24.

After winning his race seat at Michael Shank Racing through the Sunoco Challenge as he cruised to the title in the British Formula Three International Championship Nasr impressed all concerned with his pace in testing before the event as he joined two fellow young South American Daytona rookies – Gustavo Yacaman and Jorge Goncalves – and Michael McDowell in the no.6 Riley-Ford for Michael Shank Racing.

“I felt like the old man of the group but it was great,” McDowell reflected on his role in the team. “These guys not having a lot of experience in endurance cars doesn’t make them any less capable of running well and having patience and doing the things that we did in this race.”

“I have crashed a lot of these Rolex cars. So I could tell them exactly what not to do and who not to do it to. My first couple of years racing this series when I was 19, 20 years old, I tore up a lot of stuff so I definitely have a good feel for what not to do.”

McDowell – starting his sixth Rolex 24 – qualified the car in eighth and held position through the opening stint before ceding the driving seat to Nasr for his first racing laps of Daytona International Speedway.

“It was unbelievable. I passed more cars in that stint than in an entire season in F3!” said Nasr after handing the car over to Goncalves after a trouble free stint. “I am going to go get some sleep now and food before my next stint – the team are doing well, I hope we can stay in the mix. Things are looking good right now.”

For nearly 22 hours the quartet ran almost faultlessly, keeping in touch with the lead battle and rising up the leaderboard as the more fancied crews fell out of contention with mechanical issues.

Their efforts were rewarded when they regained the lead lap – becoming the fourth car on the lap – under a late caution. However, soon after the restart with Yacaman at the wheel the Riley suffered a punctured right-rear tyre, and though the Colombian made it back to the pits with little damage to the car the team slipped back two laps from the lead battle.

Another succession of cautions put the car back on the lead lap for the final stint, Nasr given the honour of driving beneath the Daytona flagstand at the end of the 24 Hours. With fourth place already representing a huge performance for the team Nasr picked up third place overall when the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates no.01, driven at the time by Rolex Series champion Scott Pruett, fell back with gearbox problems that eventually dropped them to sixth.

Nasr’s – and the rest of the team’s – third place capped off a stellar Rolex 24 for Michael Shank Racing, the team’s lead car taking the overall victory – the first for Shank’s team at the Rolex 24.

“It’s been great,” concluded Nasr, “I’m so happy to be here with these guys, I think we all did a great job. For my first ever time doing a 24, I’m very surprised at the result. It was an unbelievable experience for me and I just can’t wait to hopefully come back here next year.”

“The Sunoco Daytona Challenge is a great opportunity, everyone should enter and I only wish I could this year! Daytona is up there as one of the best experiences of my life so far.”

NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray speaking to NASCAR President Mike Helton before the Rolex 24 (Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

­The 50th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona featured a strong NASCAR contingent, with Penske’s new signing AJ Allmendinger, and Ganassi duo Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya, as well as Michael McDowell and Italian road course ringer Max Papis in front running DP cars.  The GT class also featured a strong cast, with twice Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, X-Games star Travis Pastrana, and the Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year Andy Lally all challenging for glory.  So how did they get on?

Let’s start with AJ Allmendinger.  The 30 year old Californian was the lead pilot in Michael Shank Racing’s #60 MSR Riley-Ford shared with Ozz Negri, John Pew and Justin Wilson, and drove a tenacious final stint to hold off the charging pole sitting car of Ryan Dalziel.  Allmendinger’s breakthrough win ended a five year drought dating back to his time in Champ Cars.  He hopes that this against the odds win for his close friend Shank – who are rumoured to be running Paul Tracy in their debut Indycar foray this season – will mark the start of his best season yet, as he looks to race his way into the Chase for the first time with the #22 team.

Shank’s second car produced a giant-killing performance in the hands of McDowell and his South American rookie team mates. 27 year old McDowell, who will be looking to race his way into the Daytona 500 with Phil Parsons Racing, was placed alongside British Formula 3 champion Felipe Nasr and Indy Lights challengers Jorge Goncalvez and Gustavo Yacaman in the old Riley Mk. XX chassis.  The #6 team spent much of the race on the fringes of the lead lap, and was in prime position to capitalise on the misfortune of Scott Pruett –last year’s winner in the lead Ganassi car – and snatch a surprise podium. 

Ganassi twins McMurray and Montoya had a tough time of things in the #02 Riley BMW, suffering gear problems while 2008 Indycar champion Scott Dixon was behind the wheel in the early hours of the morning.  Despite getting the problem turned around in a sprightly four laps, the damage had already been done, and with no problems for the leading trio, they were condemned to a lowly fourth place finish. 

In GT, Andy Lally brought the Magnus Racing Porsche 911 team their first ever win against a competitive field of 45 entries.  The 36 year old New Yorker, partnered by reigning double Porsche Supercup champion Rene Rast, Richard Leitz and owner John Potter, took his fourth Rolex 24^th win in style ahead of the Jeroen Bleekemolen TRG Porsche.  Sadly Lally won’t be back in NASCAR in 2012 – he will be racing sportscars full-time instead.

Waltrip made his second appearance in a twice around the clock event, having ran the Le Mans 24 hours last year.  Waltrip, sharing with business partner Rob Kaufmann, Portugese driver Rui Aguas, and Travis Pastrana – who used the Rolex 24 to prepare for his Nationwide debut to come at Richmond in April – suffered clutch issues which cost the Ferrari 458 an hour of repair time, and gearbox induced off-track excursions in the latter stages.  Nevertheless Waltrip was still running at the finish, salvaging 35^th overall.

The Rolex 24 at Daytona winning Riley-Ford powers around the banking (Photo Credit: Rolex/Stephan Cooper)

A.J. Allmendinger finally broke Michael Shank’s Rolex 24 at Daytona duck, taking victory for the Ohio based team by just five seconds at the end of the 50th edition of the famous American endurance race. Starworks Motorsport’s no.8 entry was second, the second Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian car completed a podium sweep for Ford powered Riley Daytona Prototypes.

Allmendinger tried to explain some of the importance of the victory after the race; “the last seven years this whole team, Mike Shank Racing, went through a lot to get to this point, and it’s really cool not only to win the race but to have two cars on the podium, to have really all the guys that have worked really hard. It’s the same group of guys that I’ve seen for the last seven years, Ozz can attest to that and Justin can attest to that, that it’s a small group of guys that Mike puts together, and they work their butts off, and it’s really cool this year to have them get a well-deserved victory and a second car on the podium. I feel very fortunate.”

NASCAR driver Allmendinger – sharing the no.60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian with Justin Wilson, Ozz Negri and John Pew – took the checkered flag after a nail-biting battle with Allan McNish in the Starworks Motorsport Riley-Ford. The pair came close to a disastrous end with just a few hours left when they touched at least twice going around the Daytona International Speedway banking.

Stepping out of the car soon after double Le Mans champion McNish was critical or his rival for the move, blaming him for the side-to-side contact. In truth it is almost impossible to apportion blame – should it be required – as both men appeared to converge on the same sport of Floridian real estate in turn two of the tri-oval superspeedway.

The moment was the climax of the lead battle, coming after McNish had first taken the lead going through traffic then robustly rebuffing an attack by Allmendinger around the outside of turn one, a move the Michael Shank driver was critical of in post race interviews. Allmendinger held the inside line for the bus stop chicane, McNish ceding the lead. The Starworks car was soon passed to Lucas Luhr who never appeared to have the pace necessary to challenge Allmendinger for the lead despite a number of full course caution periods in the final hours. Only Ryan Dalziel – the final part of the star driver trilogy that had powered the Starworks no.8 during the race – could make an impression on Allmendinger’s lead, and his contribution came too late to affect the ultimate result, though a final, last gasp caution period could have brought a very different result.

Inside the final hour a number of spinning GT class cars threatened to bring the race to a sprint finish – like the 2011 race – it was fact Allmendinger was fully aware of.

“There were sure a lot of cars spinning out the last 20 laps,” he said. “I haven’t won in five years, so I didn’t really want a green-white checkered. I kept seeing guys spin. I’m like, get them behind the wall, get them going again.”

The no.8 team - led by star men McNish, Luhr and Dalziel - led for much of the night's green flag running

However, to focus on the battle between Shank and Starworks teams is to deny how close Scott Pruett and the rest of the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates no.01 team came to retaining their Rolex 24 title.

Though almost forgotten behind the fast Fords and the new Corvette DP both of Ganassi’s Riley-BMWs had their time at the front of the race, but both would ultimately fall foul to gearbox related maladies. The no.02 car led in the earliest hours of the morning but with Scott Dixon in the cockpit the car pulled into the garage for the team to repair a broken gear shift linkage. While the repair was quick – only costing the team four laps compared to the leaders – with the trio of Riley-Ford all but faultless up front they were ruled out of the lead battle.

The sister car’s race at the front lasted longer as the quartet of Pruett, Memo Rojas, Joey Hand and Graham Rahal where contenders of the lead right into the closing stages of Sunday afternoon.

Pruett’s last stint in the lead came at the end of the twentieth hour when first Ozz Negri then McNish passed the multiple Rolex Series champion under braking for the bus stop.

Pruett was never able to get back on terms with the leading duo and fell off the overall podium in the penultimate hour. After stalling pulling away from a scheduled pitstop, and then incurring a drive-through penalty for pitlane speeding, Pruett dropped back after completing a handful of slow laps with only third, fourth and fifth gear available to him. A gearbox change in the pits dropped the car back to sixth place overall.

Shank's no.6 crew were almost certainly the surprise package of the event, taking third place overall

Pruett’s drive-through had allowed Felipe Nasr to take third position overall to end a giant-killing performance by Shank’s second team. From the four man team of Sunoco Challenge winner Nasr, Indy Lights men Gustavo Yacaman and Jorge Goncalves and NASCAR driver Michael McDowell only McDowell had Rolex 24 experience, but he and his South American co-drivers were occasionally stars of the race.

The no.6 car spent much of the second half of the race hovering just off the lead lap, gaining laps back under caution, then losing out again during some of the long green-flag runs which lent the race a quite different tone to previous editions of the race.

The same late flurry of caution flags that cost Pruett the lead put Yacaman in the no.6 back on the lead lap, only to fall back two laps down with a punctured right-rear Continental tyre.

Two more quick cautions – and the repeatedly rapid Nasr back in the car hauled the car back onto the lead the lead lap, the Brazilian in position to clinch third position the moment Pruett hit trouble.

Behind the podium finishers came those that had found trouble during the 24 hours, starting with the no.02 Ganassi entry and the no.5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP.

Driven by Darren Law, David Donahue and Christian Fittipaldi the no.5 was the best finisher of the five brand new Corvette designs as all suffered mechanical problems to varying degrees.

All five of the Corvette DP cars found mechanical issues during their debut race

The heavily fancied Suntrust Racing entry was the only official retirement from the DP field, suffering engine failure inside the first hour. The remaining Corvettes, of Bob Stallings Racing, Spirit of Daytona Racing and the no.5’s team car at Action Express fumbled through the 24 hours all bouncing from one problem to another including a failed water pump (Stallings) and a broken axel (Spirit of Daytona).

While the Gainsco backed Stallings team’s two hour-plus delay was too great to overcome, the extended periods of green flag running through the night allowed most of the delayed Daytona Prototypes to climb back above the fastest and most reliable of the GT cars, creating an all DP overall top ten.

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona Daytona Prototype results:

1. No.60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
2. No.8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
3. No.6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalves/McDowell/Nasr/Yacaman
4. No.02 Chip Ganassi Racing – Dixon/Franchitti/McMurray/Montoya
5. No.5 Action Express Racing – Donahue/Fittipaldi/Law
6. No.01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
7. No.77 Doran Racing – Frisselle/Frisselle/Lowe/Tracy
8. No.90 Spirit of Daytona Racing – Garcia/Gavin/Magnussen/Westbrook
9. No.9 Action Express Racing – Barbosa/Borcheller/France/Papis
10. No.2 Starworks Motorsport – Andretti/Hunter-Reay/Mayer/Potolicchio/Potolicchio/Valiante

2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona winners; John Pew, A.J. Allmendinger, Justin Wilson and Ozz Negri

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (Photo Credit: Grand-Am)

The two Riley-BMW Daytona Prototypes of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates could only finish fourth and sixth at the 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona after mechanical issues hampered both cars during the race.

Both Telmex and Target sponsored cars had their time in the lead, the no.02 leading 52 laps while the sister no.01 car driven by defending race winners Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Joey Hand and Graham Rahal was out front for 96 of the 761 laps completed by the Michael Shank Racing that won the event.

The no.01 was part of the lead battle as the race entered the final six hours, battling with Riley-Ford of Shank’s no.60 team and Starworks Motorsport’s no.8 entry.

Pruett fell to third place behind the latter after a restart, but the multiple Rolex Series champion encountered more problems. A gearbox problem dropping him to fifth behind the previously delayed no.02 before coming in for the Ganassi team to replace the gearbox – a feat achieved in the pits, rather than the garage – at the start of the final hour. The stop dropped Pruett back to sixth, four laps down.

“What a race. You really never know what is going to happen here,” said Pruett. ”This is the big one that we all love to win in sports car racing in America. We had a great car and even with the fact we had to overcome a gearbox issue near the end, I’m just not sure we had anything for the two Fords up front. It was a total team effort like always from the Ganassi team, and Memo and I are looking forward to Barber in March.”

The sister car – crewed by Ganassi’s drivers from the Indycar and NASCAR Sprint Cup paddocks – Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Jamie McMurray and Juan Montoya – led during the night, but was forced into the garage for repairs to a broken shifter shortly before 3am.

They too lost four laps to the leaders, returning to the race in ninth place at the time, but were able to regain three laps during the flurry of full course cautions towards the end of the race.

With Montoya given the responsibility of bringing the car to the checkered flag he passed Pruett for fourth place. In claiming fourth place behind the podiums of Riley-Ford the team kept up Chip Ganassi’s record of having a team finish in the top five overall in every Rolex 24 since 2004.

AJ Allmendinger took home the #60 Michael Shanks Racing Riley Ford to victory - Credit: Rolex

Despite the excitement of the previous 23 hours it was this hour that was the most important, everything up to this point was a matter of endurance and making sure you got this far.

AJ Allmendinger was one of those that made it through but it almost ended at the start of the final hour after a misunderstanding with a Flying Lizard Porsche entering in to the first corner, thankfully for the #60 driver there was plenty of run off area to run wide on to; Ryan Dalziel in the #8 Starworks Motorsport car gave chase 5 seconds behind while Felipe Nasr on his sportscar debut was pushing hard in third, lapping faster than the two cars in front of him. In the GT class Richard Lietz headed a Porsche 1-2-3 with Wolf Henzler and Marc Lieb in tow.

52 minutes remaining the #59 Porsche of Lieb came in for a pit stop knowing that unless a full course yellow was thrown they would have to pit again before the end of the race.

Back in the DP class Juan Pablo Montoya was sitting in fourth place and hoping for a full course yellow, if this happened he would be on the lead lap and able to challenge for a top three position.

A pit stop for the #8 Starworks car would drop Dalziel down to third briefly while Nasr slotted in to second, a short-fill from the team showed just how close they were running to the limit and how every little bit of time that could be gained was important. Nasr would take the lead briefly while #60 of Allmendinger stopped for the last time, a lap later and the #6 would be in to take its last stop too. A busy time in the pit lane also saw the #44 of Richard Lietz pit from the lead of the GT class.

With the final 30 minutes approaching Dalziel was pushing hard and trading times with Allmendinger up front. Despite the older machinery and being 40 seconds off the lead Nasr continued to match the lap times of the two lead cars.

In the GT Class the #44 of Richard Lietz remained at the front but the race was still any one of the top five positions as Wolf Henzler, Marc Lieb, John Edwards and Olivier Beretta pushed hard towards the end of the race.

Allmendinger was full of confidence in to the last 20 minutes, opening up a gap to second to 11 seconds to give himself a buffer should any problems occur.

The #51 Audi R8 of Jim Norman caused worry as he spun in to the bus stop and off the track, eyes focused on the start/finish line as the double yellows were readied. As a worried Michael Shank watched the monitors there was relief when the recovery truck appeared from behind the barrier to pull the stricken Audi away.

Another scare would come from Michael Waltrip as he put the #56 Ferrari in to the tyres, once again hearts skipped a beat before he managed to find a gear and pull away once again.

The #60 Michael Shanks  Racing Riley Ford DP would take the chequered flag and steer the Ford to victory lane for the first time in 30 years.  Dalziel would cross the line just 5 seconds behind while sportscar rookie Felipe Nasr took third place in his Daytona debut.

Richard Lietz lead the #44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 across the line in a Porsche 1-2-3 with Henzler and Lieb following him home. The Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R and the Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 would both finish on the lead lap.

The winners watch - Credit: Rolex

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 24

1. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
2. #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
3. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalvez, McDowell/ Nasr/Yacaman
4. #02 Chip Ganassi Racing – Dixon/Franchitti/McMurray/Montoya
5. #5 Action Express Racing – Donohue/Fittipaldi/Law

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 24

1. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
2. #67 TRG – Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
3. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywood/Keen/ Lieb
4. #57 Stevenson Motorsports – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell
5. #63 Risi Competizione – Bruni/Fisichella/Matos

 Full results and analysis will follow this week…

Risi Competizione's no.63 continues to feature in the lead battles in the GT class (Photo Credit: James Boone)

The penultimate hour of the 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona began with the field circulating under the fourteenth full course caution of the race, once more bunching up the field, including placing the no.6 Michael Shank car in fourth overall back on the lead lap.

In GT the story of the hour was about pitstop strategies with the leading teams making their penultimate stops of the race.

Leh Keen had lost the class lead to Magnus Racing driver Andy Lally before he brought the no.59 Brumos Porsche in – the first of the major players to pit, putting Porsche factory driver Marc Lieb in for a final stint aiming at ending in victory lane.

Wolf Henzler, Olivier Beretta and Lally made their own stops shortly after for TRG, Risi Competizione and Magnus Racing respectively. Toni Vilander – a familiar name in the cockpits of Ferrari GT cars in Europe took over for Beretta in the no.63, Richard Lietz stepping for Lally, setting up the intriguing prospect of he and Marc Lieb – championship winning teammates in the Le Mans Series – going up against each other for victory.

Lietz ended the hour ahead, Lieb second, but only after he had out-duelled Wolf Henzler, forcing the man in the no.67 TRG car to straight line the bus stop chicane, including the mandatory ‘stop-go’ levied for the offence.

Vilander runs fourth behind the trio of leading Porsche, John Edrwards fifth in the Stevenson Camaro.

At the head of the field A.J. Allmendinger was left to ease away, Lucas Luhr struggling to find a way past Scott Pruett for second after the restart.

That was until the three leaders made their stops for the hour. Allmendinger and Luhr stopped together, Ryan Dalziel taking over the driving in the Starworks Motorsport no.8 before following Allmendinger back out onto track.

Pruett made his stop a lap later, but needed to be pushed away his Riley suddenly without first or second gears. To make matters worse after he eventually got the car rolling Pruett was penalised for speeding in the pitlane and slapped with a drive through penalty.

The pair of problems was enough to give the no.6 Michael Shank entry – Sunoco Challenge winner Felipe Nasr taking the car to the checkered flag – into third place overall.

Pruett slipped still further down the order, falling behind Juan Montoya in the sister Ganassi car before pitting for the team to make the necessary repairs. Pruett returned to the track – problem seemingly resolved, but from challenging for the lead he had slipped to sixth place behind the no.5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Darren Law.

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 23

1. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
2. #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
3. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalves/McDowell/Nasr/Yacaman
4. #02 Chip Ganassi Racing – Dixon/Franchitti/McMurray/Montoya
5. #5 Action Express Racing – Donahue/Fittipladi/Law

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 23

1. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
2. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywwod/Keen/Lieb
3. #67 TRG – Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
4. #63 Risi Competizione – Beretta/Bertolini/Vilander
5. #57 Stevenson Motorsport – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell

The #8 Starworks Motorsport car played a leading role in hour 22 - Credit: James Boone

Hour 22 of the 50^th running of the Rolex 24 hours proved to be one of the most exciting closest battles of the race so far.

Heading in to the hour Ozz Negri and Allan McNish were pushing hard through the traffic. Pitstops would provide the #8 team a chance to leapfrog the #60 car as McNish came in to the pits on the back of Negri’s bumper. The Starworks Motorsport team turned the pitstop around quicker as the Michael Shank Racing team changed drivers.

A brief period saw the #01 Graham Rahal car out in the lead with the #60 Allmendinger car running ahead of the #8 McNish’s car. This would only last a lap with Rahal pitting and Allmendinger resuming the lead.

McNish took the initiative in traffic on the banking to take the lead from Allmendinger , the #60 driver would try to retaliate through turns 1 and 2 a few laps later with a brave move around the outside of McNish, it wouldn’t pay off as the Scotsman shut the door.

A change of position would come as the result of a side by side battle on the banking with Allmendinger and McNish touching at the exit of NASCAR Turn 2, Allmendinger would come out in front just before a full track caution period was called to clear debris from the chicane.

Pit stops would provide more changes as Scott Pruett came out on top in the #01 car, while Allmendinger slotted in to second and Luhr, who took over from McNish came out third.

A move on the restart saw Allmendinger take the lead around the outside of turns 1 and 2 with Pruett moving back in to second.

The GT class battle was being fought between the Porsches of #67, #59 and #44, various lead changes throughout the hour would see Leh Keen move in to the lead at the end of the hour just before a full course caution was called to retrieve the Porsche of Marco Holzer which has suffered rear suspension failure.

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 18

1. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
2. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
3. #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
4. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalvez, McDowell/ Nasr/Yacaman
5. #02 Chip Ganassi Racing – Dixon/Franchitti/McMurray/Montoya

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 18

1. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywood/Keen/ Lieb
2. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
3. #63 Risi Competizione – Bruni/Fisichella/Matos
4. #67 TRG – Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
5. #57 Stevenson Motorsports – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell

The no.60 LiveOn.com sposored Michael Shank Racing entry at the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona (Photo Credit: Rolex/Tom O'Neal)

Two full course cautions in quick succession closed up the leaders of both classes at the 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona, setting up a tense finale to the event.

Thanks to Ryan Dalziel taking back his lap on track the top three overall were nose-to-tail at the front of the pack and quickly broke away as the slower Krohn Racing Lola delayed those behind. In consecutive laps Ozz Negri and Allan McNish both passed erstwhile leader Scott Pruett through the bus stop chicane though they failed to pull away from the Ganassi driver as just a second covered the top three DP cars after more than 20 hours of competition.

The field was bunched up again by another caution when the no.19 GP Porsche sailed into the tyre barriers on the infield at the end of a disasterous outbraking attempt. It was only lucky that it remained a single car incident as the errant Porsche went off, then cut back across the track at the apex of the next left hander.

The second caution lifted the no.6 Michael Shank Racing entry, driven by Gustavo Yacaman onto the lead lap, but the advantage was not to last long, the US open-wheel regular suffering a right-rear puncture. Yacaman successful brought the car back to the pits with limited damage but the delay dropped the car – Yacaman shares with Michael McDowell, Jorge Goncalves and Felipe Nasr – back to two laps off the lead and only a dozen seconds ahead of Scott Dixon in the fifth placed no.02 Ganassi entry.

From the second restart Pruett was unable to keep up with the pair of Ford powered Riley’s ahead and Negri and McNish began their own battle for the lead. McNish pulled alongside several times, the most notable being as the pair rose up the banking around turn two of the formidable superspeedway. The pair came up behind a pair of GT cars – also side-by-side – only a quick move from McNish avoided contact as Negri sought a way through before the two leaders each decided to find their own way through the traffic result in a heart-stopping split second of four-wide racing around the 31-degree banking.

The two quick yellows had delivered the top five GT runners – three Porsches, a Ferrari and a Camaro – onto the lead lap.

Leh Keen held the lead for Brumos Racing before making a driver change stop to put pole position man Andrew Davis in the car. As a result the no.59 Porsche ended the hour third in class behind the Magnus Racing entry and TRG no.67

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 21

1. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
2. #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
3. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
4. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalves/McDowell/Nasr/Yacaman
5. #02 Chip Ganassi Racing – Dixon/Franchitt/McMurray/Montoya

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 21

1. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
2. #67 TRG – Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
3. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywwod/Keen/Lieb
4. #63 Risi Competizione – Beretta/Bertolini/Vilander
5. #57 Stevenson Motorsport – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell

The #59 Brumos Porsche is back in the lead of the GT Class as the battle hots up - Credit: Grand-AM

As the race draws in to its final stages Scott Pruett leads the way in the DP class while the battle between the #59 and #67 Porsche’s in the GT class hots up.

#01 Scott Pruett held a 17 second lead before the full course yellow over the #60 of Oswaldo Negri Jr, #8 Ryan Dalziel is now also on the lead lap tucked up behind the #60 as a result of the caution. The #6 car holds a steady forth place with Gustavo Yacaman at the wheel.

In the GT class Leh Keen in the #59 has taken the intiative just before the caution period as he jumped in to GT class lead passing the #67 of Marc Goossens. Rene Rast in the #44 car completes a Porsche 1-2-3 ahead of the #63 Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 and the #57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R.

The #20 Liquid Moli / Mitchum Motorsports Porsche has been forced to retire from the race following earlier transmission problems.

As the hour rounded out the yellow flags remained as the circuit staff cleared the debris and used rubber from the track with turn 7 being the biggest issue.

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 20

1. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
2. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
3. #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
4. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalvez, McDowell/Nasr/Yacaman
5. #5 Action Express Racing – Donohue/Fittipaldi/Law

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 20

1. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywood/Keen/ Lieb
2. #67 TRG – Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
3. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
4. #57 Stevenson Motorsports – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell
5. #63 Risi Competizione – Bruni/Fisichella/Matos

Scott Pruett in the no.01 Ganassi Riley-BMW has taken the lead from the no.60 entry (Photo Credit: Grand-Am)

The decision to spend the extra time to change brake bads on the no.60 Riley-Ford as well as change drivers from Justin Wilson to Ozz Negri allowed the no.01 Ganassi entry to slip through into to the lead as the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona enters its final phase.

Wilson came into the pits after completing a stint in the lead of the race for Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian, but Negri ended the hour in second place behind the Ganassi car piloted by Scott Pruett – the most successful ever driver in the Rolex Series – who took over from Joey Hand in a standard stop during the hour.

Negri trailed Pruett by a little over ten seconds, the Brazilian was unable to the make consistent gains on the defending series champion necessary to mount a challenge for the lead on track

The once dominant leader, the no.8 Starworks Motorsport Riley-Ford, continues to run third overall and in the Daytona Prototype class but lies a lap down to Pruett, and almost certainly needs a full course caution to haul itself back into contention for victory.

The no.6 MSR car continues to run in fourth, the young team continuing to cycle through their four drivers with Gustavo Yacaman taking over the car from Jorge Goncalves.

The earlier penalty for the Magnus Racing Porsche has brought the no.67 TRG Porsche right into contention for GT class honours and the car led at the close of the nineteenth hour with Spencer Pumpelly at the wheel.

Pumpelly had fallen to fourth in class after making a pitstop but after he passed Ronnie Bremer in the no.57 Stevenson Camaro on the track and the Magnus Porsche while it was stopped in the pits, Richard Lietz handing the car over to Rene Rast, the TRG man was promoted to second.

Second became first when Andrew Davis brought the Brumos Racing Porsche in for a brake change in the pits. Just as in the Daytona Prototype class the extra time needed to effect the change was enough to facilitate a potentially vital change of lead as the hours tick down towards the checkered flag.

The top five in the GT classes also feature the no.63 Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 or Olivier Beretta, Andrea Bertolini and Toni Vilander, another pretender to what is surely Porsche’s throne given their dominance thus far.

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 19

1. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
2. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
3. #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
4. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalves/McDowell/Nasr/Yacaman
5. #5 Action Express Racing – Donahue/Fittipladi/Law

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 19

1. #67 TRG – Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
2. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywwod/Keen/Lieb
3. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
4. #63 Risi Competizione – Beretta/Bertolini/Vilander
5. #57 Stevenson Motorsport – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell

#60 Michael Shank Racing car leads the way - Credit: Grand-AM

The top five positions remain the same at the end of the eighteenth hour as they started with the #60 Michael Shank Racing car leading the field. The GT field remains largely the same with the exception of the #44 Porsche of Richard Lietz was forced to serve a one-minute penalty.

The penalty was a result of an earlier stop from Lietz where it was judged that a crew member was working on the undertray of the car while refuelling was taking place. Under usual rules the team are not allowed to work on the car while refuelling. The result of the penalty dropped the #44 car from the top of the timesheet down to third place.

The #8 Starworks car have problems with bodywork after the car straightlined the bus stop chicane, damaging the rear bumper. The team would pit the car in an effort to try and fix the damage. After a lot of pulling and sticking the care resumed to the circuit.

Don Kitch in the GT had an off at Turn 5 but thankfully didn’t need recovering enabling the field to race on as normal rather than forcing another caution period.

As the hour closed out Richard Lietz was closing in on the lead #59 Porsche of Andrew Davis as he looked to get back on to the lead lap.

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 18

1. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
2. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
3. #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
4. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalvez, McDowell/ Nasr/Yacaman
5. #5 Action Express Racing – Donohue/Fittipaldi/Law

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 18

1. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywood/Keen
2. #67 TRG – Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
3. Lieb #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
4. #57 Stevenson Motorsports – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell
5. #63 Risi Competizione – Bruni/Fisichella/Matos

Brumos Racing continue to swap the GT class with Magnus Racing (Photo Credit: Grand-Am)

In contrast to much of the Michael Shank Racing’s no.60 car is now the target for those chasing after Justin Wilson took the lead following the most recent safety car period.

After getting within a few second of the Englishman’s car having trailed by as far as ten seconds Lucas Luhr pitted for what must be the Starworks crews final front brake pad change of the race. The longer stop allowed the no.01 Ganassi BMW Riley into second.

The Target and Telmex backed Riley-BMW of defending champions Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Graham Rahal and Joey Hand has been a quiet by constant presence in the overall top five, but with first Rahal, then Hand at the wheel the car has broken into a top two it hasn’t reached since Saturday evening.

At the end of the hour 25 seconds divided hand from Wilson with Luhr on the very tail of the lead lap. Felipe Nasr was fourth in the other Michael Shank Racing entry.

The GT race once more has become a private battle between the Brumos Racing and Magnus Racing Porsches.

On schedule Andy Lally pitted the no.44 Magnus entry surrendering the lead to Marc Lieb, who in turn pitted only minutes later restoring the previous order as both men added another stint to their Rolex 24 workload.

The end of the hour promised a potential repeat of the scintillating lead battle of previous hours, Lieb closing to withing two seconds of Lally. The no.67 TRG Porsche was the third and final GT running on the class lead lap – though only just, the no.57 Stevenson Motorsport Camaro the first car off the lead lap.

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 17

1. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
2. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
3. #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
4. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalves/McDowell/Nasr/Yacaman
5. #5 Action Express Racing – Donahue/Fittipladi/Law

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 17

1. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
2. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywwod/Keen/Lieb
3. #67 TRG – Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
4. #57 Stevenson Motorsport – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell
5. #23 Alex Job Racing – Collard/Holzer/Leitzinger/MacNeill

Rene Rast drove superbly to hold off the pressure from Marc Lieb - Credit: James Boone

Hour 16 was all about the GT class with an epic battle between reigning Supercup champion Rene Rast and Marc Lieb.

The first 15 minutes of the hour saw a further full yellow flag period as the #99 GAINSCO car was recovered from the infield after burying itself in the barriers. During the caution period the teams took the chance to pit while Felipe Nasr grabbed the opportunity to unlap himself and bring him closer to the top 3 battle.

Rast lead the GT class comfortably but Lieb wasn’t about to let things stay that way as he reeled in the #44 Porsche. While he had the pace through the bus stop section of the circuit he couldn’t quite get close enough to pull off a pass despite pulling alongside Rast a number of times. The battle would come to an end when Lieb outbraked himself in to the bus-stop while trying to pass lapped traffic. This gave Rast the opportunity to build his lead again as Lieb was forced to come to a halt as the penalty of skipping part of the circuit.

Up front the the #60 of Justin Wilson found a way around #8 Ryan Dalziel to take the lead of the race with Graham Rahal close in tow. #6 Felipe Nasr would lose his advantage gained during the caution period but remain in fourth place.

At the end of the sixteenth hour both classes have a top three field that are all on the same lap and with eight hours to go it’s hard to call a winner at this stage, all three cars at the front of the DP class came in for pit stops before the hour was out.

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 16

 1. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
2. #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
3. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
4. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalvez, McDowell/ Nasr/Yacaman
5. #5 Action Express Racing – Donohue/Fittipaldi/Law

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 16

1. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
2. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywood/Keen/Lieb
3. #67 TRG – Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
4. #57 Stevenson Motorsports – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell
5. #63 Risi Competizione – Bruni/Fisichella/Matos

2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona (Photo Credit: Grand-Am)

The stranglehold the no.8 Starworks Motorsport team have on the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona was strengthened, the threatened in the space of a single hour.

The hour began with a flurry of stops for the leading Daytona Prototypes, John Pew, Memo Rojas and Ryan Dalziel all making stops. Pew, in the no.60 Michael Shank Racing Riley took up the long-running chase to challenge the leader but Dalziel always had the better of Pew, adding seconds a lap to the lead as Pew fell back towards Rojas, who would take second before the end of the hour.

Meanwhile Dalziel’s lead ballooned out towards one minute.

Both Action Express Corvette DP were delayed. Max Papis pulled the no.9 into the garage for a brief stay while Christian Fittipaldi’s no.5 had to undergo and brake disc and pad change on all four corners that dropped the car back to fifth behind the no.6 Michael Shank entry with Felipe Nasr back aboard for his third Daytona stint.

The leaders in the GT class are much more tightly packed and the lead changed hands several times during the 60 minutes. Leh Keen lost the lead to Rene Rast, freshly installed in place of Richard Lietz, in the Magnus Racing entry after a succession of unusually slow laps from the Brumos Racing driver.

When Rast pitted the no.44 car Keen retook the lead, but he soon followed suit with a longer stop to put Porsche works driver Marc Lieb in the cockpit to start his stint.

The pair ended the hour running 1-2, Rast re-assuming the lead ahead of Lieb with the Stevenson Motorsports Camaro in third, the no.57 is the only non Porsche that has shown any consistency and ability to challenge the domination of the German brand, and with Rob Liddell at the wheel has fought back into contention, as the third car on the lead lap in class.

The hour ended with lead battles due to be shaken up as the track came under its tenth full course caution after Alex Gurney crashed the no.99 Gainsco Chevrolet DP heavily into the tyre wall on the outside of the second infield horseshoe.

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 15

1. #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
2. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
3. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
4. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalves/McDowell/Nasr/Yacaman
5. #5 Action Express Racing – Donahue/Fittipladi/Law

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 15

1. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
2. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywwod/Keen/Lieb
3. #57 Stevenson Motorsport – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell
4. #67 TRG – Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
5. #23 Alex Job Racing – Collard/Holzer/Leitzinger/MacNeill

Grand AM official in pit lane - Credit: Rolex / Stephan Cooper

In the GT class Chris Cumming in the #68 TRG Porsche kicked off the hour with a spin heading in to the bus stop chicane, after the mandatory stop for skipping the chicane he carried on, thankfully for him his nearest rival was 2 laps behind. Minutes later TRG team mate Marc Goossens in the #67 car had a scary moment as he ran wide on to the grass as he made way for the leading DP cars.

David Donohue pits the #5 from fourth place as Christian Fittipaldi took over the driver’s seat. The #60 of Oswaldo Negri Jr makes a planned stop for tyres and fuel from second place letting Memo Rojas pass for position in the #01 car. Ryan Hunter-Reay looked to make up time despite being 6 laps down on the leader and made a pass on Jamie McMurry for sixth place.

Allan McNish finished an epic driving stint of three hours as Ryan Dalziel took over driving the #8 car at the front of the field. Second placed Memo Rojas also in the #01 car pitted to emerge in third place.

Marc Goossens in the #67 TRG Porsche closed the gap down to GT Class leader Leh Keen to set up a great battle for first place, unfortunately for the #67 a lapped car proved difficult to get by and briefly lost momentum. Following a few solid laps after the incident he would make the move to take the GT lead although it wouldn’t be long until Keen was back out in front.

As the hour rounded out the #88 car of Jordan Taylor pitted for a scheduled stop only to stall on exiting his pit stall, the mechanics having to pull the car back and restart the engine. At the front of the race the positions remained the same as they started the hour.

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 14

1. #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
2. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
3. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
4. #5 Action Express Racing – Donohue/Fittipaldi/Law
5. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalvez, McDowell/ Nasr/Yacaman

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 14

1. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywood/Keen/Lieb
2. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
3. #67 TRG – Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
4. #57 Stevenson Motorsports – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell
5. #23 Alex Job Racing – Collard/Holzer/Leitzinger/MacNeil

Pitroad officials wait during the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona (Photo Credit: Rolex/Stephan Cooper)

Allan McNish continued Starworks Motorsport’s fine display at the 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona, maintaining the lead through another round of green flag pitstops during the race’s thirteenth hour.

McNish began the hour with a lead of over ten seconds over A.J. Allmendinger in the no.60 Michael Shank Racing Riley-Ford, but the NASCAR driver sliced into the lead, often at more than a second a lap regardless of the slower traffic spaced around Daytona International Speedway.

Allmendinger clearly had the pace to pass McNish, but was unable to complete the move – owing to traffic mainly – before calling into the pits for a scheduled stop to install Ozz Negri in the no.60 car. When McNish made his own stop, the double Le Mans winner staying in the car for another stop, it was expected that Negri would be able to take the lead, especially after the Starworks team’s fuel hose had stuck in the car.

Despite this when McNish returned to track with an increased lead – 3.8 seconds – over Negri. David Donahue and Memo Rojas twice enchanged possession of third place during the hour, the pair the last two cars on the lead lap after the no.6 Michael Shank Racing car fell a lap down under the control of Michael McDowell – though he continues to hold fifth position overall and in class.

Other Daytona Prototype runners were less fortunate. Following on from the mechanical issues for the no.90 the previous hour Terry Borcheller brought the no.9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP in for at least three separate pitstops the team dealing with a cooling problem in the car. Borcheller now runs eight laps off the overall leader.

Brumos Racing continue to lead the GT class, enjoying a lead of over a minute for much of the hour while several other teams swapped the minor positions of the top five. Spencer Pumpelly took second from John Potter in the Magnus Racing no.44 only to forfeit it when he stopped for Marc Goossens to take over the driving seat in the no.67 TRG entry. The Belgian was quick to start moving back up through the order, demoting John Edwards in the penalised Stevenson Camaro for third shortly after taking over the car. Edwards’ no.57, however was fourth at the end of the hour.

Through the hour passed with a full course caution a number of drivers made mistakes. Two Porsche GT drivers made very different errors and the bus-stop chicane, though both were able to continue without damage to their machines. Another Porsche driver ran wide through the infield kink as the Donahue/Rojas battle passed him, bumping through the infield grass before regaining the track.

However, almost undoubtedly the closest call came when McNish went to pass yet another Porsche on the outside at the start of the NASCAR turn 1 banking only for the Porsche to move high, leaving only just enough room for the Riley carrying McNish to pass through without contact.

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 13

1. #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
2. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
3. #5 Action Express Racing – Donahue/Fittipladi/Law
4. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
5. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalves/McDowell/Nasr/Yacaman

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 13

1. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywwod/Keen/Lieb
2. #67 TRG – Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
3. #57 Stevenson Motorsport – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell
4. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
5. #23 Alex Job Racing – Collard/Holzer/Leitzinger/MacNeill

Allan McNish leads the way in the #8 Starworks Motorsport Ford - Credit: James Boone

A full course yellow welcomed in the twelfth hour as the #51 Audi was recovered from the track; leading the way on the restart was the #8 Starworks Motorsport Ford of Allan McNish, followed by #5 David Donohue and #6 GustavoYacaman. The #59 of Marc Lieb led the #23 of Butch Leitzinger and the #44 of Andrew Lally in the GT class.

A slide wide on the infield section from McNish in the #8 would close the leaders up as he was forced to go defensive to maintain the lead; AJ Allmendinger moved up a place a lap later after chasing down Scott Dixon.

Fifteen minutes in to the session Dixon dropped off the radar and disappeared from the track and in to the garage with a broken gear shift linkage. After a short period of time the repaired #02 would return to track in ninth place and 3 laps down to the leader.

Making the move around the outside of turn 1 Allmendinger took the top spot from McNish and powered away 25 minutes in to the hour. With more traffic ahead the lead wouldn’t last long for Allmendinger as McNish fought his way through and back in front.

There was problems in the pitlane as the #76 Khron Racing Ford missed the gap to go through to the garages, momentarily stranded as officials decided if they should let the car through a gap for the winners circle.

The second and fourth placed cars of AJ Allmendinger and David Donohue came in for scheduled stops moving Graham Rahal in the #01 Ganassi car up to second place. McNish would come in on the next lap followed by Rahal.

The #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette piloted by Richard Westbrook would enter the garage with suspected engine problems just 5 minutes short of the halfway mark.

Marc Lieb continued to forge ahead in the GT class in the #59 Brumos Racing Porsche before team mate Andrew Davis took over the driving duties just before the end of the hour. The #44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 slotted back in to second place at the hands of John Potter. Spencer Pumpley in the #67 TRG Porsche would round out the hour third in class.

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 12

1. #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
2. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
3. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
4. #5 Action Express Racing – Donohue/Fittipaldi/Law
5. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalvez, McDowell/ Nasr/Yacaman

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 12

1. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywood/Keen/Lieb
2. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
3. #67 TRG – Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
4. #57 Stevenson Motorsports – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell
5. #23 Alex Job Racing – Collard/Holzer/Leitzinger/MacNeil

The pair of Chip Ganassi Racing cars race beneath the Daytona flagstand (Photo Credit: Rolex/Stephan Cooper)

Over 100 laps of green flag racing at the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona came to end shortly before the end of the eleventh hour after the APR Motorsport Audi R8 Grand-Am stopped with rear damage around the pack of the paddock.

The resulting caution period not only ended the longest green run by far of the 2012 event but had a significant impact on the running order at the top of the overall standings.

Longer stops for both of the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates cars dropped them of running – ominously – 1-2 to being fifth and sixth of the seven Daytona Prototypes on the lead lap once Richard Westbrook was given the ‘Lucky Dog’ pass in the no.90 Spirit of Daytona Racing entry.

The change completed the mini-comeback from Lucas Luhr and the no.8 Starworks crew. The team fell a lap behind the lead battle after a brake change in an earlier pitstop. However, after Luhr had reduced the arrears to just a matter of seconds the intervention of the safety car helped move Allan McNish into the lead with David Donahue and Gustavo Yacaman second and third for Action Express Racing and Michael Shank Racing respectively.

With the one time leader in the no.57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro still battling the effects of a lengthy pit penalty the GT class is very much to dominion of the Porsches.

The Magnus Racing had an 8.7 second before pitting before the caution flew, handing the lead to Brumos Racing and Marc Lieb. The order reverted back to favour the no.44 crew later but as the pack circulated under caution at the end of the our the top four places were held by Porsche crews, only the Autohaus Motorsport Camaro in fifth place preventing a sweep of the top five places by the Stuttgart manufacturer.

The hour also saw further problems for the Bob Stallings/Gainsco entry. The team had lost a handful of laps earlier in race replacing a radiator, but had made good progress since, regaining some of the lost laps on the overall leaders. However, the car was pulled back into the garage after the team had looked under the rear bodywork. 8/5/6/60/02
44/59/23/67/88

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 11

#8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
#5 Action Express Racing – Donahue/Fittipladi/Law
#6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalves/McDowell/Nasr/Yacaman
#60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
#02 Chip Ganassi Racing – Dixon/Franchitti/McMurray/Montoya

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 11

#44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
#59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywwod/Keen/Lieb
#23 Alex Job Racing – Collard/Holzer/Leitzinger/MacNeill
#67 TRG – Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
#88 Autohaus Motorsports – Edwards/Marsh/Milner/Taylor

Star of the hour - #6 Michael Shank Racing car in the hands of Daytona rookie Felipe Nasr - Credit: James Boone

As the lead DP cars continue to thread their way through the GT traffic the Chip Ganassi cars lead in to the hour. A pit stop put the #01 back to third promoting Daytona rookie Felipe Nasr up to second place behind the #02 car of Juan Pablo Montoya.

Nasr moved up to second place as result of Scott Pruett’s pit stop but that was the easy part over, the following battle would see the #01 challenge the #6 through the infield section, and at times seeing the two cars alongside each other. As the cars hit the banking Nasr had the legs on Pruett, with the Ford power plant outpacing the BMW; Pruett would sit and wait patiently until Nasr made an error, this would come just before a pit stop from the #6 car as losing grip on the old rubber he missed the apex on the hairpin leaving the door open for Pruett to slot in to second, nether the less the performance from Nasr was impressive.

Meanwhile back in the GT class Porsche Supercup champion Rene Rast lead the field comfortably with the #59 of Leh Keen followed by the #88 of Paul Edwards.

Lucas Luhr drove hard before his pitstop to unlap himself and return to the lead lap, at tactic which worked out well as following the stop he would come out remaining on the same lap as leader Graham Rahal in the #01 Ganassi car.

The battle through the lapped cars continued and the two Ganassi car’s lead the way with a change of position as Dixon eased by in at the hairpin. From this moment on they would look to secure their lead pulling away from the #6 Michael Shank Racing car now in the hands of Jorge Goncalvez, which appeared to be slipping back in to the grasp of the chasing field of Wilson (#60), Law (#5) and Luhr (#8). The fastest two cars on track at the end of the hour were fourth places Wilson and eighth placed Luhr.

At the end of the hour a combination of pitstops and traffic saw the #44 Porsche leading the way in the GT class with the #59 Brumos Porsche chasing in second and the #88 Camaro of Autohaus Motorsports up to third.

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 10

1. #02 Chip Ganassi Racing – Dixon/Franchitti/McMurray/Montoya
2. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
3. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalvez, McDowell/ Nasr/Yacaman
4. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
5. #5 Action Express Racing – Donohue/Fittipaldi/Law

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 10 

1. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
2. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywood/Keen/Lieb
3. #88 Autohaus Motorsports – Edwards/Marsh/Milner/Taylor
4. #23 Alex Job Racing – Collard/Holzer/Leitzinger/
5. #57 Stevenson Motorsports – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell

Action Express Racing no.9 Corvette DP ( Photo Credit: Rolex/Stephan Cooper)

Despite extending their lead during the prolonged green flag running a brake pad and disc change on the no.8 Starworks Motorsport Riley-Ford was enough to drop it a lap off the lead, which Juan Pablo Montoya held at the end of the ninth hour of the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Ryan Dalziel – the man who put the no.8 car on pole position – had pulled out a lead or nearly fifteen seconds at its peak, but the extra time taken to complete work during a round of green flag pitstops meant that new driver Lucas Luhr returned to the track a lap down on the top three overall.

Montoya took the lead from Scott Pruett in the sister no.1 car, while Felipe Nasr moved in between the two Ganassi machines to take second place. The Brazilian, who won his drive through the Sunoco Rolex 24 at Daytona Challenge, briefly looked like he would be able to challenge Montoya for the lead, before the Colombian pulled out a gap of several seconds.

The same green flag period that had allowed Dalziel to build up a lead had also provided the time for Robin Liddell to gain a 30 second lead at the head of the Gt class in the Stevenson Motorsport Camaro.

Liddell’s lead survived the round of stops – John Edwards taking over responsibility for the no.57 – intact, the Camaro moving back into the lead once the Magnus and Brumos cars had taken their own spots. However, the hour was not all good for Stevenson’s two car team the no.75 car pitting with potential suspension or diveshaft problems, mechanics swarming over the rear of the car.

With only minutes left in the hour Edwards was called into serve a 110 second penalty in the pits for passing the pace car. Needless to say the delay wiped out the lead they had previously held, handing GT honours back to the best two Porsches in the hands of Rene Rast (Magnus) and Leh Keen (Brumos)

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 9

#02 Chip Ganassi Racing – Dixon/Franchitti/McMurray/Montoya
#6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalves/McDowell/Nasr/Yacaman
#01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
#5 Action Express Racing – Donahue/Fittipladi/Law
#90 Spirit of Daytona – Garcia/Gavin/Magnussen/Westbrook

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 9

#44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
#59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywwod/Keen/Lieb
#88 Autohaus Motorsports – Edwards/Marsh/Milner/Taylor
#67 TRG – Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
#23 Alex Job Racing – Collard/Holzer/Leitzinger/MacNeill

2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona (Photo Credit: Grand-Am)

Ryan Dalziel in the #8 Starworks Ford leads the Rolex 24-Hour at Daytona as the race enters its ninth hour.

The hour started under caution and this lead to a number of pit stops, most notable of which was the #02 BMW which saw Montoya take to the wheel.

When the green flag fell, Negri Jr led the race with Marco Holzer leading the GT class in his #23 Porsche. Also in the GT class, third place Richard Lietz in the #44 Porsche had to stop from third place after receiving a penalty for jumping the start.

There was little action during the hour, with the only notable event being a power outage in the pits and a puncture for Michael Valiante in the no.2 Starworks entry.

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 8

1.  #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
2. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
3. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 8

1. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywood/Keen/ Lieb
2. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
3. #57 Stevenson Motorsports – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell

The no.8 Starworks entry races through the Daytona night (Photo Credit: Grand-Am)

Ryan Dalziel in the #8 Starworks Ford leads the Rolex 24-hour at Daytona at the seven hour mark, after an hour dominated by two full course yellow periods.

The hour started with Oliver Gavin in #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette out infront with the #99 GAINSCO Corvette driven by Alex Gurney and the #01 BMW of Joey Hand less than a second behind him, with the top 10 cars all on the same lap.

Gavin and Gurney swapped places as they carved their way through the GT traffic which allowed Hand to close. Gurney then unexpectedly hit pit road with an apparent radiator problem. The signs looked ominous when the GAINSCO crew removed the front of the car, however they were thrown a lifeline when the #74 Audi spun causing the sixth full course caution of the race.

A majority of the car pitted. Hand, who had taken the lead from Gavin just before the caution, took the opportunity to change the front breaks on the #01 car. As this was happening the #99 reemerged from it’s garage with a new radiator and raring to go, albeit four laps down.

In the GT class a number of cars pitted for driver changes and repairs. The 5 car TGR team all stopped with the #66 replacing its front splitter.

The track went green with the top nine cars vying for position. Marco Andretti, in his first stint of the day, dropped down the order while Dario Franchitti in the #02 move up.

As sparks flew from Papis’ #9 Corvette due to earlier crash damage, less than a second covered the car in 5th from the car in 9th. However, this close racing was short lived as debris on track caused full course caution number seven.

The #9 of Papis pitted for extensive repairs to the rear left corner while the #46 Corvette of Michael Baughman stopped on track.

As racing resumed, the front 5 cars entered turn one nose to tail. Ryan Dalziel looked in no mood to hang around and swarmed all over the back of the #90 Corvette of Gavin, who inherited the lead during the stops. Dalzeil pushed Gavin hard and after two laps managed to overtake the Chevy.

Meanwhile in the GT class, the #66 of Allan Simonsen battled with the #63 of Toni Vilander and the pair constantly swapped places for 5th in class.

Back at the front, Hand and Braun battled hard as they both caught the #90 of Gavin. As Braun looked to overtake Hand, Franchitti closed and managed to take Braun into turn one.

More action in turn one only a few seconds later, as the as the #44 of Richard Lietz took to the outside of #67 of Marc Goossens for the lead of the GT class.

The hour ended with the #90 of Gavin slipping to the back of the train after missing the bus stop and having to stop at the exit.

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 6

1. #8 Starworks Motorsport - Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio

2. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
3. #02 Chip Ganassi Racing - Dixon/Franchitti/McMurray/Montoya
4. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
5. #76 Krohn Racing –Braun/Jonsson/Krohn/Zonta

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 6

1. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
2. #67 TGR -Bertheau/Bleekemolen/Goossens/Henzler/Pumpelly
3. #57 Stevenson Motorsport– Bremer/Edwards/Liddell
4. #63 Risi Competizione – Beretta/Bertolini/Vilander
5. #66 TRG – Farnbacher/Keating/Pilet’Simonsen

The no.99 car led with Jon Fogarty, Alex Gurney later trying to take the position again (Photo Credit: Grand-Am)

The decision not to pit under the fifth caution of the race delivered the Chevrolet Corvette DPs of Spirit of Daytona Racing and Bob Stallings Racing to the top two positions, Oliver Gavin and Alex Gurney fighting for the lead once the green flag few again.

The interruption to racing was caused by the Rick Ware Racing Mustang, stopped on the exit of turn one with front damage as a result of being hit by Jeff Segal in the AIM Autosport Ferrari 458 as he moved past the slower Mustang.

The caution brought many of the leaders into the pits. A.J. Allmendinger pitted from the lead for Michael Shank Racing, with Allan McNish and the two Ganassi cars following down the pitlane.

The stop under caution was the second pit visit of the hour from both McNish and Allmendinger, both having pitted on the same lap on twenty minutes earlier when running. McNish dominated the early part of the hour, pulling out a seven second lead in the time between the end of the previous full course caution. However, when he and Allmendinger pitted, and though both stayed in their respective cars Allmendinger, emerged two seconds ahead after the outlap and went on to assume the lead after others had made their own stops after the lead had changed hands several times, Dario Franchitti and Jon Fogarty each getting the chance to log laps in the lead.

Fogarty’s no.99 Bob Stallings Gainsco liveried car would return to the lead battle in the hands of Alex Gurney as he fought with Oliver Gavin towards the close of the hour.

Two high-profile Porsches suffered minor delays. Marc Lieb had handed the Brumos Racing entry over to Rolex 24 legend Hurley Haywood who kept the no.59 in the class top 10 despite losing time after spinning out at the bus stop chicane.

Seth Neiman, aboard the Flying Lizard Motorsport Porsche suffered a spin at the first horseshoe turn after contact with Colin Braun in Krohn Racing’s Lola-Ford Daytona Prototype. Braun was attepting to make a pass around the outside of the right hander but Nieman appeared to wash out from the apex clipping the green and blue prototype and spinning backwards into the grass. Both car suffered damage as a result of contact, though both were able to limp back to the pits.

Following a number of GT pitstops early in the hour Ronnie Bremer was leading the class in the Stevenson Motorsport Camaro he shares with John Edwards and Robin Liddell. However, after the caution period and restart the Camaro squad had slipped to second, Magnus Racing retaking the class lead and eleventh overall.

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 6

1. #90 Spirit of Daytona – Garcia/Gavin/Magnussen/Westbrook
2. #99 Bob Stallings Racing – Fogarty/Gidley/Gurney
3. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
4. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
5. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalves/McDowell/Nasr/Yacaman

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 6

1. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
2. #57 Stevenson Motorsport – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell
3. #23 Alex Job Racing – Collard/Holzer/Leitzinger/MacNeill
4. #66 TRG – Farnbacher/Keating/Pilet’Simonsen
5. #88 Autohaus Motorsports – Edwards/Marsh/Milner/Taylor

Allmendinger was pushing hard in hour 5 in the #60 Michael Shanks Racing Ford - Credit: James Boone

The opening moments of the fifth hour marked routine pit stops for a lot of the teams, with temperatures dropping signalling a change to aerodynamic settings as the temperatures drop.

Another full course yellow would be called as the #41 Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 got out of shape exiting the chicane on the back straight and the #50 of Elliott Forbes-Robinson could do little to avoid the spinning Mazda. The #41 was left stranded on the edge of the circuit with the front end wreck while the #50 limped around to the pits.

As racing resumed 35 minutes later Ryan Hunter-Reay led the #2 Starworks Motorsport Ford/Riley across the line with Richard Westbrook chasing hard. Back in the GT class Marc Lieb was first in class ahead of Jorg Bergmeister’s Flying Lizard Porsche.

With the caution period closing the field up third (#60 Allmendinger), fourth (#8 McNish), and fifth (#5 Donohue) place fought hard for positions, running side by side through the Daytona banking. Allmendinger was the man on the move as he pushed his way to second passing Westbrook and powering through to first place on the following lap.

Meanwhile in the GT class Lieb was holding on to the lead, but Bergmeister wasn’t prepared to give up and was hunting down the #59 Brumos Porsche while pulling away from the #44 of Andrew Lally.

Back at the front Allmendinger enjoyed a couple of laps free of pressure while the battle for second emergerd withHunter-Reay getting the better of the three drivers fighting for position. Suddenly Allemendinger had his mirrors full of the #2 of Hunter-Reay and a track full of GT cars in front. The #2 would take full advantage of the situation to lead the race with Starworks team mate Allan McNish pushing hard, just 0.092s behind.

Further GT traffic would wee McNish grab the opportunity to take the lead and power ahead, as the field crossed the line the #8 Ford was nearly half a second ahead of his #2 Starworks team mate.

As the hour rounded out the battle for the overall lead was hotting up with Allmendinger and Hunter-Reay trading places with Westbrook and Ricardo Zonta now call closing in on McNish. 

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 5

1. #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
2. #2 Starworks Motorsport – Hunter-Reay/Mayer/Potolicchio/Valiante
3. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
4. #90 Spirit of Daytona – Garcia/Gavin/Magnussen/Westbrook
5. #76 Krohn Racing – Braun/Jonsson/Krohn/Zonta

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 5

1. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywood/Keen/Lieb
2. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
3. #57 Stevenson Motorsports – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell
4. #66 TRG – Farnbacher/Keating/Pilet’Simonsen
5. #45 Flying Lizards Motorsports – Bergmeister/Long/Neiman/Rockenfeller

Andy Lally held the GT class for Magnus Racing after surviving a challenge from Joerg Bergmeister (Photo Credit: James Boone)

Lucas Luhr and Allan McNish enjoyed time in the lead as the pole-sitting no.8 Starworks Motorsport Riley-Ford returned to the top of the leaderboard early in the fourth hour of the 50th Rolex 24 Hours.

With Luhr driving the blue and white car took the lead from Justin Wilson in the Michael Shank Racing no.60 at turn one. The Indycar driver had only held the top spot for a lap after Joao Barbosa had pitted in the Action Express Racing Corvette DP – possibly anticipating a full course caution after Derek Whitis stopped his Muehlner Motorsport Porsche on the inside of the International Horseshoe.

The strategy failed to pay off. The stricken Porsche was recovered without the safety car being needed and Terry Borcheller slotted back into fourth place behind McNish, Michael Valiente and Wilson.

Valiente gave Starworks a surprising 1-2 in the running order, actually challenging McNish in the opening laps of the Scot’s first race stint of the race. However, McNish pulled away as he settled into the car, Valiente instead slipping back towards Wilson, who completed the pass for second place at turn one when the no.2 car was briefly held up behind a GT class Mazda.

The fourth hour also included the end of Felipe Nasr’s opening Rolex 24 stint in the no.6 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian car. The Brazilian climbed as high as fifth overall, passing several cars in the process, including that of Jan Magnussen – father of Nasr’s 2011 British F3 rival.

“It was unbelievable. I passed more cars in that stint than in an entire season in F3!” said Nasr after handing the car over to Jorge Goncalves. “I am going to go get some sleep now and food before my next stint – the team are doing well, i hope we can stay in the mix. Things are looking good right now.”

Goncalves – another Rolex 24 rookie fell behind both the Ganassi cars early in his stint, though he regained fifth place when Memo Rojas pitted shortly after he and Jamie McMurray in the sister Riley-BMW touched while passing a GT car on the infield.

In the GT class the no.44 Magnus Racing Porsche led at the conclusion of the hour, Andy Lally having resisted a challenge from Joerg Bergmeister in the Flying Lizards no.45 car. Lally had taken over the lead car from Porsche Supercup champion Rene Rast, but Bergmeister whittled away the lead to only a few tenths of a second.

A tiny mistake from Lally – running deep into turn one allowed Bergmeister to come alongside and the pair ran wheel to wheel through the quick chicane before the first of Daytona’s two horseshoe turns, Lally retaking the lead on the inside line.

Bergmeister fell back shortly after, falling out of the top five at the end of the hour.

After a seemingly innocuous off in the infield with Billy Johnson at the wheel the no.94 Turner Motorsports BMW M3 was retired from the race.

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 4

1. #8 Starworks Motorsport – Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio
2. #60 Michael Shank Racing – Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson
3. #2 Starworks Motorsport – Andretti/Hunter-Reay/Potolicchio/Potolicchio/Valiente
4. #02 Chip Ganassi Racing – Dixon/Franchitti/McMurray/Montoya
5. #6 Michael Shank Racing – Goncalves/McDowell/Nasr/Yacaman

50th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 4

1. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
2. #66 TRG – Farnbacher/Keating/Pilet’Simonsen
3. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywood/Keen/Lieb
4. #48 Paul Miller Racing – Bell/Miller/Maassen
5. #32 Orbit/GMG – Armindo/Curtis/Lewis/Sofronas/Willsey

The #10 SunTrust Racing car started the race as favorites

The SunTrust Racing team finished the 50th Rolex 24-Hour at Daytona prematurely after their Chevrolet/Corvette DP suffered a valve train problem.

The #10 car started well before fading fast in the opening half hour in the hands of Max Angelelli, who promptly pitted. After a short stop it soon became clear the problem was terminal.

‘It’s really disappointing,’ said owner Wayne Taylor. ‘There’s a problem in the valve train; quite honestly, we’re not exactly sure what it is, but there is a problem, enough for us to pull the car out.

‘We came into this weekend feeling very upbeat. Everybody, all of the support we’ve had from GM, SunTrust, Dallara and Corvette, everybody. We’ll just go back, regroup and we’ll comeback at the next event.’

SunTrust driver Ryan Briscoe was particularly disappointed not to have the chance to take part in the 5oth Rolex 24-Hours at Daytona.

‘It is just tremendously disappointing,’ he said. ‘The effort that everyone on the whole team put in and Wayne (Taylor), Max (Angelelli), Ricky (Taylor), the engineers, all the mechanics; this is a big race for this whole team and proud to be a part of it. But obviously it hurts right now not to have a shot at winning the 50th.

‘We are all sort of hanging our heads a bit low right now, but proud of the work everyone did.’

#99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Chevrolet/Corvette DP

Alex Gurney has said he is happy with his opening stint in the #99 GAINSCO Corvette, after taking the new Corvette Daytona Prototype to the lead of the race.

“We’re pretty happy,” he said. “At the very beginning of the race you’re always focused on not hitting anything and making sure no one does anything crazy at the start, and I was happy about that.

“I lost a position on the start, so was running fifth for a while. Then (Max) Angelelli got caught up in traffic and I got around him. Then I just settled in, running a hard pace, but trying to be careful in traffic too. It’s a good start for the new Corvette.”

Gurney’s father Dan won the inaugural Daytona 24 Hour in 1962 and on the 50th anniversary of this Alex is hoping he can follow in his fathers wheel tracks.

“Obviously, that’s the goal,” he said. “That kind chance doesn’t come along very often! Fifty years is a big landmark, so I’m definitely hoping to do it. We haven’t won this race before, so it’s the perfect time to make it happen.”