The Avon Tyres British GT Championship field in 2011 (Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey)

With three weeks still remaining until the deadline for entries the grid for this year’s Avon Tyres British GT Championship already appears to be on course to match – or even eclipse – that of the 2011 season.

“With over 14 applications already received and several weeks to go ahead of the final entry deadline on the 29th February, interest and enthusiasm for this year’s British GT championship is immense,” said championship manager Benjamin Franassovici.

“We are currently working hard on adding new brands and models to the already exciting GT field we have, and more will be revealed between now and the Media Day at Silverstone. Last year was good, this year will be better.”

The latest confirmations bring three Ferrari 458 GT3 to the grid. Two will be entered by MTECH, with title contenders Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron again combining in one car. After dominating an admittedly thin GT3B category in 2011 Aaron Scott and John Dhillon make the step up to the premier GT3 class in a second 458 for the team, Scott combining British GT commitments with a previously announced Blancpain Endurance Series campaign in a GT3 Racing run Dodge Viper.

MTECH, who have come close the title with Griffin and Cameron the past two seasons, picking up four wins in the process, are due to announce a third car, though in which class remains unclear. Rivals Trackspeed have already announced their intention to run a trio of Porsches in the main GT3 class.

After debuting the new car in the closing rounds of the 2011 season Hector Lester’s Rosso Verde team will enter a single 458 for Lester and an as yet unnamed co-driver.

The older GT3 Ferrari – the 430 Scuderia – will continue to be represented in the series as Adam Wilcox and Phil Burton will again drive the black Predator CCTV machine.

Long a fixture in a the GT4 category Ginetta stepped up to the top class in 2011 with their new G55. After a tough development season – punctuated with strong performances in difficult conditions at Rockingham and Donington Park – the Yorkshire based manufacturer introduced a massively updated car for the final round in October.

Two teams are already confirmed as running the GT3 Ginetta G55 this season

After further running through the winter the new GT3-spec Ginetta G55 is already entered by two teams – Stark Racing with Hepworth and Team WFR. While Team WFR – who will also run a G50 in the GT4 class – have not announced their drivers the Stark entry will be helmed by Ian Stinton with Jake Rattenbury, the young Welshman a race winner with Century Motorsport in GT4 last season.

Rattenbury’s former team expand to a pair of Ginetta G50 for their 2012 campaign. Once again the squad have turned to the Principality for driving talent, signing Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Champion Dominic Evans for one of the cars.

“My ambition has always been to race GT’s at the highest level,” said Evans. “Some of the alternative championships simply do not have the mix of cars, the levels of professionalism, TV exposure or Kudos needed to make racing at this level a viable option, so for me British GT was the only credible option. I can’t wait to get stuck in.”

Not content with boosting the GT3 grid – running a BMW Z4 in the British championship for the first time – a Ginetta G50 will also be run from the Barwell Motorsport garages for Peter Erceg, who switches from Aston Martin over the off-season.

Following the media day in late March the opening round of the championship takes place on the Easter weekend – April 7-9.

Mike Simpson Testing The Ginetta G55 GT3 At Donington Park

Ginetta continued the extensive test programme for their G55 GT3 car last week when they took it to Donington Park for its first UK test with its new 2012 configuration engine. The new car has covered almost 5,000km in testing across the UK and Europe over the winter, with the majority of the testing being conducted by Ginetta chairman Lawrence Tomlinson and development driver Mike Simpson.

Mike Simpson said: “Having conducted much of the testing at Donington Park throughout the cars development in 2011, it provided the perfect baseline for a shakedown of the 2012 spec car. It proved to be an outstanding success, with the car showing a fantastic increase in performance from previous tests.”

Footage of the new G55 GT3 being tested can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wADz4elEbDA

Ginetta is set for a strong presence in the 2012 British GT Championship, having already sold three of their new G55 GT3’s to Optimum Motorsport, Stark Racing and Team WFR. These will be joined on the grid by Century Motorsport’s two G50 GT4’s, Barwell Motorsport’s two G50 GT4’s and a G55 GT4 and G50 GT4 run by Team WFR.

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.

Adam Morgan's Successor As Ginetta GT Supercup Champion Will Not Recieve A BTCC Prize Drive - Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

The winner of the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup will no longer receive a fully funded drive in the British Touring Car Championship, with the series organisers instead announcing a ‘pounds for points’ scheme for the 2012 season.

Last year’s inaugural Ginetta GT Supercup saw eventual title winner Adam Morgan receive a funded drive in this year’s BTCC. This season though, Ginetta are instead implementing their new scheme, which will see a prize fund of £100,000 given out.

The top ten G55 finishers in each championship race will be rewarded with £10 per point, which will get totalled up and handed out at the end of the season, with the G55 champion to also receive an additional £5,000 on top of his existing haul.

Double prize money will be up for grabs at the Knockhill and Croft rounds to entice crews into making the longer trips. In the G50 class meanwhile, the champion will receive the use of a Ginetta G55 for the 2013 season.

Ginetta GT Supercup Championship Coordinator Max Gregory said: “This year’s prize fund will offer each competitor the chance to win something whilst still providing a substantial overall amount for the overall championship winner. The £100,000 prize pot is sure to give many teams the chance to recoup some of their costs during what is undoubtedly a difficult financial time for many involved in the sport.”

Popular Yorkshireman Max Coates Is Teaming Up With YourRacingCar.com In 2012 - Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

The original fan funded project YourRacingCar.com will return to their Ginetta roots in 2012 after signing up to partner popular young racer Max Coates.

After backing AMD Milltek Racing in the British Touring Car Championship in 2011, the Milton Keynes-based initiative have elected to return to the Ginetta family to back Yorkshireman Coates as he steps up to the G50 class of the Ginetta GT Supercup.

YRC founder Hannah James said: “Going back to Ginetta was an easy decision to make. It’s far and away the best value championship from a fans perspective and in reality that’s all that matters to us. It’s exciting, the cars are fantastic and basing ourselves at the heart of the BTCC support paddock means we can offer more access to our members than ever before.”

YRC chose Coates after being impressed by his dogged determination, despite budgetary constraints, in 2011. James added: “Our activities have always been lead as far as possible by our fans interests. Max is totally different from any driver I’ve ever met before and having an opportunity to help support someone with his spirit, not to mention talent, is something I know our members will be thrilled about.”

Coates commented: “Partnering with YRC this year is a great opportunity. Having fans is an important part of being a racing driver and this unique supporters club gives me the opportunity to do just that.”

Full details on membership packages for YRC can be found at http://www.yourracingcar.com/membership/.

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.

Jamie Orton In Action In The Ginetta GT Supercup In 2011 At Silverstone - Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Jamie Orton has confirmed a full time move into the Ginetta GT Supercup in 2012 after buying Adam Morgan’s 2011 title winning G55.

Orton made a one-off appearance in the final rounds of last year’s Supercup at Silverstone. Running with Total Control Racing, Orton took a best finish of fourteenth in his two races. After clearly getting the Ginetta bug, the reigning Caterham Superlight R300 Champion is returning for a full campaign in his ex-Ciceley Racing car.

Ginetta Championship Co-ordinator Max Gregory added: “Jamie’s first run with us wasn’t representative of his pace. This year will be a different story. He’s got great car control and with some more seat time he’ll be one to watch.”

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.

TJ Motorsport's 2011 Line-up Sennan Fielding, George Gamble and Brad Bailey - Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Race-winning Ginetta Junior team TJ Motorsport have pulled out of the championship ahead of the 2012 season after struggling to attract enough drivers for the new campaign.

TJ Motorsport have enjoyed success in the series during their six-year participation, particularly in the last couple of years. In 2010, Louise Richardson took two wins for the team on her way to third in the championship, while her team-mates Jody Fannin and Tom Howard also took victories. Last season, George Gamble took three wins on his way to third in the main championship, before going on to win the Ginetta Junior Winter Series, while Sennan Fielding also took a race win for the team.

The team had an option to run Gamble in 2012, but the Nottingham-based racer has instead left to join reigning champions Hillspeed. With the team struggling to acquire enough drivers to make a 2012 programme viable, they have decided to leave and look into other projects.

Team boss Trevor Griffiths told Motorsport News: “We’ve got a good association with Ginetta but we needed three cars to make it viable. We’re geared up to do virtually anything on the British scene, if we get the right drivers with the right budgets.”

2011 Race-winner Charlie Robertson Is Going For The Title In 2012 - Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Charlie Robertson has confirmed his much-anticipated return to the Ginetta Junior Championship in 2012 with HHC Motorsport.

Robertson took three wins on his way to second place behind Seb Morris in the 2011 championship, a superb showing in the 15 year old’s maiden car racing campaign.

Now the Caterham School pupil, who has been recognised by Motorsport News as one of the top three British drivers to watch in 2012, is returning to series with Harrogate-based HHC Motorsport and has his eyes firmly set on winning the championship title.

Surrey based Robertson said: “This year I’m aiming for nothing less than the championship title in Ginetta Junior, I’ve got a great relationship with the guys at HHC and we know we’ve got what it takes to win.

“I’m really looking forward to testing getting underway and being back in the car, it feels like ages since the winter championship last November. We know Ginetta Junior will be as tough as ever this year but, with a year’s experience under my belt, I’m well prepared and I’m confident we can fight for the title.”

Parr Motorsport Team Boss Paul Robe And New Signing Chris Dymond

Chris Dymond has been confirmed as Parr Motorsport’s latest driver for the 2012 Porsche Carrera Cup GB.

A former top level international karter, Dymond began his car racing career in 2007, winning the graduate title in the Renault Clio Cup. In 2008 and 2009 he competed in the FIA GT3 Championship, before winning the Radical UK Cup title in 2010. Last season he contested selected events in the Blancpain Endurance Series.

Silverstone-based Dymond enters the Porsche Carrera Cup thanks to support from PPC Motorsport Marketing Limited. Dymond will be joining fellow young racer Ben Barker in the Parr Motorsport line-up and is hoping to challenge for consistent podium finishes.

Dymond said: “In the Carrera Cup it is purely about me with no other factors. The career path with Porsche is very good and it is the best platform for me. Le Mans is where I really want to get to. I’m really aiming to be consistently in the Carrera Cup top three by the end of the year.”

Parr Motorsport Team boss Paul Robe added: “Chris is just the type of driver we want to run in the team. I’m really excited about working with Chris and I believe he has got great potential.”

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

Max's racing year started with some Ginetta action live at Autosport International (Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography)

As this is my first blog of 2012 I want to start off by wishing you all a happy and prosperous new year, a bit late I know!

Since my last blog there has been a few motorsport related events for me but really in the off season everything is focussed on next year, now this year! Also around this time every year I have my birthday, all the more special this year as it was my 18th.

About a week after that was the Autosport show, the show that really kicks things into gear for the forthcoming season. This year was the busiest I have ever been at the Autosport show, I never seemed to stop. On Thursday and Friday I was driving in the live action arena so I set off early Thursday morning to arrive for some practice sessions. I was driving a Ginetta G40 car and was racing against some of the names from both last year and this year. The driving was great fun, a different surface completely changed the way the car handled and produced some really close racing. Our brief was simply “don’t crash”, the racing and swapping of places was left to us. By the final practice session on Thursday we got it spot on, we were close in the arena and battling all the time, even in that little space we were managing to get three abreast. One slight problem was that the van racing had dropped some diesel making the outside of the track very greasy. If we went wide we either under steered continuously or had big sideways moments. It did make the racing fun and I enjoyed it very much.

I had a quick look in the show for about half an hour to have a quick chat to sponsor before popping back over to the live action arena for the main performance. I spent about half an hour in the show after that at the Ginetta and MSA stands before dashing off to race in the second Ginetta team in the Celebrity Karting Challenge. I was joined by Tom Ingram, Mike Simpson and Adam Morgan as well as two members of the public, one of which was an old friend from my Karting days. We each got a couple of laps of practice and I felt good in the Kart. I did seem to lose a little to the others on the straights and our first Kart broke down at the hands of Mike Simpson. On changing to our second Kart we realised it was even worse, when we went to full throttle it braked and the engine bogged so much on corners, also it stalled when we came in the pits and when we started it up again the throttle was jammed open.

Everyone seemed to “have a bad kart” but we certainly did. We qualified in mid pack and sent out a public driver to start the race. He spun in avoidance to one of the crashes and at the end of the first stint we were right at the back. Adam Morgan took the kart for the second part of the race who pulled back a few positions. Then our second public driver hopped in before handing over to me. I jumped in and pulled back another position or so before handing over to Tom Ingram and then Mike to finish off. We clawed back a few places from where we started but couldn’t quite beat the other Ginetta team, however it was a great event to do and I am very grateful to Race Drivers Inc for organising my place in the team and also to Ginetta for sponsoring the event and having me on their team.
 
Friday was another busy day, I was representing the MSA Academy on the MSA stand on Friday morning, our job was to man the Batak wall and run the reaction race for the MSA. We had a successful show with many participants throughout the four days. After being on the stand in the morning I went back to the live action arena for the live show on Friday afternoon. With my Dad and many friends watching in the 5000 strong crowd I was eager to put on a good show. The race went well and after that I went back in the show and spent the afternoon meeting various people and buying some new boots and gloves for this year’s campaign.

On that Friday night was the annual Ginetta Awards evening held in the Hilton hotel at the NEC, it was a great night surrounded by friends from the season, I was very pleased to win “the RSPCA cruelty to animal’s award” as a result of the pigeon incident at Brands Hatch.

Saturday was my last day at the show; I started with a few meetings finishing off form Friday before another stint on the MSA stand in the afternoon.

The week after the Autosport show was manic with follow ups from the weekend before, A level exams and a training day at the Porsche Human Performance centre at Silverstone with Mark Webber.

The day compromised of four sessions, the first was Yoga. I found it very relaxing and it is something I would like to incorporate into my training in the future. The next session was based on Nutrition, every time I have a talk, 1:1, conversation about nutrition I seem to learn something new. After lunch we had a ‘Q and A’ session with Mark. In the afternoon we went over to iZone for a neck training session. Having a strong neck is obviously very important in motorsport with the ‘G forces’ involved. The final session was on the iZone simulator, the fastest lap would win a signed Mark Webber cap. After my session I was fastest, but was piped to the post by a couple of tenths of a second. The whole day was a great experience and the knowledge gained will no doubt help me with my off track preparation this year.

Since the Mark Webber day I have sat an A level exam, I was hoping to be able to confirm that I would race in a BTCC support race this last week but unfortunately things haven’t come to fruition as early as I’d hoped. Hopefully I will have some good news soon.

Until next month,

Max

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