2012 Rolex 24 Hours At Daytona: Hour 2 Update

Scott Pruett in the #01 Chip Racing with Felix Sabates leads the 50^th running of the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona as they entre the third hour of racing.

The hour started with Alex Gurney in the #99 GAINSCO Corvette leading Oswaldo Negri Jr in the #60 Michael Shank Racing Ford. The pair battled in with Negri Jr closing before taking the lead from Gurney as the #99 hit traffic.

Behind this pair, Scott Purett made his way through the field as the #8 Starworks Ford of Enzo Potolicchio dropped back. AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson showed good pace in the #50 50+ Predator BMW before a lengthy spell in the garage which put the team 13 laps down.

Negri Jr continued to extend his lead, and just before the pitstops held a 7 second lead from Dixon with Pruett a further six tenths down the road. Negri Jr and Dixon then pitted. John Pew took to the drivers seat of the #60 while Dixon continued behind the wheel of the #02 car. Also in these pitstops, Jan Magnussen took over from Antonio Garcia in the #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette and Sunoco Rolex 24 at Daytona Challenge winner Felipe Nasr took to the wheel of then #6 Michael Shank Racing Ford, replacing Michael McDowell.

In the GT class, the #23 Alex Job Racing of Marco Holzer held the lead at the start of the hour and lead a Porsche 1-2-3 as the #40 car of Dempsey and #87 of Maxime Soulet entered turn one backwards in separate incidents. Emmanuel Collard replaced Hozler in the #23 and he led the GT class at the 2hr mark.

Just as the pitstops finished a full course yellow was throw after the #12 car of Darryl Shoff stopped on track and needed to be recovered. Dixon in the #02 car took advantage and stopped for adjustments to the push rods on his BMW.

But as the green fell and sun sets Pruett leads with 22 hours remaining.

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona DP class standings after Hour 1

1. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing – Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas
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. #9 Action Express Racing -Barbosa/Borcheller/France/Papis

50^th Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class standings after Hour 1

1. #23 Alex Job Racing – Collard/Holzer/Leitzinger/MacNeil
2. #59 Brumos Racing – Davis/Haywood/Keen/Lieb
3. #45 Flying Lizards Motorsports – Bergmeister/Long/Neiman/Rockenfeller
4. #44 Magnus Racing – Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast
5. #57 Stevenson Motorsports – Bremer/Edwards/Liddell