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.
50th 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
50th 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
