Scott Dixon led much of the second hour of the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the #02 Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Ford EcoBoost powered Riley.
The need for a pitstop briefly took the lead out of Dixon’s hands before the completion of the second round of stops for the Prototypes handed him back the lead with a healthy advantages of 12 seconds at the end of the hour over Joao Barbosa in the #5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP.
There were issues in the pits for both of the leaders’ teammates, Burt Frisselle bringing the #9 Action Express Racing car in for the team to have a brief look under the read bodywork. Scott Pruett in Ganassi’s #01 had a far scarier moment as he was released from a schedule pitstop too soon, knocking one of his mechanics to ground as he pulled away with a loose left-rear wheel. The car was pulled back into the team’s pit box, everyone involved happily uninjured, though the team were further delayed by a 20 second stop-go for the infraction.
Also in trouble were the Extreme Speed Motorsports teammates, who both had spins at the Bus Stop chicane. Scott Sharp in the #1 was tapped into his half rotation while battling with the OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan. However it was Johannes van Overbeek’s mistake that pitched the #2 entry into a spin that concluded with the car hitting the wall, damaging the right-rear suspension.
Alex Tagliani led the PC class at the end of the hour in the #8 Starworks Motorsport entry, with a comfortable margin over reigning class champion Mark Guasch racing for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport.
A typically close battle in the GTLM was underway at the end of the hour – though with a round of pitstops for the class imminent. Nick Tandy had only just taken the lead from Marc Goossens in the pole sitting Viper that started the race facing the field at the International Horseshoe. Tandy and Goossens went side-by-side around the banking of super speedway turns one and two before the inside line for the Bus Stop gave Tandy the class lead in the #911 Porsche.
The NGT Motorsports team led a a top four in GTD comprised entirely of Porsches, leading by 8 seconds over GB Autosport’s contender
2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona class standings after 2 hours
P
#02 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates – Riley-Ford – Dixon/Kanaan/Franchitti/Larson
#5 Action Express Racing – Corvette DP – Barbosa/Fittipaldi/Bourdais/Frisselle
#10 Wayne Taylor Racing – Corvette DP – Taylor/Taylor/Taylor/Angelelli
PC
#08 RSR Racing – ORECA FLM09 – Cumming/Tagliani/Mitchell/Daly
#52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport – ORECA FLM09 – Montecalvo/Jeannette/Cheng/Guasch
#87 BAR1 Motorsport – ORECA FLM09 – Rayhall/Kovacic/Bielefield/Kearby/Kasemets
GTLM
#911 Porsche North America – Porsche 911 – Tandy/Lietz/Pilet
#91 SRT Motorsports – SRT Viper – Goossens/Farnbacher/Hunter-Reay
#62 Risi Competizione – Ferrari 458 – Malucelli/Fisichella/Bruni/Beretta
GTD
#30 NGT Motorsports – Porsche 911 – Cisneros/Giermaziak/Nielsen/Thiim
#81 GB Autosports – Porsche 911 – Faulkner/Huisman/Faieta/Avenati
#73 Park Place Motorsports – Porsche 911 – Lindsey/Estre/De Phillippi/Hart/Vess
