DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In his ninth try at winning North America’s most prestigious sports car race, team owner Michael Shank put his faith in a stock car driver. And that driver – A.J. Allmendinger – put in three grueling hours at the wheel of the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Ford/Riley Daytona Prototype to win the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Allmendinger, who recently signed to drive for legendary owner Roger Penske in the NASCAR Sprint Car Series and was in his seventh run in the 24 with Shank, outran second-place Ryan Dalziel in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Ford /Riley.

First-timer Felipe Nasr, the young Brazilian who until last December’s test at Daytona had never driven a DP, finished third in the second Shank car, the No. 6 Ford/Riley. Nasr secured the ride by virtue of winning the Sunoco Rolex 24 at Daytona Challenge championship for competitors in five European series.

Allmendinger shared the winning ride with Ozz Negri, John Pew and Justin Wilson. And while the final time sheet shows a winning margin of 5.198 seconds, Allmendinger’s closing stint was not without drama. He rubbed fenders with veteran sports car racer Allan McNish in the No. 8 Ford and later had to go 20 feet wide in turn one to avoid a GT car as the laps wound down.

Celebrating in Victory Lane he admitted the strain of the final run. “I’m so worn out,” he said. “We wanted to win this for Shank. The motor was so fast. I am so drained.

“I knew those last three hours I was going to have to go flat out. It was fun. When Dalziel got in the car . . . I knew I was going to have to drive my (rear end) off. I pushed really hard to build up a gap and take those last 10 laps to manage that gap.”

Juan Pablo Montoya finished fourth overall, one lap down, in the No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Target/TELMEX BMW/Riley, marking the first time since 2005 that a Ganassi car was not on the podium. Defending race and series champion Scott Pruett finished sixth in the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley, four laps down, after transmission problems surfaced late.

The GT class victory went to Andy Lally, John Potter, Richard Lietz and Rene Rast in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche.

“I absolutely knew we had the potential to do it,” Lally said of the victory. “It was a pleasure to be able to join the team. It was absolutely epic to come home . . . on the top step, especially the 50th.”

Second place in GT went to the No. 67 TRG while third place went to the No. 59 Brumos Porsche.

The race marked the debut of three makes of cars – Corvette in Prototypes and
Ferrari and Audi in GT. The highest finishing Corvette – the No. 5 Action Express Racing entry of Darren Law, David Donohue and Christian Fittipaldi – came home fifth.
The top finishing Ferrari – the No. 63 Risi Competizione entry – came home fifth in GT while the top placing Audi – the No. 51 APR entry – was 31st in GT.
The Corvettes experienced trouble early with the No. 5 losing a cylinder on the opening circuit. More telling was the engine failure in the No. 10 Sun Trust Racing entry that ran only 14 laps and was forced to retire with engine problems.

“It’s really disappointing but at the same time this is what happens in this game,” team owner Wayne Taylor said.

The team, which started second, finished 58th overall and 14th among the Prototypes. It will receive championship points being awarded to Angelelli and co-driver Ricky Taylor since Angelelli did his required 30-minute stint.

“Because of catastrophic failure the second driver automatically gets points,” Taylor said adding the engine failure was the first the team had experienced since switching to Chevy engines last season.

Shank took the DP lead in the inaugural North American Endurance Championship presented by VISITFLORIDA.com with 16 points. Starworks is second with 14 and Ganassi’s No. 01 team third with 12. In GT, Magnus leads with 16 points, Brumos is second with 15 and the No. 67 TRG team third with 13.

Points were awarded on a 5-4-3-2 basis at six-hour increments in the Rolex 24. The series continues in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on July 1, and concludes with the Super Weekend at the Brickyard on July 27 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

 :

The Recap

In his ninth try at winning North America’s most prestigious sports car race, team owner Michael Shank put his faith in a stock car driver. And that driver – A.J. Allmendinger – put in three grueling hours at the wheel of the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Ford/Riley Daytona Prototype to win the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Allmendinger, who recently signed to drive for legendary owner Roger Penske in the NASCAR Sprint Car Series and was in his seventh run in the 24 with Shank, outran second-place Ryan Dalziel in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Ford /Riley.

First-timer Felipe Nasr, the young Brazilian who until last December’s test at Daytona had never driven a DP, finished third in the second Shank car, the No. 6 Ford/Riley. Nasr secured the ride by virtue of winning the Sunoco Rolex 24 at Daytona Challenge championship for competitors in five European series.

Allmendinger shared the winning ride with Ozz Negri, John Pew and Justin Wilson. And while the final time sheet shows a winning margin of 5.198 seconds, Allmendinger’s closing stint was not without drama. He rubbed fenders with veteran sports car racer Allan McNish in the No. 8 Ford and later had to go 20 feet wide in turn one to avoid a GT car as the laps wound down.

Celebrating in Victory Lane he admitted the strain of the final run. “I’m so worn out,” he said. “We wanted to win this for Shank. The motor was so fast. I am so drained.

“I knew those last three hours I was going to have to go flat out. It was fun. When Dalziel got in the car . . . I knew I was going to have to drive my (rear end) off. I pushed really hard to build up a gap and take those last 10 laps to manage that gap.”

Juan Pablo Montoya finished fourth overall, one lap down, in the No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Target/TELMEX BMW/Riley, marking the first time since 2005 that a Ganassi car was not on the podium. Defending race and series champion Scott Pruett finished sixth in the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley, four laps down, after transmission problems surfaced late.

The GT class victory went to Andy Lally, John Potter, Richard Lietz and Rene Rast in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche.

“I absolutely knew we had the potential to do it,” Lally said of the victory. “It was a pleasure to be able to join the team. It was absolutely epic to come home . . . on the top step, especially the 50th.”

Second place in GT went to the No. 67 TRG while third place went to the No. 59 Brumos Porsche.

The race marked the debut of three makes of cars – Corvette in Prototypes and
Ferrari and Audi in GT. The highest finishing Corvette – the No. 5 Action Express Racing entry of Darren Law, David Donohue and Christian Fittipaldi – came home fifth.
The top finishing Ferrari – the No. 63 Risi Competizione entry – came home fifth in GT while the top placing Audi – the No. 51 APR entry – was 31st in GT.

The Corvettes experienced trouble early with the No. 5 losing a cylinder on the opening circuit. More telling was the engine failure in the No. 10 Sun Trust Racing entry that ran only 14 laps and was forced to retire with engine problems.

“It’s really disappointing but at the same time this is what happens in this game,” team owner Wayne Taylor said.

The team, which started second, finished 58th overall and 14th among the Prototypes. It will receive championship points being awarded to Angelelli and co-driver Ricky Taylor since Angelelli did his required 30-minute stint.

“Because of catastrophic failure the second driver automatically gets points,” Taylor said adding the engine failure was the first the team had experienced since switching to Chevy engines last season.

Shank took the DP lead in the inaugural North American Endurance Championship presented by VISITFLORIDA.com with 16 points. Starworks is second with 14 and Ganassi’s No. 01 team third with 12. In GT, Magnus leads with 16 points, Brumos is second with 15 and the No. 67 TRG team third with 13.

Points were awarded on a 5-4-3-2 basis at six-hour increments in the Rolex 24. The series continues in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on July 1, and concludes with the Super Weekend at the Brickyard on July 27 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Rolex 24: The Stats

DP 1st: Ozz Negri, John Pew, AJ Allmendinger, Justin Wilson, No. 60 LiveOn.com Ford/Riley
DP 2nd: Ryan Dalziel, Enzo Potolicchio, Alex Popow, Lucas Luhr, Allan McNish, No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Ford/Riley
DP 3rd: Felipe Nasr, Mike McDowell, Jorge Goncalvez, Gustavo Yacaman, No. 6 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Ford/Riley
GT 1st: Andy Lally, John Potter, Rene Rast, Richard Lietz, No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3
GT 2nd: Spencer Pumpelly, Steven Bertheau, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Wolf Henzler, Marc Goossens, No. 67 Sargent & Lundy Porsche GT3
GT 3rd: Leh Keen, Andrew Davis, Hurley Haywood, Marc Lieb, No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche GT3

Margin of Victory: 5.198 seconds (overall); 9.412 seconds (GT)
Average Speed: 126.300 mph (overall); 118.031 mph (GT)
Cautions: 13 for 64 laps

Noteworthy

TELMEX/Target Chip Ganassi’s unprecedented run of success came to an end in the final 75 minutes of the Rolex 24, when four-time Rolex 24 champion Scott Pruett reported losing first and second gears. The team repaired the transmission on pit road and the No. 01 TELMEX/Target BMW/Riley of defending winners Pruett, Memo Rojas, Graham Rahal and Joey Hand went on to finish sixth, while the team’s No. 02 Target/TELMEX BMW/Riley took fourth, one lap down. Since the team’s No. 02 entry won in 2006, Ganassi cars have won four times, finished second in the two races they didn’t win, and finished on the lead lap six straight years.

Both of Ganassi’s biggest rivals for the championship had major problems earlier in the race. The SunTrust Corvette Daytona Prototype experienced engine trouble and went to the garage during the first hour of the race, leading an early retirement, with Max Angelelli and regular co-driver Ricky Taylor scoring 14th-place points. The pair finished second in the DP championship in both 2010 and 2011. The retirement ended Ricky Taylor‘s record streak of leading 17 consecutive Rolex Series races.

Another perennial DP contender experiencing problems early in the race was the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette DP of 2007 and 2009 DP champs Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty – joined by Memo Gidley for the Rolex 24. The car began overheating near the midway point, leading to an extended stop. The new Red Dragon Corvette returned and finished 33rd overall and 13th in the DP class, 89 laps behind the winners.

David Donohue, Darren Law and Christian Fittipaldi had the best finish of the five new Corvette Daytona Prototypes making their competition debut in the Rolex 24. The No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette finished fifth, three laps down.

Shank Racing took the DP team lead in the inaugural North American Endurance Championship presented by VISITFLORIDA.com with 16 points. Starworks Motorsport is second with 14 and Ganassi’s No. 01 team third with 12. In GT, Magnus Racing leads with 16 points, Brumos Racing is second with 15 and the No. 67 TRG team third with 13. The series continues in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on July 1, and concludes with the Super Weekend at the Brickyard on July 27 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

During the early morning hours beginning at 2 p.m., the race went more than four hours with a lone caution, racing green for 264 of 269 laps.

It wasn’t planned, but Billy Johnson drove in three different classes in three days – including his first career turn behind the wheel of a Daytona Prototype. Johnson and Jack Roush Jr. on Friday’s BMW Performance 200 in the Grand Sport class of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Saturday, he started the No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 in the Rolex 24 At Daytona in the Rolex Series GT class. When that car developed engine problems and retired, Johnson left the track and headed home. He got a call asking him to drive Doran Racing’s DP when Brian and Burt Frisselle developed a stomach virus. Without an practice, he suited up and hopped into the No. 77 Combos/Circle K Ford/Dallara and drove two hours.

Sir Jackie Stewart gave the command to start the engines. The three-time Formula One World Champion was subbing for Grand Marshal A.J. Foyt, who is hospitalized in Texas recovering from surgery.

The Numbers:

10 – Number of cars that led in both the DP and GT classes

66 – Lead changes among 24 drivers in the GT class

146 – Race-leading 146 laps led by Ryan Dalziel of the 295 laps led by the No. 8 Ford/Riley

281 – GT-leading laps led by the No. 59 Brumos Porsche

761 – Number of laps completed by the winners – one lap shy of the Rolex 24 all-time record set in 1962

The Quotes:

“Watching and waiting at the end were the hardest two and a half hours of my life. It was awesome when I was in the car, but once I got out, I couldn’t take it – I don’t know how my wife can do it. It was just fine running a triple stint with McNish breathing down my neck. But then watch AJ do it was so hard – I don’t have the heart to do that.” Ozz Negri, No. 60 Liveon.com Ford/Riley, winner of the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona

“It was a great race – an epic 50th Rolex 24. My congratulations to Mike Shank and Ford for a fantastic race – but I don’t want them to get too comfortable in Victory Circle.” Chip Ganassi

“We started having problems last night. They had to push the car off from pit stops. Then on that last stop it rolled out and broke suddenly. You always want to win this race. We’ve been very fortunate to finish on the lead lap here the last five year. We had a good one going today, but unfortunately, something caught up with us.” Scott Pruett, No. 01 TELMEX/Target BMW/Riley

“I don’t think anybody is going to win a race like this ever again It was said all month long leading up to this as the entry list grew and grew and grew that we had nine different makes of cars and world champions from all over the world, from Formula One to NASCAR to IndyCar to international sports car endurance superheroes, It was pretty cool for Magnus Racing. I’m sure the whole entire crew is entitled to a lot of celebration tonight.” Andy Lally, No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3, GT winner

“My 40th start, and I was hoping for another Rolex. I love this place. It’s close to home, and I have been lucky to have driven here with some great teams over the years. I tell myself this is my final 24- hour race, but I’ve come out of retirement three times now, so we never know what will happen.” Hurley Haywood, No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche GT3.

“This was a big race to win. We didn’t come here to finish second or anything else.” Allan McNish, No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Ford/Riley

“We’re pleasantly surprised with our brand-new car, and I think it was a very impressive debut race for the Ferrari 458 Italia in GRAND-AM. Our issues today had nothing to do with the car. We had some bad luck and a few on-track incidents. We’re disappointed because we should have been contenders, but this has been a tremendous learning opportunity and we should be contenders for the rest of the season.” Jeff Segal, No. 69 AIM Autosport/Team FXDD with Ferrari/Ferrari 458 Italia Grand Am

“I feel challenged every lap. Every lap, I feel challenged to do better than the lap before. Rui Aguas started 26th and got all the way up to sixth. We’ve got an indicator that shows our fastest lap, and all the splits are his. That clock keeps me focused and makes me want to run well every lap. Actually, I was able to match his times a few times. I’ m not that far off the pace – that’s because I’ve raced cars all my life.” Michael Waltrip, No. 56 AF-Waltrip Ferrari 458 Italia Grand Am

“This is a bad-ass car, but we just haven’t had the time to do much development. We’re going through the normal issues with a brand-new car. It’s got a lot of potential, we’ve got a lot of learning and work to do to make it a better car.” Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Poynt Ford Mustang

Coming Up:

Round 2 of the 2012 Rolex Series will be the Porsche 250 on Saturday, March 31, at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala. The weekend will also include a Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge ra

Sunday, January 29, 2012 – Hour 24 Report
2:30 p.m. -3:30 p.m.

Daytona Prototype (DP):
-  AJ Allmendinger No. 60 Ford
-  Ryan Dalziel No. 8 Ford
-  Felipe Nasr No. 6 Ford

Grand Touring (GT) Top 3:
-  Richard Lietz No. 44 Porsche
-  Wolf Henzler No. 59 Porsche
-  Marc Lieb No. 67 Porsche

Notes:
-  2:30 p.m. (Lap 727) AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford) holds overall lead. Pole-sitter Ryan Dalziel (No. 8 Ford) is second and Felipe Nasr (No. 6 Ford) is third. 
-  2:33 p.m. (Lap 728) AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford) goes wide in Turn One avoiding Flying Lizard GT car. Close call for leader. Allmendinger went at least 20 feet off surface onto paved skid pad. Flying Lizard team drew rapprochement from race control.
-  2:33 p.m. (Lap 728) Porsche running 1-2-3 in GT with Richard Lietz (No. 44), Marc Lieb (No. 67) and Wolf Henzler (No. 59) respectively setting the pace.
-  2:39 p.m. (Lap 732) Defending race champion Scott Pruett (No. 01 BMW) running sixth, four laps down after transmission problems that necessitated pit road repairs. Teammate Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 02 BMW) running fourth, one lap down. If they finish this way it would mark first time since 2005 that a Chip Ganassi Racing car did not finish on the podium in the 24.
-  2:47 p.m. (Lap 736) Second-place Ryan Dalziel (No. 8 Ford) pits for 23 seconds for fuel. Holds place.
-  2:48 p.m. (Lap 737) Leader AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford) pits for fuel. Felipe Nasr (No. 6 Ford) moves to lead.
-  2:51 p.m. (Lap 738) Felipe Nasr (No. 6 Ford) pits. Prototype running order Allmendinger, Dalziel, Nasr. GT running order: Lietz, Hensler, Lieb.
-  2:56 p.m. (Lap 741) Ryan Dalziel (No. 8 Ford) pressing leader AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford) who has been in the car for three hours.
-  3 p.m. (Lap 743) Thirty minutes to go as former open-wheel competitors – Atlantic Series – Allmendinger and Dalziel duel for the Rolex watch. Wolf Henzler (No. 59 Porsche) to second in GT.
-  3:03 p.m. (Lap 746) AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford) leads overall by six seconds. His team owner Michael Shank has been seeking a Rolex 24 victory since 2004.
-  3:08 p.m. (Lap 749) AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford) leads by eight seconds.
-  3:10 p.m. (Lap 750) AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford) now leads by 11 seconds.
-  3:11 p.m. (Lap 750) No. 51 Audi GT of Jim Norman into tire barrier off chicane. No caution.
-  3:15 p.m. (Lap 753) Jim Norman (No. 51 Audi) cleared of chicane.
-  3:19 p.m. (Lap 755) Michael Waltrip (No. 56 Ferrari) off in west horseshoe but gets going.
-  3:21 p.m. (Lap 756) AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford) leads by eight seconds.
-  3:27 p.m. (Lap 759) AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford) leads by six seconds after 2,700 miles. Approaching white flag lap.
-  3:29 p.m. (Lap 761) AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford) on white flag lap.
-  3:30 p.m. ALLMENDINGER and MICHAEL SHANK RACING win 50^th Rolex 24 by 5.198 seconds. Richard Lietz and Magnus Racing Porsche win GT by 9.412 seconds. Race total 761 laps. Felipe Nasr third in No. 6 Ford giving Shank two cars on podium.

Sunday, January 29, 2012 – Hour 22 Report
12:30-1:30 p.m.

Daytona Prototype (DP):
-  AJ Allmendinger – No. 60 Ford/Riley
-  Scott Pruett – No. 01 BMW/Riley
-  Lucas Luhr – No. 8 Ford/Riley

Grand Touring (GT) Top 3:
-  Leh Keen – No. 59 Porsche
-  Andy Lally – No. 44 Porsche
-  Olivier Beretta – No. 63 Ferrari

Notes:
-  12:32 p.m. (Lap 663) – With less than three hours remaining, 3.9 seconds separate the top three in DP and there are still four GT cars on the class lead lap.
-  12:42 p.m. (Lap 669) – DP LEAD CHANGE – Graham Rahal (No. 01 BMW/Riley) takes the lead as Ozz Negri (No. 60 Ford/Riley) and Allan McNish (No. 8 Ford/Riley) pit for tires/fuel. McNish takes over in the No. 8 and AJ Allmendinger is now in the No. 60. McNish comes out of the pits in second and Allmendinger is third.
-   12:45 p.m. (Lap 671) – AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford/Riley) takes second from Allan McNish (No. 8 Ford/Riley) in Turn 1. GT LEAD CHANGE – Jeroen Bleekemolen (No. 67 Porsche) now leads and Andrew Davis (No. 59 Porsche) moves into second in class. Andy Lally (No. 44 Porsche) is third and Olivier Beretta (No 63 Ferrari) is also on the GT lead lap in fourth.
-  12:47 p.m. (Lap 672) – DP LEAD CHANGE – Graham Rahal (No. 01 BMW/Riley) pits for tires/fuel, giving the lead to AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford/Riley). Allan McNish (No. 8 Ford/Riley) is second and Rahal rejoins in third. GT LEAD CHANGE – Andrew Davis (No. 59 Porsche) takes the class lead from Jeroen Bleekemolen (No. 67 Porsche).
-  12:51 p.m. (Lap 674) – DP LEAD CHANGE – Allan McNish (No. 8 Ford/Riley) takes the lead in the East banking after AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford/Riley) gets held up slightly by a GT car.
-  1:00 p.m. (Lap 648) – GT LEAD CHANGE – Andy Lally (No. 44 Porsche) takes the class lead from Leh Keen (No. 59 Porsche).
-  1:04 p.m. (Lap 682) – Allan McNish (No. 8 Ford/Riley) and AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford/Riley) battle side-by-side through Turns 1 and 2 for the lead and Allmendinger puts two wheels off course. McNish keeps the lead.
-  1:12 p.m. (Lap 686) – DP LEAD CHANGE/FULL-COURSE CAUTION for debris in the chicane. AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford/Riley) and Allan McNish (No. 8 Ford/Riley) battle down the back straight and make side-to-side contact at the exit of NASCAR Turn 2. Allmendinger takes the lead just before the full-course caution comes out for debris in the chicane.
-  1:14 p.m. (Lap 687) – DP Top 3 before pit stops:  1) AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford/Riley); 2) Allan McNish (No. 8 Ford/Riley); 3) Graham Rahal (No. 01 BMW/Riley); GT Top 3 before pits:  1) Andy Lally (No. 44 Porsche); 2) Leh Keen (No. 59 Porsche); 3) Jeroen Bleekemolen (No. 67 Porsche).
-  1:16 p.m. (Lap 688) – DP LEAD CHANGE – Scott Pruett (No. 01 BMW/Riley) takes over for Graham Rahal and wins the race off pit road. AJ Allmendinger (No. 60 Ford/Riley) is now second and Lucas Luhr (No. 8 Ford/Riley) takes over in the car for Allan McNish and is now third.
-  1:20 p.m. (Lap 689) – Jeroen Bleekemolen (No. 67 Porsche) pits for tires/fuel and Wolf Henzler takes over in the car.
-  1:22 p.m. (Lap 690) – GREEN FLAG/ DP LEAD CHANGE – Scott Pruett (No. 01 BMW/Riley) leads the restart but AJ Allmendinger (No 60 Ford/Riley) takes the lead with an outside pass through Turns 1 and 2. Lucas Luhr (No. 8 Ford/Riley) is third. GT LEAD CHANGE – Leh Keen (No. 50 Porsche) takes the class lead ahead of Andy Lally (No. 44 Porsche). Olivier Beretta (No. 63 Ferrari) moves into third in GT.
-  1:27 p.m. (Lap 693) – Marco Holzer (No. 23 Porsche) is stopped on the apron in the East banking with a rear-wheel problem.
-  1:30 p.m. (Lap 695) – FULL-COURSE CAUTION to retrieve Marco Holzer (No. 23 Porsche).

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.  – After 18 hours of racing in the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona, the stage was set for a final, six-hour battle between the No. 60 LiveOn.com Ford/Riley from Michael Shank Racing and the No. 01 TELMEX/Target BMW/Riley from Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates for overall honors.

Driving the No. 60, Justin Wilson held a 36.586-second lead over Joey Hand in the No. 01 with 18 hours and 569 laps in the books. Wilson took the top spot from Ryan Dalziel in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Ford/Riley – which dominated the overnight hours with Dalziel and Allan McNish sharing the driving duties – on Lap 491.

Wilson and co-drivers AJ Allmendinger, Ozz Negri and John Pew are looking for their first Rolex 24 At Daytona victory, and they took the lead in the inaugural North American Endurance Championship presented by VISITFLORIDA.com with 11 points. They are one point ahead of second-place runners and defending Rolex 24 champions Hand, Graham Rahal, Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett, a four-time overall winner.

McNish held down third place in the No. 8 DP but fell one lap behind the leader during the 18th hour when he was forced to pit for rear bodywork repairs. McNish, Alex Popow, Lucas Luhr, Enzo Potolicchio and 2009 Rolex 24 winner Dalziel also have 10 points in the North American Endurance Championship, trailing the No. 60 co-drivers by one.

Points are awarded on a 5-4-3-2 basis at six-hour increments in the Rolex 24. The series continues in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on July 1, and concludes with the Super Weekend at the Brickyard on July 27 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Driving the famed No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche GT3, Andrew Davis held a one-lap GT lead over Spencer Pumpelly in the No. 67 Sargent & Lundy Porsche GT3 from TRG. Davis and his 2011 Rolex Series GT co-champion Leh Keen are looking for their first Rolex 24 class victory with co-drivers Marc Lieb and five-time overall Rolex 24 winner Hurley Haywood.

Pumpelly and co-drivers Steven Bertheau and Wolf Henzler are defending GT class winners in the Rolex 24. That trio is looking to give 2012 co-drivers Marc Goossens and Jeroen Bleekemolen their first Rolex 24 victories with a repeat triumph of their own. The No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 of Richard Lietz, John Potter, Andy Lally, and Rene Rast was in third after 18 hours, one lap behind the leaders but still well within striking distance.

With 12 points, the No. 59 teammates held a one-point lead in the North American Endurance Championship GT standings at the three-quarter mark over the No. 44 teammates. The No. 67 Porsche quintet was tied for third with No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro GT.R co-drivers John Edwards, Robin Liddell and Ronnie Bremer. Both the No. 67 and No. 57 teams have nine points.

Sunday, January 29, 2012 – Hour 17 Report
7:30-8:30 a.m.

Daytona Prototype (DP):
-  Justin Wilson – No. 60 Ford/Riley
-  Joey Hand - No. 01 BMW/Riley
-  Lucas Luhr – No. 8 Ford/Riley

Grand Touring (GT) Top 3:
-  Andy Lally – No. 44 Porsche
-  Marc Lieb – No. 59 Porsche
-  Wolf Henzler - No. 67 Porsche

Notes:

-  7:31 a.m. (Lap 402) – Marco Andretti gets in the No. 2 Ford/Riley, team changed brakes on pit stop.

-  7:37 a.m. (Lap 505) – Ian James (No. 41 Mazda) pits for fuel and tires; Dr. Jim Norman (No. 51 Audi) returns to race from the garage.

-  7:41 a.m. (Lap 507) – No. 34 Orbit/GMG Porsche GT3 retires, transmission.

-  7:48 a.m. (Lap 511) – Nic Jonsson (No. 76 Ford/Lola) pits for gas and tires.

-  7:54 a.m. (Lap 514) – Fourth-place Felipe Nasr (No. 6 Ford/Riley) pits for fuel and tires; Paul Edwards (No. 88 Camaro) pits tires and gas, Matthew Marsh in; Anthony Lazzaro (No. 69 Ferrari) pits for tires and fuel.

-  7:56 a.m. (Lap 516) – John Edwards (No. 57 Camaro) pits while running fourth, routine.

-  7:59 a.m. (Lap 518) – GT LEAD CHANGE - Class leader Andy Lally (No. 44 Porsche) pits; Marc Lieb (No. 59 Porsche) regains the lead.

-  8:03 a.m. (Lap 520) – GT LEAD CHANGE – Class leader Marc Lieb (No. 59 Porsche) pits, fuel only, Lally regains the lead but the undertray of the No. 44 Porsche is reported flapping.

-  8:05 a.m. (Lap 521) – Michael Waltrip (No. 56 Ferrari) spins in Turn 1 and continues.

-  8:10 a.m. (Lap 524) – Marino Franchitti (No. 70 Mazda) pits, routine, Sylvain Tremblay gets in; fifth-place DP Darren Law (No. 5 Corvette DP) pits, routine; Jan Magnussen (No. 90 Corvette DP) pits, routine; Brian Johnson (No. 50 BMW/Riley), routine, Elliott Forbes-Robinson gets in.

-  8:13 a.m. (Lap 526) – Top three overall on pit road. Race leader Lucas Luhr (No. 8 Ford/Riley) takes on fuel and tires; Graham Rahal (No. 01 BMW/Riley), Joey Hand in; Justin Wilson (No. 60 Ford Riley) also tires and gas.

-  8:16 a.m. (Lap 527) – Wolf Henzler (No. 67 Porsche) pits, running third in GT. Dario Franchitti (No. 02 BMW/Riley) pits, routine, with Juan Pablo Montoya getting in.

-  8:26 a.m. (Lap 532) -  Bryan Sellers (No, 17 Porsche) returns to race from garage

-  8:27 a.m. (Lap 533) – GT race for lead tightens, Andy Lally (No. 44 Porsche) leads Marc Lieb (No. 59 Porsche) by 2.445 seconds.