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Tight Competition Marks Rolex 24 Race

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By MIKE HARRIS, The Associated Press

Published: January 27, 2008

DAYTONA BEACH - An intense battle went into the 10th hour Saturday night in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, with David Donohue holding a narrow lead over a large group of Daytona Prototypes.

Five of the sleek sports car prototypes were bunched on the lead lap at Daytona International Speedway, with seven more trailing by less than two laps in what has been the most competitive race in the 46-year history of America's premier endurance race.

Donohue, the son of the late Indianapolis 500 winner Mark Donohue, was driving a Brumos Porsche Riley with five-time race winner Hurley Haywood, 1996 Indy winner Buddy Rice and Darren Law. They were just ahead of the Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley driven by Scott Pruett (part of 2007's winning team), Juan Pablo Montoya, Memo Rojas and NASCAR rookie and Indy- Car champ Dario Franchitti.

The race began at 1:30 p.m. By the end of the ninth hour, 15 different cars had led, breaking the record of 11 set last year. There were 31 lead changes, three shy of the record set in 2007, and 25 different drivers had led the race.

The other cars on the lead laps were the Pontiac Riley shared by NASCAR champion Kurt Busch, two-time Indy winner Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe; the second Brumos Porsche Riley of Terry Borcheller, Joao Barbosa and J.C. France, son of NASCAR board member and Rolex Grand-Am Series founder Jim France; and the Ford Riley co-driven by NASCAR driver A.J. Allmendinger, John Pew, Ian James and Burt Frisselle.

Also hanging tough in seventh place was the Pontiac Riley of two-time defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, former CART champion Jimmy Vasser and reigning Grand-Am prototype champions Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty.

"I had a great experience out there," Johnson said. "We have a great car and we're just really trying to stick to our rhythm. I tried not to put the car into any bad situations."

Ganassi, going for an unprecedented third straight Daytona victory, saw one of its two entries hit trouble early.

Salvador Duran, who was also part of the winning team in 2007, and former IndyCar champions Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon and IRL rookie Alex Lloyd were far back in the pack despite Duran posting the fastest lap of the race.

After running off course and damaging the car in Thursday's night practice, Duran did it again Saturday, 4 1/2 hours into race. This time, Duran made a mistake as his Lexus Riley Daytona Prototype came upon a pair of the slower-moving GT class cars.

"I was trying to scrub new tires a little bit before going into Turn 4 and I hit the brakes quite early to heat the tires," Duran said. "When I got to the middle of the turn, everyone was stopped and I tried to avoid contact by going to the right. It was either hit the cars in front or go to the grass. ... But as soon as I hit the grass, the front of the car took the brunt of it. It was a stupid mistake."

After repairs requiring about 20 minutes, the Ganassi car was still fast. But a second stop for more repairs to the same problem left the entry 21st - 15 laps behind the leaders.

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