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Porsche Stops Ganassi Rolex 24 Streak At 3

AP photo

Buddy Rice maintains a slight lead as he drives the Brumos Porsche Riley during the final hours of the Rolex 24 auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach Sunday.

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The Associated Press

Published: January 26, 2009

Updated: 01/26/2009 01:01 am

DAYTONA BEACH - David Donohue won the Rolex 24 on Sunday to end Chip Ganassi Racing's Daytona winning streak at three races and match his late father Mark's victory here 40 years ago.

Donohue held on for the win after passing NASCAR star Juan Pablo Montoya for the lead just 41 minutes from the finish.

Donohue, who started from the pole in the Brumos Porsche Riley on Saturday afternoon, combined with former Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice, Antonio Garcia and Darren Law to win the closest race in the 47-year history of 24-hour classic at Daytona International Speedway.

"We're just a small part of what this team could do," said a teary Donohue, whose biggest previous win was a class victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. "I'm just glad I could carry the flag."

Four of the sleek prototypes finished on the lead lap - the most ever - and the quartet spent most of the last two hours nearly nose-to-tail on the 3.56-mile road course.

The winners completed 735 laps, a total of 2,616.6 miles.

Montoya replaced teammate Scott Pruett in the Ganassi Lexus Riley with about 2 1/2 hours left and appeared to be in control after he took the lead during the 23rd hour.

A record 25 full-course cautions kept things close and the final yellow of the grueling race came out for debris with just more than one hour to go. All four of the lead-lap cars took the opportunity to make their final pit stops.

Donohue jumped into the driver's seat of the No. 58 car during the stop and somehow managed to stay right behind Montoya as they left the pits.

When the green flag waved with 53 minutes to go, Donohue went after the more experienced Montoya, nearly passing him several times during a period of several laps. They nearly bumping at least once before Donohue finally took advantage of slower GT class traffic to slip past the Lexus into the lead on Lap 711.

Montoya chased Donohue to the finish but wound up just 0.167 seconds behind, a record, and only about four car-lengths. The fourth-place car was 7.589 seconds behind.

The previous closest 1-2 finish was 30.879 seconds in 2000 when a Dodge Viper held off a Chevrolet Corvette.

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