Chip Ganassi Racing claimed a fifth victory in its 10 years of competing at the Rolex 24 at Daytona after Juan Pablo Montoya came through to seal the honors in a thrilling final hour.
TELMEX/Target Chip Ganassi Racing's winning Riley BMW MkXXVI, which Montoya shared with Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Charlie Kimball, briefly dropped to fourth position after the final restart with less than an hour to go. The NASCAR Sprint Cup star quickly took back third from AJ Allmendinger's Michael Shank Racing Riley Ford and then moved up to second when Joao Barbosa pitted in the Action Express Coyote-Chevrolet to take a penalty for avoidable contact with the MSR car.
Montoya then needed less than a lap to hunt down and overtake Max Angelelli, who had moved into the lead when the Wayne Taylor Racing squad opted not to change tires on his Dallara-Chevrolet DP01. The lead Ganassi entry, which was the fastest car throughout the 51st running of the 24 Hours, then pulled away into a 20-second lead. Splash-and-dash fuel stops for the leaders in the closing minutes had no bearing on the overall result.
The victory means that team leader Pruett has now equaled sports car legend Hurley Haywood's record tally of five overall Daytona victories.
“It's just an incredible day all the way around, winning with these guys, winning with Chip, with TELMEX and with BMW,” Pruett said. “Then at the end of it, having gotten to know Hurley real well over the years by racing with him and just as a friend – and to have him there at the end – was pretty special. It was a very special thing.”
Team boss Chip Ganassi paid tribute to veteran Pruett after the race.
"When you look at Hurley's record and see a name like Scott's up there with it, it is quite a feat," said Ganassi. "Hurley asked me to make sure Scott retires now..."
Angelelli, who shared with Jordan Taylor and Ryan Hunter-Reay took the checkered flag nearly 22sec in arrears.
Angelelli claimed that the BMW engine in the Ganassi Riley gave the winning crew a clear advantage and left rivals no chance to fight for victory in the final reckoning.
"What could I do?" he said. "The 01 car was in another league – it was in the A class and we were in the B class."
The MSR Riley Ford Allmendinger shared with Justin Wilson, Oswaldo Negri Jr., John Pew and Marcos Ambrose ended up third, despite dropping as far as eight laps off the lead. Last year's winning team was able to fight back onto the lead lap, but an off-road excursion as Allmendinger tried to overtake Barbosa straight after the restart resulted in an unscheduled pit stop to clean out the radiators.
Barbosa, who shared his Action Express car with Mike Rockenfeller and Burt Frisselle, ended up fourth after his penalty.
Audi upset the form book to finish 1-2 in the GT class with the Alex Job Racing R8 Grand-Am team heading home the APR Motorsport squad's identical car.
The AJR car in the hands of Filipe Albuquerque finished the race with the APR car in the hands of Rene Rast.
“It is the first one for Audi at Daytona and I am a part of, hopefully, a long run here,” said team owner Alex Job. “The win was a real team victory. My team, combined with the Audi Sport Customer Racing technical support staff – and of course a group of great drivers – made it all work. The Audi clearly had the speed and it was positioned to win.”
| Pos |
Driver |
Car/Engine |
Laps |
Time/Delay |
| 1 |
S.Dixon/C.Kimball/J.P.Montoya/S.Pruett/M.Rojas |
Riley/BMW |
709 |
|
| 2 |
M.Angelelli/R.H.-Reay/J.Taylor |
Chevrolet |
709 |
- |
| 3 |
A.Allmendinger/M.Ambrose/O.Negri/J.Pew/J.Wilson |
Riley/Ford |
709 |
- |
| 4 |
J.Barbosa/C.Fittipaldi/B.Frisselle/M.Rockenfeller |
Chevrolet |
708 |
1 Lap |
| 5 |
A.Garcia/O.Gavin/R.Taylor/R.Westbrook |
Chevrolet |
697 |
12 Laps |
| 6 |
S.Bourdais/R.Dalziel/A.McNish/A.Popow |
Riley/Ford |
696 |
13 Laps |
| 7 |
J.Fogarty/M.Gidley/A.Gurney/D.Law |
Chevrolet |
695 |
14 Laps |
| 8 |
J.Barbosa/C.Fittipaldi/B.Frisselle/L.F.Nasr/N.Piquet |
Chevrolet |
688 |
21 Laps |
| 9 |
F.Albuquerque/O.Jarvis/E.Mortara/D.von Moltke |
Audi |
678 |
31 Laps |
| 10 |
I.Baas/M.Basseng/R.Rast/F.Stippler |
Audi |
678 |
31 Laps |
| 11 |
E.Assentato/C.Stanton/A.Lazzaro/N.Longhi/M.Wilkins |
Ferrari |
678 |
31 Laps |
| 12 |
A.Balzan/M.Frezza/A.P.Guidi/O.Beretta |
Ferrari |
678 |
31 Laps |
13
|
A.Lally/N.Armindo/R.Lietz/J.Potter |
Porsche |
678 |
31 Laps |
| 14 |
J.Bleekemolen/D.Faulkner/M.Holzer/C.MacNeil |
Porsche |
678 |
31 Laps |
| 15 |
F.Biela/C.Haase/M.Plumb/M.Winkelhock |
Audi |
677 |
32 Laps |
| 16 |
R.Águas/C.Bowyer/R.Kauffman/M.Waltrip |
Ferrari |
677 |
32 Laps |
| 17 |
E.Brown/M.Hedlund/S.Sharp/J.van Overbeek |
Ferrari |
673 |
36 Laps |
| 18 |
J.Baldwin/C.Burtin/M.Farnbacher/M.Ragginger/R.Renauer |
Porsche |
672 |
37 Laps |
| 19 |
K.Bachler/S.Maassen/M.Seefried/M.Snow/M.Snow |
Porsche |
668 |
41 Laps |
| 20 |
M.Bell/D.Empringham/J.Farano/A.Figge/D.Lacey |
Audi |
667 |
42 Laps |
| 21 |
D.Cameron/W.Nonnamaker/S.Pagenaud/B.Junqueira |
Riley/BMW |
664 |
45 Laps |
| 22 |
A.Davis/L.Keen/M.Lieb/B.Sellers |
Porsche |
663 |
46 Laps |
| 23 |
C.Cole/J-F.Dumoulin/G.Phipps/M.Skeen/M.Vess |
Porsche |
657 |
52 Laps |
| 24 |
M.Boden/A.Carter/C.Espenlaub/H.Plumb/C.Putman |
Porsche |
656 |
53 Laps |
| 25 |
D.Graeff/J.Hart/P.Lindsey/P.Long/S.Pumpelly |
Porsche |
653 |
56 Laps |
| 26 |
N.Canache/D.Donohue/S.Lewis/J.Norman |
Porsche |
635 |
74 Laps |
| 27 |
R.Camarillo/M.Fuentes/C.Peralta/R.P.de Lara |
Mazda |
634 |
75 Laps |
| 28 |
B.Auberlen/P.D.Lana/B.Johnson/M.Martin/B.Said |
BMW |
631 |
78 Laps |
| 29 |
K.Collins/P.Fogg Jr./T.Haacker/J.Walsh |
Porsche |
627 |
82 Laps |
| 30 |
J.Clay/D.O'Young/D.Rogers/S.Thomas/K.Thomson |
Porsche |
625 |
84 Laps |
| 31 |
J.Bergmeister/D.Farnbacher/B.Keating/K.Wittmer |
Porsche |
622 |
87 Laps |
| 32 |
L.Davis/R.Eversley/E.Foss/J.Mosing/J.Tecce |
Porsche |
614 |
95 Laps |
| 33 |
G.Fisichella/M.Papis/J.Segal/T.Vilander |
Ferrari |
614 |
95 Laps |
| 34 |
A.Davidson/P.Lamy/N.Minassian/E.Potolicchio/S.Sarrazin |
Chevrolet |
612 |
97 Laps |
| 35 |
O.Hancock/E.Salazar/E.Costabal |
Porsche |
610 |
99 Laps |
| 36 |
J.M.Edwards/R.Liddell/J.Magnussen/T.Milner |
Chevrolet |
595 |
114 Laps |
| 37 |
S.Dixon/D.Franchitti/J.Hand/J.McMurray/S.Pruett |
Riley/BMW |
594 |
115 Laps |
| 38 |
C.Longo/R.Matos/A.Negrão/D.Serra |
Ferrari |
576 |
133 Laps |
| 39 |
H.Cisneros/S.Edwards/K.Giermaziak/P.Pilet |
Porsche |
535 |
174 Laps |
| 40 |
F.Beck/C.de Quesada/B.Defoor/I.James/J.Pace |
Riley/BMW |
517 |
192 Laps |
| 41 |
J.Goncalvez/C.Cumming/M.Valiante/G.Yacaman |
Riley/Ford |
508 |
201 Laps |
| 42 |
E.Collard/R.Dumas/N.Jönsson/T.Krohn |
Porsche |
451 |
258 Laps |
| 43 |
I.Bellarosa/S.Mayer/G.A.Perez/A.Charouz/B.Hartley |
Riley/Ford |
441 |
268 Laps |
| 44 |
J.Nonnamaker/W.Nonnamaker/J.Sahlen/T.Drissi/B.Junqueira |
Riley/BMW |
422 |
287 Laps |
| 45 |
N.Figueiredo/C.Junior/C.Lunardi/R.Maurício/M.Visconde |
Porsche |
386 |
323 Laps |
| 46 |
R.Barrichello/N.Figueiredo/F.Giaffone/T.Kanaan/R.Maurício |
Porsche |
352 |
357 Laps |
| 47 |
E.Anassis/A.Massari/T.Kasemets/J-F.Dumoulin |
Riley/Ford |
304 |
405 Laps |
| 48 |
J.Bennett/C.Braun/J.Lowe/P.Tracy/D.Donohue |
Dallara/Ford |
286 |
423 Laps |
| 49 |
B.Lewis/J.Michaelian/R.van de Laar/D.van de Laar |
Porsche |
284 |
425 Laps |
| 50 |
M.J. Thomas/K.Estre/N.Siedler |
Porsche |
228 |
481 Laps |
| 51 |
M.Christensen/C.Engelhart/N.Tandy/L.Willsey/F.Konrad |
Porsche |
181 |
528 Laps |
| 52 |
L.Aschenbach/E.Curran/B.Davis |
Chevrolet |
136 |
573 Laps |
| 53 |
J.Bomarito/M.Franchitti/J.Hinchcliffe/S.Tremblay/T.Long |
Mazda |
51 |
658 Laps |
| 54 |
A.Carbonell/T.Long/R.O'Doski/D.Whitis |
Mazda |
45 |
664 Laps |
| 55 |
T.Ave/J.Heylen/D.Peterson/M.Smith |
Dodge |
44 |
665 Laps |
| 56 |
J.Miller/T.Nunez/S.Pigot/Y.Terada/T.Vautier |
Mazda |
33 |
676 Laps |
| 57 |
B.Auberlen/M.Marsal/M.Martin/A.Priaulx/G.Schaldach |
BMW |
0 |
709 Laps |