Saturday, January 25, 2014

First Hour and A Half Finished in Daytona

The first hour of the 2014 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona saw a brief yellow flag period but for the most part, the race has been uneventful through one hour.

The #99 Bob Stallings Corvette DP of Alex Gurney led the first forty-five minutes of the race before making their first pit stop and handing the lead over to the #5 Action Express Corvette DP of João Barbosa. The #02 Ganassi Ford-Riley of Scott Dixon jumped the #99 in the pit sequence and now lead the Red Dragon.

The story of the Prototype class has been the #78 Starworks Dinan-Riley driven by Brandon Hartley. After starting 64th because of failing post-qualifying technical inspection, the New Zealander drove the car up to second overall before making his first pit stop.

The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP driven by Ricky Taylor is third ahead of the #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP of Richard Westbrook. The #42 Morgan-Nissan of OAK Racing and Oliver Pla is fifth ahead of the #9 Action Express Corvette DP of Burt Frisselle. Scott Pruett (#01 Ganassi) Barbosa, Andy Meyrick (#0 DeltaWing) and Hartley (#78 Starworks) round out the top ten.

Starworks leads in PC with the #8 of Renger van der Zande ahead of Sean Rayhall (#87 BAR1), Alex Tagliani (#08 RSR Racing) and Gunnar Jeannette (#52 PR1/Mathiasen).

The Vipers have been 1-2 in GTLM with the #93 of Jonathan Bomartio and the #91 of Marc Goossens swapping the lead. The #91 leads the #911 Porsche of Nicky Tandy and the #93 is third ahead of world champion Gianmaria Bruni in the #62 Risi Compitizione Ferrari. The #4 Corvette of Tommy Milner is fourth ahead of the Patrick Long (#912 Porsche) and Jan Magnussen (#3 Corvette).

The GTD pole-sitter, Christopher Haase (#48 Paul Miller Audi) leads Mika Salo (#72 SMP Ferrari) and Lorenzo Case (#63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari). Frank Stippler (#32 GMG Audi) is fourth with Bill Sweedler (#555 Level 5 Ferrari) rounding out the top five in class.

The #46 Fall-Line Audi caused the only full-course yellow when Charlie Putman spun going into turn one. There race is done, ending Oliver Jarvis' chance for back-to-back Daytona wins in GTD.

Other notable cars to have problems, in Protoypes the #50 Highway to Help Dinan had issues early but are still running while the #2 Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD ARX-03b had a spun in the chicane cause significant rear suspension damage. The #07 Mazda SKYACTIV-D has had it's share of mechanical issues.

The #09 RSR Racing PC car is currently in garage.