Rolex 24h At Daytona race notes 21 hours

January 22 - 25, 2009 Rolex 24 At Daytona
Daytona International SpeedwayDaytona Beach, FL
Rolex 24 Twenty First Hour Report (12:30 a.m. Sunday, January 25, 2009)


Current Weather:70 degrees, mostly cloudy

Distance Completed:644 Laps

Overall Average Speed/Margin of Lead:N/A /0.147 seconds

Overall Lap Leaders (First Twenty-One Hours): David Donohue 1, Timo Bernhard 2-25, David Donohue 26-33, Timo Bernhard 34-53, David Donohue 54-66, Scott Dixon 67, Darren Law 68-73, Romain Dumas 74-83, Darren Law 84-96, Romain Dumas 97-116, Darren Law 117-131, Terry Borcheller 132-138, AJ Allmendinger 139-153, Ryan Briscoe 154, Brad Jaeger 155-158, Brian Frisselle 159-160, Buddy Rice 161-194, Scott Dixon 195-201, Ryan Briscoe 202-205, Burt Frisselle 206-207, Scott Dixon 208-230, Joao Barbosa 231-262, Scott Dixon 263-264, JC France 265-269, Dario Franchitti 270-310, Max Angelelli 311-325, Dario Franchitti 326-327, Juan Pablo Montoya 328-335, Romain Dumas 336, Dario Franchitti 337-338, Juan Pablo Montoya 339-345, Romain Dumas 346-357, Pedro Lamy 358-385, Ryan Briscoe 386-434, Buddy Rice 435, Scott Dixon 436, Timo Bernhard 437-471, Antonio Garcia 472-474, Scott Dixon 475-477, Timo Bernhard 478-492, JC France 493-498, Max Angelelli 499-509, David Donohue 510-547, Juan Pablo Montoya 548, Memo Rojas 549-566, Darren Law 567-600, Scott Pruett 601, Hurley Haywood 602, Buddy Rice 603-634, Scott Pruett 635-642, Buddy Rice 643

Lead Changes:48 among 22 drivers/9 cars

Cautions (Overall): (22 for 90 laps): 1) Laps 96-100 - No. 40 Jep Thornton spun into the tire barrier in Turn 3 and required a tow. 2) Laps 103-107 - Debris (tire) on the superstretch. 3) Laps 117-119 - No. 52 Joe Castellano spun in Turn 4 and needed a tow. 4)Laps 131-137 -Debris from No. 55 Raphael Matos' lost tire in the tri-oval. 5) Laps 155-158 - No. 6 AJ Allmendinger stopped on the course. 6) Laps 161-166 - No. 76 Darren Turner stopped on the course. 7) Laps 171-176 - No. 56 Nathan Swartzbaugh spun in the bus stop after losing the Ferrari 430 Challenge's right rear tire. 8) Laps 231-234 - No. 58 Antonio Garcia spun into the Turn 3 tire wall. 9) Laps 265-268 - No. 60 Ryan Hunter-Reay stopped between NASCAR Turns 3 and 4. 10) Laps 300-306 - No. 22 Chapman Ducote hit the wall in Turn 6 and scattered debris. 11) Laps 340-344 - Debris in the chicane. 12) Laps 357-362 - Debris in the chicane. 13) Laps 376-380 - No. 52 Luca Pirri is stalled in the chicane. 14) Laps 398-403 - No. 56 Nathan Swartzbaugh stalled in the chicane. 15) Laps 410-412 - Car hit wall at chicane, then continued. 16) Laps 439-443 laps - No. 89 Giacomo Petrobelli stopped on the course in Turn 4. 17) Laps 445-448 - No. 40 Jep Thornton and No. 65 John Potter get together in the wall at Turn 6. 18) 513-516 No. 77 Matteo Bobbi comes to stop on banking.19) Laps 551- Debris in the chicane from No. 02 Dixon. 19) 557-569 No. 09 Jason Pridmore spun off course and stopped in the chicane. 634-637 Debris is on track and needs to be cleared.

Top-Five (Daytona Prototype):
58 Rice, 01 Pruett, s10 Frisselle, 59 Borcheller, 02 Lloyd

Top Five (GT):
67 Long, 66 Ballou, 33 Massen, 57 Bucknum

Notes of Interest (From 11:30 -12:30 a.m.):

No. 09 Guy Cosmo caught fire in the pits; the crew quickly put the fire out. He got out of the car safely at 11:50 a.m.
On Lap 631, 70 Nick Ham went behind the wall.
01 Scott Pruett won the race off pit lane to take the overall lead.  
On Lap 644 58 Rice passed 01 Pruett for the overall lead.
DRIVER QUOTES:

Andy Wallace: "Some of the problems we had earlier we still have. The car's still runnikng and it's running pretty well. We just know somewhere there's a short. As the temperature rises, we're struggling to keep the tires pressures down. This is just the second race for the Gentleman Jack car so we're still learning. We know we're not fast enough yet. (Commenting on the crowd following Danica and Casey Mears). For Rob and I, it's a holiday. Nobody knows who we are!"

Scott Russell: "Guy had just exited the car; he was over the wall. I had my arms through the shoulder belts and I smelled it (fuel) instantly. They took the deck lid off and it flamed up. I dived out. Luckily, I wasn't strapped it. The race was a good experience. I hate it for the guys, they've worked so hard. For all the mistakes that I made, they kept it out on the track. It's a shame."

Darren Law: "Four ... more ... hours. It's not over until it's over. We saw that last year in Montreal (when Law ran out of fuel 200 yards before checkered flag). So far, we're going pretty good. It's been a real hard race. Everyone is driving so hard, it's a hard pace to run. The early portion of the race ran under green, and that was probably in our favor, because we're doing good on long runs. But again, it's making it tough on everything because we're driving the car's so hard, we've been relentless on them. It's going to go Buddy (Rice), then Antonio (Garcia), then hopefully David (Donohue) can finish and top off his father's 40th anniversary here. We'd love to win this race, but we've got a long way to go."

- grandam -
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