McMurray's Riley-BMW leads Daytona at the 7 1/2 hour mark

[Roundel]

At 10:00 p.m. in Daytona, there was a fireworks display in the infield—as if more fireworks were needed. Juan Pablo Montoya had just posted the fastest lap in the race in the #02 Ganassi Riley-BMW, just as his co-drivers, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti, had done during their stints in the car.

At 11:00, three of the five Dinan-BMW powered Daytona Prototypes were running in the top five. Jamie McMurray was leading in the #02 Ganassi car, having taken over from Montoya; Ryan Hunter-Reay was fourth in the #55 Crown Royal/NPN car; and the #01 Ganassi car, with Max Papis at the wheel, was running fifth. (When you read this, the order will have changed. You can watch live timing and scoring here.)

The #02 Ganassi Riley-BMW leads the way through the infield at Daytona. (Jon Van Woerden photo)

The race started in the rain, but the weather front blew through after about an hour, leaving the oval portion of the 3.56-mile circuit to dry quickly—and the infield to dry far more slowly. There have been ten caution periods, some weather-related, but 183 of the 216 laps run by11:00 had been run under green. The BMW-powered prototypes have been contenders all the way, but competitors in Ford, Chevrolet, and Porsche-powered cars have been fast as well. When the track goes green after a yellow-flag period, the cars stay closely bunched for lap after lap.

Of course, it’s still early; with 7½ hours run, there are another 16½ to go. There is ample time left to get into trouble, and ample time, perhaps, to recover after problems have been fixed.

The Turner M6 arrives on pit lane early in the race. (Jon Van Woerden photo)

BMW’s fortunes have not been as good in the GT class. The Turner Motorsport M6, driven into the lead in the early going by regenmeister Joey Hand, has experienced an unusual and hard-to-diagnose problem, and the Corsa PR1 M6, which also led at one point, is in the garage having a wheel bearing replaced.

Near the end of Bill Auberlen’s first stint in the Turner M6, he was hit by another car. The M6 began to stumble, and at first the crew thought that the exhaust had been squeezed in the incident. But with the side of the car repaired, the M6 continued to run rough early in Boris Said’s stint. It turned out that an intake hose had collapsed, restricting airflow to the engine. After a long and agonizing stop for a replacement, the car went back on the track and began to run competitive times, but at 11:00 it was ten laps off the class lead (held by the Stevenson Camaro of Robin Liddell).

The rain appears to be gone, but a cold front is coming through. It is supposed to be in the high 40s and cloudy when the sun comes up at 7:15. And there will still be more than eight hours to race.—Brian S. Morgan, motorsports editor, bmwcca.org.