Ganassi is denied victory at Daytona for the second straight year

[Roundel]

Riley-BMWs finish second and third in the Rolex 24

At the end of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Ganassi Racing Riley-BMW of Scott Pruett, Max Papis, Memo Rojas, and Justin Wilson finished second, running 52.3 seconds behind the Action Express Racing Riley-Porsche of Joao Barbosa, Terry Borcheller, Ryan Dalziel, and Mike Rockenfeller.

Like last year, the battle for the win was a race between a Ganassi prototype and a Riley-Porsche. But this year Ganassi had replaced the Lexus engines that had taken them to three overall wins in the race with Dinan-BMW powerplants, and the Porsche engine was a Cayenne-based V8, not a flat six like the one that the winning Brumos Riley-Porsche ran in 2009.

The #01 Ganassi Riley-BMW finished second at Daytona. (Jon Van Woerden photo)

Justin Wilson was leading the race in the #01 Ganassi car at 12:50 p.m., when he exited the track and went to the garage because of a vibration; he said that the car was bouncing in the Bus Stop chicane. However, the crew inspected the car and returned it to the track without making repairs—and the stop enabled the Riley-Porsche to take a lead that it never relinquished.

The #95 Crown Royal/NPN Riley-BMW of Scott Tucker, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Lucas Luhr, Richard Westbrook, and Christophe Bouchut finished third, four laps behind the leaders.

The #95 Crown Royal/NPN prototype finished third, four laps behind the leaders. (Jon Van Woerden photo)

Three Riley BMWs did not finish the race

The other Crown Royal/NPN car, the #55 Riley-BMW, exited with a blown engine with 2½ hours left in the race. The #02 Ganassi Riley-BMW that led much of the first seven hours of the race also exited with a blown engine, leaving the race just after midnight. The fifth Riley-BMW, the Starworks Motorsport car, crashed out on Sunday morning when Dion von Moltke hit the barrier on the pit-exit road, bounced onto the circuit, and collided with the Miller-Barrett GT Porsche.



Both M6s finish in GT

The Corsa PR1 M6 finished eleventh in the GT class. (Jon Van Woerden photo)

In the GT class, both BMW M6s were running at the end—after experiencing setbacks in the overnight hours. The biggest setback for Turner Motorsport’s Riley-chassis M6, driven by Bill Auberlen, Joey Hand, Boris Said, and Paul Dalla Lana, was a collapsing air-intake hose that led to a costly pit stop for diagnosis and repair. Later, the car had a long stop for brake work; throughout the race, its drivers got hot feet from overheating pedals.

The Corsa PR1 M6, driven by Max Hyatt, Jeff Westphal, Thomas Merrill, and Rob Finlay, spent time in the garage late at night to replace a wheel bearing and to address steering and braking problems. The issues resulted from contact with a Mazda on Finlay’s first stint.

The Turner Motorsport M6 finished eighth in class after 24 hours of racing. (Jon Van Woerden photo)

In the end, the Turner M6 finished eighth in class, while the Corsa PR1 M6 finished eleventh. The overall GT class win went to the Mazda RX-8 of Sylvain Tremblay, Nick Ham, Jonathan Bomarito, and David Haskell.—Brian S. Morgan, motorsports editor, bmwcca.org.