Various Series

Daytona 24: Dalziel leads at halfway point

© Grand-Am

Ryan Dalziel in the No. 11 CITGO/SAMAX Pontiac Riley leads at the halfway point in the Rolex 24 At Daytona under a red flag as track workers make repairs to a damaged guardrail in Turn 1 near pit out. The guardrail was damaged as a result of heavy contact from the No. 82 Synergy Racing/Team Seattle Porsche GT3 being driven by Chris Pallis, who got out of the car under his own power with no apparent injuries.

The No. 11 machine, being co-driven by Dalziel, Darren Manning, Milka Duno and Patrick Carpentier, is one of two Daytona Prototypes on the lead lap at the halfway point.^Running second at the time of the red flag was Juan Pablo Montoya in the No. 01 TELMEX/Target Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley that he is sharing with Salvador Duran and Scott Pruett. Montoya’s teammate, Memo Rojas, was third in the No. 02 Target/TELMEX Lexus Riley, one lap behind the leaders. Rojas is sharing the car with defending Rolex 24 At Daytona overall winners Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon.

After encountering mechanical problems early in the race that resulted in a trip to the garage, the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley–being driven at the time of the red flag by Jan Magnussen–has battled all the way back to fourth place and is just three laps behind the leaders at halfway.

Rounding out the top five and on the same lap as Magnussen was Roberto Moreno in the No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley. Moreno is co-driving with JC France, João Barbosa and the winningest driver in Rolex 24 history, Hurley Haywood.

In the GT class, Kelly Collins held the lead in the No. 07 Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R he is sharing with Paul Edwards, Andy Pilgrim and Johnny O’Connell. On the same lap as Collins was Leh Keen in the No. 85 Farnbacher Loles Porsche GT3 that he is co-driving with Dirk Werner, Pierre Ehret and Jorg Hardt.

Third in GT and one lap behind the class leader was Johnny Mowlem in the No. 17 Doncaster Racing Porsche GT3. Mowlem’s co-drivers are Dave Lacey, Greg Wilkins, Tom Papdopolous and Lance Arnold.

Two laps behind Collins and fourth in class was Spencer Pumpelly in the No. 66 TRG Porsche GT3 that he is sharing with Andy Lally, Kevin Buckler RJ Valentine and Mark Greenberg. Pumpelly is on the same lap as Nick Ham in the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8, who occupied fifth in the GT class at halfway. Ham’s co-drivers are Sylvain Tremblay, David Haskell and Randy Pobst.

While the No. 10 machine has worked its way forward over the second quarter of the race, fortunes have not improved for any of the other teams to encounter difficulties during the first six hours. A pair of top contenders also saw their hopes for victory severely damaged in the second quarter.

During the race’s first full-course caution period–which didn’t come until early in the seventh hour–Jim Matthews in the No. 91 Lowe’s Riley-Matthews Motorsports Pontiac Riley made contact with the rear of the No. 20 Jackson Hewitt/Subway Pontiac Crawford being driven at the time by Andy Wallace. The contact caused significant damage and a lengthy repair in the garage to the No. 91 machine. At the time of the red flag, the No. 91 was being driven by 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who was running in 15th place, 24 laps behind the leader.

The No. 58 Red Bull/Brumos Racing Porsche Riley led for a time in the second quarter and was running second in the hands of Scott Sharp just before the eight-hour mark. Upon entering the East Horseshoe and while A.J. Allmendinger in the No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Lexus Riley and Sharp were attempting to pass him on each side, Tom Malloy in the No. 41 Team Sahlen Porsche GT3 ran into the side of Allmendinger’s car before ricocheting into Sharp’s car and causing heavy damage to the No. 58 machine. The No. 58 was being driven by David Donohue at halfway and was in 46th place overall, 82 laps behind the leader.

_{(credit: Grand-Am)}