Various Series

Daytona 24: Duran in the lead after 18 hours

© Grand-Am

At the three-quarter mark of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mexican rising star Salvador Duran held the lead in the No. 01 TELMEX/Target Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley. The car–which is being driven by Duran, Scott Pruett and Juan Pablo Montoya–has been a consistent front-runner throughout the 18 hours of racing, and has avoided any trips to the garage for lengthy repairs.^Running second and just 6.149 seconds behind Duran was Darren Manning in the No. 11 CITGO/SAMAX Pontiac Riley. Manning and his co-drivers, Ryan Dalziel, Patrick Carpentier and Milka Duno have also had an impressive run and are in good position to challenge for the victory with six hours remaining.

One lap down to the leaders and running third is Dan Wheldon in the No. 02 Target/TELMEX Lexus Riley. Wheldon is co-driving the No. 02 machine with Scott Dixon–with whom he co-drove to the overall victory in the 2006 Rolex 24–and Memo Rojas, who had an off-course excursion in the overnight hours that required the team to replace the car’s nose.

Five-time Rolex 24 At Daytona overall winner Hurley Haywood was also one lap behind the overall lead and was running fourth after 18 hours in the No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley he is sharing with JC France, João Barbosa and Roberto Moreno. Haywood was 18.246 seconds behind Wheldon.

Also one lap down and 22.228 seconds behind Wheldon was Jan Magnussen in the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley in fifth place. Magnussen is sharing the car with Max Angelelli, Wayne Taylor and Jeff Gordon.

Dirk Werner led the GT class in the No. 85 Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3 he is sharing with Leh Keen, Pierre Ehret and Jorg Hardt. Werner had a one-lap lead over Paul Edwards in the No. 07 Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R he is co-driving with Kelly Collins, Andy Pilgrim and Johnny O’Connell.

Trailing the No. 07 machine by 1:14.696 and third in the GT class was Randy Pobst in the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8. Pobst’s co-drivers are Sylvain Tremblay, David Haskell and Nick Ham. Fourth in GT and two laps behind the class leader was Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 64 TRG Porsche GT3 he is co-driving with Jim Lowe, Jim Pace and Ralf Kelleners. Tim Lewis Jr. was just 11.653 seconds behind van Overbeek and running fifth at the 18-hour mark in the No. 06 Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R. Lewis is sharing the ride with Leighton Reese, Johnny O’Connell and Paul Edwards.

The third quarter of the race began under red flag conditions due to a guardrail repair in Turn 1. The guardrail was damaged due to contact from the No. 82 Team Seattle/Synergy Racing Porsche GT3 of driver Chris Pallis. The red flag lasted for 78 minutes.

_{(credit: Grand-Am)}