2011 Daytona - 24-Hour

2011 marked the twelfth season for the Grand American Road Racing Championship (Grand Am). As was the tradition, the twelve-race season opened at Daytona with the Rolex 24. There were some changes to the 2011 schedule – the addition of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, after not being included in 2010 and Road America returned after a nine-year absence. Gone in 2011, were Miller Motorsports Park and the second Daytona event. Most races were 2-hour and 45-minutes in length - the major exceptions were the 24-hour event at Daytona and the Sahlen’s Six Hours of Watkins Glen.

Probably the biggest news in 2011 was Continental Tire becoming the official tire supplier for Grand Am. Continental also became the title sponsor for Grand Am’s street stock series.

Teams and drivers competed in the Daytona Prototype and Grand Touring for class honours:

Daytona Prototype (DP) – These sports racing cars were designed to compete in the Grand Am series. The concept of an affordable prototype for privateer teams was introduced in 2003. Rules were created so that the cars could be produced for less than $400,000. Additionally, the prototypes had to be approved by the series and new cars could not be introduced for 5-years. The flat-bottomed, closed cockpit prototype was constructed with a complete frame and a mid-engine location. The cars were powered by motors from production cars. Manufacturers providing engines included: Chevrolet, Porsche, Ford and BMW. The 2008 season saw the introduction of the Generation 2 Daytona Prototypes.
Grand Touring (GT) – After a number of seasons with multiple GT classes a single category was introduced in 2005. The GT division was for production-based vehicles. Cars racing in this group included the: Porsche GT3 Cup, Chevrolet Camaro GT.R, BMW M3 and Mazda RX-8. To equalize performance among the different brands, rules were implemented that included adjusting the vehicle’s weight, limiting tire size and engine RPMs.

The 49th annual Rolex 24 at Daytona took place on the weekend of January 29 and 30. There was a total of 48-starters (18 in DP and 30 in GT). Drivers would compete for 24-hours around the freshly paved twelve-turn 3.56-mile track which utilized an infield road course and almost the entire tri-oval.

Weather impacted this year’s event as dense fog in the early morning resulted in fifty-seven laps under caution.

The start of the 49th running of the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. Eighteen Daytona Prototype entries receive the starters green flag first and using a split start, will be followed by thirty Grand Touring cars. At the end of 24-hours, four Daytona Prototypes were on the lead lap and the margin of victory between first and second overall was a mere 2.070-seconds.

With less than an hour remaining in the event, the top teams pitted for their final stop. Lead driver, Scott Pruett was running third in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing entry. An excellent pit-stop allowed Pruett to exit first and maintain the lead for the remainder of the event. He shared the victory with co-drivers – Memo Rojas, Joey Hand and Graham Rahal.

American Le Mans Series regulars Flying Lizard Motorsports had previously participated in the Rolex 24 but always competing in Porsches. In 2011, they entered a Porsche-powered Riley in the Daytona Prototype category. They made their presence in the DP class known by qualifying on the pole. The car was driven by Patrick Long, Jorg Bergmeister, Seth Neiman and Johannes van Overbeek. They suffered a number of incidents but an engine fire forced the team to retire on lap-654.

From left to right it is the Grand Touring class winning drivers – Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly, Wolf Henzler, Brendan Gaughan and Steven Bertheau. This was Lally’s third Grand Touring category victory at the Rolex 24 and the second for Pumpelly and Henzler. For The Racers Group team owner, Kevin Buckler, it was his fourth class win.

The second entry in the Chip Ganassi Racing stable was the No. 02 BMW Riley driven by Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray. This group of drivers encountered some setbacks (two flat tires and a gear cluster change) early in the race. But having their misfortune at the beginning of the event gave them an opportunity to make up the deficit. By the end of the event, they were in contention for the win but finished second.

The class winning GT Porsche GT3 Cup was the fastest qualifier but started last after the time was disallowed. Drivers Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly, Wolf Henzler, Brendan Gaughan and Steven Bertheau, made good progress during the race and moved up the class order. Despite losing a clutch in the seventeenth hour, The Racers Group entry took the win and was one lap clear of the second place Porsche from Paul Miller Racing.

Thirty Grand Touring (GT) cars receive the Starter’s flag at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 29. The class winning GT Porsche GT3 Cup of The Racers Group (TRG) would complete 685-laps just 36 behind the overall winners from Chip Ganassi Racing. TRG also finished one lap ahead of the second-place Grand Touring entry of Paul Miller Racing.

The Racers Group No. 66 Porsche GT3 Cup was driven by Dominik Farnbacher, Tim George Jr., Ben Keating and Lucas Luhr. Farnbacher qualified the Porsche on the GT class pole and led the first lap of the race. The Porsche ran with the category leaders until the fourth hour when Keating damaged the car while avoiding a spinning Ferrari. A series of problems caused the team to fall down the order and retire.

After changing to Ford engines in 2008, the Wayne Taylor team was back with General Motors - using Chevrolet motors. It appeared that the switch paid off as lead driver Max Angelelli qualified second. Angelelli along with co-drivers Ricky Taylor and Ryan Briscoe were in contention when Taylor was forced to the garage after contact with Montoya. Later suspension issues required another visit to the garage. They made up many of their lost laps and finished fifth.

Bryce Miller qualified the Paul Miller Racing Porsche GT3 Cup twelfth in the Grand Touring class. The experienced driving team of Miller, Tim Sugden, Rob Bell and Bryan Sellers raced with the lead group. The team only experienced a couple of minor setbacks with the front spoiler. The relatively trouble free run was rewarded with a second place in class and thirteenth overall finish.

Most of the media attention was focused on the No. 40 Mazda RX-8 entry from Demsey Racing. Driving this car was Tom Long, Joe Foster, Charles Espenlaub and actor Patrick Dempsey. Dempsey had to take the ‘redeye’ from the Sundance Film Festival to make the race. The Mazda started thirty-sixth overall and fourteenth in class. At the end of 24-hours, the team earned the final spot on the victory podium.

Third place in Daytona Prototype and overall went to the Action Express Racing Porsche-powered Riley. The car was shared by an experienced group which included Terry Borcheller, JC France, Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Max Papis. The team started from the twelfth position of the grid and finished on the same lap as the race winners.

Autohaus Motorsports was one of three teams that entered a Chevrolet Camaro GT.R – the other being Stevenson Autosports and Banner Racing. The Autohaus Camaro shared by Jordan Taylor, Bill Lester, Johnny O’Connell and Matthew Marsh started from the second position for GT category cars. As is usually the case for most teams, they encountered some issues during the event and finished fourteenth in Grand Touring.

The Chip Ganassi Racing team celebrate their fifth win on the victory podium at the Rolex 24. Ganassi is surrounded by the crew and drivers – Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Joey Hand and Graham. In the last five years the No. 01 car has completed every lap and won the race three times. With this victory, Ganassi's teams had won the Daytona 500, Indy 500, Brickyard 400 and the Rolex 24 all within the course of a year.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	DP	Pruett / Rojas / Rahal / Hand	BMW Riley	721	-
2	DP	Dixon / Montoya / Franchitti / McMurray	BMW Riley	721	-
3	DP	Borcheller / France / Barbosa / Fittipaldi / Papis	Porsche Riley	721	-
4	DP	Brown / Patterson / Blundell / Brundle	Ford Riley	721	-
5	DP	Angelelli / Taylor / Briscoe	Chevrolet Dallara	720	-
6	DP	Krohn / Jonsson / Zonta / Minassian	Ford Lola	720	-
7	DP	Allmendinger / McDowell / Wilson	Ford Dallara	719	-
8	DP	Tucker / Bouchut/ Diaz / Wilkins	BMW Riley	718	-
9	DP	Law / Donohue / Rice / Frisselle	Porsche Riley	717	-
10	DP	Pew / Negri / Goossens / Valiante	Ford Riley	706	-
11	DP	Tucker / Hunter-Reay / Westbrook / Matos	BMW Riley	703	-
12	GT	Bertheau / Gaughan / Henzler / Lally / Pumpelly	Porsche GT3 Cup	685	-
13	GT	Miller / Sugden / Sellers / Bell	Porsche GT3 Cup	684	-
14	GT	Foster / Dempsey / Espenlaub / Long	Mazda RX-8	681	-
15	DP	Fogarty / Gurney / Johnson	Chevrolet Riley	679	-
16	GT	Potter / Stanton / Lietz / Holzer	Porsche GT3 Cup	675	-
17	GT	Haywood / Davis / Keen / Lieb	Porsche GT3 Cup	673	-
18	GT	Edwards / Tremblay / Christodoulou / Bomarito	Mazda RX-8	670	-
19	GT	Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker / Gidley	Mazda RX-8	661	-
20	GT	Eversley / Graeff / Wallace / Yarab Jr / Zahn Jr	Porsche GT3 Cup	659	-
21	GT	Thomas / Ludwig / von Moltke / Friedman	Porsche GT3 Cup	655	-
22	DP	Long / Bergmeister / Neiman / van Overbeek	Porsche Riley	654	Fire
23	GT	Gue / Cameron / James / Lacey	Mazda RX-8	650	-
24	GT	Garcia / Edwards / Maassen	Chevrolet Coyote	649	Not Running
25	GT	Earnhardt / Monroe / Harrington / Hull / Sandberg	Porsche GT3 Cup	635	-
26	GT	Liddell / Bremer / Magnussen	Camaro GT.R	629	-
27	GT	Farnbacher / George Jr. / Keating / Luhr	Porsche GT3 Cup	612	Not Running
28	GT	Taylor / Lester / O'Connell / Marsh	Camaro GT.R	607	-
29	GT	Wagner / Poordad / Baron / Jones	Ferrari F430	588	-
30	GT	Bleekemolen / Pappas / Pilet / Sofronas	Porsche GT3 Cup	578	Not Running
31	DP	Potoliccio / Popow / Iannetta / Viso	Ford Riley	577	-
32	GT	Auberlen / Dalla Lana / Said / Plumb	BMW M3	565	-
33	DP	Forest / Dalziel / Lowe / Braun / Enge	Ford Riley	552	Not Running
34	GT	Grupp / Murry / Downing / Trinkler	Mazda RX-8	544	-
35	GT	Sweedler / Lewis / Sheehan / Pagerey	Porsche GT3 Cup	495	-
36	GT	Rettich / Jensen / Marsal / Jensen / Buford	Mazda RX-8	453	Not Running
37	GT	Michaelian / Doyle / Mulligan / Castellano / Dobson	Porsche GT3 Cup	423	-
38	GT	Cheng / Papadopoulos / Lewis / Hyatt	BMW M6	402	Not Running
39	GT	Ledoux II / Curran / Schaldach / Gavin	Camaro GT.R	398	Not Running
40	GT	Burtin / Ragginger / Tandy / Armindo	Porsche GT3 Cup	378	Not Running
41	GT	Walker / Wong / Lux	Porsche GT3 Cup	328	Not Running
42	DP	Frisselle / Richard / Bell / Kaiser	Ford Dallara	312	Not Running
43	GT	Skeen / Dumoulin / Davidson / Geddie / Harrington	Ferrari F430	286	-
44	DP	Peterson / Valentine / Beyer / Mayer / Heylen	Ford Riley	215	Not Running
45	GT	Assentato / Segal / Ham/ Lazzaro	Mazda RX-8	202	Not Running
46	GT	Joe Sahlen / Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker	Mazda RX-8	124	Not Running
47	GT	Hacquard / Cumming / Miller / Marks	Mazda RX-8	122	Not Running
48	GT	Atterbury / MacNeil / Pobst / Whitis	Porsche GT3 Cup	121	Not Running

Copyright Notice:

All content (photographs and text) appearing on this website are the exclusive property of © www.zoompics.com and are protected under International copyright laws. The subject matter on this website may not be reproduced, copied, stored or manipulated.