Defending championScott Pruett and Memo Rojas won the prestigious Daytona 24hours race this afternoon, ironically beating the drivers they last won with in 2008, Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti, who had to settled for second place.
The No. 01 team took the lead of the race shortly after the 23th hour, to the greatest despair of the other Ganassi drivers. They maintained it all the way through this last hour of racing, up until the last yellow flag, with eight minutes to go to the race, and through the restart.
Scott Dixon, who had won the race in 2006, was forced to settled for second place finish, unable to reach the No. 01 car driven by Scott Pruett on the last green lap of the race. It came down to seconds, the closest finish in more than 40 years at this event (2.426 seconds).
Dixon shared the wheel with teammates Juan Pablo Montoya, who won twice in 2007 and again in 2008 alongside Dario Franchitti with whom he also shared his ride this week-end, and fellow NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray.
It is Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas’s first victory since 2008, a fourth in career for Pruett (record-extending ninth victory in class). They are officially the most prolifique duo of the event with four wins. They shared the wheel with Graham Rahal and Joey Hand.
Graham, son of Bobby Rahal, pursue the great family tradition with this win. His father had won the race in 1981, with Brian Redman and Bob Garretson.
It was also a perfect day for Chip Ganassi Racing with a one-two finish after 24hours of racing. The team, within the last year, also won the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400!
Defending Rolex 24 champion team Action Express Racing finished third with Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Max Papis and JC France in the No. 9 Porsche/Riley.
In GT, despite falling to dead last at some point in the race, Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly, Wolf Henzler, Brendan Gaughan and Steven Bertheau are leaving Daytona with the class victory. Bryce Miller, Tim Sugden, Bryan Sellers and Rob Bell finished second.
Hollywood actor Patrick Dempsey came short of a first victory as a team owner and a driver today, in Daytona. The team (Joe Foster, Charles Espenlaub, Tom Long and Dempsey himself) finished third... and the actor was very emotional after the race!
Jean-François Dumoulin didn't get very lucky in the second half of the race. The team was able to fix the broken transmission, a result from an accident on friday night, in testing, after several hours, just in time to run the last hour or so of the race.
The team finished in 43rd position (26th in class) with 286 laps completed versus the 721 of the winners.
The No. 01 team took the lead of the race shortly after the 23th hour, to the greatest despair of the other Ganassi drivers. They maintained it all the way through this last hour of racing, up until the last yellow flag, with eight minutes to go to the race, and through the restart.
Scott Dixon, who had won the race in 2006, was forced to settled for second place finish, unable to reach the No. 01 car driven by Scott Pruett on the last green lap of the race. It came down to seconds, the closest finish in more than 40 years at this event (2.426 seconds).
Dixon shared the wheel with teammates Juan Pablo Montoya, who won twice in 2007 and again in 2008 alongside Dario Franchitti with whom he also shared his ride this week-end, and fellow NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray.
It is Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas’s first victory since 2008, a fourth in career for Pruett (record-extending ninth victory in class). They are officially the most prolifique duo of the event with four wins. They shared the wheel with Graham Rahal and Joey Hand.
Graham, son of Bobby Rahal, pursue the great family tradition with this win. His father had won the race in 1981, with Brian Redman and Bob Garretson.
It was also a perfect day for Chip Ganassi Racing with a one-two finish after 24hours of racing. The team, within the last year, also won the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400!
Defending Rolex 24 champion team Action Express Racing finished third with Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Max Papis and JC France in the No. 9 Porsche/Riley.
In GT, despite falling to dead last at some point in the race, Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly, Wolf Henzler, Brendan Gaughan and Steven Bertheau are leaving Daytona with the class victory. Bryce Miller, Tim Sugden, Bryan Sellers and Rob Bell finished second.
Hollywood actor Patrick Dempsey came short of a first victory as a team owner and a driver today, in Daytona. The team (Joe Foster, Charles Espenlaub, Tom Long and Dempsey himself) finished third... and the actor was very emotional after the race!
Jean-François Dumoulin didn't get very lucky in the second half of the race. The team was able to fix the broken transmission, a result from an accident on friday night, in testing, after several hours, just in time to run the last hour or so of the race.
The team finished in 43rd position (26th in class) with 286 laps completed versus the 721 of the winners.