Grand American Rolex

GANASSI LEXUS CONTINUES TO RUN IN TOP-TWO AT 15 HOUR MARK OF ROLEX 24

The Chip Ganassi Racing #01 Telmex /Target Lexus-Riley was running second and squarely in the hunt for a record third consecutive Rolex 24 at Daytona victory at the 15-hour mark. Each of the two other Lexus cars have struggled since off-track excursions while each was running in the top eight.

15-Hour Update - 438 laps completed
Lap 355 - #01 Lexus (Montoya) is consistently lapping a half second faster than the field
Lap 357 - #01 Lexus (Montoya) takes over the lead as the #99 pits
Lap 372 - #01 Lexus pits for scheduled service, gives up lead after leading 17 laps, and resumes in third
Lap 374 - #01 Lexus (Montoya) re-takes the lead as the #6 pits
Lap 375 - #3 Lexus makes contact with the fence in the bus stop while running eighth, resumes and heads to the garage for repairs
Lap 388 - #3 Lexus returns to the track 17 laps down
Lap 395 - #01 Lexus pits and gives up the lead after leading 21 laps, Franchitti in for Montoya,
Lap 405 - #01 Lexus has traded second-place twice in the last 10 laps
Lap 408 - #01 Lexus (Franchitti) assumes the lead as the #6 pits
Lap 410 - #01 Lexus pits, giving up the lead after two laps, Montoya in for Franchitti
Lap 430 - #3 Lexus pits and goes behind the wall with gear-box problems

Overall positions after 13 Hours
#01 P1
#3 P13
#02 P14

Overall positions after 14 Hours
#01 P2
#02 P12
#3 P13

Overall positions after 15 Hours
#01 P2
#02 P11
#3 P23

GANASSI LEXUS RUNS SECOND AT MID-WAY POINT OF ROLEX 24

The Chip Ganassi Racing #01 Telmex /Target Lexus-Riley was running second and squarely in the hunt for a record third consecutive Rolex 24 at Daytona victory at the mid-way point of the twice-around-the-clock event. In addition, the #3 Southard Motorsports Lexus had climbed to eighth-place during the early morning hours, while the #02 Target/Telmet Lexus continued to climb an all-day roller-coaster as they’ve climbed back up to the 15th-spot after two lengthy stays in the garage earlier in the race.

12-Hour Update - 352 laps completed
Lap 272 - #02 Lexus pits for scheduled service and resumes
Lap 276 – Green flag waves after a lengthy caution with rain falling
Lap 277 - #01 Lexus (Pruett) passes #9 for third-place
Lap 299 - #01 Lexus pits for service, Montoya in for Pruett
Lap 319 - #02 Lexus stops in the horse shoe – Full course caution
Lap 319 - #01 Lexus currently running second
Lap 320 - #01 Lexus (Montoya) takes over the lead after previous leader pits
Lap 338 - #01 Lexus pits for scheduled service and gives up the lead, resuming in third-place
Lap 352 - #3 Lexus has been running consistently in the top-eight and challenging for seventh through the late night.

Overall positions after 10 Hours
#01 P3
#3 P10
#02 P20

Overall positions after 11 Hours
#01 P1
#3 P8
#02 P19

Overall positions after 12 Hours
#01 P2
#3 P8
#02 P15

PRUETT, #01 LEXUS CLIMBS TO SECOND AT 9-HOUR MARK IN ROLEX 24

Scott Pruett and the #01 Telmex /Target Lexus-Riley were running second at the nine-hour mark to keep hopes alive of a record third consecutive Rolex 24 victory for Ganassi Racing. The Southard Motorsports #3 Lexus climbed up to 11th with Alex Barron and Bill Lester behind the wheel, but the #02 Ganassi team had fallen back to 21st after a second extended stay in the garage while repairing a broken splitter suffered in an earlier incident.

9-Hour Update - 265 laps completed
Lap 193 #02 Lexus pits for scheduled service and changes to wets to slicks
Lap 229 Full course caution
Lap 229 #02 Lexus pits for service, Lloyd in for Duran
Lap 230 #02 Lexus heads to garage to repair front splitter damage from earlier incident
Lap 232 #3 Lexus pits for scheduled service, Lester in for Barron
Lap 238 #02 Lexus re-enters race track from garage, 15 laps down in 27th place
Lap 241 #01 Lexus pits for service, Pruett in for Rojas, and resumes in 7th-place
Lap 241 #02 Lexus pits for service under yellow
Lap 241 #3 Lexus pits for service and resumes in 12th
Lap 263 #01 Lexus moves into second place
Lap 264 Full course caution
Lap 265 #01 Lexus pits for scheduled service and resumes in 7th-place
Lap 265 #02 Lexus pits for scheduled service and resumes in 21st-place
Lap 265 #3 Lexus pits for scheduled service and resumes in 11th-place

Overall positions after 7 Hours
#01 P4
#3 P13
#02 16

Overall positions after 8 Hours
#01 P5
#3 P11
#02 P27

Overall positions after 9 Hours
#01 P2
#3 P11
#02 P21

Alex Barron, #3 Southard Motorsports Lexus: "It was a long run – about three stints. We knew it looked like rain and I was staying out for as long as I could, and then the rains came and I dove in and we put rain tires on it. We were actually really quick in the rain and made up some spots (going from 17th to 13th). As the rains started going away, I think a lot of guys went back to slicks too quick and took too long to get up to speed. I think we made the right call to put slicks on when we did and that jumped us up a couple of more spots."

#01 LEXUS CONTINUES TO RUN IN TOP-FIVE, BUT #02 SUFFERS SETBACK

The #01 Telmex /Target Lexus-Riley of Ganassi Racing continued to run in the top five through the first six hours of today's Rolex 24 at Daytona, but the #02 team car suffered a major setback when Salvador Duran went off track under caution on Lap 137 and was forced to go back to the garage to repair heavy damage to the nose of the car, resulting in a loss of 12 laps. After falling back to 32nd, the team re-gained 15 spots, yet still remains 10 laps down. The Southard Motorsports #3 Lexus has moved up through the field to currently run 13th, after climbing as high as 11th with Alex Barron behind the wheel.

6-Hour Update - 180 laps completed
Lap 96 - #01 Lexus moves into seventh-place passing the #61 car
Lap 100 - #02 Lexus currently runs second
Lap 103 - #01 makes scheduled stop and resumes in 11th
Lap 120 - #02 makes scheduled stop and resumes in 7th
Lap 126 - #01 passes the #76 for fourth-place
Lap 133 - #01 takes the lead after the previous leader pits
Lap 135 - #01 pits out of the lead on a scheduled stop and resumes in 8th after leading 2 laps
Lap 136 – Full course caution
Lap 136 - #02 pits out of second-place, Duran in for Wheldon and resumes in seventh
Lap 137 - #02 goes into the grass under caution, with the nose clip appearing to catch on the ground, making hard contact into the ground, circles the track and proceeds directly to the pits.
Lap 137 - #3 pits under yellow, Barron in for Christopher
Lap 157 - #01 Franchitti in for Montoya
Lap 159 - Rain begins to fall on the Speedway
Lap 168 - #02 returns to the race track
Lap 173 - #3 Barron has climbed from 17th to 11th in the rain and gone from 3 laps down to just 1 lap behind the leader
Lap 180 - #02 has climbed from 32nd to 17th, but remains 10 laps down

Overall positions after 4 Hours
#01 P8
#02 P9
#3 P17

Overall positions after 5 Hours
#01 P3
#3 P15
#02 P32

Overall positions after 6 Hours
#01 P5
#3 P11
#02 P17

TWO LEXUS-POWERED PROTOTYPES RUNNING IN ROLEX TOP-10 AT 3-HOUR MARK

The #02 Target/Telmex Lexus-Riley of Ganassi Racing held the lead for most of the third hour of today's Rolex 24 at Daytona before giving up the lead in the pits as Scott Dixon registered the fastest lap of the race through the 90-lap mark. The #02 currently runs seventh, while the #01 Telmex/Target Lexus Ganassi team car was running in eighth. The #3 Southard Motorsports Lexus-Riley was running in 17th-place, two laps down.

3-Hour Update - 90 laps completed
Lap 1 - #01 Lexus and #02 Lexus start the race from pit lane after changing from wets to slicks
Lap 14 - #01 Lexus moves back into top-10 after dropping to 18th after starting from pits
Lap 15 - #01 Lexus, #02 Lexus both pit on scheduled stops under yellow
Lap 16 - #3 Lexus pits under yellow and rejoins the field on the lead lap
Lap 25- #01 Lexus and #02 Lexus have moved up to 8th and 9th place, respectively
Lap 35 - #01 Lexus moves into the top five in fifth place, #02 Lexus moves into sixth
Lap 40 - #01 Lexus pits on a scheduled stop and resumes in 17th-place
Lap 43 - #3 Lexus pits on scheduled stop and resumes in 20th-place
Lap 50 - #02 Lexus pits on scheduled stop and resumes
Lap 53 - #02 Lexus stays on-track and moves into the lead as previous leaders pit
Lap 70 - #01 Lexus pits in fifth place for a scheduled stop, Montoya in for Pruett
Lap 81 - #3 Lexus pits for scheduled stop, Christopher in for Lewis
Lap 87 - #02 Lexus pits for scheduled stop and gives up the lead after leading 34 laps 'Wheldon in for Dixon' resuming in 10th place

Overall positions after 1 Hour
#01 P8
#02 P9
#3 P18

Overall positions after 2 Hours
#02 P1
#01 P8
#3 P17

Overall positions after 3 Hours
#02 P7
#01 P8
#3 P17

Quotes:
Barry Wanser, #02 Ganassi Racing Lexus: (On starting the race from the pitlane) "After seeing the weather radar, it looked like it would be wet at the start, so we put wet tires on the car to begin the race. But after we did the first pace lap, we saw the track was dry all around and it made sense to come in right away to change to slicks, so we had to start the race from the pit lane."

Scott Pruett, #01 Telmex/Target Lexus: I've been having a little problem locking up the front so I had to do a couple of pit stops because we're
being overly cautious. The Telmex car is running well otherwise. I just need to find that line between carrying good speed and locking it up."