The winning Michael Shank No. 60

In a battle of ex-Champ Car drivers where the best drivers in American racing were produced, A.J. Allmendinger outdueled polesitter Ryan Dalziel to win the 50th running of the Rolex 24 classic at Daytona International Raceway Sunday afternoon. 

Years ago Michael Shank (who himself used to drive in Champ Car Atlantics and a team owner) started a team and struggled for years making it into a winner and today he won the biggest Grand-Am race of the year. 

In the end the damaged No. 8 Starworks Ford was not fast enough

Justin Wilson, another Champ Car graduate co-drove the No. 60 Riley Ford alongside Allmendinger and the two of them carried the car to victory.

Finishing a few seconds behind the No. 60 car was the pole-winning No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Ford Riley and Ryan Dalziel, Alex Popow, Lucas Luhr, Allan McNish and Enzo Potolicchio.  The car's rear end was damaged when Lucas Luhr crashed it, which may have been why Dalziel had nothing for Allmendinger at the end.

Shank Racing took the final spot on the podium with the No. 6 Ford Riley with Michael McDowell, Jorge Goncalvez, Gustavo Yacaman and Sunoco Rolex 24 Driver Challenge winner Felipe Nasr.

With the minutes ticking down on the Rolex clock in Pit Row, it was an epic battle on Daytona International Speedway’s 3.56-mile, 12-turn road course.  Lead changes between three DP cars – Michael Shank Racing’s #60 Ford Riley, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates #01 BMW Riley, and the Starworks Motorsport #8 Ford Riley – had set the stage for the golden anniversary edition of this race to come to a dramatic close. 

Scott Pruett (Auburn, Calif.), the owner of Pruett Vineyard and co-author with his wife of four children’s books when not on the track, was within striking distance of tying Floridian Hurley Haywood’s record five wins of the Rolex 24 At Daytona.  With little more than an hour left in the race, Pruett lost first and second gear in the #01 BMW Riley gear box which, despite the herculean efforts of his pit crew, completely put him out of podium contention. 

At 30 minutes to the checkered flag, A.J. Allmendinger (Denver, Colo.) had been behind the wheel of Michael Shank Racing’s #60 Ford Riley for more than three hours.  He took over the lead with Ryan Dalziel (Orlando, Fla.), in the Starworks Motorsport #8 Ford Riley, chasing him down with each lap.  Dalziel, a native of Scotland and the 2010 Rolex 24 At Daytona champion, had earned his first career pole in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series during qualifying for this race. 

As the final laps were logged, Allmendinger’s lead went from 11 seconds to six as the white flag signaled the final lap of the race.  He won by 5.198 seconds to earn Michael Shank his first Rolex 24 At Daytona win.  Sharing the driving duties with the California-born Allmendinger was Brazilian native Oswaldo “Ozz” Negri, Jr. (Miami, Fla.), Justin Wilson (England) and John Pew (North Palm Beach, Fla.).

“The Rolex 24 At Daytona is such a prestigious race; it’s one you want on your résumé and you want to say that you were part of a victory,” said Allmendinger. “Ultimately it’s just amazing. I’m going to cherish this.”

“It’s the most fun three hours of racing I’ve ever done,” added Allmendinger regarding the push to the finish line and how he had worked hard to build up a gap and then manage the gap over the last 10 laps. “It was flat out.  When Dalziel got in the [#8] car I knew that every lap I had to drive my butt off.  I feel like it’s some of the best driving I’ve done in my life.  It’s fun to walk up and down pit lane [at the Rolex 24 At Daytona] just as a pure fan of racing to see all the different drivers in this series. We’ve been close before, and something happened to take us out.  Now to have Ozz and Justin, and John Pew … it’s the biggest win I’ve ever had.” 

Finishing second was the #8 Starworks Motorsport Ford Riley driven by Dalziel, Enzo Potolicchio (Venezuela), Alex Popow (Venezuela), Lucas Luhr (Germany) and Allan McNish (Scotland), with Michael Shank Racing’s #6 Ford Riley -- driven by Michael McDowell (Huntersville, N.C.), Gustavo Yacaman (Key Biscayne, Fla.), Jorge Goncalvez (Brownsburg, Ind.) and Felipe Nasr (Brazil) -- taking the last podium spot. 

“The thing that keeps you coming back to this event is you don’t have a watch yet,” said McDowell. “It’s a great event, and it’s become really an all-star race with great drivers from every series and world champions. So to win one of these races is very special.” 

Richard Lietz in the winning GT class No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche

Richard Lietz (Austria), sharing the #44 Magnus Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with John Potter/Andy Lally/Rene Rast, took over the driving duties with less than two hours left to go at the 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona. He then guided his car through two pit stops and to the GT victory for the Salt Lake City-based team owned by Potter and led a sweep of the GT podium by Porsche 911 race cars.

In fact, with Lietz, Henzler and Lieb – all Porsche factory drivers - driving their cars to the checkered flag, Porsche Motorsport North America president Jens Walther is especially proud of the Porsche people, not just the race cars.

“With both our customer race car owners and our factory drivers, we have the best people in the motorsports business associated with Porsche, and they are a key part in making our street cars and race cars great,” said Walther, who has been president of Porsche Motorsport North America, Inc. since 2010.

Winning team owner John Potter could not contain his feelings in the pit box after the checkered flag dropped, as his team was victorious in one of the greatest sports car races in the world after being in existence less than three years. 

“This crew works so hard, and we have come so close to the top step of the podium in Grand-Am in the past, but to win for the first time, at this race is something special.  Rene and Andy are great guys, and Richard really brought us home strong,” said Potter.

Lietz was pleased that Potter chose him to finish the race, and he thought the field of drivers was especially strong.

“I was honored to carry the team flag to the finish line, and we bested a field of world-class GT drivers,” said Lietz.

For Rene Rast (Germany), the defending Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup champion, it was his first time at Daytona, but the significance of the victory did not escape him.

“To finish at the top with perhaps the greatest GT field ever is an honor, and I thank Porsche and Magnus Racing for allowing me to be involved,” said Rast.

Andy Lally (USA) won this GT event last year, but switched teams this year to join Magnus Racing. 

“This was a great victory for John Potter and Magnus, but it is only the first step in our quest for the Rolex Grand-Am GT championship and North American Endurance GT Championship,” said Lally, who will run with Potter for the entire Grand-Am season in their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

Finishing the Porsche sweep of the podium is the second-place TRG Porsche of Steve Bertheau/Marc Goosens/Wolf Henzler/Spencer Pumpelly/Jeroen Bleekemolen, and the #59 Brumos Porsche (Leh Keen/Hurley Haywood/Andrew Davis/Marc Lieb) was third. Both teams led for substantial lengths of time during the 24-hour event, but, in the end, both the cars couldn’t catch the Magnus Porsche.

“We ran the whole event flat out, and spent hours and hours in the lead, but we had some front-end body damage that hurt our aerodynamics, and an extra pit stop in the end brought us up a little bit short.  Still, we are proud of our Brumos drivers and crew, and we won the GT championship last year after finishing fifth, so we will proceed on that mission again,” said Hurley Haywood, five-time Daytona overall winner an current Brumos team manager.

For Porsche factory driver Wolf Henzler (Germany), qualifying woes put their TRG Porsche near the back of the field for the start of the race, but they also led for multiple hours before clutch woes slowed them down near the end.

“My Porsche colleague Richard Lietz is very fast, and we could not make up any time on the Magnus car in the end.  But we are happy with our second-place finish, and the TRG crew prepared a Porsche which performed great all race,” said Henzler, who won the GT class at Le Mans in 2010.

Results

Pos	No.	PIC	Drivers or Driver at Finish	Laps	Behind	Gap	Fast Lap	Team
1	60	1	AJ Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson	761	0.000s	0.000s	1:41.473	Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Ford / Riley
2	8	2	Ryan Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/ Popow/Potolicchio	761	5.198	5.198	1:41.470	Starworks Motorsport Ford / Riley
3	6	3	Felipe Nasr/McDowell/ Goncalvez/Yacaman	761	49.439	44.241	1:42.076	Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Ford / Riley
4	02	4	Juan Pablo Montoya/Dixon/Franchitti/McMurra	759	2 LAPS	2 LAPS	1:42.119	Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW / Riley
5	5	5	Darren Law/Donohue/Fittipaldi	758	3 LAPS	1 LAP	1:42.640	Action Express Racing Corvette DP
6	01	6	Scott Pruett	756	5 LAPS	2 LAPS	1:41.973	Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW / Riley
7	77	7	Paul Tracy	748	13 LAPS	8 LAPS	1:42.730	Doran Racing Ford / Dallara
8	90	8	Jan Magnussen	745	16 LAPS	3 LAPS	1:42.604	Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP
9	9	9	JC France	738	23 LAPS	7 LAPS	1:42.370	Action Express Racing Corvette DP
10	2	10	Michael Valiante	735	26 LAPS	3 LAPS	1:42.100	Starworks Motorsport Ford / Riley
11	44	1	Richard Lietz/Lally/Potter/Rast	726	35 LAPS	9 LAPS	1:48.582	Magnus Racing Porsche GT3
12	67	2	Wolf Henzler/Bertheau/ Bleekemolen/Goossens/Pumpelly	726	35 LAPS	8.209	1:48.767	TRG Porsche GT3
13	59	3	Marc Lieb/Davis/Haywood/Keen	726	35 LAPS	46.177	1:48.670	Brumos Racing Porsche GT3
14	57	4	John Edwards/Bremer/Liddell	726	35 LAPS	15.687	1:49.096	Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R
15	63	5	Olivier Beretta/Bruni/Fisichella/Matos	726	35 LAPS	20.396	1:48.886	Risi Competizione Ferrari 458
16	70	6	Sylvain Tremblay	722	39 LAPS	4 LAPS	1:50.120	SpeedSource Mazda RX-8
17	66	7	Patrick Pilet	720	41 LAPS	2 LAPS	1:49.038	TRG Porsche GT3
18	69	8	Anthony Lazzaro	716	45 LAPS	4 LAPS	1:49.029	AIM Autosport Team FXDD Racing with Ferrari Ferrari 458
19	32	9	Bret Curtis	712	49 LAPS	4 LAPS	1:49.027	Orbit/GMG Porsche GT3
20	76	11	Nic Jonsson	712	49 LAPS	0.433	1:42.067	Krohn Racing Ford / Lola
21	88	10	Jordan Taylor	712	49 LAPS	14.758	1:48.949	Autohaus Motorsports Camaro GT.R
22	40	11	Charles Espenlaub	712	49 LAPS	0.284	1:51.070	Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8
23	42	12	Dane Cameron	711	50 LAPS	1 LAP	1:49.504	Team Sahlen Mazda RX-8
24	03	13	Guy Cosmo	706	55 LAPS	5 LAPS	1:49.148	Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari 458
25	24	14	Michael Avenatti	706	55 LAPS	4.846	1:50.456	Alex Job Racing Porsche GT3
26	45	15	Seth Neiman	705	56 LAPS	1 LAP	1:49.112	Flying Lizard Motorsports with Wright Motorsports Porsche GT3
27	93	16	Michael Marsal	691	70 LAPS	14 LAPS	1:49.453	Turner Motorsport BMW M3
28	23	17	Cooper MacNeil	689	72 LAPS	2 LAPS	1:48.410	Alex Job Racing Porsche GT3
29	26	18	Carlos Kauffmann	687	74 LAPS	2 LAPS	1:49.157	NGT Motorsport Porsche GT3
30	64	19	Emilio DiGuida	687	74 LAPS	13.156	1:52.056	TRG Porsche GT3
31	22	20	Darryl O'Young	680	81 LAPS	7 LAPS	1:51.404	Bullet Racing Porsche GT3
32	50	12	Byron Defoor	671	90 LAPS	9 LAPS	1:44.127	50+Predator/Alegra BMW / Riley
33	99	13	Jon Fogarty	671	90 LAPS	11.501	1:41.891	GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP
34	82	21	Dick Greer	664	97 LAPS	7 LAPS	1:51.141	Dick Greer Racing Porsche GT3
35	56	22	Michael Waltrip	644	117 LAPS	20 LAPS	1:49.033	AF - Waltrip Ferrari 458
36	65	23	Jack McCarthy Jr	643	118 LAPS	1 LAP	1:52.868	TRG Porsche GT3
37	68	24	Chris Cumming	639	122 LAPS	4 LAPS	1:49.189	TRG Porsche GT3
38	55	25	Randy Pobst	626	135 LAPS	13 LAPS	1:51.043	Acumen Motorsport Porsche GT3
39	18	26	Mark Thomas	608	153 LAPS	18 LAPS	1:52.116	Muehlner Motorsports America, LLC Porsche GT3
40	41	27	Don Kitch Jr	607	154 LAPS	1 LAP	1:52.178	Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8
41	12	28	Matt Schneider	603	158 LAPS	4 LAPS	1:51.714	Alliance Autosport Porsche GT3
42	19	29	Marco Seefried	598	163 LAPS	5 LAPS	1:51.235	Muehlner Motorsports America, LLC Porsche GT3
43	75	30	Al Carter	577	184 LAPS	21 LAPS	1:49.720	Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R
44	51	31	Jim Norman	446	315 LAPS	131 LAPS	1:50.660	APR Motorsport Audi R8 Grand-Am
45	74	32	Humaid Masaood	431	330 LAPS	15 LAPS	1:49.435	Oryx Racing Audi R8 Grand-Am
46	17	33	Martin Ragginger	424	337 LAPS	7 LAPS	1:49.062	Burtin Racing with Goldcrest Motorsports Porsche GT3
47	20	34	Gunter Schaldach	416	345 LAPS	8 LAPS	1:51.218	Liqui Moly Team Englster/Mitchum Motorsports Porsche Porsche GT3
48	34	35	Phil Fogg	383	378 LAPS	33 LAPS	1:53.827	Orbit/GMG Porsche GT3
49	4	36	Justin Bell	309	452 LAPS	74 LAPS	1:50.201	Magnus Racing Porsche GT3
50	36	37	Taylor Hacquard	270	491 LAPS	39 LAPS	1:52.638	Yellow Dragon Motorsports Mazda RX-8
51	15	38	Doug Harrington	256	505 LAPS	14 LAPS	1:51.324	Rick Ware Racing Ford Mustang
52	48	39	Mark Wilkins	224	537 LAPS	32 LAPS	1:49.307	Paul Miller Racing Porsche GT3
53	46	40	Ivo Breukers	172	589 LAPS	52 LAPS	1:55.814	Michael Baughman Racing Corvette
54	62	41	Gianmaria Bruni	154	607 LAPS	18 LAPS	1:49.635	Risi Competizione Ferrari 458
55	87	42	Emilio Valverde	101	660 LAPS	53 LAPS	1:51.306	Racers Edge Motorsports Dodge Viper
56	94	43	Billy Johnson	86	675 LAPS	15 LAPS	1:50.533	Turner Motorsport BMW M3
57	43	44	Will Nonnamaker	21	740 LAPS	65 LAPS	1:53.187	Team Sahlen Mazda RX-8
58	10	14	Max Angelelli	14	747 LAPS	7 LAPS	1:43.057	SunTrust Racing Corvette DP