Rolex 24 Hour 6: Ganassi No. 01 still in front

Chip Ganassi Racing remained out front as the 53rd Rolex 24 at Daytona reached the six-hour mark – 1/4 of the race complete and still a long way to go.

The No. 01 Riley-Ford DP of Joey Hand holds a narrow one-second margin over the sister entry driven by Tony Kanaan, in what's turned into an early dominant run for the Ford EcoBoost-powered cars.

AJ Allmendinger runs in third aboard the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier JS P2 Honda, which has crucially remained on the lead lap, along with the Corvette DP entries from Action Express Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing, which complete the top-five overall.

NEWS AND NOTES

• Tom Long made history at the end of his opening stint early in the race when he took the lead in the No. 07 SpeedSource Mazda SKYACTIV-D Smart Diesel, becoming the first diesel-powered car to lead overall in the Rolex 24. It also was the first time Mazda has led the Rolex 24 overall, although the manufacturer has 22 class victories in the event, second behind only Porsche (68).

• Two drivers in search of career milestones are in good position at the one-quarter mark. Scott Pruett – looking to win a record sixth Rolex 24 overall – leads in the Prototype class while teammate Jamie McMurray is second as he tries to join A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti as the only drivers to win both the Daytona 500 and Rolex 24.

• The No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR, in a quest to defend its inaugural Patron Endurance Cup championship in GTLM, fell victim to a gearbox issue three minutes into the 24-hour race, losing six laps. The car has since run flawlessly and now sits four laps down in ninth.

• Attrition was one of the main storylines in the opening six hours of the event with a number of competitive cars running into early trouble. Among those, the No. 97 BMW Z4 of defending TUDOR Championship GTD champion Turner Motorsport suffered a pair of gearbox related issues relegating the team to 97 laps down in class at the six-hour mark. The No. 0 DeltaWing Racing Cars DWC-13 – which ran solidly in the top-five for much of the early part of the race put fell victim to a transmission issue – and the No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM Honda HPD ARX (systems failure) were forced to retire. Also retiring right before the six-hour mark was the No. 57 Krohn Racing Ligier JS P2/Judd which reportedly suffered an engine problem.

• One year after nearly sweeping the four Patron Endurance Cup events, CORE autosport is off to a strong start in a quest to return to victory lane in the Rolex 24 in 2015. The car co-driven by Colin Braun, Jon Bennett, James Gue and Mark Wilkins has a 68-second lead over the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport ORECA FLM09.

QUOTEBOARD

Scott Pruett, Driver – No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing w/ Felix Sabates Ford EcoBoost/Riley:
"For me, I always approach this race being over-cautious at the start. I've done this race so many times. I've seen so many drivers who really want to make a statement in the first couple of hours, really trying to work their way up to the front, driving up over curbs and other cars. It is going to be interesting to see how everything unfolds."

Andy Meyrick, Driver – No. 0 DeltaWing Racing Cars with Claro/TracFone DWC-13:
"I've become accustomed to how resilient and hardworking this team is. With a brand new component in the car and not much room to maneuver, they've gone above and beyond. To qualify so well and to run so well shows that they're the real heroes. The season looks really strong as soon as we get over these teething issues. We're very disappointed, but there are lots of positives to take away."

Johannes van Overbeek, Driver – No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM Honda HPD ARX
"This is an unfortunate end to our Rolex 24. It is a beautiful day for racing. There's a great field of drivers and great crowd at Daytona. Ed (Brown), Jon (Fogarty) and I were looking forward to a nice long race. Sadly, we lost power in the Honda. We're not sure what happened yet. We'll dig into and figure it out. The No. 1 car is running well and that's great. We need to regroup and get some more work done before Sebring."

Memo Gidley, Driver Injured in 2014 Rolex 24 At Daytona
"I'm very hungry [to drive again]. It's been a year and I'm watching the race on TV now. It's really such a great memory. We all know when we're doing things you have higher chance of an injury. That's part of it. I definitely want to get back out there, but No. 1 is to get back to 100 percent strong, or nearly 100 percent strong, before I can make that happen."

Hour 6 Standings

Pos No. Class Name Laps Total Tm Make/Model
1 01 P Pruett/Hand/Kimball/Karam 191 6:01:29.872 Ford EcoBoost DP
2 02 P Dixon/Kanaan/Larson/McMurray 191 6:01:30.626 Ford EcoBoost DP
3 60 P Pew/Negri/Allmendinger/ McMurry 191 6:01:34.276 Honda HPD Ligier JS P2
4 5 P Barbosa/Fittipaldi/Bourdais 191 6:01:35.338 Corvette DP
5 10 P J.Taylor/R.Taylor/Angelelli 191 6:01:48.311 Corvette DP
6 90 P Westbrook/Valiante/ Rockenfeller/Cosmo 191 6:02:00.427 Corvette DP
7 7 P Hartley/Barrichello/ Hunter-Reay/Graves/Mayer 190 6:02:56.888 BMW Power Riley DP
8 1 P Sharp/Dalziel/Heinemeier Hansson 189 6:02:12.031 Honda HPD ARX
9 70 P Bomarito/Nunez/Hinchcliffe/ Tremblay 186 6:02:08.832 Mazda Prototype
10 54 PC Bennett/Braun/Wilkins/Gue 186 6:02:12.835 ORECA FLM09
11 3 GTLM Magnussen/Garcia/Briscoe 186 6:02:13.636 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
12 4 GTLM Gavin/Milner/Pagenaud 186 6:02:14.726 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
13 62 GTLM Kaffer/Rigon/Fisichella/ Beretta 186 6:02:22.516 Ferrari F458 Italia
14 911 GTLM Tandy/Pilet/Lieb/Christensen 186 6:02:23.023 Porsche 911 RSR
15 17 GTLM Henzler/Sellers/P.Long 186 6:02:24.609 Porsche 911 RSR
16 25 GTLM Auberlen/Werner/Farfus/ Spengler 186 6:02:24.688 BMW Z4 GTE
17 8 PC Schultis/van der Zande/Popow/ Hedlund/Albuqu 186 6:02:49.886 ORECA FLM09
18 85 PC Goikhberg/Miller/Simpson/ Mitchell 185 6:03:08.416 ORECA FLM09
19 51 GTLM Perrodo/Collard/Bruni/Vilander 184 6:01:35.869 Ferrari 458 Italia
20 24 GTLM J.Edwards/Luhr/Klingmann/ Rahal 184 6:03:08.321 BMW Z4 GTE
21 912 GTLM Bergmeister/Bamber/Makowiecki/ Christensen 182 6:01:55.271 Porsche 911 RSR
22 66 P Gewirtz/S.Lewis/Kvamme/Cheng 182 6:02:06.135 BMW Power Riley DP
23 93 GTD Keating/D.Farnbacher/Carter/ Wittmer/Lawrenc 182 6:02:29.499 Dodge Viper SRT
24 63 GTD Sweedler/T.Bell/Lazzaro/Segal 182 6:02:31.825 Ferrari 458 Italia
25 48 GTD Haase/B.Miller/von Moltke/Rast 182 6:02:57.640 Audi R8 LMS
26 81 GTD Faulkner/Giermaziak/Skeen/ Butcher/Avenatti 182 6:03:16.254 Porsche 911 GT America
27 33 GTD Keating/J.Bleekemolen/Carter/ Goossens/S.Ble 182 6:03:19.717 Dodge Viper SRT
28 22 GTD MacNeil/L.Keen/A.Davis/ van Gisbergen 182 6:03:20.122 Porsche 911 GT America
29 73 GTD Lindsey/Pumpelly/Norman/ N. Canache/Estre 181 6:02:33.351 Porsche 911 GT America
30 007 GTD Nielsen/Davison/Nygaard/Davis 181 6:02:43.549 Aston Martin V12 Vantage
31 52 PC Guasch/Novich/Palmer/ Kimber-Smith 180 6:01:39.155 ORECA FLM09
32 64 GTD Longo/Serra/Gomes/Bertolini 180 6:02:33.519 Ferrari 458 Italia
33 23 GTD James/M.Farnbacher/Riberas 180 6:03:06.756 Porsche 911 GT America
34 18 GTD Basseng/M.Beretta/O'Young/ De Phillippi/Mayr- 178 6:01:38.875 Porsche 911 GT America
35 07 P J.Miller/T.Long/Devlin/ Tremblay 177 6:02:35.825 Mazda Prototype
36 009 GTD DeBoer/Riddle/Salazar/Wilson 177 6:03:19.230 Aston Martin V12 Vantage
37 58 GTD Snow/Heylen/Dempsey/Eng 176 6:02:49.346 Porsche 911 GT America
38 16 PC Mowlem/Papadopoulos/Drissi/ Alder/Plowman 176 6:02:57.174 ORECA FLM09
39 31 P Curran/Cameron/Papis/P.Keen 174 6:02:12.767 Corvette DP
40 57 P Krohn/Pla/Jonsson/Brundle 172 5:26:41.908 Ligier JS P2 Judd
41 28 GTD Bachler/Zoechling/Engelhart/ Willsey/Ineichen 172 5:52:12.630 Porsche 911 GT America
42 49 GTD Lathouras/Rugolo/Aguas/ Griffin 170 6:03:01.286 Ferrari 458 Italia
43 44 GTD Potter/Lally/Seefried/ Ragginger 167 5:51:33.964 Porsche 911 GT America
44 38 PC French/Mee/Vance/Johnston 157 6:01:59.900 ORECA FLM09
45 50 P Pace/DeFoor/Hinton/ Schroeder 150 6:02:09.046 BMW Power Riley DP
46 45 GTD Winkelhock/Thorne/Hoshino/ Fujii 148 6:03:05.148 Audi R8 LMS
47 11 PC Cumming/Junqueira/Hawksworth/ Menezes 136 6:01:42.994 ORECA FLM09
48 98 GTLM Lamy/Dalla Lana/Turner/ Mucke/Lauda 136 6:02:36.712 Aston Martin Vantage V8
49 61 PC Plowman/Drumwright/Blackstock/ Breukers/Rus 114 6:02:59.385 ORECA FLM09
50 97 GTD Marsal/Palttala/Priaulx/Said 89 6:03:13.345 BMW Z4
51 19 GTD J.Michaelian/Lira/Flores/ De Phillippi/Mayr-Mel 78 3:03:19.174 Porsche 911 GT America
52 2 P Brown/van Overbeek/Fogarty 49 1:40:42.753 Honda HPD ARX
53 0 P Rojas/Legge/Chaves/Meyrick 42 1:21:55.380 DeltaWing DWC13

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