The weather got warmer in the eleventh hour of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Nice and mild outside.

Penske Racing No.16 Porsche Riley led at the eleven hour mark, one of five cars on the lead lap, overall.  The GT leader, TRG No.66 Porsche GT3 Cup car has moved up to tenth overall, and is the only GT car on its lead lap.

It was sad to see the two Michael Shank Racing transporters leaving the track at 2:30 PM EDT. All but one driver, JOHN PEW, got to drive. Both cars, No.6 and No.60 Ford Rileys retired with the same engine problem – trigger sensor. Krohn Racing retired one of its two Ford Lola DP’s with a broken crank sensor. Blackforest Motorsports retired its No.15 Ford Mustang GT with a blown cylinder. AIM Motorsports No.61  Ford Riley changed a gearbox. Ford is not having a good time of it in the engine department.

Other retirements include No.64 Jlow Racing Porsche GT3 GT car with broken drive shaft; Allegra Motorsports No.22 BW Riley DP crashed out after CHAPMAN DUCOTE hit the turn Six wall.

BILL RILEY has a lot of different involvements this weekend at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. He runs two businesses in the same shop – Riley Motorsports which races and Riley Technologie which builds and/or prepares race cars. Under the latter banner, Riley builds Riley chassis. There are eighteen of his cars out of 51 in the field. He has 14 in the Daytona Prototype class and four in the GT class. Riley is not racing his own car this season. Last year he partnered with JIM MATTHEWS in a Riley DP. Matthews has chosen not to run this year, and Riley sold the car to Penske Motorsports, along with two new chassis.

Riley also prepped the Supercar Life Level 5 Motorsports BMW Riley. During the Rolex 24, Riley will ‘call’ the race for the GT pole sitter, SpeedSource No.70 Mazda RX-8.

Out in the infield, close to the Media Parking Lot, the fans are having a great time – cold beer and warm fires in garbage cans. Jolly lot they are.