At the halfway mark for the 47th Anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, PEDRO LAMY took the Sun Trust Racing No.10 Ford Dallara Daytona Prototype past Start-Finish in first place. He and five other DP’s were on the lead lap – 361.
KEVIN ROUSH, no relation to Jack and his clan, was first in the GT class with No.86 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3 Cup. He was eighth overall, with 344 laps, the only car on the lead lap for GT. When out on track with the latest pace car situation, he didn’t realize he was the class leader and almost went around the pace car. His team quickly wired him to stay put behind the Pace Car.
The fastest race lap continues to belong to JOAO BARBOSA/No.59 Brumos Porsche Riley DP set in the fourth hour. His time was 1:42.140 and set on Lap 52. The current DP leaders are running in the 43’s.
AIM Motorsports No.61 Ford Riley Daytona Prototype retired with engine problems. That makes four DP’s and one GT down for Ford. The three B’s of Frisselle are at the race, all in the DP garage. Dad BRAD works for AIM, and one of his two sons races with the team – Burt. Brad’s other son, BRIAN, races in SunTrust Racing No.10 Ford Dallara. Brad said he was some kind of lucky – he had twice as many chances as any other dad for a son to make the podium.
Pontiac isn’t having the best of days either. The latest car to need help is Battery Tender/MCM Racing No.21 Pontiac GTO.R, which is in the garage rebuilding its transmission. Earlier the Childress-Howard Motorsports No.2 Pontiac Crawford had a frayed wire, causing it to lose its charge and power. Before that, three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, JIMMIE JOHNSON, stalled the car in the pits during a stop to change a tail light. The car changed the gear cluster. Johns aid he broke the gearbox trying to get into first gear. The clutch had been creaking real bad when he tried to get the car in gear.
Johnson is recovering from a ten-day bout with some kind of bug. He said the only thing that bugged him right now was having the problem in the pits while he was driving.
Johnson said he’s enjoying this race and getting back into a race car. Although there is nothing specific from running the Rolex road course at Daytona International Speedway, he said getting back into the car and becoming more confident is helpful to his upcoming NASCAR season.