As the final hour of the 42ndanniversary of the Rolex 24 At Daytona clicked away, it appeared as thethough the Howard-Boss Motorsports No. 2 CITGO Chevrolet Crawford hadvictory at hand. But the surprises never stop during the Rolex 24, and theNo. 2 Chevrolet, that had once held a three-lap lead, fell victim tosuspension problems in the chicane, opening the door for the BellMotorsports No. 54 Kodak Pontiac Doran JE4 and drivers Terry Borcheller,Forest Barber, Andy Pilgrim and Christian Fittipaldi to capture the overallRolex 24 victory.
"It's astounding what can happen in 24 hours," said owner and co-driverForest Barber, who brought the car across the start/finish line for thecheckered flag.
The Bell Motorsports team, which won the 2003 North American Road RacingChampionship, not only picked up four Rolex Oyster Perpetual CosmographDaytona watches for each of the drivers, but also $100,000 in prize money,the largest amount ever offered by the Grand American Rolex Sports CarSeries to the winner.
Bell Motorsports has now won the last three races at Daytona InternationalSpeedway. Last year, the No. 54 car captured both the Paul Revere 250 andthe Grand American Champions Weekend presented by Brumos Porsche.
Tony Stewart, who was teamed with fellow NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. andsports car veteran Andy Wallace, was nursing the No. 2 car for the last hourwith the suspension problem.
"Evidently a rocker was breaking, which is your spring on the right rearcorner," said Stewart after the car finally broke down. "That was the firstmajor problem, and it kept getting worse and worse."
The No. 2 Chevrolet managed to hold onto third-place in the DaytonaPrototypes class, after being passed with only two laps remaining in therace by the Doran-Lista Racing No. 27 Lexus Doran JE4 of Didier Theys, FredyLienhard, Jan Lammers and Marc Goossens, which took home second-place honorsin the Daytona Prototypes class with its fourth-place overall finish.
The conditions in the Rolex 24 were grueling, with most of the race heldunder cool temperatures, wind and rain. During the early morning hours, therace was run under caution for more than three hours and at 7:38 a.m., forthe first time in 15 years, the Rolex 24 was red flagged for poor visibilityand standing water. At 10:30 a.m., the race resumed setting up a two hour,42-minute sprint to the finish.The GT class battle was just as thrilling as the fight for the overalltitle.
The team of Mike Fitzgerald, Joe and Jay Policastro, Robin Liddell andJohnny Mowlem in the Orbit Racing No. 44 Porsche GT3 RS captured the GTclass victory, in addition to second place overall, by a margin of victoryof only 6.9 seconds over the Flying Lizard Motorsports No. 74 Porsche GT3Cup and drivers Johannes van Overbeek, Seth Neiman, Lonnie Pechnik, PeterCunningham and Mike Rockenfeller.
"I think I have a few more gray hairs now than I did before," said Mowlem ofhis battle with the No. 74 Porsche for the win. "We lost a rear windowsometime during the middle of the night. With the wet (tires), it wasn't toomuch of an issue, but as soon as it dried out, Mike went out there when itdried out with slicks on. We could see from his times that it was reallyaffecting our straight-line speed. When I got in, it was the same problem -really slow on the banking. I had to drive really hard to keep MikeRockenfeller at bay."
The Red Bull BE Racing No. 73 Ferrari 360GT of Philipp Peter, KlausEngelhorn, Dieter Quester and Andrea Montermini rounded out the GT-classpodium and finished sixth overall.
In Rolex Series's new Super Grand Sport class, the Doncaster Racing No. 91Porsche GT3 Cup with Jean-Francois Dumoulin, Robert Julien, Greg Pootmansand Marc Lieb captured the class crown and took the ninth-place positionoverall.
"At the start we had a little bit of a clutch problem. We had to doubleclutch to make sure we didn't grind the gears. Then we finally got it fixedand the car came back really good," said Dumoulin. "We had a really goodsetup. The Doncaster team did an amazing job driving that car. It was reallygood in the dry, wet and it was pretty good to drive and the team didamazing changes. All of the way through the 24 hours we were out there, andthat's why we're here again."
The drivers shared the podium with Doncaster Racing teammates Dave Lacey,Greg Wilkins, Mark Wilkins, Tom Nastasi and Kenny Wilden of the No. 71Porsche, which finished third in the SGS class. The TPC Racing No. 38Porsche GT3 Cup of Randy Pobst, Marc Bunting, Andy Lally, John Littlechildand Michael Levitas, split the teammates with its second-place finish in theclass
Doran-Lista Racing, Red Bull BE Racing and AASCO Motorsports were the firstthe first-ever receipts of the SunTrust Improve Your Position award, forgaining the most places in class during the race. Doran-Lista Racing started17th in the Daytona Prototype class and finished second, Red Bull BE Racingstarted 16th in the GT class and finished third, and AASCO Motorsportsstarted 14th in the SGS class and finished sixth. Each of the teams received$500 from SunTrust and is now in the running to receive the year-long awardand bonus.
Orbit Racing and Doncaster Racing also received awards from the Acxiom GrandTouring Challenge. Each of the teams were presented with checks for $1,000for winning the GT and SGS classes.
The Rolex Sports Car Series will travel next to Homestead-Miami Speedway forthe Grand Prix of Miami, part of the Toyota Indy 300 weekend, February26-29. Tickets are currently on sale for the event and can be purchasedonline at homesteadmiamispeedway.com or by calling the Speedway ticketoffice at 305-230-RACE (7223).
