DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — An intense battle went into the 10th hour Saturday in the Rolex 24-Hour at Daytona International Speedway, with David Donohue, son of the late Indianapolis 500 winner Mark Donohue, holding a narrow lead over a large group of Daytona prototypes.
Five of the sleek sports car prototypes were bunched on the lead lap with seven more trailing by less than two laps in what is already the most competitive race in the 46-year history of America’s premier endurance race.
Donohue, driving a Brumos Porsche Riley with five-time race winner Hurley Haywood, 1996 Indy winner Buddy Rice and Darren Law, was just ahead of the Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley driven by Scott Pruett, part of the winning team last year, along with teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, and also co-driving with IndyCar champion and NASCAR rookie Dario Franchitti and Memo Rojas.
By the end of the ninth hour, 15 different cars had led, breaking the record of 11 set last year. Overall, there were 31 lead changes, just three shy of the record set in 2007, and 25 different drivers had led the race.
“It’s just so close out there,” Pruett said after his first stint on the 3.56-mile road circuit. “It seems like everybody is running almost the same lap speeds.”
The other cars on the lead laps were the Pontiac Riley shared by NASCAR champion Kurt Busch, two-time Indy winner Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe, the second Brumos Porsche Riley of Terry Borcheller, Joao Barbosa and J.C. France, son of NASCAR board member and Rolex Grand-Am Series founder Jim France, and the Ford Riley co-driven by NASCAR driver A.J. Allmendinger, John Pew, Ian James and Burt Frisselle.
Also hanging tough in seventh place was the Pontiac Riley of two-time defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, former CART champion Jimmy Vasser and reigning Grand-Am prototype champions Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty.
“I had a great experience out there,” Johnson said. “We have a great car and we’re just really trying to stick to our rhythm. I tried not to put the car into any bad situations.”
DRAG RACING: Top Fuel drag racer Doug Herbert’s two sons were killed Saturday in a traffic accident near their home. A statement from Herbert’s team said sons Jon, 17, and James, 12, died instantly when the car they were riding in collided with another vehicle in the town of Cornelius, N.C., which is 20 miles north of Charlotte.
NASCAR: Jacques Villeneuve and longtime manager and friend Craig Pollock have parted ways.
The Journal de Montreal reported Saturday the former Formula One champion from Canada, ready to begin his rookie year in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series, has split with Pollock after 15 years working together.
The two had been friends since the early 1980s and Pollock, who lives in Monaco, has been Villeneuve’s manager since 1992.
Villeneuve, the 1998 Formula One champion, who now drives for Bill Davis Racing, ran in seven NASCAR Craftsman trucks events and made his Sprint Cup debut last fall at Talledega, finishing 21st.
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