Halfway through the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona, Allan McNish held a ten-second lead over AJ Allmendinger who was twenty seconds ahead of Graham Rahal who was seven seconds ahead of David Donahue, with Gustavo Yacaman 23 seconds behind.
McNish, in the pole-sitting #8 Starworks Riley-Ford Daytona prototype, had finally secured a lead over Allemndinger in the #60 Shank Racing Riley-Ford, after the two had swapped the lead and battled through traffic for twenty laps.
McNish’s ability to pick his way through traffic proved to be decisive; Allmendinger could pass the Scot coming off the banking but McNish could slice through traffic, using slower cars to get by Allmendinger, then using it to pull away. McNish was able to stay ahead and still get two extra laps out of a tank of gas; the Scot’s experience in endurance racing was making the difference.
