In the end, Brumos Porsche driver David Donahue went pole-to-flag, beating the second-place Ganassi Telmex Lexus Riley of Juan Pablo Montoya by 0.167seconds. Donahue’s win came on the fortieth anniversary of the pole-to-pole victory of his late father, racing legend Mark Donahue. Brumos had not won at Daytona since 1978.
The Rolex Daytona 24 hour race is run on a 3.56-mile road course using some of the Daytona Speedway banked oval, where cars reach nearly 200 mph. This year 52 cars, 20 Daytona Prototypes and 32 GT cars, took the flag for the 47th running of the Rolex Daytona 24.
The Telmex-Target Ganassi team won the last three Daytona 24s, and was trying for a fourth. Driver Pablo Montoya held a perfect record at Daytona, three victories in three years. The car qualified sixth.
David Donahue took the pole with a record-setting fastest time of 1:40.968, besting Penske Porsche driver Timo Berhard by a mere .001 seconds.
Winner David Donahue completed a record-setting 735 laps, with a record number of cars finishing on the lead lap. There were also a record number of yellow flags, 25, accounting for 100 laps under caution.
Exciting Racing Start to Finish
The race was from exciting from the green flag, with no team able to establish dominance. The Brumos Porsches started out in the lead; the Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley led until electrical problems sidelined the car; the Suntrust Ford Dallaras led at the halfway point; the Telmex Lexus Rileys led in the early hours of Sunday morning. Then the Porsches retook the lead, holding it up until the 21-hour mark.
Defending race winner Memo Rojas, in the 01 Telmex Ganassi Lexus Riley, hit a curb at about 9 p.m., sending the car to the pits where it lost a lap.
The Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley, with AJ Allmendinger driving, led until electrical problems sidelined the car.
Brumos Porsche driver Antonio Garcia, in the eventual race-wining car, was lying second at midnight when he hit the tire barrier at Turn Three. The car was brought in, repaired and sent out, three laps down.
The Final Hours
Juan Pablo Montoya in the Chip Ganassi Telmex Lexus-powered Riley took the lead for the last eighth of the race, with three other Daytona Prototypes on the lead lap: The Brumos Porsche-Rileys of Joao Barbosa and Antonio Garcia, and the Suntrust Ford-Dallara driven by Italian Max Angelelli. Never before had more than two cars shared the lead lap at the end of the Daytona 24; this year, all four were close enough to touch, or close enough for any of them to take the win.
Montoya, in the lead, used slower traffic masterfully, picking his moments to squeeze past lapped GT cars without getting held up. The three cars following were left to maneuver through as best they could. Angelelli in the Suntrust Ford used traffic to briefly take third, but he couldn’t hold it.
Sprint to the Finish
With one hour left, on lap 701, a yellow flag brought the leaders in for the final pit stop. The cars got out with no change in order, but David Donahue replaced Garcia in the second-place Porsche.
Donahue, fresh and eager, immediately began challenging Montoya for the lead. Donahue’s Porsche was able to keep up with Montoya’s Lexus through the corners, and had the edge on the long banked straights.
Donahue tested Montoya on every lap, pulling level at the end of the straights, and probing on both sides, looking for the slightest bobble from Montoya. Montoya’s Lexus-Riley was not the fastest car, but so long as Montoya drove absolutely perfectly, it was fast enough to hold the lead.
Finally, with forty minutes to go, Montoya got held up by lapped traffic coming through the Bus Stop chicane, and had to slow for a moment. Donahue kept his momentum, giving him just enough of an edge to make the pass for the lead at the end of the straight.
Donahue managed to pull ahead by half-a-second while he had a clear track, but when the leaders again came up on lapped traffic, Montoya, with the higher torque of the Lexus V8, was able to reel in Donahue.
Donahue and Montoya pulled away from Barbosa and Angelelli, fighting their own private battle for the win.
On the last lap Montoya got stuck behind a GT car, and Donahue had a clear run to the checkered flag, winning the Rolex Dayton 24 along with teammates Antonio Garcia, Darren Law, and Buddy Rice.
Porsche dominated in the GT class as well, with the TRG Porsche GT3s fishing one-two.
