Six hours into the 50th Anniversary Grand Am Rolex 24 at Daytona, the action has been reminiscent of a sprint race, not North America’s longest endurance race.
For the fourth, fifth and sixth hours, a Who’s Who of international endurance racers sparred with stars of several other series at the head of the field. NASCAR and IndyCar star AJ Allmendinger, multiple Le Mans winner Allan McNish, IndyCar star Ryan Hunter-Reay, ALMS champs Joey Hand and Olly Gavin, and four-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti dueled for the lead; at the five-hour mark the top five cars were within five seconds of each other.
After the fifth full-course caution, five-and-a-half hours in, Alex Gurney in the #99 Gainsco Corvette-Riley and Olly Gavin in the #90 Corvette-Coyote moved to the front by not pitting. This pair lapped nose-to-tail, with Joey Hand in the #01 Telmex Ganassi Riley-BMW right on their tails. At the six-hour mark, six seconds separated the top five Daytona Prototypes.
Seven minutes later, Alex Gurney had to pit with a holed radiator, which sparked a battle for the lead which was won by Joey Hand, who pushed his way past Olly Gavin. Oz Neggri in the #60 Shank Riley-Ford forced his way past too. Gavin then headed for the pits, letting Michael McDowell in the #6 Shank car into third.
