Almendinger has led in every Rolex 24 in which he has raced.
Buddy Rice and JC France lie third and fifth in their Action Express Riley Porsches.
After losing a lap early changing the gear cluster, the 01 Ganassi car driven first by Scott Pruett, then by Memo Rojas, and now by BMW factory pilot Joey Hand, made up the lost ground and took the lead. Hand pitted under yellow on lap 180, surrendering the lead. Hand lies fourth.
Mark Wilkins in the #55 Level 5 Riley BMW holds sixth.
Another NASCAR driver, Jamie McMurray lies eighth in the 02 Telmex Ganassi car. While Juan Pablo Montoya was at the wheel of this car, he collided with both the #99 Gainsco car and the #10 SunTrust car, sending both of them to their garages.
In GT, Bryce Miller in the miller Racing Porsche leads Brendan Gaughan’s #67 TRG Porsche by 2.5 seconds, 30 seconds ahead of Hurley Haywood’s #59 Brumos Porsche.
On lap 188, Nicolas Minassian in the Krohn Lola Ford bobbled going through the Bus Stop chicane, forcing Antonio Garcia’s Spirit of Daytona Coyote Chevrolet to take emergency avoidance action.
Garcia hit the wall hard, tearing up the right rear suspension and sending bodywork sailing across the track. Garcia was unhurt, but the car had to go straight to the garage. The car had led 27 laps; now it will be some laps down.
UPDATE: On the restart, Buddy rice moved into the lead, followed by Joey Hand in the 01 Ganassi, Mark Wilkins in the Level 55, and Mark Blundell in the UA/Shank car, with Allmendinger in fifth.
