Rolex 24 Hours – Thursday, Session 1
Damp Start - Fabcar Fastest
© Janos Wimpffen Welcome to a very cool and wet Florida. A steady overnight drizzle turned into a significant rain during the morning hours. It stopped just prior to the commencement of the day’s first session at 10:00, but the track remained quite damp throughout the 90-minute period. The forecast calls for improving skies during the day, but with continued unseasonably cool temperatures (high of about 60 F). Understandably, many teams stood down this morning with only 36 taking any laps. It wasn’t until the very end before the 2-minute barrier was cracked, Bill Auberlen stopping the clock at 1:59.968 in the No. 05 Sigalsport Riley. He wasn’t the only “odd” visitor to the top rungs of the tables. Burt Frisselle in the No. 61 AIM Riley-Lexus was the early standard bearer but his 2:02.221 made a statement about how wet was the surface. It took 50 minutes before Max Angelelli could better that time, putting one of the favorites, the SunTrust Riley, up to 2:01.835. Ed Carpenter in the No. 85 Farnbacher Porsche managed a 2:06.222. It was not only fastest in GT in the early going, but was among the top five overall. Marc Basseng in the No. 22 Alegra 997 bettered this with a 2:03.986 late in the session. Juan Pablo Montoya signaled his presence with a 2:01.741 about a third of the way through the period. Stephane Gregoire (No. 00 Vision Crawford-Porsche) was another to go relatively quickly with a 2:02.051. There was a mild surprise when Memo Gidley briefly sat on top with 2:00.381 with the lone Doran, before Auberlen broke in the under 2-minute club. The session was slowed further by a period of yellow flag running, caused by a series of DPs going off in the infield section. One of them was the erstwhile fast car of Burt Frisselle. Auberlen's time was eclipsed at the very end by Eddie Cheever, with a 1:58:309 in the No. 51 Fabcar Porsche. The Crawfords seem to be on a march as Andy Wallace slotted in with a 1:58.452. The Lexuses are not going away as Memo Rojas has a 1:59.381 in the No. 01 Ganassi car. The GT times also improved as the conditions got better, Dave Lacey taking the No. 17 Doncaster Porsche to 2:01.613. The conditions may make for an odd situation. The top 20 spots will be set during this afternoon’s qualifying with the remainder slotting in tomorrow. It is very possible that Friday’s times will be better but it will not affect the front set of rows. There are a few driver list changes as follows:
# 15, Blackforest Mustang, add Valerie Limoges
# 99, Gainsco Stallings Riley, Bob Stallings will more than likely not drive at all this weekend
# 46 Baughman Corvette, add Mike Yeakle and Frank Del Vecchio
# 12 Rocky Road Riley, scratch Paul Gentilozzi
# 69 SpeedSource Mazda, add Matt Plumb
# 57 Stevenson Corvette, add Lou Gigliotti
# 97 Stevenson Corvette, add Gigliotti and also Spencer Trenery
Some lists may have the Banner Racing Pontiacs wrong on drivers. The correct manner is
# 06 = Reese / Lewis / O’Connell
# 07 = Edwards / Pilgrim / Collins All the usual press types are here. Chuck Dressing is back and looking fit. Fiona Miller and Rick Dole are telling people about the night that they spent together. Welcome to Daytona, World Center of Racing. Top 12 Times
1 51 DP Newton / Erdos / Brix / Cheever Cheever Racing Fabcar Porsche 1:58.309
2 20 DP Wallace / Leitzinger / Stewart Howard Motorsports Crawford Pontiac 1:58.452
3 02 DP Dixon / Wheldon / Rojas Target Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Riley Lexus 1:59.381
4 05 DP Auberlen / Alhadeff / Sigal / Wendlinger Luggage Express Team Sigalsport BMW Riley BMW 1:59.968
5 7 DP Yasukawa / Enge / Festa SAMAX Riley Pontiac2:00.044
6 77 DP Gidley / Gollin / Jourdain / Servia Feeds The Need / Doran Racing Doran Ford 2:00.381
7 75 DP Braun / Papis / Lehto Krohn Racing Riley Pontiac 2:00.866
8 10 DP Taylor / Angelelli / Gordon / Magnussen SunTrust Racing Riley Pontiac 2:01.526
9 17 GT Lacey / Wilkins / Mowlem / Papadopoulos / Arnold Doncaster Racing Porsche GT3 Cup 2:01.613
10 16 DP Dyson / Dyson / Smith / Gavin Howard Motorsports Crawford Pontiac 2:01.657
11 61 DP Wilkins / Empringham / Frisselle / Frisselle Exchange Traded Gold AIM Autosport Riley Lexus 2:02.227
12 00 DP Carpenter / Scheckter / George / Foyt / Gregoire Vision Racing Crawford Porsche 2:02.651 | 
