Rolex 24 - Hours 19, 2 & 21
© Janos Wimpffen & Russell Wittenberg & Fiona Miller 500 laps, 18 hours 38 minutes - under another caution (before that, on the wet track, lap times were typically 2:04, but Enge was in the 2:01s)
1 #01
2 #11 - 1s
3 #02 499
4 #10 - 4s
5 #59 - 4s
6 #7 498 GT
13 #85 471
14 #07 - 75s
15 #64 470
16 #70 - 3s
17 #06 - 75s
18 #22 - 5s. Green at 18 hours 45 minutes, 08.15. Duran in #01 pulls out a small lead over Manning in #11 - it grows to 15 seconds and more. Behind these two, Magnussen takes third from Wheldon - who takes it back. Hurley Haywood is hanging on well to these two. Milka Duno is due in the #11 next for her last (third) stint. Chip Ganassi suggests that "It's time to go racing". No, Duno doesn't get in, Manning stays at the wheel. Four and a half hours to go and Montoya takes over from Duran, Rojas from Wheldon. Based on its economy, it seems possible (probable? definite?) that the leading car can make it to the end on three more stops - but the others probably can't..... Pruett admitted hours and hours ago that the #01 is running low downforce, for better economy. Magnussen is the fastest man on the track, lapping in 1:54. He's due a stop: currently he's on the lead lap, 40 seconds behind Montoya. The Columbian pits at 19 hours 45 minutes. Was that a splash to time the #01's stops to the end? Or tyres too? Was that fuel theory (above) all wrong? Manning leads. Lap times into the 1:47s. Sylvain Tremblay, #70 SpeedSource Mazda:“Well it’s not as pretty as the Mazda designers intended but it’s still running strong. On one of the restarts, several cars spun right in front of Nick Longhi, he just had nowhere to go. The contact damaged the nose, splitter, radiator, and a whole bunch of other stuff. So we’re fighting top speed right now but it’s still handling great. We’ll be aggressive under braking and try to keep pace through the infield. The rotary engine is still strong and running perfectly. Randy is in now and will double, then myself, I’ll double also and we’ll try to keep this thing in contention.” Spencer Pumpelly, #66 TRG Porsche: “Not so good now. We just broke. I’m not sure what happened but Kevin got spun around and now the car is not moving.” Further reports indicated that contact with a DP caused driveline and suspension damage to the left rear of the #66 Porsche. Patrick Long, #23 Job Crawford: “We’re picking them off slowly. Our strategy has been working; we were able to get some wave byes during the cautions to make up some laps. The changing conditions have played to our favor also. I think level of this team, crew and drivers can handle that better than some of the others. We had to change a gearbox last night and that also cost some time. Third gear started sticking during Jorg’s stint and we didn’t want it to get worse. Although the crew did an awesome job by getting it done during a long yellow and it only cost us five laps.” Leh Keen, #85 FarnbacherLoles Porsche: “The car is pretty good but we are worried about the gearbox. It’s starting to grind a little. I did the last stint through the morning rain and it was pretty crazy. Everybody was all over the place. I was passing DPs and GTs. I just glad I made it through unscathed, it was pretty wild. I’m trying not to think about winning, but it’s hard not too. It would be a huge goal to accomplish, but there is still a long way to go.” The #83 Synergy Porsche has had several small problems throughout the night but most recently and significantly had to replace both axles. The Team Seattle car has returned and continues to accumulate laps and earn money for the Children’s Hospital charity. The #81 Synergy Porsche, which was a contender for the class win, got caught in the restart melee that also damaged the #70 Mazda. If not for the 30 plus laps lost in the garage repairing the crash damage the #81 would be in contention for the win. The #14 Autometrics Porsche driven by Wes Allen was the first car through the debris left behind after the #88 crash into the outside barrier jut after the exit of the chicane. Wes Allen: “I tried to pick my way through the debris, it was scattered everywhere. I hit something that cut a tire and tore through some power steering and brake lines.” The #14 was running 14th in class at the time of the accident. The #30 Racer’s Edge Pontiac with Ross Smith behind the wheel had a brush with the wall and spent some time in the garage to repair the damage. AJ Foyt XXIII has spun the Double Zero Vision Crosche at the hairpin. Paul Tracy has gone into the grass at Turn 1 with MSR No. 6. He navigates out under his own power. Riley - Riley - Riley - Riley - Riley - Riley - Riley - Crawford - Crawford - Doran is the top ten overall. GT is more varied at Porsche - Pontiac - Porsche - Porsche - Mazda - Pontiac - Porsche - Mazda - Porsche - Porsche. Four hours to go. Manning leads in the Milka car (will Peter Baron put her in again?), Montoya is 47 seconds behind, Magnussen is another minute back. At 08:40, Rojas tries to go around a GT car coming into Turn 1, gets into the wet patches and slides sideways and hard into tire wall. We've gone yellow as the Samax entry (Manning aboard) happens to be in the lead after Montoya's earlier stop. The #02 is probably too banged up to repair. Montoya and Manning both pit, under yellow - Montoya stays in, Manning to Dalziel. Montoya takes advantage of the yellow to run just a handful of seconds behind Dalziel. Using cautions is more advantageous than planning a pit stop strategy to the end, perhaps. Green flag after 20 hours and 20 minutes or so. Angelelli is in #10 - right on the tail of the first two. Three cars right together - just what the President ordered. 550 laps - 3 and a half hours to go:
Dalziel in #11
Montoya in #20 - 1.3s
Angelelli in #10 - 4.0s Riley Troubles
The MSR Riley (No. 60) has lost parts of its rear cover and has various bits hanging out the side. Shane Lewis reports that the idler pulley broke on the No. 3 Southard Riley, sending several valves banging into pistons. “It’s been a chronic problem for the Lexus motors. Ganassi encountered it during practice but somehow cured it for the race.” Dalziel, Montoya, Angelelli becomes Dalziel, Angelelli, Montoya, as the #01 is hampered by a GT car (below) - and Max takes advantage. Three cars right together, three and a quarter hours to go. Five seconds covers the three Rileys. Montoya has been chasing Dalziel ever since the last green. He closes the Lexus right up in the infield, only to have the Pontiac torque take effect on the straight. This goes on for about two laps until Dalziel finds a good clump of traffic to put between him and the Colombian. Meanwhile the No. 7 Samax Riley is stranded on course. There’s more trouble for Montoya as Robin Liddell nearly clips him during a lapping maneuver. The DP takes to the grass and continues. However, Angelelli slips by into second place. Meanwhile the No. 20 Dyson entry has retired with engine trouble. The AJR Crawford has gone heavily into a tire wall but somehow manages to continue (Bergmeister). The wheels are splayed apart and its back in the garage—lots of work, no hope as a force in the rest of the race. The No. 15 Blackforest Mustang had brake issues. They were lacking spares and have parked the car for a photo-op finish. One of the GT front-runners, the No. 70 Mazda, is in a spot of bother. Sylvain Tremblay has been assessed a stop-and-go penalty for a minor infraction but he has ignored several black flags. He finally stopped, narrowly avoiding disqualification, but enduring a tongue-lashing. Dalziel, Angelelli and Montoya are still going at it at the front. Positions At 21 Hours
1 11 DP Pontiac Riley Milka Duno Patrick Carpentier Darren Manning Ryan Dalziel 567
2 10 DP Pontiac Riley Wayne Taylor Max Angelelli Jeff Gordon Jan Magnussen –0.5s
3 01 DP Lexus Riley Scott Pruett Salvador Duran Juan Pablo Montoya –3.2s
4 59 DP Porsche Riley Hurley Haywood JC France Joao Barbosa Roberto Moreno David Donohue 565
5 7 DP Pontiac Riley Chris Festa Tomas Enge Christian Montanari Roger Yasukawa Kris Szekeres 563
6 61 DP Lexus Riley Brian Frisselle Mark Wilkins Burt Frisselle David Empringham 557
7 77 DP Ford Doran Memo Gidley Fabrizio Gollin Michel Jourdain Oriol Servia 554
8 19 DP Ford Crawford Rob Finlay Michael Valiante Bobby Labonte Michael McDowell –2s
9 23 DP Porsche Crawford Patrick Long Jorg Bergmeister Romain Dumas 549
10 91 DP Pontiac Riley Jim Matthews Marc Goossens Jimmie Johnson Ryan Hunter-Reay 541
11 47 DP Porsche Riley Charles Morgan Rob Morgan Timo Bernhard BJ Zacharias 540
12 02 DP Lexus Riley Scott Dixon Dan Wheldon Memo Rojas 538
13 85 GT Porsche GT3 Cup Leh Keen Pierre Ehret Dirk Werner Jorg Hardt 534
14 07 GT Pontiac GXP.R Paul Edwards Kelly Collins Andy Pilgrim Johnny O'Connell –66s
15 22 GT Porsche GT3 Cup Carlos de Quesada Jean-Francois Dumo Scooter Gabel Marc Basseng 533
16 64 GT Porsche GT3 Cup Jim Lowe Jim Pace Johannes van Over Ralf Kelleners –69s
17 60 DP Lexus Riley Mark Patterson Oswaldo Negri Jr Helio Castroneves Sam Hornish Jr 532
18 70 GT Mazda RX-8 David Haskell Sylvain Tremblay Nick Ham Randy Pobst 532
19 06 GT Pontiac GXP Leighton Reese Tim Lewis Jr Johnny O'Connell Paul Edwards –10s
20 73 GT Porsche GT3 Cup Lars Eric Nielsen Dieter Quester Brent Martini Philipp Peter 527 | 
