Grand-Am, Rolex 24 At Daytona - First Hour

Welcome to our live coverage of the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona. The conditions couldn't be better - for the spectators at least - with a clear sky and glorious sunshine.

John Hindhaugh is reporting, however, that the DP teams are a bit concerned with the high temperatures and what effect that will have on the new Continental tyres; apparently, nobody has run them in ambient temperatures as high as this so far.

Despite this, the atmosphere on the pitwalk was just fantastic, with huge numbers of fans taking advantage of the open access. The crowd certainly is significantly up on last year.

Incidentally, we believe this is DSC's 64th 24-hour race.

And we're off!

Bergmeister makes a great start and gets into T1 first. Meanwhile the GT pack is about to start - Farnbacher gets into the lead. Not a good start for the Mitchum Porsche as Randy Pobst finds the tyre wall almost immediately.

Robin Liddell - with his anti-roll bar now fixed - makes a great start, up to third at the start of lap 2.

Fantastic battle in GT - Farnbacher, Stanton, Liddell nose to tail.

Lap three - Stanton outbrakes Farnbacher into T1, but Liddell pounces and grabs the lead in the infield. 

15:37 - Full course yellow (FCY) for debris on the start-finish straight. How many more will we have?

DP order - 45, 10, 01, 8, 90, 6, 02, 77, 9, 99, 5, 60, 23, 76, 7, 2

GT order - 57, 44, 66, 65, 94, 88, 4, 59, 54, 48, 70

The #11 Mustang did not start the race, for reasons as yet unknown.

The #9 Action Express and both Level 5 Rileys make early stops under yellow.

The TV cameras showed yellow debris on track, while the yellow Bennett Ferrari has dropped a lap down. Are the two related?

15:46 Green. Six laps completed. The DP and GT fields soon separate once more.

At the head of the pack, Bergmeister has about six-tenths over Angelelli, while Liddell's lead over Stanton is a similar gap. At the end of eight laps, the DP field is covered by 14 seconds. 

15:52 The Bennett Ferrari is confirmed as the cause of the FYC as TV shows it pitting with a blown right rear.

As the Lizard Flies away from the SunTrust car, the field is starting to spread out, but the battle for fourth - #8, #90 and #02 - and ninth - #5, #77, #60 - are still tight.

The Mitchum Ferrari is back out, having been tagged at the start.

15:58 Brundle tries to go round the outside of Negri, but the Brazilian pushes him wide and the two Riley Fords make side-by-side contact. Both continue with the Crown Royal ahead. Michael Shank is not amused.

16:00 Craig Stanton retakes the GT lead under braking into the Bus Stop.

Boris Said, meanwhile, has the '#94 Turner BMW M3 into third place and is chasing down the Camaro.

16:02 15 laps down and Dalziel has broken clear of his pursuers and is now engaged in the battle for second - Angelelli, Scott Pruett and the Scot separated by six tenths. Bergemeister takes advantage and extends his lead to six seconds.

Nick Tandy moves up to nionth in GT in the #17 Burtin Racing Porsche and is now on the tail of Bryce Miller in the #48 Paul Miller cuop.

16:07 Having failed to take Angelelli on the banking, Pruett has now fallen back more than a second and now has to worry about Dalziel as he comes up to lap the GT leaders. 

16:09 Darren Law takes AJ Allmendinger for ninth in the #5 Action Express Riley.

In GT, Said is now up to second.

16:11 As Pruett comes back at Angelelli, Bergmeister is making hay and has extended his lead to 13 seconds.

16:13 Tandy is up to seventh in GT. Clearly, the warmth and the banking agree with his driving style. 

We have yet to see the Mazdas come to the fore. Jeff Segal (#69) currently leads Sylvain Tremblay (#70) as the two SpeedSource cars head the marque.

The unfortunate #56 Ferrari is in the pits with electrical problems, caused by debris from the blowout.

Negri has managed to get past Brian Frisselle in the #77 Doran Dallara, who now has his mirrors full of the #23 United Autosports Riley of Brundle.

16:18 Having got by Liddell, Said can make no impact on Stanton's GT lead, which stands at 1.2s. Liddell is poised to make a move to get second back. 

Brundle gets 11th on lap 26. Ahead, Law demotes Negri to ninth.

As the first hour nears completion, several DP teams prepare to do thir first stops.

16:23 leader pits. Bergmeister out after a great start, Long gets in.

John Hindhaugh reports that the driver order for the #45 is height-related; ie Long (big insert), Neiman (smaller insert), van Overbeek (smallest insert), Bergmeister (no insert).

16:26 Big drama as the #02 suffers a blown right rear in the approach to the Bus Stop; Scott Dixon at the wheel. Is this related to the sight of the #30 Mazda sliding across the grass? The trip back to the pits is long and slow, but the team gets a break as the second FCY is called.

TV shows the Racers Edge Car slid off unaided, and that the #02 had already suffered the blow out further back down the back straight.

The hour ends with the majority of the DP teams making their first stops.