Rolex 24 – Hours 9 & 10
Six And Three
© Janos Wimpffen

The ninth hour begins under caution, but they’re racing again 20 mins. Into the hour – and Allmendinger in #6 Riley Ford pulls away from Fogarty and Long.

The Brumos cars are fourth and fifth all of a sudden, Haywood ahead of Donohue – but they switch positions just after the fireworks (8 hours 30 elapsed). Pruett in #01 also passes Haywood.

The SunTrust Riley, after its starting issues, was about five laps out of the lead – but that has shrunk to three: clever use of the cautions.

The Krohn cars are one and two laps down. Nic Jonsson sums up #76’s race: “We started out the race really good. We stayed out of trouble basically and got in the rhythm. All the drivers have now done a rotation of a double stint. We had a little bit of an issue when it started raining. Rain tires overheated so we had to pit for slicks. And then we had a spike in the engine temperature so we had to come in once again so we lost a lap because of that. Then we had to come in again because we flat-spotted the tires. They are in a position to try and get the lap back and just get back in the rhythm. Hopefully be back on the lead lap when the morning comes around and go racing until the end.”

Ollie Gavin is enjoying himself: “It was good racing against some good guys. I managed to catch a pack including Pat Long, Ricardo (Zonta) and Alex Gurney. We had a good dice for awhile, a good battle. It was quite evenly matched, I think, between all of us. Ricardo managed to get away a little bit towards the end there. It’s great fun racing. It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be very tough. There’s nothing easy about this race. It’s a little frustrating sometimes trying to make way. You think, ‘Oh, I’ve got quite a bit of a run here,’ but then, all of a sudden, you stumble across a very slow Mazda or a very slow Porsche and you lose your momentum. That’s endurance racing. That’s how it goes.”

The TRG cars have had a similar sort of race to the seven F-Loles cars. #68 had radiator and splitter damage, John Mayes at the bus stop, while Jason Daskalos in #65 had a similar problem. #63 had what looks like terminal gearbox problems early on. Numbers 66, 67 and 64 are all having good runs, in the top ten/eleven, while #62 was 17th at eight hours, after a steady run.

“It’s very difficult in traffic, because there are too many cars at the moment, so you have to be really careful,” said #67’s Emmanuel Collard. “You have to be watching all the time in the mirror for the DP cars. Hopefully, we can stay like this and we’ll see what happens tomorrow morning.”

The jiggling about among the leaders continued to the start of the next round of stops at 8 hours 54, but caution no. 9 came two minutes later, with Brian Frisselle off at one of the horseshoes. Early stoppers #60 and #23 lost out, just about going a lap down.

The No. 7 Riley-BMW had gone hard into the guard rail at the horseshoe, losing a tire in the process. The driver is fine but Irishman Paddy Shovlin is not likely to continue much further—ah well, puns are too easy on this one.

During this yellow flag period there was an incident in the Farnbacher Loles pits when the GT class leader pitted and the crew lost a tire. It rolled onto the grass and they were assessed a 60 second penalty. Another pit snafu further plagued the large team—such can be the undoing of a good run. The No. 43 Corvette has been eating fan belts at a regular pace.

Ian James led in #6, lapped 23 and 60 – and then another caution – with #09 off at the west horseshoe. Spirited off? That makes ten, and two and a half hours under caution.

They went racing again at nine and a half hours, and Fogarty passed James on the first racing lap, so Gainsco led again.

Rain falls again…. as Andy Wallace gets back ahead of Justin Wilson, as they try and get back on the lead lap.

Fogarty rips out an eight second lead over James – but it’s just jostling for position, isn’t it?

Jorg Bergmeister has dropped to third in GT after the penalty, 40 seconds behind Andy Lally, who is ten or so behind leader David Haskell in the #70 Mazda. Emmanuel Collard in #67 TRG and Jan Magnussen in #07 Pontiac are just tenths apart for fourth.

Fogarty and Briscoe are into the 45s, so that rain wasn’t significant.

David Donohue has pitted from seventh, the last car on the lead lap – and drops three. Now we’re down to six on the lead lap: will the winner come from Gainsco, Shank #6, Ganassi #01, Taylor-Penske #9, Brumos #59 and Matthews #91?

Collard and Magnussen are still locked together. Gunnar Jeannette is sixth in #57 Pontiac.

James, Pruett and Briscoe are close together in second, third and fourth approaching ten hours, 11 seconds behind Fogarty.

Nic Jonsson has inched up to Andy Wallace to dispute eighth, while the other Krohn Riley has dropped several laps back, behind the SunTrust machine.

So six cars on the lead lap, three a lap behind, the Southard Riley two behind, SunTrust three, Brumos #58 four and Krohn #75 nine.

The McNish Riley is way out of it in 47th place, 60 laps behind. After great runs last year, SAMAX has had a rotten Rolex 24 this time.

Jimmy Vasser (No. 99) had earlier noted, “it’s nice to be up front, even if we’re not quite there on straight line speed. The Fords have the better power and downforce in that regard. If we stay on the lead lap come daylight, we’ll be fine.”

We may have misreported the reason for the No. 08 Mazda’s demise. It was actually because the team found the handling a bit too bewildering. Max Papis has been spun around in the infield after a tap from a DP. The No. 22 Porsche is in the garage for a gearbox rebuild.

The No. 17 Porsche is back on Terra Firma after an earlier accident and repairs to the radiator. The No. 22 Porsche is retired with problems on the gearbox electrics. A vibrating driveshaft has ended the run of the No. 90 BMW. The No. 62 TRG Porsche is undergoing a gearbox, clutch, and slave cylinder change.

The No. 2 Samax Riley has retired with a blown engine. The No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda (David Haskell aboard) is enjoying one of its stronger leads of the day and night. In DP the Chase is still running—slowly most of the time—but running. Similarly, the very stock Gotham team Porsche is trundling about back in the pack. The ragged looking No. 81 Synergy Porsche is paying another visit to the garage, as is the No. 85 Team Seattle car.

Hour 10 Positions
1 99 DP 1 Jon Fogarty 293 1:45.051 121.997 1:43.577 123.734 26 32 GAINSCO/ Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac / Riley
2 6 DP 2 Ian James 293 12.111 12.111 1:46.534 120.299 1:43.071 124.341 36 46 Michael Shank Racing Ford / Riley
3 01 DP 3 Scott Pruett 293 12.326 0.215 1:46.382 120.471 1:43.540 123.778 25 2 Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates
Lexus / Riley
4 9 DP 4 Ryan Briscoe 293 13.912 1.586 1:45.981 120.927 1:43.526 123.794 36 10 Penske-Taylor Racing Pontiac / Riley
5 59 DP 5 Joao Barbosa 293 26.913 13.001 1:44.994 122.064 1:43.724 123.558 72 2 Brumos Racing Porsche / Riley
6 91 DP 6 Jim Matthews 293 51.608 24.695 1:47.073 119.694 1:43.425 123.915 25 2 Bob Stallings/ Riley-Matthews Pontiac / Riley
7 60 DP 7 Justin Wilson 292 1 LAP 1 LAP 1:47.646 119.056 1:43.155 124.240 25 14 Michael Shank Racing Ford / Riley
8 76 DP 8 Nic Jonsson 292 1 LAP 11.965 1:46.285 120.581 1:43.414 123.929 83 28 Krohn Racing Pontiac / Riley
9 23 DP 9 Andy Wallace 292 1 LAP 3.594 1:47.377 119.355 1:43.472 123.859 85 52 Alex Job Racing Porsche / Crawford
10 3 DP 10 Bill Lester 291 2 LAPS 1 LAP 1:45.877 121.046 1:44.932 122.136 25 0 Southard Motorsports Lexus / Riley
11 10 DP 11 Michael Valiante 290 3 LAPS 1 LAP 1:45.366 121.633 1:42.884 124.567 132 9 SunTrust Racing Pontiac / Riley
12 58 DP 12 David Donohue 289 4 LAPS 1 LAP 1:44.575 122.553 1:42.860 124.596 88 5 Brumos Racing Porsche / Riley
13 61 DP 13 Andrew Ranger 284 9 LAPS 5 LAPS 1:44.655 122.459 1:43.020 124.403 71 38 AIM Autosport Ford / Riley 14 75 DP 14 Eric van de Poele 284 9 LAPS 17.977 1:53.431 112.984 1:43.492 123.835 80 0 Krohn Racing Pontiac / Riley
15 70 GT 1 David Haskell 279 14 LAPS 5 LAPS 1:54.183 112.240 1:51.660 114.777 125 0 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8
16 66 GT 2 Andy Lally 279 14 LAPS 35.387 1:53.811 112.607 1:51.619 114.819 124 0 TRG Porsche GT3 Cup
17 86 GT 3 Jorg Bergmeister 278 15 LAPS 1 LAP 1:52.502 113.917 1:51.658 114.779 40 0 Farnbacher Loles Porsche GT3 Cup
18 67 GT 4 Emanuel Collard 278 15 LAPS 43.979 1:52.572 113.847 1:51.475 114.967 126 0 TRG Porsche GT3 Cup
19 07 GT 5 Jan Magnussen 278 15 LAPS 6.718 1:55.139 111.308 1:51.843 114.589 120 0 Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R
20 02 DP 15 Alex Lloyd 278 15 LAPS 11.595 1:45.792 121.143 1:42.802 124.666 75 34 Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Lexus / Riley
21 03 DP 16 Vitor Meira 277 16 LAPS 1 LAP 1:47.133 119.627 1:44.711 122.394 41 0 Vision Racing Porsche / Crawford
22 57 GT 6 Gunnar Jeannette 277 16 LAPS 5.379 1:54.819 111.619 1:52.322 114.100 24 0 Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R
23 69 GT 7 Emil Assentato 276 17 LAPS 1 LAP 1:59.029 107.671 1:52.818 113.598 93 0 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8
24 72 GT 8 Max Papis 276 17 LAPS 1:36.110 1:55.244 111.207 1:52.989 113.426 75 0 Autohaus Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R
25 80 GT 9 Lance Arnold 274 19 LAPS 2 LAPS 1:53.284 113.131 1:51.641 114.796 109 0 Synergy Racing Porsche GT3 Cup
26 74 GT 10 Derek Skea 274 19 LAPS 1:08.417 1:56.027 110.457 1:52.251 114.172 21 0 Autometrics Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup
27 64 GT 11 Johannes van Overbeek 272 21 LAPS 2 LAPS 1:52.852 113.564 1:52.431 113.989 39 0 TRG Porsche GT3 Cup
28 09 DP 17 Marc-Antoine Camirand 270 23 LAPS 2 LAPS 1:46.029 120.872 1:45.380 121.617 87 0 Spirit of Daytona Racing Porsche / FABCAR
29 30 GT 12 Craig Stone 267 26 LAPS 3 LAPS 1:55.418 111.039 1:51.796 114.637 7 0 Racers Edge Motorsports Mazda RX-8
30 84 GT 13 Chris Bingham 267 26 LAPS 20.799 1:56.389 110.113 1:54.843 111.595 22 0 Farnbacher Loles Porsche GT3 Cup
31 44 GT 14 Glenn Nixon 266 27 LAPS 1 LAP 2:02.290 104.800 1:55.901 110.577 36 0 Bullet Racing Porsche GT3 Cup
32 87 GT 15 Dominik Farnbacher 263 30 LAPS 3 LAPS 1:52.080 114.346 1:51.791 114.642 7 0 Farnbacher Loles Porsche GT3 Cup
33 85 GT 16 Don Kitch Jr 261 32 LAPS 2 LAPS 2:19.767 91.695 1:53.552 112.864 7 0 Farnbacher Loles Porsche GT3 Cup
34 89 GT 17 Raffael Giammaria 258 35 LAPS 3 LAPS 1:55.803 110.670 1:52.208 114.216 10 0 Farnbacher Loles Porsche GT3 Cup
35 14 GT 18 Cory Friedman 258 35 LAPS 1:29.694 1:55.751 110.720 1:52.871 113.545 123 0 Autometrics Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup
36 06 GT 19 Marc Bunting 257 36 LAPS 1 LAP 1:55.146 111.302 1:52.857 113.559 42 0 Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R 37 83 GT 20 Ben McCrackin 255 38 LAPS 2 LAPS 1:58.149 108.473 1:54.334 112.092 21 0 Farnbacher Loles Porsche GT3 Cup
38 88 GT 21 Frank Stippler 254 39 LAPS 1 LAP 1:53.013 113.402 1:52.293 114.129 7 0 Farnbacher Loles Porsche GT3 Cup
39 43 GT 22 Joe Nonnamaker 254 39 LAPS 14.412 1:58.813 107.866 1:55.586 110.878 32 0 Team Sahlen Corvette
40 26 GT 23 Joe Jacalone 253 40 LAPS 1 LAP 2:01.908 105.128 1:56.084 110.402 34 0 Gotham Competition Porsche GT3 Cup
41 68 GT 24 Gomez/ Auriemma/ Mayes/ Schroeder/ Milner 251 42 LAPS 2 LAPS 2:01.075 105.851 1:53.678 112.739 76 0 TRG Porsche GT3 Cup
42 27 GT 25 Kevin O'Connell 250 43 LAPS 1 LAP 1:56.117 110.371 1:51.930 114.500 30 0 O'Connell Racing Porsche GT3 Cup
43 81 GT 26 Patrick Huisman 246 47 LAPS 4 LAPS 6:39.532 32.077 1:52.027 114.400 23 0 Synergy Racing Porsche GT3 Cup
44 7 DP 18 Stephan Gregoire 243 50 LAPS 3 LAPS 1:45.365 121.634 1:43.746 123.532 24 16 Sigalsport BMW / Riley
45 77 DP 19 Memo Gidley 242 51 LAPS 1 LAP 3:26.206 62.151 1:43.613 123.691 39 2 Doran Racing Ford / Doran
46 17 GT 27 Ron Zitza 239 54 LAPS 3 LAPS 1:54.355 112.072 1:53.983 112.437 32 0 Terra Firma Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup
47 2 DP 20 Allan McNish 233 60 LAPS 6 LAPS 6:51.146 31.171 1:43.281 124.088 119 0 SAMAX Pontiac / Riley
48 31 DP 21 Mirco Schultis 231 62 LAPS 2 LAPS 6:24.849 33.301 1:48.813 117.780 23 0 Matt Connolly Motorsports
Pontiac / Chase
49 21 GT 28 Karl Reindler 230 63 LAPS 1 LAP 1:54.730 111.705 1:52.484 113.936 7 0 Matt Connolly Motorsports Pontiac GTO.R
50 65 GT 29 Tommy Archer 230 63 LAPS 10.248 1:55.318 111.136 1:52.672 113.746 24 0 TRG Porsche GT3 Cup
51 52 GT 30 Constantino Bertuzzi 228 65 LAPS 2 LAPS 1:53.687 112.730 1:53.095 113.320 25 0 Mastercar Ferrari 430 Challenge
52 34 GT 31 Tom Papadopoulos 228 65 LAPS 1:27.996 1:56.192 110.300 1:52.714 113.703 9 0 Orbit Porsche GT3 Cup 53 62 GT 32 Martin Ragginger 224 69 LAPS 4 LAPS 1:53.193 113.222 1:51.803 114.630 22 0 TRG Porsche GT3 Cup
54 29 GT 33 Louis-Philippe Dumoulin 202 91 LAPS 22 LAPS 6:01.176 35.484 1:54.016 112.405 44 0 Alegra Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup
55 40 GT 34 Scott Maxwell 200 93 LAPS 2 LAPS 1:54.511 111.919 1:53.276 113.139 8 0 Hyper Sport Mazda RX-8
56 15 GT 35 Tom Nastasi 177 116 LAPS 23 LAPS 1:56.903 109.629 1:53.106 113.309 85 0 Blackforest Motorsports
Ford Mustang
57 16 DP 22 Matteo Bobbi 170 123 LAPS 7 LAPS 1:50.769 115.700 1:43.980 123.254 34 0 Cheever Racing Pontiac / Coyote
58 90 GT 36 Tom Long 163 130 LAPS 7 LAPS 2:04.269 103.131 1:52.818 113.598 22 0 Automatic Racing BMW M6 / Riley
59 50 GT 37 Boris Said 157 136 LAPS 6 LAPS 1:55.329 111.125 1:53.796 112.622 5 0 Blackforest Motorsports Ford Mustang
60 22 GT 38 Patrick Pilet 149 144 LAPS 8 LAPS 1:54.957 111.485 1:52.277 114.146 6 0 Alegra Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup
61 11 DP 23 Tomas Enge 97 196 LAPS 52 LAPS 1:48.444 118.180 1:43.865 123.390 33 0 SAMAX Pontiac / Riley
62 08 GT 39 Jim Meassick 83 210 LAPS 14 LAPS 20:23.186 10.477 1:59.850 106.933 21 0 Goldin Brothers Racing
Mazda RX-8
63 12 DP 24 Justin Bell 65 228 LAPS 18 LAPS 3:12.117 66.709 1:44.492 122.650 44 0 RVO Motorsports Pontiac / Riley
64 56 GT 40 Matthew Marsh 55 238 LAPS 10 LAPS 1:58.901 107.787 1:52.853 113.563 4 0 Mastercar Ferrari 430 Challenge
65 51 DP 25 Tommy Erdos 45 248 LAPS 10 LAPS 2:12.141 96.987 1:46.290 120.575 44 0 Cheever Racing Pontiac / Coyote
66 63 GT 41 Hima Maher 31 262 LAPS 14 LAPS 1:58.218 108.409 1:54.065 112.356 6 0 TRG Porsche GT3 Cup