2011 24 Hours of Daytona

Start of the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Prototypes run at the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona, ran on Saturday and Sunday, January 29–30, 2011 at the Daytona International Speedway, was the 49th running of the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race.^[1] The first race of the 2011 Rolex Sports Car Series season,^[2] it was broadcast on Speed Channel, with fourteen hours of live coverage,^[3] in addition to a considerable attendance.

Qualifying

Pole position for the race was won by Jörg Bergmeister of Germany, driving the #45 Daytona Prototype of Flying Lizard Motorsports, a Riley Technologies chassis powered by a Porsche engine, with a lap time of 1 minute 40.099 seconds.^[4] Pole for the Grand Touring category was won by Dominik Farnbacher in the #66 TRG Motorsports Porsche 911, with a lap time of 1 minute 48.781 seconds.^[4]

Results

Winning the race overall was the Daytona Prototype team of Chip Ganassi Racing, with drivers Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Graham Rahal and Joey Hand driving the #01 Riley & Scott-BMW defeating Chip Ganassi Racing's second team, consisting of IndyCar drivers Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti, and Sprint Cup teammates Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya in the #02 Riley & Scott-BMW by just over two seconds in a one-lap sprint following a late caution flag.^[5] The win was Pruett's fourth overall victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the fourth of four major auto racing wins by Ganassi in the last year, following victories in the 2010 Daytona 500, 2010 Indianapolis 500 and 2010 Brickyard 400;^[5] co-driver Rahal's victory came 30 years after his father, Bobby Rahal, won the race in 1981.^[6]

The GT division victory was claimed by TRG Motorsports, the #67 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup driven by Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly, Brendan Gaughan, Wolf Henzler and Steven Bertheau winning by a margin of one lap.^[5]

Patrick Dempsey, a television actor, placed third in the GT category in the #40 Mazda RX-8.^[5]

Although there were no serious accidents during the race, dense fog in the early morning hours resulted in a caution period lasting nearly three hours.^[7]

Race results

TV star Patrick Dempsey, seen here at the 2008 event, placed third in the GT class.

Class Winners in bold.^[8][9]

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Laps
					Engine
1	DP	01	Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates	Scott Pruett Memo Rojas Graham Rahal Joey Hand	Riley	721
					BMW 5.0L V8
2	DP	02	Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates	Scott Dixon Juan Pablo Montoya Dario Franchitti Jamie McMurray	Riley	721
					BMW 5.0L V8
3	DP	9	Action Express Racing	Terry Borcheller J.C. France João Barbosa Christian Fittipaldi Max Papis	Riley	721
					Porsche (LBP) 5.0L V8
4	DP	23	United Autosports with Michael Shank Racing	Zak Brown Mark Patterson Mark Blundell Martin Brundle	Riley	721
					Ford 5.0L V8
5	DP	10	SunTrust Racing	Max Angelelli Ricky Taylor Ryan Briscoe	Dallara	720
					Chevrolet 5.0L V8
6	DP	76	Krohn Racing	Tracy Krohn Niclas Jönsson Ricardo Zonta Nicolas Minassian	Lola B08/70	720
					Ford 5.0L V8
7	DP	6	Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian	A. J. Allmendinger Michael McDowell Justin Wilson	Dallara	719
					Ford 5.0L V8
8	DP	55	Level 5 Motorsports	Scott Tucker Christophe Bouchut Luis Díaz Mark Wilkins	Riley	717
					BMW 5.0L V8
9	DP	5	Action Express Racing	Darren Law David Donohue Buddy Rice Burt Frisselle	Riley	706
					Porsche (LBP) 5.0L V8
10	DP	60	Michael Shank Racing	John Pew Oswaldo Negri Marc Goossens Michael Valiante	Riley	706
					Ford 5.0L V8
11	DP	95	Level 5 Motorsports	Scott Tucker Ryan Hunter-Reay Richard Westbrook Raphael Matos	Riley	703
					BMW 5.0L V8
12	GT	67	TRG Motorsports	Steven Bertheau Brendan Gaughan Wolf Henzler Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	685
					Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
13	GT	48	Paul Miller Racing	Bryce Miller Tim Sugden Bryan Sellers Rob Bell	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	684
					Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
14	GT	40	Dempsey Racing	Joe Foster Patrick Dempsey Charles Espenlaub Tom Long	Mazda RX-8	681
					Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor
15	DP	99	GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing	Jon Fogarty Alex Gurney Jimmie Johnson	Riley	679
					Chevrolet 5.0L V8
16	GT	44	Magnus Racing	John Potter Craig Stanton Richard Lietz Marco Holzer	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	675
					Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
17	GT	59	Brumos Racing	Hurley Haywood Andrew Davis Leh Keen Marc Lieb	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	673
					Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
18	GT	70	SpeedSource	John Edwards Sylvain Tremblay Adam Christodoulou Jonathan Bomarito	Mazda RX-8	670
					Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor
19	GT	42	Team Sahlen	Will Nonnamaker Wayne Nonnamaker Joe Nonnamaker Memo Gidley	Mazda RX-8	661
					Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor
20	GT	4	TRG Motorsports	Ryan Eversley Daniel Graeff Kenny Wallace Ron Yarab Jr Richard Zahn Jr	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	659
					Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
21	GT	18	Müehlner Motorsport	Mark Thomas Peter Ludwig Dion von Moltke Cory Friedman	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	655
					Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
22	DP	45	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Patrick Long Jörg Bergmeister Seth Neiman Johannes van Overbeek	Riley Mk. XI	654
					Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
23	GT	41	Dempsey Racing	James Gue Dane Cameron Ian James Dave Lacey	Mazda RX-8	650
					Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor
24	DP	90	Spirit of Daytona Racing	Antonio García Paul Edwards Sascha Maassen	Coyote	649
					Chevrolet 5.0L V8
25	GT	47	Rick Ware Racing	Jeffrey Earnhardt Scott Monroe Doug Harrington Maurice Hull Brett Sandberg	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	635
					Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
26	GT	57	Stevenson Motorsports	Robin Liddell Ronnie Bremer Jan Magnussen	Chevrolet Camaro GT.R	629
					Chevrolet 6.0L V8
27	GT	66	TRG Motorsports	Dominik Farnbacher Tim George, Jr Ben Keating Lucas Luhr	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	612
					Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
28	GT	88	Autohaus Motorsports	Jordan Taylor Bill Lester Johnny O'Connell Matthew Marsh	Chevrolet Camaro GT.R	607
					Chevrolet 6.0L V8
29	GT	81	DragonSpeed	Cort Wagner Fred Poordad Doug Baron Nick Jones	Ferrari F430 Challenge	588
					Ferrari 4.3L V8
30	GT	54	TRG Motorsports/Black Swan Racing/GMG Racing	Jeroen Bleekemolen Tim Pappas Patrick Pilet James Sofronas Bret Curtis	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	578
					Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
31	DP	2	Starworks Motorsport	Enzo Potolicchio Alex Popow Romain Iannetta E.J. Viso	Riley	577
					Ford 5.0L V8
32	GT	94	Turner Motorsport	Bill Auberlen Boris Said Paul Dalla Lana Matt Plumb	BMW M3	565
					BMW 5.0L V8
33	DP	8	Starworks Motorsport	Mike Forest Ryan Dalziel Jim Lowe Colin Braun Tomáš Enge	Riley	552
					Ford 5.0L V8
34	GT	63	Team Spencer Motorsports	Rich Grupp David Murry Jim Downing Owen Trinkler	Mazda RX-8	544
					Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor
35	GT	65	Chris Smith Racing	Bill Sweedler Shane Lewis Tom Sheehan Mitch Pagerey	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	495
					Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
36	GT	30	Racers Edge Motorsports	Scott Rettich Mark Jensen Michael Marsal Gary Jensen Jade Buford	Mazda RX-8	453
					Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor
37	GT	53	TRG Motorsports/Nadeau Motorsports	Jim Michaelian Bob Doyle Coulter Mulligan Joe Castellano Ken Dobson	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	423
					Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
38	GT	32	PR1 Motorsports	David Cheng Tom Papadopoulos Ryan Lewis Max Hyatt	BMW M6	402
					BMW 5.0L V8
39	GT	07	Banner Racing	Bruce Ledoux Eric Curran Gunter Schaldach Oliver Gavin	Chevrolet Camaro GT.R	398
					Chevrolet 6.0L V8
40	GT	17	Burtin Racing	Claudio Burtin Martin Ragginger Nick Tandy Nicolas Armindo	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	378
					Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
41	GT	22	Bullet Racing	Darryl O'Young James Walker Brian Wong Eric Lux	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	328
					Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
42	DP	77	Doran Racing	Brian Frisselle Henri Richard Matt Bell Ross Kaiser	Dallara	312
					Ford 5.0L V8
43	GT	56	Bennett Racing	Mike Skeen Jean-François Dumoulin Michael Davidson Glynn Geddie Dan Harrington	Ferrari F430 Challenge	286
					Ferrari 4.3L V8
44	DP	7	Starworks Motorsport	Doug Peterson R.J. Valentine Jared Beyer Scott Mayer Jan Heylen	Riley	215
					Ford 5.0L V8
45	GT	69	SpeedSource	Emil Assentato Jeff Segal Nick Ham Anthony Lazzaro	Mazda RX-8	202
					Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor
46	GT	43	Team Sahlen	Joe Sahlen	Mazda RX-8	124
					Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor
47	GT	36	Yellow Dragon Motorsports	Taylor Hacquard Chris Cumming Mikel Miller Justin Marks	Mazda RX-8	122
					Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor
48	GT	86	Mitchum Motorsports	Joey Atterbury Cooper MacNeil Randy Pobst Derek Whitis	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	121
					Porsche 3.8L Flat-6

References

1. "SunTrust Racing: 49th Rolex 24 At Daytona Preview". The Auto Channel. January 27, 2011. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
2. "2011 Rolex Series: GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Schedule". Grand-Am Road Racing. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
3. Harris, David (January 12, 2011). "GRAND-AM: SPEED Set For 14 Hours Of Live Rolex 24 Coverage". SPEED Channel. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
4. "Bergmeister Captures Pole for Rolex 24 At Daytona". Daytona International Speedway. January 27, 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
5. Spencer, Reid (January 30, 2011). "Pruett delivers Rolex 24 win for Ganassi". The Sporting News. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
6. Dagys, John (January 30, 2011). "ROLEX 24: Ganassi Goes Big With Rolex 1-2". Speed Channel. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
7. "Chip Slams Them, Wins Rolex 24 at Daytona". Grand-Am Road Racing. January 30, 2011. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
8. "Results from the 2011 Rolex 24 At Daytona". Daytona International Speedway. January 30, 2011. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
9. "Rolex 24 At Daytona Entry List". Grand-Am Road Racing. January 30, 2011. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010. Retrieved 2011-01-31.