Rolex 24 2011 Chip Ganassi Makes History With Rolex 24 Victory
Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Joey Hand and Graham Rahal gave car owner Chip Ganassi a place in racing's history books by winning Sunday's Rolex 24 At Daytona. Ganassi became the first car owner to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, Brickyard 400 and Rolex 24 consecutively.
It was Ganassi's fourth victory in the event over the past six seasons. They're calling it the "Chip Slam." It also was the third victory and fifth straight top-two finish for the No. 01 TELMEX/Target Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW/Riley - and also Pruett's fourth overall triumph in the event among a race-leading nine class victories.
Pruett won his fourth Rolex 24 while adding to his record list of class victories with nine. It was the second triumph for Rojas. Hand led the most laps in the event (116) for his first Rolex 24 victory, while Rahal followed in the footsteps of his father, IndyCar great Bobby Rahal, who scored a career-breakthrough victory in the 1981 race.
| | - Rolex 24 Friday Jan. 28, 2011
- Plumb, Rum Bum Repeat At Daytona
Jan. 28, 2011
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 28, 2011) - Matt Plumb and the No. 13 RumBum.com BMW M3 team opened the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season in Victory Lane on Friday at Daytona International Speedway for the second consecutive year.
Plumb combined with co-driver Nick Longhi to win the GRAND-AM 200 under caution ahead of the No. 15 Ford Racing/Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang Boss 302 co-driven by Scott Maxwell and Joe Foster.
Longhi started the race from the pole and led the opening nine laps before pitting under caution and turning over the controls to Plumb for the remainder of the event. Plumb led twice for 18 laps and staved off a hard-charging Maxwell over the closing laps before a full-course caution coming to the white flag preserved the victory. Plumb won last year's race with Gian Bacardi as his co-driver in the first race for the Orlando, Fla.-based team.
"We had a pretty high goal in matching last year's effort," Plumb said. "Last year, it was a new team and a new co-driver. This year, we had the benefit of my friend Nick here in the car - who obviously is a veteran of the series - so it put us in a very good position and we felt good going into the race.
"However, everybody seems to have stepped up their game," Plumb added. "I'm not sure what's going on, but I was hoping to catch them sleeping. It's incredible. The competition is so tight. Everybody brought their best game and it gave me anxiety the entire time. It was stressful but it was a great race. Thank God for the yellow. I think the Mustang was very strong there towards the end and I was lucky to hold him off at just the right time."
It was the sixth CTSCC career victory for Plumb - who won a total of three races last season - and it was also the sixth victory for Longhi. It was also the third consecutive CTSCC victory for both drivers, who won the final two rounds of the 2010 season at Miller Motorsports Park and Trois-Rivieres.
Foster and Maxwell were followed across the stripe by Paul Dalla Lana and Bill Auberlen in third place in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M3.
Just as the pole-winning car took the GS victory, the polesitting No. 171 APR/VW Driver Gear Volkswagen GTI for Ryan Ellis and Ian Baas won in Street Tuner (ST).
Ellis led fairly comfortably throughout his driving stint, but Baas clearly had his hands full throughout the closing minutes of the two-and-a-half hour race with an aggressive Adam Pecorari in the No. 24 Columbus Truck BMW 330i, with whom he swapped the lead a handful of times before Pecorari crashed while trying to take the lead once again.
It was the first career CTSCC victory for Ellis and the third for Baas, who also took the ST win in the 2010 finale at Miller. It was Baas' second GRAND-AM victory at Daytona, as he was a GT-class winner in the 2006 Rolex 24 At Daytona.
"The last few laps were absolutely crazy," Baas said. "I was definitely driving a little bit in my mirrors waiting for some passing, but all this crazy stuff was happening in front of us and people were crashing.
"Luckily, the double yellows were flying and I could breathe a little bit at the end. I'm a little thankful for those, but mostly to be with this team and to have great support with Volkswagen this year and last year. We're going to have a great season together and we're looking for more."
Andy Lally and Nic Jonsson gave Kia its first CTSCC podium with a second-place run in the No. 10 Kia Motors America Kia Forte Koup, and John Capestro-Dubets and Gregory Liefooghe completed the ST top three in the No. 81 BimmerWorld Racing BMW 328i.
Country music superstar and actor Reba McEntire was in attendance for the GRAND-AM 200 as her son, Shelby Blackstock, made his series debut in the No. 51 Roush Performance Products Ford Mustang. Blackstock led two laps and finished 18th in the GS class alongside co-driver Roly Falgueras.
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| | | - Rolex 24 Sunday Jan. 30, 2011
- Chip Slams Them, Wins Rolex 24 At Daytona
Jan. 30, 2011
The No. 01 TELMEX/Target BMW/Riley has finished first or second in the Rolex 24 for the last five years.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates completed the "Chip Slam," winning the 49th Rolex 24 At Daytona to give the team consecutive victories in the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, Brickyard 400 and America's premier endurance race, cheered by the biggest GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 crowd at Daytona International Speedway.
Aiding by a lightning-fast final pit stop, Scott Pruett went from third to first on the final round of pit stops with 48 minutes remaining and held on to give the team its fourth Rolex 24 victory.
Pruett and fellow Daytona Prototype champion Memo Rojas joined team newcomers Joey Hand and Graham Rahal in the No. 01 TELMEX/Target BMW/Riley. Pruett beat Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon to the checkered flag by 2.46 seconds to score his fourth overall and record-extending ninth class victory in the Rolex 24.
The victory gave the team consecutive triumphs in the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, Brickyard 400 and America's greatest endurance race from February 2010 to January 2011.
"It is truly awesome," Pruett said. "To have a 1-2 finish is just incredible. Our No. 01 car has finished every lap here the last five years and won it three times. That in itself is a true testament to what the Ganassi organization does and the preparation on getting this car on the track. They've been busting their butts getting our cars ready for this race since October."
Pruett's pit stop atoned for a miscue when Hand bumped a tire exiting the pits and was called back for a 20-second penalty with two hours, 45 minutes remaining. Pruett took over with one hour, 45 minutes remaining, running in fourth position.
Hand led a race-high 116 laps, while Rahal won on the 30th anniversary of his father's breakthrough victory at Daytona in 1981.
"I don't drive the cars, I don't change the tires and I don't work on the engines," Ganassi said. "There are lots of people, lots of great competitors, who make up this team. I just get to stand up here and talk about it."
Dixon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti and Jamie McMurray finished second in the No. 02 Target/TELMEX BMW/Riley. Defending Rolex 24 champion team Action Express Racing finished third with Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Max Papis and JC France in the No. 9 Porsche/Riley, followed by Formula One veterans Martin Brundle and Mark Blundell, who were joined by Zak Brown and Mark Patterson in the No. 23 Johnny Walker/FXI/UBS Ford Riley. The top four cars were separated by 3.752 seconds after 2,566.76 miles of racing, completing 721 laps.
Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly, Wolf Henzler, Brendan Gaughan and Steven Bertheau came from last to first in the No. 67 Sergent & Lundy/South Point Hotel & Casino Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, giving TRG car owner Kevin Buckler his fourth Rolex 24 class victory. It was the third Daytona class triumph for Lally, and second for Pumpelly and Henzler.
Bryce Miller, Tim Sugden, Bryan Sellers and Rob Bell took second in the Marquis Jet/Total/IPC Porsche, followed by Patrick Dempsey, Joe Foster, Charles Espenlaub and Tom Long, who gave the Dempsey Racing's No. 40 Visit Florida/ModSpace/Charles Espenlaub Mazda RX-8 its first Rolex Series podium with a third-place finish.
"It was pretty emotional," said Dempsey, who joined his teammates in scoring their best Rolex Series finish. The team led 197 laps with Dempsey out front for 28 of them. "To be on the wall and hear everybody's journey with each stint was an incredibly joyous, magic, fun moment. It's validation for all of their hard work, and this is a team sport."
Attrition took its toll among many of the contenders. Jorg Bergmeister won the pole in the No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche/Riley and led the opening 27 laps, but an off-track excursion to avoid an incident damaged the front end of the car and sent the team to the garage, losing 19 laps.
Five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson joined two-time DP champs Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Chevrolet/Riley, but the trio fell out of contention late Saturday evening with brake problems. They finished 15th overall and 12th in DP.
The highly competitive race featured 52 lead changes among 27 drivers. Twelve of the 18 Daytona Prototypes in the field led at some point.
The race was slowed 23 times for 141 laps. While there were no major incidents, early morning fog led to two hours and 47 minutes, resulting in 57 laps of caution.
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