Forty years after his father, the late Mark Donohue, drove to victory lane
in the 1969 24 Hours of Daytona, David Donohue equaled that feat, crossing
the finish line 0.167 seconds ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya to win the 47th
running of the longest and most prestigious event in North America.
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#58 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley: David Donohue, Antonio Garcia, Darren Law, Buddy Rice passes #01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley: Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas for the lead. Photo by Eric Gilbert.
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"I don't know what to say," Donohue exclaimed while celebrating in victory
lane. "These guys put such an incredible effort. I know Bob Snodgrass is
looking down on us smiling."
A contender from the start, Donohue's pole-sitting Porsche Riley, which he
shared with Darren Law, Buddy Rice, and Antonio Garcia, was never too far
from the race lead. When the Penske Racing Porsche Riley ran into
difficulties late Sunday morning, the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race
essentially became a two-way dice between the No. 58 Brumos entry and the
No. 01 Lexus Riley driven by Montoya, Scott Pruett, and Memo Rojas. Seven
hours later, the contest culminated in a rousing 50-minute duel between
Donohue and Montoya that began when Donohue took over for Garcia during the
race's final round of pit stops.
Capitalizing on the Ganassi car's superior handling on the tight infield
portions of the Daytona International Speedway's 3.56-mile, 14-turn road
course, Montoya was able to hold off Donohue for several laps after the
race went green again. But eventually the straight-line speed of the
Porsche engine in the Brumos car was too much for Montoya, and Donohue
was able to wrest the lead from him with about 40 minutes to go. Montoya
managed to keep Donohue in sight, closing to the Porsche's gearbox
several times in the infield. But the Colombian was never able to get
close enough to take a serious shot at the lead, though the margin of
victory was the closest in the history of the race.
"We tested for like 3,000 miles here," said Donohue after his fourth
Daytona Prototype victory and his first since Mont-Tremblant in 2003.
"And we brought a real good package here. There's no doubt we had good
top-end (speed). But you really had to know how to use it. That's why
it wasn't so easy. Juan protected a lot and I had to plan (my pass) and
seize the opportunity when it surfaced."
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#58 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley: David Donohue, Antonio Garcia, Darren Law, Buddy Rice and #01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley: Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas fight for the lead . Photo by Rainier Ehrhardt.
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Montoya said he was in a difficult position as well because he knew he
did not have enough power to keep up with the Porsche on Daytona's long
straight-aways. "I was actually surprised we came close to the win.
On every stint, the Brumos and Penske (Porsche) cars would just drive
away from us on the straights. I drove my butt off. I knew if I got any
traffic (in the chicane on the backstretch) that I was done; and I did
and I was done. They just kept driving off from me - even when I was in
the draft."
"We gave 110% and it was a little better than we expected," added
Pruett. "It is a little frustrating when guys just drive by you; it just
never seems right. Hopefully, everything will get evened out."
Donohue was not impressed with the comments regarding his Porsche's
speed. "We came here ready to run hard and we ran hard the whole time.
The point of running hard the whole time was to win the . . . race."
As for comparisons with his father, Donohue said he was very proud of
his father's accomplishments but that this win was more important to him
for what it meant to his team, which had not won a Rolex Series race in
several years.
The winning Brumos quartet led 254 of the race's 735 laps, including
the last 25 circuits. This was the first Brumos win in the 24 Hours of
Daytona since 1991, when it teamed up with Joest Racing.
The second Brumos entry, piloted by Joao Barbosa, JC France, Hurley
Haywood, and Terry Borcheller, finished third, 5.504 seconds behind the
winners and just over five seconds ahead of the SunTrust Racing Ford
Riley shared by Max Angelelli, Brian Frisselle, Pedro Lamy, and Wayne
Taylor.
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#10 SunTrust Racing Ford Dallara: Max Angelelli, Brian Frisselle, Pedro Lamy, Wayne Taylor. Photo by Rainier Ehrhardt.
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The SunTrust team's performance was significant because the
other six Ford-powered Daytona Prototypes in the 49-car field failed
to finish the race. Five of them retired early due to the same engine
component failure. The failures apparently stemmed from a faulty engine
part that was manufactured by a third-party supplier and not by Ford.
Both Krohn Racing Lolas, both Michael Shank Racing Rileys, and the AIM
Autosport Riley were affected by the problem, which would have taken
too long to fix, according to David Brown, the team manager at Krohn
Racing. A sixth Ford, the Dallara of Doran Racing, which ran inside the
top-10 for most of the race, lost fuel pressure early Sunday morning and
retired shortly thereafter
The second Ganassi entry, shared by Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, and
Alex Lloyd, rounded out the top-five, four laps down to the winners.
That car led 82 laps over the course of the race but lost time to the
leaders during the 19th hour, when the car's nose flew off, sending
Dixon, last year's Indy 500 winner and IndyCar champion, to the pits for
a new front end. By that time it was too late for the team to make up
the distance it had lost to the leaders.
A lengthy stop in the 18th hour to replace the car's rear-end assembly
dropped the Penske Racing Porsche Riley to sixth overall, 18 laps down
to the winners. It was the only major setback for the Penske squad,
which led for 191 laps. Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard will contest the
rest of the Rolex Series schedule in the Penske car.
Unscheduled stops to fix a broken gear cluster in the transmission in
the fourth hour and to replace the car's rear end assembly during the
11th hour relegated last year's runner up, the Gainsco Pontiac Riley, to
a seventh- place finish; 21 laps arrears of the winners.
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#2 Childress-Howard Motorsports Pontiac Crawford: Rob Finlay, Casey Mears, Danica Patrick, Andy Wallace. Photo by Rainier Ehrhardt.
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The new Childress-Howard Motorsports Pontiac Crawford ended up eighth,
33 laps behind the winners, in the hands of Andy Wallace, Danica
Patrick, Casey Mears, and Rob Finlay. Electrical issues slowed the
brand-new team throughout the event. Wallace and Finlay will contest the
entire Rolex Series season in this new Crawford.
The No. 55 Level 5 Motorsports BMW Riley and the No. 13 Beyer Racing
Pontiac Riley finished ninth and 10th, respectively, in the Daytona
Prototype division.
The BMW Rileys of Allegra Motorsports and Orbit Racing also failed to
finish because of crashes.
The race featured a record 25 cautions for a total of 117 laps. Nine
cars took turns in the overall lead and there were 51 overall lead
changes among 53 drivers.
The Rolex Series will return to the track April 25 at the bucolic
Virginia International Raceway.
Editor's Note:
The winning No. 58 Brumos Porsche did not meet the minimum weight requirement and was docked five points. The win stays in
the record books but they will do not hold the edge in the team or driver standings.
