Dixon takes early lead in 24 Hours of Daytona
January 30, 2010
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (AP)—Chip Ganassi Racing was on its way to reclaimingthe 24 Hours of Daytona title, with Scott Dixon in the lead after three hours inthe sports car endurance race on Saturday.
Dixon was ahead by almost a full lap, deftly guiding the No. 02 BMW Riley ona slick Daytona International Speedway that had been pelted with rain, causingcautions and skid outs. Ganassi’s No. 01 car had the top spot two hours into therace with Scott Pruett behind the wheel, but dropped back after a slow pit stop.
Alex Gurney was in second and looking to hand off to teammate and four-timeNASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson for Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing. That was a bigmove for the No. 99 car, which started last among the Daytona Prototypes afterJohnson crashed the car in practice and the team missed qualifying.
“We’re actually in great shape,” Gurney said. “We started last and endedup in second.”
Several others weren’t far behind. But it was Ganassi making all the noiseagain.
Chip Ganassi Racing had three straight wins in the prestigious endurancerace until finishing second last year in the closest race in the event’shistory. It wasn’t taking any chances early.
Dixon broke away from the pack with some tight zigging and zagging on thenarrow infield of the road course. He avoided spinouts—unlike some drivers—when the track was still soaked, and he wasn’t losing ground on thestraightaways to other Daytona Prototypes like Ganassi did a year ago.
Fellow Indianapolis 500 winners Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti, andNASCAR’s Jamie McMurray were getting set to take over for Dixon. While stillearly in the race, the star-studded lineup was only getting stronger as the rainsubsided.
Other drivers tested the track too early.
There were four cautions, including at the start with rain still falling,before the green flag was waved five laps into the race. Ricardo Zonta held abrief lead until he hit a turn too fast, braked too hard trying to recover andspun out into the tire wall like so many others in the back.
“The first three laps were extremely difficult. It was very hard to put thepower down and have any kind of hope to keep the grip,” said actor PatrickDempsey, who had the No. 40 car in the pack of the other GTs. “It was certainlygreat television and fun to watch.”
But there still was plenty of time to catch up.
That alone was enough for the 44-car field—that included 29 of the slowerGT class cars—to keep hope alive. The 3.5-mile (5.7-kilometer) road coursethat encompasses about three-fourths of the NASCAR oval was drying but somewater hadn’t receded.
The flat infield course had a few puddles and was perhaps the most difficultto navigate at the start, especially with Daytona Prototypes trying to weavearound the GT cars.
“On some of those restarts,” Gurney said, “guys weren’t starting like itwas 24 hours.”
Comments
Got something to say?
