Rolex 24 is ON!!!!

[Mark in Oshawa]

The race has started, and already some guy in a Porsche GT3 almost took out a few of his competitors two corners in by just over cooking it in the chicane in the infield. It always amazes me the trouble people can get into within one lap at a 24 hour race!!!

Anyhow, Fox and later Speed will have the whole race on for the entire 24 hours. For those in Europe...alas I have no idea if anyone would pick up the coverage....

It isn't LeMans, but the different drivers from all different fields of the sport including NASCAR makes it a real interesting experiment, especially with the goofy Daytona Prototypes, since they make for very equal racing...

[El Sween]

Gurney is in trouble already

[FormerFF]

Mark - TV coverage is:
Fox - Start to 2:30 PM
Speed - 2:30 PM to 6 PM
Speed - 8 PM to 10 PM
Speed - 6 AM to finish

Man, Fox shows a lot of commercials. I can see what the NASCAR fans are complaining about.

There was some pretty shaggy driving at the start. Glad to see it's cleaned up since then.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Lots of shaggy driving....you have the best drivers outside of f1 and yet within that, a lot of well moneyed and less talented weekend warriors.

Gurney had a crap sandwich with that Porsche losing the hood pins right where he did....but the good news is if they run hard and have no more issues, they can make up a lot of ground. People have come from 20 laps down to get back to the lead in this race before....

[Mark in Oshawa]

As for FOX and their commercials, they are selling the time, so in a way, it is good for the sport.

I find it a good thing that FOX is paying any attention to it, and they are not blowing up the NASCAR guys and their roles here. In this form of racing, they are the guys learning....well with the exception of Tony Stewart, he can race anything anywhere, any time...

[Mark in Oshawa]

Allmendinger just put his car in the lead with some pretty amazing driving, I guess no one sent him a memo this race has another 22 hours and 45 mins to go....

[FormerFF]

Did you just hear Katherine Legge describing her ride:

"It's big, it's heavy, it's slow..."

[Mark in Oshawa]

FF...if you drove a Champ Car, you would say that too...lol.

[beachgirl]

Exactly, Mark. Her comment was in response to the question "how does this car compare to your Champ Car?" I'd say big, heavy and slow, too! And she said it with a smile.

[FormerFF]

Looks like we won't have to worry about Tony George or AJ the fourth taking anyone out. It appears their car has retired.

[Mark in Oshawa]

FormerFF, there is one less team full people to run into out there, but from the carnage so far, there is still lots in the GT2 ranks to wreak havoc out there...

[FormerFF]

Drat, the 00 car is back out there.

I owe an apology to to Brumos team. When they first started out, I said there was no way for the Porsche six to compete against the Lexus and Pontiac eights. Last year, after the competition adjustment, I said that the Porsche could be competitive, but the Brumos team wasn't any good. Now, I can see that Brumos is a decent team, but that the Fabcar was not going to be competitive.

It looks like Grand Am is rapidly becoming dominated by Riley chassis.

[DonnieDarco]

How's my man JPM doing?

[FormerFF]

How's my man JPM doing?

Rather well, I'd say.

[DonnieDarco]

Excellent :D

[call_me_andrew]

How's my man JPM doing?

As it stands now, his teammate is in the car and leading overall. You can find live timing and scoring here http://gmsleaderboard.vfx.com/rolex/livetiming.asp

[viper_man]

Every bloody time its the Porsche GT3 idiots taking someone out, I swear since I can remember none of them have been able to drive!

[El Sween]

Good job by Juan, Scott and co. I would be happy to see them win.

[Scuderia ferrari]

Anyone have any idea if it is showing in europe, more specifically, britain? Does not appear to be on men and motors, and i can't get motors TV, so i'm abit screwed!

Also- on that site "call me andrew" posted, when is there live coverage of the races? I know there is one today, but what time?

[FormerFF]

If you go to Grand-Am.com, there is a live timing and scoring link. They also have live audio. I don't believe there is any internet video available.

[race aficionado]

Go Juan Pablo! and his team mates!!! :D

what a marathon that must be.

I also can't get anything on TV - but FOX did have the start yesterday, I don't understand why they wouldn't show the end . . . .

holding my breath.

:s mokin:

[FormerFF]

It's all on Speed TV now.

[race aficionado]

It's all on Speed TV now.

Man! you rock! How foolish of me of not even thinking about Speed TV.

I'm seeing it now,
again, thanks!

:s mokin:

[Scuderia ferrari]

listening tothe live audio now- apparently juan is in the lead of his class

[El Sween]

Who needs F1 ? Certainly not Juan

[race aficionado]

YES!!!!!!!

:s mokin:

[Scuderia ferrari]

Who needs F1 ? Certainly not Juan

indeed- very true- he even turned a return to F1 down, it said in in the recently in the TG magazine, all ways been a JPM fan, so glad to know he is going well.

[race aficionado]

Pruett/Duran/Montoya:

A USA driver, a Mexican driver, and a Colombian driver.

Nice international combo, very cool indeed. :D

I'm a happy fan right now and it's so great to see my country man Juan Pablo do good.

Next race for Juan . . . . can''t wait! :D

:s mokin:

[Jag_Warrior]

I don't care what the cars look like, that was some dayuum good racing!!!

And HUGE congrats to Juan Pablo, Scott and Salvador Duran! If Juan should win the Daytona 500, my head will explode from happiness.

[rlenis]

Congratulations to my may Juan Pablo. He did some of the best racing for his team earlier this morning.. What a race. Pruett and Duran were also superb.
I'll be rooting for this guy if he makes it to F1 someday..

[Lee Roy]

fantastic race.

[F1boat]

Montoya won! Amazing!

[Scuderia ferrari]

Pruett/Duran/Montoya:
Next race for Juan . . . . can''t wait! :D

:s mokin:


Question- when is the "next race" because i'll be listening to a lot more coverage now- i'm officaly hooked on grand-am.

Stupid men and motors- they never really show any decent racing on it.

[DonnieDarco]

He won???? Fantastic news :D Well done to JPM, Pruett and Duran (Duran) :D

[trumperZ06]

:D JPM's next race... will be in NA$CAR @ Daytona.

;) Hope he brings the car home in 1st place !!!

[Scuderia ferrari]

:D JPM's next race... will be in NA$CAR @ Daytona.

;) Hope he brings the car home in 1st place !!!


Nevemind 1st place- from last time bringing the car home in one peice would be a good start!

[F1boat]

I will enjoy a top 10 finish immensely.

[race aficionado]

:D JPM's next race... will be in NA$CAR @ Daytona.

;) Hope he brings the car home in 1st place !!!


Montoya will begin his first full Nextel Cup campaign in the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 10.

pretty cool eh Trumps? :D

:s mokin:

[FormerFF]

Question- when is the "next race" because i'll be listening to a lot more coverage now- i'm officaly hooked on grand-am.

Stupid men and motors- they never really show any decent racing on it.

Next race for Grand-Am is Mexico City, March 3.

Next race for JPM is the Daytona 500, which is in like, 3 weeks? Not exactly sure.

[Lee Roy]

Next race for JPM is the Daytona 500, which is in like, 3 weeks? Not exactly sure.


Daytona 500 - February 18th.

Daytona 500 - Qualifying race on Thursday February 15th.

Montoya will also try to qualify for the Busch Series race on February 17th.

[VresiBerba]

Whoo-ho :D

[race aficionado]

Whoo-ho :D

Good times are here again Vresi! :D


:s mokin:

[Giuseppe F1]

Please excuse me if this is a really silly question, yet which of Pruett, Duran and Montoya actually crossed the finishline at 24h?

Giuseppe F1

[race aficionado]

Please excuse me if this is a really silly question, yet which of Pruett, Duran and Montoya actually crossed the finishline at 24h?

Giuseppe F1

http://www.paddocktalk.com/news/htm...ticle&sid=47568



"While the No. 01 team never fell out of the top-three overall positions in the final 21 hours of the race, the battle came to a head late in the 20th hour with Ryan Dalziel in the No. 11 CITGO/SAMAX Pontiac Riley leading Montoya in the No. 01 and Max Angelelli in the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley in a nose-to-tail fight for the overall lead. Dalziel managed to keep both vaunted road racers behind him, although Montoya and Angelelli did exchange second place a handful of times.

The battle continued for nearly an hour before Dalziel surrendered the lead to Angelelli when he pitted for fuel and tires. Angelelli led one lap before Montoya claimed the lead for good in Turn 4 with slightly less than two hours and 45 minutes remaining. At the conclusion of that lap—Lap 578—Angelelli pulled onto pit lane and Montoya moved out into the lead.

The Colombian got customary stellar service from the TELMEX/Target crew when he pitted two laps later and managed to maintain the lead of the race. He was pressured from behind by both Dalziel and Angelelli for the better part of another hour before both Angelelli and Dalziel pitted before him to turn their cars over to co-drivers Jan Magnussen and Patrick Carpentier, respectively.

Montoya gave control of the No. 01 machine—and the race lead—to Pruett with slightly more than 90 minutes remaining and the 2004 Rolex Series Daytona Prototype co-champion steadily pulled away over the remainder of the race, crossing the stripe 1:15.842 ahead of Carpentier to secure the victory. It was the third-closest finish in Rolex 24 At Daytona history."

[Giuseppe F1]

Thanks Race Aficionado!

Giuseppe F1

[BobbyC]

The best part of the race was the All Star Shootout this race has become. Not only do the regular drivers race for the Rolex watches, racers everywhere go in and say, "Let's Race!" and race for that trophy.

I think JPM and Ganassi knew what it meant to be back to race with each other -- a chance to race in a 24-hour all-star race against everybody. Too bad some groups don't want their drivers battling in this little shootout where everyone is just biting to race after a winter of waiting.

The organisers moved the race to January and has given this event a little starpower, and the result is good for sponsors, media exposure, and sportscar racing as a whole. Seemingly, it is a "Bring 'em on!" feel and with just the right extra number of drivers, it would make the RoC look tame.

[Bullet]

I've been giving my wife plenty of warning that race season is on it's way. I had no idea it had started so soon, or that Monty was part of it. I caught the last 4-5 hours of the race, and it looks like the Juan/Chip pairing is off to a good start. A Champcar Championship (debut), an Indy 500 (debut), Monza (debut I think), Monaco, and now the Daytona 24 (debut). Wow, and the world of Nascar ahead. Should be a good season.

[Lousada]

Eurosport will broadcast an hours worth of highlights tonight at 23.30 CET. Directly before that there is also the WRC highlights.

[cts1691]

I just finished watching the Tape of the Eurosport "Highlight" I recorded last night. They did a good job in hardly showing any interesting parts of the race. German commentator Heinrich was the usual blabla, without substantial information.