Rolex 24 Hour 6: Ganassi No. 01 still in front
The No. 01 Riley-Ford DP of Joey Hand holds a narrow one-second margin over the sister entry driven by Tony Kanaan, in what's turned into an early dominant run for the Ford EcoBoost-powered cars.
AJ Allmendinger runs in third aboard the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier JS P2 Honda, which has crucially remained on the lead lap, along with the Corvette DP entries from Action Express Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing, which complete the top-five overall.
NEWS AND NOTES
• Tom Long made history at the end of his opening stint early in the race when he took the lead in the No. 07 SpeedSource Mazda SKYACTIV-D Smart Diesel, becoming the first diesel-powered car to lead overall in the Rolex 24. It also was the first time Mazda has led the Rolex 24 overall, although the manufacturer has 22 class victories in the event, second behind only Porsche (68).
• Two drivers in search of career milestones are in good position at the one-quarter mark. Scott Pruett – looking to win a record sixth Rolex 24 overall – leads in the Prototype class while teammate Jamie McMurray is second as he tries to join A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti as the only drivers to win both the Daytona 500 and Rolex 24.
• The No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR, in a quest to defend its inaugural Patron Endurance Cup championship in GTLM, fell victim to a gearbox issue three minutes into the 24-hour race, losing six laps. The car has since run flawlessly and now sits four laps down in ninth.
• Attrition was one of the main storylines in the opening six hours of the event with a number of competitive cars running into early trouble. Among those, the No. 97 BMW Z4 of defending TUDOR Championship GTD champion Turner Motorsport suffered a pair of gearbox related issues relegating the team to 97 laps down in class at the six-hour mark. The No. 0 DeltaWing Racing Cars DWC-13 – which ran solidly in the top-five for much of the early part of the race put fell victim to a transmission issue – and the No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM Honda HPD ARX (systems failure) were forced to retire. Also retiring right before the six-hour mark was the No. 57 Krohn Racing Ligier JS P2/Judd which reportedly suffered an engine problem.
• One year after nearly sweeping the four Patron Endurance Cup events, CORE autosport is off to a strong start in a quest to return to victory lane in the Rolex 24 in 2015. The car co-driven by Colin Braun, Jon Bennett, James Gue and Mark Wilkins has a 68-second lead over the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport ORECA FLM09.
QUOTEBOARD
Scott Pruett, Driver – No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing w/ Felix Sabates Ford EcoBoost/Riley:
"For me, I always approach this race being over-cautious at the start. I've done this race so many times. I've seen so many drivers who really want to make a statement in the first couple of hours, really trying to work their way up to the front, driving up over curbs and other cars. It is going to be interesting to see how everything unfolds."
Andy Meyrick, Driver – No. 0 DeltaWing Racing Cars with Claro/TracFone DWC-13:
"I've become accustomed to how resilient and hardworking this team is. With a brand new component in the car and not much room to maneuver, they've gone above and beyond. To qualify so well and to run so well shows that they're the real heroes. The season looks really strong as soon as we get over these teething issues. We're very disappointed, but there are lots of positives to take away."
Johannes van Overbeek, Driver – No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM Honda HPD ARX
"This is an unfortunate end to our Rolex 24. It is a beautiful day for racing. There's a great field of drivers and great crowd at Daytona. Ed (Brown), Jon (Fogarty) and I were looking forward to a nice long race. Sadly, we lost power in the Honda. We're not sure what happened yet. We'll dig into and figure it out. The No. 1 car is running well and that's great. We need to regroup and get some more work done before Sebring."
Memo Gidley, Driver Injured in 2014 Rolex 24 At Daytona
"I'm very hungry [to drive again]. It's been a year and I'm watching the race on TV now. It's really such a great memory. We all know when we're doing things you have higher chance of an injury. That's part of it. I definitely want to get back out there, but No. 1 is to get back to 100 percent strong, or nearly 100 percent strong, before I can make that happen."
Hour 6 Standings
| Pos | No. | Class | Name | Laps | Total Tm | Make/Model |
| 1 | 01 | P | Pruett/Hand/Kimball/Karam | 191 | 6:01:29.872 | Ford EcoBoost DP |
| 2 | 02 | P | Dixon/Kanaan/Larson/McMurray | 191 | 6:01:30.626 | Ford EcoBoost DP |
| 3 | 60 | P | Pew/Negri/Allmendinger/ McMurry | 191 | 6:01:34.276 | Honda HPD Ligier JS P2 |
| 4 | 5 | P | Barbosa/Fittipaldi/Bourdais | 191 | 6:01:35.338 | Corvette DP |
| 5 | 10 | P | J.Taylor/R.Taylor/Angelelli | 191 | 6:01:48.311 | Corvette DP |
| 6 | 90 | P | Westbrook/Valiante/ Rockenfeller/Cosmo | 191 | 6:02:00.427 | Corvette DP |
| 7 | 7 | P | Hartley/Barrichello/ Hunter-Reay/Graves/Mayer | 190 | 6:02:56.888 | BMW Power Riley DP |
| 8 | 1 | P | Sharp/Dalziel/Heinemeier Hansson | 189 | 6:02:12.031 | Honda HPD ARX |
| 9 | 70 | P | Bomarito/Nunez/Hinchcliffe/ Tremblay | 186 | 6:02:08.832 | Mazda Prototype |
| 10 | 54 | PC | Bennett/Braun/Wilkins/Gue | 186 | 6:02:12.835 | ORECA FLM09 |
| 11 | 3 | GTLM | Magnussen/Garcia/Briscoe | 186 | 6:02:13.636 | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R |
| 12 | 4 | GTLM | Gavin/Milner/Pagenaud | 186 | 6:02:14.726 | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R |
| 13 | 62 | GTLM | Kaffer/Rigon/Fisichella/ Beretta | 186 | 6:02:22.516 | Ferrari F458 Italia |
| 14 | 911 | GTLM | Tandy/Pilet/Lieb/Christensen | 186 | 6:02:23.023 | Porsche 911 RSR |
| 15 | 17 | GTLM | Henzler/Sellers/P.Long | 186 | 6:02:24.609 | Porsche 911 RSR |
| 16 | 25 | GTLM | Auberlen/Werner/Farfus/ Spengler | 186 | 6:02:24.688 | BMW Z4 GTE |
| 17 | 8 | PC | Schultis/van der Zande/Popow/ Hedlund/Albuqu | 186 | 6:02:49.886 | ORECA FLM09 |
| 18 | 85 | PC | Goikhberg/Miller/Simpson/ Mitchell | 185 | 6:03:08.416 | ORECA FLM09 |
| 19 | 51 | GTLM | Perrodo/Collard/Bruni/Vilander | 184 | 6:01:35.869 | Ferrari 458 Italia |
| 20 | 24 | GTLM | J.Edwards/Luhr/Klingmann/ Rahal | 184 | 6:03:08.321 | BMW Z4 GTE |
| 21 | 912 | GTLM | Bergmeister/Bamber/Makowiecki/ Christensen | 182 | 6:01:55.271 | Porsche 911 RSR |
| 22 | 66 | P | Gewirtz/S.Lewis/Kvamme/Cheng | 182 | 6:02:06.135 | BMW Power Riley DP |
| 23 | 93 | GTD | Keating/D.Farnbacher/Carter/ Wittmer/Lawrenc | 182 | 6:02:29.499 | Dodge Viper SRT |
| 24 | 63 | GTD | Sweedler/T.Bell/Lazzaro/Segal | 182 | 6:02:31.825 | Ferrari 458 Italia |
| 25 | 48 | GTD | Haase/B.Miller/von Moltke/Rast | 182 | 6:02:57.640 | Audi R8 LMS |
| 26 | 81 | GTD | Faulkner/Giermaziak/Skeen/ Butcher/Avenatti | 182 | 6:03:16.254 | Porsche 911 GT America |
| 27 | 33 | GTD | Keating/J.Bleekemolen/Carter/ Goossens/S.Ble | 182 | 6:03:19.717 | Dodge Viper SRT |
| 28 | 22 | GTD | MacNeil/L.Keen/A.Davis/ van Gisbergen | 182 | 6:03:20.122 | Porsche 911 GT America |
| 29 | 73 | GTD | Lindsey/Pumpelly/Norman/ N. Canache/Estre | 181 | 6:02:33.351 | Porsche 911 GT America |
| 30 | 007 | GTD | Nielsen/Davison/Nygaard/Davis | 181 | 6:02:43.549 | Aston Martin V12 Vantage |
| 31 | 52 | PC | Guasch/Novich/Palmer/ Kimber-Smith | 180 | 6:01:39.155 | ORECA FLM09 |
| 32 | 64 | GTD | Longo/Serra/Gomes/Bertolini | 180 | 6:02:33.519 | Ferrari 458 Italia |
| 33 | 23 | GTD | James/M.Farnbacher/Riberas | 180 | 6:03:06.756 | Porsche 911 GT America |
| 34 | 18 | GTD | Basseng/M.Beretta/O'Young/ De Phillippi/Mayr- | 178 | 6:01:38.875 | Porsche 911 GT America |
| 35 | 07 | P | J.Miller/T.Long/Devlin/ Tremblay | 177 | 6:02:35.825 | Mazda Prototype |
| 36 | 009 | GTD | DeBoer/Riddle/Salazar/Wilson | 177 | 6:03:19.230 | Aston Martin V12 Vantage |
| 37 | 58 | GTD | Snow/Heylen/Dempsey/Eng | 176 | 6:02:49.346 | Porsche 911 GT America |
| 38 | 16 | PC | Mowlem/Papadopoulos/Drissi/ Alder/Plowman | 176 | 6:02:57.174 | ORECA FLM09 |
| 39 | 31 | P | Curran/Cameron/Papis/P.Keen | 174 | 6:02:12.767 | Corvette DP |
| 40 | 57 | P | Krohn/Pla/Jonsson/Brundle | 172 | 5:26:41.908 | Ligier JS P2 Judd |
| 41 | 28 | GTD | Bachler/Zoechling/Engelhart/ Willsey/Ineichen | 172 | 5:52:12.630 | Porsche 911 GT America |
| 42 | 49 | GTD | Lathouras/Rugolo/Aguas/ Griffin | 170 | 6:03:01.286 | Ferrari 458 Italia |
| 43 | 44 | GTD | Potter/Lally/Seefried/ Ragginger | 167 | 5:51:33.964 | Porsche 911 GT America |
| 44 | 38 | PC | French/Mee/Vance/Johnston | 157 | 6:01:59.900 | ORECA FLM09 |
| 45 | 50 | P | Pace/DeFoor/Hinton/ Schroeder | 150 | 6:02:09.046 | BMW Power Riley DP |
| 46 | 45 | GTD | Winkelhock/Thorne/Hoshino/ Fujii | 148 | 6:03:05.148 | Audi R8 LMS |
| 47 | 11 | PC | Cumming/Junqueira/Hawksworth/ Menezes | 136 | 6:01:42.994 | ORECA FLM09 |
| 48 | 98 | GTLM | Lamy/Dalla Lana/Turner/ Mucke/Lauda | 136 | 6:02:36.712 | Aston Martin Vantage V8 |
| 49 | 61 | PC | Plowman/Drumwright/Blackstock/ Breukers/Rus | 114 | 6:02:59.385 | ORECA FLM09 |
| 50 | 97 | GTD | Marsal/Palttala/Priaulx/Said | 89 | 6:03:13.345 | BMW Z4 |
| 51 | 19 | GTD | J.Michaelian/Lira/Flores/ De Phillippi/Mayr-Mel | 78 | 3:03:19.174 | Porsche 911 GT America |
| 52 | 2 | P | Brown/van Overbeek/Fogarty | 49 | 1:40:42.753 | Honda HPD ARX |
| 53 | 0 | P | Rojas/Legge/Chaves/Meyrick | 42 | 1:21:55.380 | DeltaWing DWC13 |