Rolex 24: 5 Hour Report

At the 5 hour mark, we have a line of cars, with nobody really pulling away convincingly as yet.

Thus far in the race, fast lap belongs to Dario Franchitti, with a blistering 1:43.356, which is really fast for a 24 hour pace.

Raphael Matos is running the fastest laps of the field right now, turning very consistent laps in the mid 1:43 range, for the defending race winner Brumos Porsche team. Montoya has moved into second place followed by Lucas Luhr in the Crown Royal/NPN racing BMW, and is only about a second behind Matos. Matos seems to be able to put some space between them on an open track, but Montoya looks to be a bit more cagey in traffic.

Rojas and Tucker are in the midst of a tight chase, with Patterson losing time to the cars around, nearly 5 seconds off the pace of his teammates.

Ryan Dalziel is making a good showing for the small Action Express team, with lap times right there with the leaders, and a very solid and uneventful run. If they stay together, this team could be a sleeper for the win, and we know Ryan has the speed.

Rounding out the top 10 is the Krohn Racing Lola, with team owner Tracy Krohn currently at the wheel.

In the GT class, TRG is sweeping the top 3, with Romain Dumas currently leading, followed closely by ALMS regular Johannes Van Overbeek in the joint effort between TRG and ALMS GT2 regulars Flying Lizzard Motorsports, and Andy Lally in number 66 TRG Porsche.

Jan Magnussen is giving the Stevenson Motorsports Camaro a good run but is a lap down to Lally already.

Bomarito, Assentato, Matt Bell, Ian James, Guy Cosmo and Charles Espenlaub round out the top 10 in the GT Class.

Despite the rain and slippery conditions, the event has been fairly uneventful with only some very minor offs. All of the drivers seem to be quite racy, yet keeping their heads pretty well.

Jimmy Johnson seemed to retract his sticking pedal complaint about the car, saying that he thinks his foot just got caught up in the footbox.