Scott Dixon leads Daytona 24 Hours from team-mate Scott Pruett
Chip Ganassi Racing Riley driver Scott Dixon leads the Daytona 24 Hours after one hour
Chip Ganassi Racing Riley driver Scott Dixon leads the Daytona 24 Hours after one hour.
Dixon outdragged Oswaldo Negri Jr's Michael Shank Racing Ligier-Honda at the green flag to take first place into the left-hander as the cars cut from the banking to the infield.
He then consolidated his lead, establishing an advantage of several seconds over the Ligier and retaining the lead during the first round of pitstops.
But Negri was unable to maintain position during the stops after holding second during the opening stint, slipping to fourth place thanks to taking four fresh tyres.
This allowed Scott Pruett, driving the other Ganassi Riley, to move into second place ahead of reigning United SportsCar champion Joao Barbosa's Action Express Coyote DP.
Andy Meyrick, driving the DeltaWing, challenged for third early on before having to make an early pitstop because of a right-rear puncture.
But Meyrick recovered to fifth place, passing Olivier Pla's Krohn Racing Ligier shortly before the first full-course yellow was thrown to allow the recovery of Satoshi Hoshino's Audi R8 LM.
Once the pitlane opened, Meyrick was among those who pitted for a splash of fuel, handing fifth back to Pla.
Oliver Gavin heads a Chervolet Corvette C7.R one-two in the GTLM class, which produced a spectacular battle in the first hour.
AF Corse Ferrari driver Gianmaria Bruni took the lead from Gavin early on, only for Gavin to later repass him, with Nick Tandy's charging Porsche also getting into the mix at the front.
Tandy currently runs third, although the sister Porsche suffered a major setback seconds into the race when Frederic Makowiecki had to pit for a replacement alternator.
In the Prototype Challenge class, Johnny Mowlem leads for BAR1 ahead of team-mate Martin Plowman, although Colin Braun did lead for a time in the first hour before handing the CORE Autosport entry over to Jon Bennett.
Daniel Serra leads the GT Daytona class, heading a Scuderia Corsa Ferrari one-two ahead of Townsend Bell.
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