Team ORECA snatches Daytona win

The lead Viper GTS-R driven by Olivier Beretta, Karl Wendlinger and Dominique Dupuy took the lead from the ailing Dyson team Riley & Scott Lincoln MkIII with two hours to go, and was able to claim victory despite a strong challenge from the best of the factory Chevrolet Corvettes.

The second of the three ORECA Vipers in the race claimed third, which meant GTO class cars filled out the top three positions in the race.

ORECA stalwart Olivier Beretta said: "It's unbelievable. I can't really take in what has happened. We came here aiming for class victory and we have won overall. Maybe it will hit me tomorrow morning.

"The car didn't have one problem through the race and the team was fantastic."

The two Chevy Corvettes battled with the ORECA cars throughout the race.

The drivers of the number one Viper managed to put a lap between it and the Vette driven by Ron Fellows, Chris Kneifel and Justin Bell in the final quarter of the race.

A poor pitcall by the ORECA squad with just over 60 minutes to go allowed the first-named back onto the same lap as Wendlinger, but the Austrian was able to hang on to win by 30 seconds, which made this race the closest finish in the history of the Florida event.

Bell said: "That was the only card that fell our way through the 24 hours. We deserved a bit of luck today, but from our performance today we know the Corvette is going to win one of the big races this year."

David Donohue, Jean-Philippe Belloc, Ni Amorim and Tommy Archer in the third-placed car were ahead of the Corvette until the 22nd hour when it lost time after running out of fuel.

The third ORECA entry finished fifth after unscheduled stops to repair bodywork damaged in a collision with a slower car and then to change the gearbox.

The pacesetting Dyson R&S of James Weaver, Max Papis, Elliott Forbes-Robinson and Rob Dyson limped home in fourth place after engine problems blighted its performance over the second half of the race.

Weaver said: "It's disappointing to come here, have the fastest car on the track, build up a big lead and not win the race. The only consolation is that we've picked up maximum points in the sports racing class."

Classified second in class was the Cadillac Northstar LMP of Andy Wallace, Butch Leitzinger and Franck Lagorce, despite retiring with engine failure in the closing stages.

The GTU class was won by the Haberthur Porsche 911 GT3-R driven by Luca Drudi, Fabio Babini and Gabrio and Fabio Rosa.

The similar Alex Job Racing entry had looked set for victory until the penultimate hour when a lengthy stop to effect engine repairs dropped the car to fourth in class.