Daytona 24 Hours: Dyson up at half-distance
Dyson Racing looked well placed to win the Daytona 24 Hours for the third time in five years as this season's running of the US enduro passed the halfway mark.
Britons James Weaver and Andy Wallace and American Butch Leitzinger enjoyed a four-lap advantage over their nearest challenger despite an unscheduled stop for repairs in the 12th hour.
The Anglo-American driving crew saw their lead halved when the Dyson squad brought in their Ford-powered Riley & Scott MkIII to cure a leaking power-steering system. The stop, taken under the safety car, brought the Risi team Ferrari 333SP back into contention.
The Italian car took the fight to the lead Dyson car for the first 250 laps of the rain-affected race before Allan McNish lost a wheel straight straight after a scheduled change of brakes. The resulting pitstop for repairs dropped the car, shared by David Brabham, Ralf Kelleners and Eric van de Poele, down to third place.
The Ferrari drivers are confident that they have the fastest car in the race so long as conditions remain dry.
"We've got the measure of the R&S in the dry," said McNish, "but they've got a shed more downforce, which really helps them in the wet."
The high attrition rate among the prototypes has allowed the best of the GTS class Chevrolet Corvettes up into the top three.
The lead 'Vette, anchored by Ron Fellows, ran without missing a beat over the first half of the race, unlike the second car driven by NASCAR Winston Cup stars Dale Earnhardt and his son Dale Jr. The former lost time when he broke a wheel, while a change of gearbox just before the halfway mark left the car outside the top 10.
The protagonists in a two-car battle for the GT class occupied fourth and fifth positions on the leaderboard at 1am. The White Lightning Porsche 911 GT3-R led the V8-engined BMW M3 entered by Jet Motorsport by just under a minute.
1 James Weaver/Andy Wallace/Butch Leitzinger (Dyson Riley & Scott-Ford MkIII) 354
2 Ralf Kelleners/Allan McNish/Eric van de Poele/David Brabham (Risi Ferrari 333SP) 350
3 Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel/Franck Freon/Johnny O'Connell (Pratt & Miller Chevrolet Corvette C5-R) 341
4 Lucas Luhr/Randy Pobst/Mike Fitzgerald/Christian Menzel (White Lightning Porsche 911 GT3-RS) 336
5 Hans Stuck/Boris Said/Terry Borcheller/Tony Jennings (Jet BMW M3) 329
6 Elliott Forbes-Robinson/Rob Dyson/Nic Jonsson/Max Papis (Dyson Riley & Scott-Ford MkIII) 328
7 Andrew Davis/Jeff Clinton/Mike Durand/Tony Dudek (Archangel Lola-Nissan B2K/40) 326
8 Scott Schubot/John Burton/Rick Sutherland/Duncan Dayton (Creighton Lola-Ford B2K/10) 326
9 Jack Baldwin/Buddy Lazier /Irv Hoerr/George Robinson (Riley & Scott-Judd MkIII) 326
10 Wolfgang Kaufmann/Cyril Chateau/Lance Stewart (Freisinger Porsche 911 GT3-R) 325
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