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Daytona 24 Hours: Extreme Speed Ligier claims first LMP2 win

The Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier squad claimed the first victory for an LMP2 car in the Daytona 24 Hours

The ESM Ligier-Honda JSP2, shared by Pipo Derani, Johannes van Overbeek, Scott Sharp and Ed Brown, took the overall win by 26 seconds ahead of the Wayne Taylor Racing Dallara-Chevrolet Corvette DP driven by Jordan and Ricky Taylor, Max Angelelli and Rubens Barrichello.

The ESM car, run in conjunction with OAK Racing, moved back into the lead after Derani took over from van Overbeek with two hours and 10 minutes of the opening round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship to go.

The Brazilian, taking part in his first race with the team for which he will contest this year's World Endurance Championship, was then able to close down the WTR Dallara to take the lead in the penultimate hour.

Jordan Taylor briefly came back at the leader after Derani went for a double stint on his Continental tyres, but he was able to extend his advantage after the last round of pitstops.

Taylor had to climb out of the car courtesy of a problem that was sending exhaust fumes into the cockpit.

Angelelli took over for the run to the flag and has been taken to hospital for tests after pulling over after the finish

Derani said: "I have no words. It is just amazing to win my first race in America."

The ESM car and the identical Michael Shank Racing entry had a pace advantage over the Daytona Prototypes that Derani was able to exploit as the race drew to a close.

Shank looked to be the favourite for race honours until Oswaldo Negri Jr pulled out of the lead with engine failure in the 10th hour.

The Spirit of Daytona Coyote-Chevrolet Corvette DP came third home third, a minute behind the WTR car in the hands of Ryan Dalziel, Marc Goossens and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Hunter-Reay was the last driver to finish on the lead lap, the Action Express Coyote-Chevrolet finishing five laps down in fourth.

Alex Wurz finished fifth in what he has said is his final motor race, the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford EcoBoost DP losing four laps on Sunday morning with what the team described as a temperature problem.

The DeltaWing-Elan/Mazda DWC13 led the race in Katherine Legge's hands, but the car failed to finish after an unsighted Andy Meyrick crashed into a stationary Prototype Challenge car in hour four.

The pole-winning Nissan-engined BR Engineering BR01 finished down in 38th position after three stops to solve a braking problem.

The factory Chevrolet Corvettes finished 0.034s apart at the head of the GT Le Mans field after thrilling climx to the race.

Antonio Garcia set a series of fastest laps aboard the Corvette C7.R he shared with Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller as he closed down on team-mate Oliver Gavin.

The Spaniard briefly passed the leader around the outside into Turn 1 with two laps to go, but ran wide and allowed Gavin to retake the advantage and secure the win for himself, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fassler.

Third place went to the factory Porsche 911 RSR of Earl Bamber, Frederic Makowiecki and Michael Christensen.

The GT Daytona class also provided a grandstand finish, Rene Rast hanging on to take a three-second victory aboard the Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS shared with Andy Lally, Marco Seefried and John Potter as he ran short of fuel.

Nicky Catsburg was closing fast in the Black Swan Porsche 911 GT3-R, but ultimately fell short.

The Prototype Challenge division was won by the JDC-Miller squad, whose ORECA-Chevrolet FLM09 shared by Stephen Simpson, Chris Miller, Kenton Koch and Misha Goikhberg finished four laps up on its nearest competitor.

RESULTS - 736 laps:

Pos Class Driver Team Car Gap
1 P S.Sharp, E.Brown, J.van Overbeek, P.Derani Tequila Patron ESM Ligier/HPD 24h00m34.607s
2 P R.Taylor, J.Taylor, M.Angelelli, R.Barrichello Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette/Chevrolet 26.166s
3 P R.Dalziel, M.Goossens, R.H.-Reay Visit Florida Racing Corvette/Chevrolet 1m27.276s
4 P C.Fittipaldi, J.Barbosa, F.Albuquerque, S.Pruett Action Express Racing Corvette/Chevrolet 5 Laps
5 P L.Stroll, A.Wurz, B.Hartley, A.Priaulx Chip Ganassi Racing Riley/Ford 11 Laps
6 P D.Cameron, E.Curran, S.Pagenaud, J.Adam Action Express Racing Corvette/Chevrolet 12 Laps
7 GTLM O.Gavin, T.Milner, M.Fassler Corvette Racing Chevrolet 14 Laps
8 GTLM A.Garcia, J.Magnussen, M.Rockenfeller Corvette Racing Chevrolet 14 Laps
9 GTLM E.Bamber, F.Makowiecki, M.Christensen Porsche North America Porsche 14 Laps
10 GTLM A.P.Guidi, A.Premat, D.Serra, M.Rojas Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 15 Laps
11 GTLM B.Auberlen, D.Werner, A.Farfus, B.Spengler BMW Team RLL BMW 15 Laps
12 GTLM G.Fisichella, T.Vilander, D.Rigon, O.Beretta Risi Competizione Ferrari 27 Laps
13 P S.Dixon, T.Kanaan, J.McMurray, K.Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Riley/Ford 28 Laps
14 GTD J.Potter, A.Lally, M.Seefried, R.Rast Magnus Racing Audi 33 Laps
15 GTD T.Pappas, N.Catsburg, P.Long, A.Pilgrim Black Swan Racing Porsche 33 Laps
16 GTD B.Keating, G.Robinson, J.Mosing, E.Foss, D.Faulkner Riley Motorsports Dodge 33 Laps
17 GTD P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda, R.Stanaway Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 34 Laps
18 PC C.Miller, M.Goikhberg, S.Simpson, K.Koch JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA/Chevrolet 34 Laps
19 GTD M.Marsal, M.Palttala, M.Martin, J.Krohn Turner Motorsport BMW 35 Laps
20 GTD C.Nielsen, A.Balzan, J.Segal, R.Renauer Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 35 Laps
21 GTD K.Habul, B.Said, D.von Moltke, T.Vautier Stevenson Motorsports Audi 35 Laps
22 GTD I.James, M.Farnbacher, A.Riberas, W.Henzler Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Porsche 36 Laps
23 GTD B.Keating, J.Bleekemolen, D.Farnbacher, M.Miller Riley Motorsports Dodge 36 Laps
24 GTD R.Ineichen, L.Willsey, F.Konrad, F.Babini, M.Basseng Konrad Motorsport Lamborghini 37 Laps
25 PC R.Alon, T.K.-Smith, J.Gutierrez, N.Boulle PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA/Chevrolet 38 Laps
26 GTD P.Mann, R.Giammaria, M.Cressoni, M.Cioci Spirit of Race Ferrari 38 Laps
27 GTD K.Abbelen, P.Huisman, F.Stippler, S.Schmitz, S.Muller Frikadelli Racing Team Porsche 38 Laps
28 GTD D.MacNeil, C.MacNeil, L.Keen, S.Gisbergen, G.Jeannette Alex Job Racing Porsche 41 Laps
29 PC T.Drissi, M.Drumwright, J.Mowlem, R.Vera, B.Gaughan BAR1 Motorsports ORECA/Chevrolet 43 Laps
30 GTLM J.Hand, D.Muller, S.Bourdais Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford 46 Laps
31 GTD R.Liddell, A.Davis, L.Aschenbach, M.Bell Stevenson Motorsports Audi 46 Laps
32 GTD T.Bell, B.Sweedler, E.Piscopo, R.Antinucci O'Gara Motorsports Lamborghini 46 Laps
33 GTLM P.Pilet, N.Tandy, K.Estre Porsche North America Porsche 49 Laps
34 PC A.Popow, R.van der Zande, C.Cumming, J.Hawksworth Starworks Motorsport ORECA/Chevrolet 51 Laps
35 GTD M.Bortolotti, B.Miller, B.Sellers, M.Snow Paul Miller Racing Audi 81 Laps
36 P B.Defoor, D.Schroeder, D.Hinton, T.Gruber, J.Pace Highway to Help Riley/BMW 86 Laps
37 P M.Mediani, N.Minassian, M.Aleshin, K.Ladygin SMP Racing BR Engineering/Nissan 119 Laps
38 PC A.Merzon, R.Eversley, D.Yount, R.Lewis, J.Falb BAR1 Motorsports ORECA/Chevrolet 126 Laps
39 GTLM R.Briscoe, R.Westbrook, S.Mucke Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford 176 Laps
40 GTLM V.Shaytar, A.Bertolini, G.Bruni, J.Calado SMP Racing Ferrari Not running
41 GTD P.Lindsey, M.McMurry, J.Bergmeister, N.Siedler Park Place Motorsports Porsche 212 Laps
42 GTD S.Pumpelly, C.Lewis, J.Marks, K.Grala Change Racing Lamborghini 212 Laps
43 GTD N.Jonsson, P.Kaffer, C.Haase, T.Krohn Flying Lizard Motorsports Lamborghini Not running
44 GTD S.Creel, A.Perez, R.P.de Lara, J.Davison, L.Viljoen TRG-AMR Aston Martin Not running
45 PC J.French, J.Norman, J.Norman, B.Gdovic, K.Marcelli Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA/Chevrolet Not running
46 GTLM L.Luhr, J.M.Edwards, K.Wittmer, G.Rahal BMW Team RLL BMW Not running
47 GTD E.Busnelli, J.Michaelian, J.Toussaint, L.Willsey Konrad Motorsport Lamborghini Not running
48 GTD B.Curtis, J.Klingmann, A.Freiberg, M.Wittmann Turner Motorsport BMW 108 Laps
49 P J.Bomarito, T.Nunez, S.Pigot Mazda Motorsports Lola/Mazda Not running
50 P J.Pew, O.Negri, A.Allmendinger, O.Pla Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Ligier/HPD Not running
51 PC M.Kvamme, S.Johnston, M.Engel, F.Rosenqvist Starworks Motorsport ORECA/Chevrolet Not running
52 PC J.Bennett, C.Braun, M.Wilkins, M.Plowman CORE Autosport ORECA/Chevrolet Not running
53 P K.Legge, S.Rayhall, A.Meyrick, A.Wirth Panoz DeltaWing Racing DeltaWing/Elan Not running
54 P J.Miller, T.Long, B.Devlin Mazda Motorsports Lola/Mazda Not running

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