2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona

[Matthew Little]

DP Winners: #01 Telmex BMW/Riley(Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Joey Hand, Graham Rahal)
GT Winners: #67 The Racer's Group Porsche 911 GT3(Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly, Wolf Henzler, Brendan Gaughan, Steven Bertheau)
---Pruett becomes a 4-time overall winner, joining the likes of Peter Gregg, Pedro Rodriguez, Bob Wollek & Rolf Stommelen
---Graham Rahal joins father Bobby Rahal as overall winners, Graham's win 30 years after the elder Rahal's win
---Since 2007, the #01 Ganassi DP has won three of the past 5 overall Rolex 24 races(2007, 2008, 2011)

 

[Galahad]

No change for Ganassi after the winter break then!

 

[cider_and_toast]

Having picked up the coverage (ok, the timing screens) for the last 2 hours or so, it was interesting to see how far Brundle fell from the pace setters in his final stint. He was lapping on average 1 to 1.5 seconds slower than the leaders for most of the last hour.

 

[Matthew Little]

No change for Ganassi after the winter break then!

Pretty much, Galahad. Ganassi's team is to Grand-Am what the works Audi & Peugeot teams are to LeMans......they are the team to beat. Think about this also; Ganassi Racing currently holds claim to the following wins/championships in North American racing(dating back to 2010): (1)Daytona 500, (2)Indianapolis 500, (3)Brickyard 400, (4)both the 2010 IndyCar & Grand-Am DP chammpionships and (5)2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

 

[gethinceri]

I so wish I'd looked for this thread yesterday. Thanks Matthew, very good précis!!!!

 

[Matthew Little]

While I'm thinking about it, give a tip of the hat towards The Racer's Group, who were the GT winners Sunday in the Rolex24. Kevin Buckler's squad have been sports-car stalwarts in North America for two decades or so and are every bit as good in the GT ranks as Ganassi, MSR or SunTrust Racing are in the DP ranks. They've won in IMSA, Grand-Am and the ALMS w/event wins at Daytona(including the most-recent overall win by a GT entry at the Rolex 24 back in 2003) and LeMans(2002, GT class).

 

[Galahad]

Pretty much, Galahad. Ganassi's team is to Grand-Am what the works Audi & Peugeot teams are to LeMans......they are the team to beat. Think about this also; Ganassi Racing currently holds claim to the following wins/championships in North American racing(dating back to 2010): (1)Daytona 500, (2)Indianapolis 500, (3)Brickyard 400, (4)both the 2010 IndyCar & Grand-Am DP chammpionships and (5)2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

You look at a list like that, and you think "OK Chip - what's the next challenge?" I think USF1 blundered badly by trying to do F1 without either Penske or Ganassi on board, but CG has said publicly that he's not interested. A shame for F1, but a big bonus for Indycars as they try to re-establish themselves.

Thanks for the thread Matthew!

 

[Brogan]

Thanks for the running commentary Matthew, as always

One of these days I'll actually get time to sit down and watch something