Ganassi wins 3rd straight 24 hours of Daytona

[Bakemono]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22868877

Chip Ganassi’s guys are making this look easy.
The quartet of Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas encountered no serious problems, giving Ganassi an unprecedented third straight victory in America’s premier sports car race — the Rolex 24-Hour at Daytona International Speedway.

Other than a minor handling problem for Pruett at the start of the race Saturday afternoon, the team’s No. 01 Lexus Riley Daytona Prototype was nearly perfect, racing at or near the lead in an event that was the most competitive in the 46-year history until the waning hours.

At dawn Sunday, with about six hours to go, there were five other prototypes on the lead lap. But, as often happens in endurance events, attrition suddenly took its toll.

The Ganassi car had been swapping leads with the Ford Riley shared by NASCAR’s A.J. Allmendinger, Ian James, Burt Frisselle and John Pew. That car, driven by Frisselle, was just seconds behind the leader when a tire blew, damaging the suspension midway through the 21st hour and knocking it out of contention.

Montoya, who had taken the wheel of the Ganassi car near the end of the 18th hour, had a comfortable five-lap lead on the 3.56-mile road circuit and his team was able to cruise the rest of the way.

the winning car led a race-high 252 of 695 laps, completing 2,460 miles and beating the runner-up Pontiac Riley co-driven by two-time defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, former CART champion Jimmy Vasser and 2007 Rolex Grand-Am Series prototype champions Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney by two laps. Johnson, who has raced in this event four times, also finished second in 2005.
Four more laps back in third was the Pontiac Riley co-driven by NASCAR champion Kurt Busch, two-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe.

Congrads to Ganassi and Lexus on their big win in Daytona.