After the retirement of the #16 vehicle, hopes of many Porsche fans lining the Daytona International Speedway were now resting on the Brumos Racing prototypes. After a few years without much success, the Jackonsville-based Brumos team, run by one of America's oldest Porsche Centres and supported by Hurley Haywood (one of the world's most successful long distance drivers), lived up to all expectations at their home race. In a thrilling and dramatic final phase, pole-setter David Donohue in the #58 Porsche-Riley, first overtook Juan-Pablo Montoya in the Lexus-Riley of Team Ganassi and successfully fended off all attacks from the ex-Formula 1 pilot. At the finish line, Donohue could not hold back the tears: 40 years after his father Mark's win here, he could now celebrate his Daytona 24 Hour success.
"We did our home work, we completed 3,000 miles of testing in Daytona and really did all preparation to be able to win this race," said David Donohue. "We were far off any big wins over the last years but our team never gave up. Our goal was to win. That we reached this goal against such strong competition from Penske and Ganassi makes this victory even sweeter. It's a huge day for Brumos and Porsche."
Porsche also proved unbeatable in the GT class, with the 911 GT3 Cup claiming a clear triple victory. "Right at the start of the race we landed two laps behind through no fault of our own, but were able to catch up again," said Joerg Bergmeister after claiming the third Daytona win of his career. Team mate Patrick Long added: "We didn't experience one technical problem over the entire race. I'm sure that was a crucial factor in winning."
In the second TRG-run 911 GT3 Cup, Emmanuel Collard (France), Richard Lietz (Austria), Ted Ballou (USA), Tim George (USA) and Spencer Pumpelly (USA) occupied second place. "We had a clean race without any collisions and any repairs. That's the only way to reach the podium," said Richard Lietz. Emmanuel Collard believed: "Our car was really simple and comfortable to drive. The positions were settled early on in the race. Double victory for TRG - it hardly gets better than this." Sascha Maassen (Germany), Patrick Pilet (France), Phillip Martien (France) and BJ Zacharias (USA) took the chequered flag third with the 911 GT3 Cup of Wright Motorsports. "Our car ran perfectly. I've never worked with this team before and still we secured a podium - this is a result to be proud of," said Patrick Pilet. Sascha Maassen was also satisfied with third place. "Our goal prior to the race was to reach the flag. That we climbed the podium is due to the fact that no-one in our team made a single mistake."
Hartmut Kristen was not only delighted with the superb results for Porsche, but also with the brilliant performance of his drivers. "This weekend," said the Porsche motorsport boss, "without exception, all nine works drivers as well as our two juniors did a world-class job."
1st of 12 races of the Grand-Am Series in Daytona, Florida.
Overall race result
1. Law/Donohue/Rice/Garcia (USA/USA/USA/E), Porsche-Riley (DP), 735 laps
2. Montoya/Pruett/Rojas/Dixon (COL/USA/MEX/USA), Lexus-Riley (DP), 735
3. France/Barbosa/Borcheller/Haywood (USA/USA/P/USA), Porsche-Riley (DP), 735
4. Taylor/Angelelli/Friselle/Lamy (USA/I/USA/P), Ford-Dallara (DP), 735
5. Dixon/Franchitti/Lloyd/Pruett (USA/GB/USA/USA), Lexus-Riley (DP) 731
6. Bernhard/Dumas/Briscoe (D/F/AUS), Porsche-Riley (DP), 717
7. Fogarty/Gurney/Vasser/Johnson (USA/USA/USA/USA), Pontiac-Riley (DP), 714
8. Wallace/Finley/Patrick/Mears (GB/USA/USA/USA), Pontiac-Crawford (DP), 702
9. Bergmeister/Long/Marks/Lally/Valentine (D/USA/USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 (GT), 695
10. Collard/Lietz/Pumpelly/George/Ballou (F/A/USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 (GT), 694
Result GT class
1. Bergmeister/Long/Marks/Lally/Valentine (D/USA/USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 695 laps
2. Collard/Lietz/Pumpelly/George/Ballou (F/A/USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 694
3. Maassen/Pilet/Zacharias/Martien (D/F/USA/F), Porsche 911 GT3 Gup 691
The 2nd round of the Grand-Am Series takes place on 26th April in Alton, Virginia.