final drive - Mundo Motorizado

DAYTONA
USA
January 26-27
Grand-Am
Round 1/12
Fog brought out a caution,
and another, and another…
and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
That status still lay with
Montoya and did even when
he dropped to fourth.
Angelelli did his best to
ensure that Montoya didn’t
get a clean getaway when the
green flew. That allowed
both Joao Barbosa – in the
best of the Action Express
Racing Coyote-Chevrolet
Corvette CPMs – and
Allmendinger to get the
jump on the Ganassi car.
Allmendinger, who shared
the MSR Riley with Justin
Wilson, John Pew, Marcos
Ambrose and Oswaldo Negri
Jr, then made an move on
Barbosa around the outside
of the first infield hairpin.
There was contact, and
Allmendinger ended up
taking to the grass on the
exit and allowing Montoya
back up to third. The
Grand-Am officials also
penalised Barbosa, which
put the Ganassi car, in which
Montoya later admitted he
was biding his time, back
to second when the Action
40 autosport.com January 31 2013
Express car came in for the
resulting stop-go.
Montoya caught Angelelli
in less than a lap, took
the lead with minimal
opposition from his Italian
rival and then drove away.
The race was over, or was it?
There was a hope at WTR
— and concomitant fear at
Ganassi — that the Dallara
could make it to the finish
without stopping again for
fuel. It proved ill-founded
when Angelelli came in
for a splash one lap after
Montoya. Any lingering
GT AT A GLANCE
→ Winners Albuquerque/
Jarvis/Mortara/von Moltke
→ Pole Nick Tandy
→ Fastest lap Patrick Pilet
Corsa Ferrari (behind) was a
contender in GT, despite this
doubt over the outcome
disappeared, and Ganassi
claimed its fifth Daytona 24
Hours victory in 10 years by
a comfortable 21 seconds.
Allmendinger had to
pit after his off to have
radiators cleaned, but the
Shank car still finished
ahead of the Action Express
Coyote Barbosa shared
with Burt Frisselle and
Mike Rockenfeller.
Third place was a
remarkable achievement
for a car that lost seven
laps in the opening hour
Winning team boss Job plays the tune
when a tie-rod broke.
The multiple yellows
that again interrupted the
24 Hours and the convoluted
safety car procedure not
only prevented Ganassi
from making a break from
the pack, it allowed the
MSR crew to make up the
lost laps even after losing
more time with a fuel-pump
issue. The car was back on
the lead lap in the 19th hour,
but it was never going
to beat Ganassi.
Fifth place behind the
Action Express car went
to the Spirit of Daytona
Coyote-Chevrolet. The car
had dropped off the lead
lap in the 23rd hour when
a failed alternator fried
the electrics and, once fifth
place was secure, the car
was parked courtesy of
a myriad of problems
including a broken floor
and failed powersteering.
The sixth-placed
Starworks Riley-Ford, in
which Allan McNish and
Sebastien Bourdais joined
Ryan Dalziel and Alex
Popow, had been in the mix
too until the 22nd hour
when a sticking throttle and
overheating problems sent it
behind the wall for repairs.
The seventh-placed Bob
Stallings Racing Riley-
Chevrolet lost 45 minutes to
electrical problems early in
the race, while the second
Action Express Coyote
dropped out of contention
when Nelson Piquet Jr
crashed on the exit of the
pitlane during the night.
The drivers in any of the
above cars could have argued
that they would have been
in the mix for the now
traditional Daytona fight to
the flag, but the reality was
that none of them would
have been able to beat
Ganassi. They would
have been fighting for the
podium positions at best.
The combination of the
Riley chassis and the BMW
engine – or maybe just
the BMW engine – was
just too strong.