40 years after Mark Donohue won the Rolex 24 at Daytona, his son David has won the 2009 running of the event at the wheel of the #58 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley along with team mates Darren Law, Buddy Rice and Antonio Garcia. The emotional victory came following an exciting race where the top 4 finishers were within seconds of each other on the same lap.
Grand Am press release after the break
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 25, 2009) – David Donohue passed Juan Pablo Montoya with 39 minutes remaining and held on to win the 47th Rolex 24 At Daytona – on the 40th anniversary of his father, Mark Donohue’s, victory in the 1969 event.
Donohue joined Darren Law, Buddy Rice and Antonio Garcia to give Brumos Racing its first Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 victory since 2003, denying TELMEX/Target Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates its fourth consecutive victory in America’s premier sports car event.
“These guys have put a lot of effort into this,” Donohue said. “I’m glad to be able to carry the flag.”
Montoya pressured Donohue throughout the final 39 minutes, but the No. 01 Lexus Riley could not overcome the strong of the Brumos Porsche on the Daytona banking.
Joao Barbosa finished third in the No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley shared by JC France, Hurley Haywood and Terry Borcheller, while Max Angelelli took fourth in the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Ford Dallara co-driven by Wayne Taylor, Pedro Lamy and Brian Frisselle.
The record-breaking event had the closest margin of victory, most finishers on the lead lap and most cautions. The top four finishers covered 735 laps – most in the Daytona Prototype era.
The GT race came down to a one-two finish for TRG Porsche, with Andy Lally and Justin Marks joined by Jorg Bergmeister, Patrick Long and RJ Valentine in the winning No. 67 Porsche GT3. Second, one lap behind, was the TRG No. 66 of Spencer Pumpelly, Tim George Jr., Richard Leitz and Emmanuel Collard.
Photo courtesy of Michael Banovsky
Definitely one of the better race finishes I’ve seen in some time. Montoya was wicked quick on tight corners, but the Brumos Porsche was brutally fast on the straight.
Great race, great venue and incredibly exciting. Way to go Porsche!!!
Apparently ‘Stompin Danica’ did not make any friends on her team. She was inconsistent and normally the slowest of the four, one of whom was a ‘Gentleman’ driver. She only drove 2 shifts, one a proper 2 hour shift and the second for only 3/4 of an hour. She forgot her seat insert the first time which held up the pit stop. The car was on track for approx. 23 hours so the other 3 each drove around 6 to 7 hours. According to a report from ESPN who had a reporter in the team pit she managed to cheese off the crew with her antics. Then she just left the track before the race was over. Talk about burning your bridges. The last thing any driver should do is p-ss off the crew.
Team owners may not talk to one another (most do) but the mechanics all talk to each other.
danica who? I live 15 minutes from her hometown and know people who grew up with her and have heard nothing good about her. It seems she is very is lacking in the testosterone production department but the ego department is over staffed! I can drive, but know and accept my limitations.