January 29 2011 Last updated at 10:46 PM ET
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Nineteen hours into the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Juan Pablo Montoya held a meager five-second lead over his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Memo Rojas and the Michael Shank Racing Ford driven by Max Papis.
As the sun came up over the famous Daytona International Speedway high banks Sunday morning, six of the marquee Grand-Am Series Daytona Prototypes were on the lead lap -- the top five separated by only 15 seconds with five hours remaining in the twice-around-the-clock race through the 3.56-mile road course.
Wolf Henzler has the No. 67 TRG Motorsports Porsche in front of the GT production class -- an inspired drive, considering the car started at the rear of the 50-car field after its pole-winning qualifying effort was disqualified for a technical violation.
Ganassi, who became the first owner to win three consecutive Rolex 24 races from 2006-2008, saw his teams have some minor problems in the opening hours of the race, but they emerged from a fog-induced early morning caution period to prove themselves as he class of the field again. Some of the closest calls came between the Ganassi team cars -- both featuring a Who's Who list of racing stars.
Montoya is co-driving with Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray, two-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti and two-time IndyCar champ Scott Dixon. They are competing against Ganassi's full-time Grand-Am Series entry driven by reigning series champs Scott Pruett and Rojas, along with IndyCar driver Graham Rahal and sports car driver Joey Hand.
Without exception, drivers characterized the early laps of the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona as wild and adventurous and it has proven to be one of the most action-packed offerings in the race's 49-year history.
"A lot of the big names have had wild things taking place."
-- Jimmie Johnson
"It's absolute madness,'' said two-time reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion Franchitti after his first stint in the No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing BMW.
"This has been like a sprint race for a number of years, but no one is leaving any margin for error. Some guys who don't know what they're doing are just hanging on. It's going to be an interesting night for sure.''
Noticeably absent among the front group was the pole-winning No. 45 Porsche driven by Jorg Bergmeister which had problems early. By sunrise it was ranked 11th overall, but 17 laps behind the leader.
Also dealing with setbacks was five-time reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, whose No. 99 GAINSO Chevrolet (see photo above) has been battered and bruised nearly the whole race.
Like Franchitti, Johnson said the racing was surprisingly fast and furious on the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course. His car, with former series champion co-drivers Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty was ranked 22nd overall in the race -- 14th among the 18 Daytona Prototypes.
"A lot of the big names have had wild things taking place,'' Johnson said, and then compared the race to one of his NASCAR Sprint Cup competitions.
"It is so hard to not just turn someone around and get rid of them,'' Johnson said smiling. "With the Cup car, you can do that easily. These cars, it will end your day. So I had to stop myself a few times.
"If Kevin Harvick was in one of these, I think he would just run 'em over.''
Johnson's co-driver Alex Gurney was a little less forgiving.
"There's a lot of adventure and not a lot of guys racing like it's a 24-hour race,'' Gurney said. "And it all seems silly after 18 hours.''
Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2011/01/29/still-anyones-race-in-wild-rolex-24-at-daytona/
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