Racer's Group Porsche leads Rolex 24 at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Feb. 2 -- With more than 11 hours in the books in the 41st edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the No. 66 Racer's Group Porsche of Kevin Buckler, Jorg Bergmeister, Timo Bernhard, and Michael Schrom is leading the No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche Fabcar of Hurley Haywood, Scott Sharp, Scott Goodyear, and J.C. France by the narrowest of margins. Both cars are currently on the same lap.

#66 The Racers Group Porsche GT3 RS: Kevin Buckler, Michael Schrom, Timo Bernhard, Jorg Bergmeister.

Photo by Eric Gilbert.

The No. 58 Brumos Porsche-powered Fabcar of David Donohue, Mike Borkowski, Randy Pobst, and Chris Bye led throughout much of the early going until it blew an engine thirty minutes shy of the six-hour mark.

"We were faring well," a dejected Donohue said. "I was just running the pace. After the second yellow flag, the motor definitely had a problem in a certain RPM band. We were discussing it every lap because it was discouraging to watch the No. 88 [Multimatic Ford] go by because that was the only car that was able to get by me all day."

Similar problems befell the Bell Motorsports Chevrolet-powered Doran of Didier Theys, Christian Fittipaldi, Terry Borcheller, and Forest Barber and the G&W Motorsports BMW-powered Picchio of Boris Said, Darren Law, Dieter Quester, and Luca Riccitelli.

The Doran, which on Thursday was still under assembly in the paddock, retired after three hours with engine problems, while the Picchio suffered a variety of electrical ailments, including an overheated ignition box.

Donohue's misfortune handed the lead to the No. 66 Racer's Group Porsche, which has led since Donohue's demise.

The SRPII leading Lucchini Engineering Nissan, which started last, runs sixth, followed by a trio of Ferrari 360GTs and the Orbit Porsche.

Meanwhile, the GTS leading Morgan Dollar Motorsports Corvette sits in 11th.