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Michael Shank Racing Leads Ford Sweep At Rolex24 At Daytona

Daytona Beach, Fla. – Michael Shank Racing copped the 50th anniversary edition of the Rolex24 at Daytona, winning the prestigious race for the first time in nine tries. In a way, a small Ohio-based team upset the establishment with its resounding victory. The winning Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Ford Riley led 249 laps, including 72 of the final 90 circuits.

NASCAR ace A.J. Allmendinger drove the car over the last three hours and won out on a tight NASCAR-style, fender-rubbing battle with international driving star Allan McNish, who finished second.

“This one of those races that you want on your resume and you want to say that you were part of a victory. I am going to cherish this,” said Allmendinger, the happy victor.

Concerning the final hours and the dual with McNish, he added, “That’s the most fun three hours of racing that I’ve ever had. Part of it is because we won, so if we would have lost it would have sucked. Ultimately, it was just flat-out. I was trying to give Michael Shank a heart attack a little bit, but it was just fun. I drove my butt off every lap, and it was some of the best driving I’ve ever done in my life.”

Stated Shank, “This win is everything I’ve worked for. We finished second before and I remember the letdown. To be honest, I feel like we deserved to win. We’ve worked hard and paid our dues for sure.”

Allmendinger’s co-drivers were IndyCar veteran Justin Wilson, John Pew and Ozz Negri. They covered 761 laps or 2,709 miles around the 12-turn 3.56-mile road course at Daytona International Speedway.

Wilson was making his return to racing after suffering a back injury last season, and he was pleased with the outcome. “Hopefully, this is the start of a good season,” he said. “We were joking beforehand, to win this one and move on, win St. Pete, and who knows, maybe the 500. We’ve just good to take it one step at a time.”

Stated gentleman driver and team supporter Pew, “This means a lot to me. Dealing with Mike (Shank) since 2006, he’s a great guy to deal with on business, personal and team owner levels. He’s taken this team a long way and he wants to win.”

Negri stated, “Winning this race is everything I’ve been working for. My career began in Europe and I was trying to get into F1 but it didn’t happen. Just being here today is like a dream come true. It is everything I’ve been working for and I couldn’t be happier.”

The second place Starworks Ford Riley team led 295 laps and ended up only 5.198 seconds behind the winning car. The car ran at the front throughout and if not for an off-course excursion, which consumed time, they may have finished at the top of the podium.

In addition to McNish, Ryan Dalziel, Lucas Luhr, Enzo Potolicchio and Alex Popow were the co-drivers.

Asked about his dice with Allmendinger, McNish said, “I just told my son that ‘Rubbin’ is racing,’ and at the end of the day, it was hard, but everybody wants to win the race. I think it was probably a good example of how important the race was for AJ and the team, as it was for us at Starworks.”

Dalziel started from the pole and was a threat throughout, including the final laps where he tried unsuccessfully to close the gap on the leader. “I thought we had something for them, and we proved in the first part of the race that we were the fastest car,” he said. “But we got some damage and bumped into some pole. I think we threw away ourselves a bit.”

The Florida resident added, “My crew made up three seconds on each stop over Shank’s guys; they did everything they were able to do. It was almost like a fairy-tale ending to a difficult couple of days.”

Third place was the second Shank Ford Riley driven by Michael McDowell, Felipe Nasr, Jorge Gancalvez and Gustavo Yacaman. This quarter finished on the lead lap 49 seconds behind the first-place car.

IndyCar stars Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti, Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray and NASCAR ace Juan Pablo Montoya moved up to fourth as the race wound down, one lap off the pace in the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Target/TELMEX BMW Riley.

Fifth place went to an Action Express Racing Corvette driven by Darren Law, David Donohue and Christian Fittipaldi. They were three laps back.

Sixth went to the second Ganassi entry of Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Graham Rahal and Joey Hand. They were headed for a podium finish until they had to change a gear stack in the late going.

The Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 Cup entry of Andy Lally, John Potter, Richard Lietz and Rene Rast took a hard fought victory in GT class competition, finishing 10 seconds ahead of another Porsche GT3 Cup car.

For Lally, he won for the second consecutive year and Magnus Racing won its first Rolex Series victory.

“I absolutely knew we had the potential to win it,” said Lally about his new team’s triumph. “The people that were assembled by John (Potter) to start Magnus Racing two years ago were top-notch guys, and he took direction from some really well-seasoned vets. It is my pleasure to be with this team and just absolutely epic to come home first our first time together.”

To gain the win, Lally had to pass the potent Brumos Porsche. “I drafted up alongside Leh Keen and it was an exciting moment,” he said.

The TRG Porsche GT3 Cup entry of Spencer Pumpelly, Wolf Henzler, Marc Goosens, Steven Bertheau and Jeroen Bleekemolen earned second place ahead of the Brumos Porsche of 40-time race starter Hurley Haywood, Andrew Davis, Marc Lieb and Keen.

“It is a Rolex (win) that we should have gotten, but we got it stolen away from us right at the end,” Haywood said. His team’s miscue was in pitting out of sequence, which left them 15 minutes short on fuel.

The Magnus team led 262 laps while the Brumos team topped the laps led chart with 281 laps.

Forty-five GT cars started the race with the new Ferrari and Audi entries commanding the spotlight. The top Ferrari finished fifth in class and Audi’s best effort was 21st.

NASCAR ace Michael Waltrip and Travis Pastrana placed 22nd in a Ferrari.

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