Rolex 24: Action Express takes big Daytona win

Action Express Racing came out on top in a three-way Chevrolet-powered fight to claim a second Rolex 24 at Daytona victory with Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Sebastien Bourdais.

Barbosa secured victory aboard the lead Action Express Coyote-Chevrolet Corvette DP by just 1.4 seconds after a eight-minute dash to the flag following the 16th and final safety car of the race.

The Portuguese, whose car was afflicted by gear-selection problems for much of the second half of the event, was able to pull away from Max Angelelli in the Wayne Taylor Racing Dallara-Chevrolet Corvette DP over the final five laps to reprise his and the team's 2010 victory at Daytona.

"I had a good cushion, but I was hitting traffic at the wrong time," said Barbosa. "I didn't want to see the safety car, because I was struggling with the gears."

Bourdais added: "You couldn't help thinking what is going to go wrong from here. It was a relief to see the checkered flag."

Angelelli and his teammates, brothers Jordan and Ricky and father Wayne, finished 18sec up on the second Action Express entry in third place.

Brothers Burt and Brian Frisselle, John Martin and Fabien Giroix were in the mix throughout the race despite gear selection problems that raised their head early on.

Daytona Prototype machinery blocked out the top four positions in the first race of the United SportsCar Championship, with fourth place going to the Spirit of Daytona Coyote-Chevrolet shared by Richard Westbrook, Michael Valiante and Mike Rockenfeller.

Top LMP2 prototype was the Muscle Milk/Pickett Racing ORECA-Nissan 03, which finished fifth in the hands of Klaus Graf, Lucas Luhr and Alex Brundle.

Chip Ganassi Racing failed to get either of its Riley-Ford DPs to the finish: the No. 01 car in which Scott Pruett was bidding for a record sixth Daytona victory stopped with engine problems with two hours to go, while the sister car retired in the final hour when running fourth in the hands of Scott Dixon.

CORE PORSCHE WINS GTLM

Porsche took GT Le Mans class honors with its factory CORE Autosport 911 RSR shared by Nick Tandy, Richard Lietz and Patrick Pilet.

The car finished just 2.8sec ahead of the best of the works Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMW Z4s driven by Andy Priaulx, Bill Auberlen, Maxime Martin and Joey Hand.

The late-race yellow allowed the BMW to mount a last-gasp challenge, but Hand was unable to get on terms with Pilet over the dash to the flag.

The winning Porsche was involved in a frenetic battle with the sole-surviving Chevrolet Corvette C7.R in the hands of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Robin Liddell heading into the closing stages. A transmission problems for the Corvette resulted in a long stop for a new gearbox, which dropped the car to a distant fifth.

The pair of SRT Viper GTS-Rs led much of the first third of the race, before dropping back with problems.The team eventually claimed third place with the car shared by Marc Goossens, Dominik Farnbacher and Ryan Hunter-Reay, which was delayed during the night with a power-steering system leak.

Honors in the one-make Prototype Challenge class for the ORECA-Chevrolet FLM09 went to the CORE team and Colin Braun, Jon Bennett, Mark Wilkins and James Gue.

CONTROVERSIAL GTD FINISH

Audi took victory in the GT Daytona class, despite the winning Flying Lizards Audi R8 LMS finishing second on the track to the best of the Level 5 team's pair of Ferrari 458 Italias.

Alessandro Pier Guidi took the flag 1.2sec ahead of Markus Winkelhock in the Ferrari, but was awarded a time penalty for an incident on the final lap.

Winkelhock made a bid for the lead in the infield kink but ended up going off the track as the Italian squeezed him on the exit.

Pier Guidi, who shared the Ferrari with Townsend Bell, Bill Sweedler and Scott Tucker, was penalized for "avoidable contact" even though there was clearly no contact. That gave victory to Winkelhock, Tim Pappas, Nelson Canache and Spencer Pumpelly.

“For sure it was hard, tough racing; on the exit he pushed me out on the grass and I lost my position,” said Winkelhock. “Being here on the podium is really special.”

Townsend Bell, who shared the No. 555 Ferrari, had a different take on the situation.

“We've talked to the officials as the call came in for incidental contact and if you look on the monitors, there was no contact,” he said. “I'm gutted for [Pier Guidi] and the team. I think the fans want an answer for how a call comes in like that. I feel like we deserve this one.”

UPDATE: Level 5 penalty overturned