Grand American Rolex

With the two-lap victory, Lexus becomes the first manufacturer to win three consecutive Rolex 24's in more than 20 years when Porsche last registered the feat from 1985 to 1987.

The Ganassi team led the final 101 laps and three hours and 19 minutes today. Overall, the team led 252 laps, while Lexus-powered cars were in front for 286 of the 695 circuits. Over the three-year victory run, Lexus-powered cars have now led 1,257 laps - more than 60 percent of the laps run at Daytona during that span.

After qualifying sixth, the #01 team started from the pit lane after making the decision to change from wet weather tires to slicks, dropping all the way back to the 18th position. First Pruett and then Montoya helped carry the team into the top-five by the fifth hour. After that, the quartet of drivers never fell outside of the top-five over the final 19 hours of the event, never putting a wheel wrong as both the Lexus engine and car ran flawlessly. The team was never forced to pit for more than brake pads, fuel or tires, despite sometimes treacherous wet conditions.

For Pruett, the victory gave him a record-setting eighth Rolex 24 class victory, while it was the second for Montoya and the first for both Rojas and Franchitti.

While the #01 Ganassi Lexus had a trouble-free race, things didn't go nearly as well for the #02 Lexus that dominated the early going of the event. Scott Dixon led 34 of the first 87 laps and registered the overall fastest lap of the race. The team continued to run in the top-two into the fifth hour before changing weather conditions contributed to Salvador Duran going off-track with the car suffering substantial damage to the front end. The team re-joined the race 12 laps down, but could never climb higher than 11th and eventually retired early in 18th-place after another incident.

It also was an up-and-down day for the #3 Southard Motorsports Lexus. After falling behind due to an early pit stop, the team recovered quickly and climbed from 17th to eighth during the mid-stages of the race. Unfortunately, an off-road excursion caused the team to lose a number of laps and they would be plagued by mechanical gremlins the rest of the way to eventually place 17th in class.

Lexus Race Results
#01 Telmex/Target Lexus (Pruett, Montoya, Franchitti, Rojas) 1st
#3 Southard/Lexus (Lewis, Christopher, Barron, Lester) 17th
#02 Target/Telmex Lexus (Dixon, Wheldon, Duran, Lloyd) 18th

ROLEX 24 RACE NOTES:

- Today's win is the third consecutive Rolex 24 at Daytona victory for Lexus. Lexus becomes the first manufacturer to win three consecutive Rolex 24 races since Porsche registered the feat from 1985 through 1987.

- Today's win also is the third for Lexus in just five Rolex 24 attempts and its 18th overall Daytona Prototype victory since entering the series in 2004.

- With the victory today, Chip Ganassi Racing becomes the first team ever to win three consecutive Rolex 24s.

- Scott Pruett's victory today is his eighth Rolex 24 class victory, extending his all-time record. He's earned previous class victories in 2007, 2002, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1988 and 1987. This is his third overall win after taking the checkered flag first in 1994 and 2007.

- The victory is the first Rolex 24 victory for Memo Rojas and the second Rolex Series win for the 2007 Grand-Am Rookie of the Year.

- Over the last two years, the #01 Ganassi Lexus has 720 laps out of a possible 1363 (53%) on their way to the two victories, with 252 this year and 468 in 2007.

- The #01 Ganassi Lexus never fell out of the top-five overall after the fifth hour of the race. It marks the second straight year that they've never been lower than fifth in the final 19 hours of the event (based on hourly updates).

- Juan Montoya becomes the first driver in Rolex 24 history to win each of his first two starts in the 24-hour race.

- Scott Pruett extended his record Rolex Series win total to 15.

- The Ganassi team led the final 101 laps and three hours and 19 minutes today. A year ago, the team led 91 laps and 2 hours and 43 minutes today and in 2006, Ganassi led the final 168 laps.

- In a span of just more than 10 months, Dario Franchitti has now won a Class victory at the Sebring 12 Hours, the Indianapolis 500 and the Rolex 24 at Daytona. It's his first Rolex win.