Manning and Carpentier led 51 and 17 laps respectively
en route to their career-best results in the Rolex Series. Manning’s previous best performance was a third-place run in the 2004 Rolex Series season finale at California Speedway, while Carpentier’s previous best was seventh at Infineon Raceway last year.
“I’m very happy,” Manning said,“It was great; I think everyone said everything about how great it is to have so many competitive cars out there. It was a bit of a shame, really, that there was only three of us left out there at the end. There were so many other fast cars out there. It was really good and I just can’t believe how flat-out we were going. Max said he was pushing 100 per cent and we were as well. It was just amazing. My foot still hurts from braking.”
Having already made history by becoming the first woman to win overall in a major North American auto race when she and then-co-driver Andy Wallace won at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2004, Duno put another entry into the record books today by taking the best overall result for a woman in Rolex 24 history.
While the #01 never went to its garage and the #11 ran a relatively trouble-free race as well, the #10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley team of Angelelli, Magnussen, Wayne Taylor and Jeff Gordon clawed their way back from five laps down to play a major role in the outcome of the race before finishing third. After leading 29 laps during the first hour of the race, the #10 machine went to the garage to replace the engine control unit and lost five laps.
“We had an early issue that put us five laps down and it was a true testament to the team that we were able to overcome those problems,” admitted Taylor, “Jan, Jeff and Max did a wonderful job throughout the race and it shows what we can do as a brand new team.”
![The Pruett/Montoya/Duran #01 Ganassi Riley-Lexus takes the Rolex 24 chequer at Daytona [pic credit: Grand-Am.com]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/286129.jpg)
