DP 60 Michael Shank Racing Oswaldo Negri Jr John Pew Road America 2012

GT 44 Magnus Racing Andy Lally John Potter

The 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona was a long-distance motor race for

sports cars A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1910s and ar ...

conforming to the regulations of the

Grand-Am Road Racing Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America. Its primary focus was the Rolex Sports Car Series, an endurance racing championship series. I ...

series. The race was held over a duration of 24 hours, starting at 3:30pm on Saturday, January 28, finishing at 3:30pm the following day. The race was held on the sports car version of

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona Beach, Florida, United States, about north of Orlando, Florida, Orlando. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race ...

, which includes only a portion of the NASCAR Superspeedway course and a loop of circuit which winds through the infield of the speedway. 2012 was the 50th running of the race which had begun as a three-hour duration sports car race in 1962. The race was also the opening round of the

2012 Rolex Sports Car Series season The 2012 Rolex Sports Car Series season was the thirteenth running of the Grand American Road Racing Association's premier series. It began with the 24 Hours of Daytona on January 28–29. Schedule The schedule was announced on November 9, 2011. ...

. A field of 14

Daytona Prototype A Daytona Prototype was a type of sports prototype racing car developed specifically for the Grand-Am Road Racing, Grand American Road Racing Association's Rolex Sports Car Series as their top class of car, which replaced their main prototype rac ...

s took the start of the race along with a grid of 44 of the slower roadcar-based Grand Touring class cars. This race also was part of the inaugural North American Endurance Championship.

Qualifying

Pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

for the race was taken by British racing driver

Ryan Dalziel Ryan Dalziel ( ; born 12 April 1982) is a Scottish professional racing driver. Dalziel has seen the most success in his career in the United States, racing in the American Le Mans Series GT1 class and the Champ Car World Series, and winning t ...

driving the

Starworks Motorsport Starworks Motorsport was an American automobile racing team based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, last competing in the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship fielding the No. 8 Oreca 07 in LMP2. The team was established in 2010 by Peter Baron. History ...

run

Riley Technologies Riley Technologies LLC is an American auto racing constructor and team specializing in the design and manufacture of complete race cars, as well as prototype development for racing and manufacturing applications. The team currently fields the N ...

Mk.XXVI Daytona Prototype sports car recording a lap time of 1:41.119. In the Grand Touring class, pole was claimed by the

Brumos Racing Brumos Racing was an automobile racing team based in Jacksonville, Florida. 24 Hours of Daytona wins Brumos has won the 24 Hours of Daytona four times. In 1973, Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood won with a Porsche Carrera RSR, they repeated in 19 ...

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup driven by American driver Andrew Davis.

Winners

The

Michael Shank Racing Meyer Shank Racing (MSR; formerly Michael Shank Racing) is an American motorsport organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and the IMSA SportsCar Championship. History Atlantic Championship Michael Shank, co-owner of Meyer Shank Racing ...

entry of

A. J. Allmendinger Anthony James Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981), nicknamed "the Dinger,” is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 16 Chevrolet ZL1 for Kaulig Racing. Allmendinger ...

, Justin Wilson,

Oswaldo Negri Jr. Oswaldo "Ozz" Negri Jr. (born May 29, 1964) is a Brazilian racing driver from São Paulo. Racing career Formula Three and Indy Lights He raced part-time in the British Formula 3 International Series, British Formula Three Championship from 1987 ...

, and

John Pew John Pew (born April 1, 1956 in Grand Rapids, Michigan) is an American racing driver, who competes in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series for Michael Shank Racing. He won the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona overall in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing ...

took victory in their No. 60 Riley Mk. XXVI Ford, completing 761 laps over the course of the 24-hour race. They enjoyed a spirited battle with the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Riley Mk. XXVI Ford of

Lucas Luhr Lucas Luhr (born 22 July 1979) is a German racing driver. He is a staple of the American Le Mans Series during the 2000s and early 2010s, winning the GT class with Porsche in 2002, the LMP2 category in 2006, and taking the overall LMP1 champion ...

Allan McNish Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a British former racing driver, commentator, and journalist from Scotland. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2013, as well as a three-time wi ...

Enzo Potolicchio Vicente "Enzo" Potolicchio (born 7 August 1968 in Caracas) is a Venezuelan racing driver and businessman, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship and Rolex Sports Car Series for Starworks Motorsport. He won the 2012 24 Hours of Le ...

, and

Alex Popow Alex Popow Karaha (born 9 November 1975 in Lecheria) is a Venezuelan racing driver who competes in the American Le Mans Series and Rolex Sports Car Series for CORE autosport and Starworks Motorsport. He was champion of the LMPC class in the Ameri ...

, which led the most laps and posted the quickest time of the race, but suffered a minor accident in the 17th hour. In GT,

Magnus Racing Magnus Racing is an Auto racing, automobile racing team based in Tooele, Utah, USA. The team is competing in the 2025 International Motor Sports Association, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The team was established in 2010 by John Potte ...

earned its first-ever

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

victory, with the lineup of

Richard Lietz Richard Lietz (born 17 December 1983 in Waidhofen an der Ybbs) is an Austrian professional racing driver and a Porsche Factory driver. He has competed in series such as American Le Mans Series, Formula 3 Euro Series and the Rolex Sports Car S ...

Andy Lally Andrew Joseph Lally (born February 11, 1975) is an American former professional auto racing driver who currently serves as the president for the Trans Am Series. He competed full-time in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driving the Audi R ...

René Rast René Rast (; born 26 October 1986) is a Germans, German professional racing driver and the 2017 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, 2017, 2019 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, 2019 and 2020 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, 2020 DTM champion. He last compete ...

, and John Potter in the No. 44

Porsche 911 GT3 The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a range of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS. The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...

Cup car. It was Lally's fourth Rolex 24 class victory, and the first for the other three drivers.

Race results

Class winners in bold.

References

{{24 Hours of Daytona 24 Hours of Daytona Daytona 24

Daytona Daytona may refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach, Florida * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Daytona, the region around Daytona Beach Motor racing * Dayto ...

Daytona 24