How a Porsche Riley Powered by a Cayenne Motor Came to Win the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona

When Brumos made the decision to campaign only one car this season (the #59) – and retire last year’s winner #58, a window of opportunity opened for Daytona businessman and long-time Brumos affiliate Bob Johnson. Using a Riley chassis he already owned, Johnson and Brumos developed a win-win situation for everyone involved. “There were several Brumos key team members available to lead the team, along with two of the top drivers in the series. I was able to make arrangements to share raceshop space with the Brumos team and keep the group intact.” said Johnson.

Johnson married his Riley chassis with a Porsche powered engine first approved by Grand-Am in 2007 (during the 2007 season Grand-Am approved this new Porsche engine – the other being a 3.99 liter flat-six). This new 5.0L V8 unit, while not actually constructed by Porsche, is based on the V8 engine used in the Porsche Cayenne and modified by Lozano Bros. Porting in Texas. This coupling of a proven Riley chassis, prolific Porsche power and a stacked driver line-up proved to be the winning combination this year at Daytona for Johnson’s new Action Express Racing (see the video below).

Using a veteran driver line-up including Ryan Dalziel, Mike Rockenfeller, Joao Barbosa, and Terry Borcheller, and support from a veteran team, Brumos Racing, the Action Express Racing Porsche-powered Riley upset the pre-race favorites to win the 48th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. ‘While the pre-race favorites BMW Riley, Ford Riley, Ford Dallara, and last year’s winner, the Brumos Porsche Riley, all led the race at various times during the day and night, mechanical gremlins and miscues on the track derailed those efforts, and the Action Express team came away with the win.

Porsche’s Success in the GT Class

n the Rolex GT class, it looked like a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup victory was in the works once the leading Camaro broke overnight, but the leading TRG Porsches lost their advantage in the last four hours of the event.

First, the #71 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, with NASCAR star Bobby Labonte at the controls, ran out of fuel on the course and had to be towed into the infield, where the TRG crew met the car, gave it a dump-can of fuel, and got it back on the track. However, Labonte had to circle the track again, and then come in for a full fuel stop and driver change under green, and lost the three-lap lead the team had built in the GT class. Only seven minutes later, the new leaders #67 TRG Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Seth Neiman/Johannes van Overbeek/Joerg Bergmeister/Patrick Long came into the pits with a broken front shock. The team replaced the shock, but it put them five laps back, and opened the door for the #70 Speedsource Mazda to take the lead – a lead they never relinquished. The #71 car, with Labonte, Romain Dumas, Timo Bernhard, Spencer Pumpelly and Tim Geroge, Jr., later broke an axle and ended up ninth in class. The #67 car finished second, and third place went to the #66 TRG Porsche Ted Ballou, Kelly Collins, Wolf Henzler, Andy Lally, and Patrick Flanagan.

2010 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona Race Results

Race result
1. Barbosa/Borcheller/Dalziel/Rockenfeller (P/USA/USA/CH),
Porsche Riley (DP), 755 laps
2. Pruett/Papis/Rojas/Wilson (USA/I/MEX/USA),
BMW Riley (DP), 755
3. Hunter-Reay/Bouchut/Tucker/Luhr/Westbrook (USA/F/USA/D/GB),
BMW Riley (DP), 751
4. Krohn/Braun/Jonsson/Zonta (USA/USA/USA/BRA),
Ford Lola (DP), 735
5. Friselle/Negri/Pew/Wilkins (USA/USA/USA/USA),
Ford Riley (DP), 726
6. Angelelli/Lamy/R. Taylor/W. Taylor (MC/P/USA/USA),
Ford Dallara (DP), 711
7. Allmendinger/Friselle/Patterson/Valiante (USA/USA/USA/CAN),
Ford Riley (DP), 707
8. Bomarito/Ham/Haskell/Tremblay (USA/USA/USA/USA),
Mazda RX-8 (GT), 707
9. Bergmeister/Long/van Overbeek/Neiman (D/USA/USA/USA),
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GT), 703
10. Henzler/Flanagan/Ballou/Collins/Lally (D/USA/USA/USA/USA),
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GT), 691

Related Porsche Posts
Porsche’s Legacy at Daytona
Qualifying for Rolex 24 Closest in History for Both DP and GT- Porsche in the Top 10 All Around

[Source: Porsche Motorsports, Grand-Am, Motorsport.com]