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"Endurance racing is known for its unpredictable nature, and in that regard, the 51st Rolex 24 At Daytona more than delivered in the GT category. After qualifying 1-2-3-4, Porsche&amp;#039;s usual onslaught was turned back in the final hour by a triumphant Audi on the marque&amp;#039;s return to professional racing in North America. &amp;quot;We were not really dreaming about the victory; we were one lap down with two hours to go,&amp;quot; said factory driver Filipe Albuquerque, who was tasked with bringing the Alex Job Racing Audi R8 to the checkered flag. &amp;quot;I did every lap like it was a qualifying lap. I didn&amp;#039;t care.&amp;quot; Portugal&amp;#039;s Albuquerque was joined by fellow Audi factory pilots Oliver Jarvis, Eduardo Mortara and independent driver Dion von Moltke as first-time winners of the legendary event. The Daytona Prototype class didn&amp;#039;t live up to the thrilling GT finish, and was anything but hard to predict as the No. 01 Ganassi Racing Riley-BMW started from pole and powered away from the competition to take the team&amp;#039;s fifth Rolex 24 win in 10 tries. Team owner Chip Ganassi pointed to superior aerodynamic settings as the reason the No. 01 and sister No. 02 could pull away from the field at will. The rest of the non-BMW runners thought it had more to do with the German 5.0-liter V8 churning out more power. That would discredit the flawless job performed by the entire team, but even 52-year-old race-winner Scott Pruett acknowledged that one year after Ford won the political war to receive more power leading up to the Rolex 24, the baton was passed to BMW which looked like a sure thing from the moment practice started on Thursday. Add in the BMW&amp;#039;s impressive durability, and the question before the race wasn&amp;#039;t whether Ganassi would win the Rolex 24, but by how much. &amp;quot;We weren&amp;#039;t concerned with the reliability of the No. 01,&amp;quot; said Pruett. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a blast to drive. We took advantage of the [political game] situation this year.&amp;quot; Pruett shared the No. 01 with his regular Rolex Series teammate Memo Rojas, IndyCar Series driver Charlie Kimball-an overall winner in his first sports car race-and the fiery IndyCar, F1 and NASCAR ace Juan Montoya, who helmed the final stint. Ultimately, this wasn&amp;#039;t the most memorable Rolex 24 on record (especially compared to last year&amp;#039;s captivating race), but as usual, the waning hours were anything but disappointing. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/news/a3791/rolex-24-wrap-ganassi-wins-dp-audi-wins-gt/>