Daytona 24: Porsche Motorsports halfway notes

Halfway Home -- Orbit Racing and Doncaster Racing Porsches lead Rolex 24 at 12 Hours; Flying Lizard Porsche also in top ten; Brumos Porsche Fabcar eighth

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- February 1 -- Teams that had trouble early in the event, yet refused to give in to either mechanical problems or the steady nine-hour rain that has been falling are now rising to the top of the GT and SGS classes at the halfway mark of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

In the GT class, the #44 Orbit Porsche 911 GT3 RS, with Johnny Mowlem/Mike Fitzgerald/Robin Liddell/Joe Policastro/Jay Policastro sharing the driving duties, are now three laps ahead in class, and have moved up to sixth overall. The #74 Flying Lizard Moto rsports Porsche GT3 Cup racer of Johannes van Overbeek/Seth Neiman/Lonnie Pechnik/Peter Cunningham/Mike Rockenfeller, which had fallen earlier in the event, have maintained second place in class and seventh overall, five laps ahead of the third place Ferra ri.

The #66 The Racer's Group Porsche GT3 RS of Kevin Buckler/Patrick Long/Timo Bernhard/Jorg Bergmeister has also come back from 20 laps down to fifth place in class, while the other The Racer's Group Porsche 911 GT3 RS cars are fourth and sixth in GT.

In the SGS class, the #91 Doncaster Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Jean-Francois Dumoulin/Robert Julien/Greg Pootmans/Marc Lieb has a three-lap lead over their teammates, the #71 Doncaster Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Dave Lacey/Greg Wilkins/Mark Wilkins/ Tom Nastasi/Kenny Wilden. Third is the #38 TPC Racing Porsche GT3 Cup race of Randy Pobst/ Marc Bunting/Andy Lally/John Littlechild/Michael Levitas.

In the Daytona Prototype class, #59 Brumos Racing Porsche Fabcar entry driven by Hurley Haywood/J.C. France/Tommy Riggins/Scott Sharp has dropped to tenth place as water in the wiring harness has caused problems with the electronic shifter and the radio, a nd necessitated two long pit stops.