The 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona was a long-distance motor race for sports cars conforming to the regulations of the Grand-Am Road Racing 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, 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. A field of 14 Daytona Prototypes 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 for the race was taken by British racing driver Ryan Dalziel driving the Starworks Motorsport run Riley Technologies 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 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup driven by American driver Andrew Davis.
Winners The Michael Shank Racing entry of A. J. Allmendinger, Justin Wilson, Oswaldo Negri Jr., and John Pew 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 Ryan Dalziel, Lucas Luhr, Allan McNish, Enzo Potolicchio, and Alex Popow, 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 earned its first-ever Rolex Sports Car Series victory, with the lineup of Richard Lietz, Andy Lally, René Rast, and John Potter in the No. 44 Porsche 911 GT3 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. Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Laps Engine 1 DP 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian A. J. Allmendinger Oswaldo Negri Jr. John Pew Justin Wilson Riley Mk. XXVI 761 Ford 5.0L V8 2 DP 8 Starworks Motorsport Ryan Dalziel Lucas Luhr Allan McNish Alex Popow Enzo Potolicchio Riley Mk. XXVI 761 Ford 5.0L V8 3 DP 6 Michael Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Jorge Goncalvez Michael McDowell Felipe Nasr Gustavo Yacamán Riley Mk. XX 761 Ford 5.0L V8 4 DP 02 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Scott Dixon Dario Franchitti Jamie McMurray Juan Pablo Montoya Riley Mk. XXVI 760 BMW 5.0L V8 5 DP 5 Action Express Racing David Donohue Christian Fittipaldi Darren Law Corvette DP (Coyote CPM) 758 Chevrolet 5.0L V8 6 DP 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Joey Hand Scott Pruett Graham Rahal Memo Rojas Riley Mk. XXVI 757 BMW 5.0L V8 7 DP 77 Doran Racing Brian Frisselle Burt Frisselle Billy Johnson Jim Lowe Paul Tracy Dallara DP-01 748 Ford 5.0L V8 8 DP 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Antonio García Oliver Gavin Jan Magnussen Richard Westbrook Corvette DP (Coyote CPM) 746 Chevrolet 5.0L V8 9 DP 9 Action Express Racing João Barbosa Terry Borcheller J. C. France Max Papis Corvette DP (Coyote CPM) 739 Chevrolet 5.0L V8 10 DP 2 Starworks Motorsport Marco Andretti Ryan Hunter-Reay Scott Mayer Michael Valiante Riley Mk. XX 736 Ford 5.0L V8 11 GT 44 Magnus Racing Andy Lally Richard Lietz John Potter René Rast Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 727 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 12 GT 67 The Racer's Group Steven Bertheau Jeroen Bleekemolen Marc Goossens Wolf Henzler Spencer Pumpelly Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 727 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 13 GT 59 Brumos Racing Andrew Davis Hurley Haywood Leh Keen Marc Lieb Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 726 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 14 GT 57 Stevenson Motorsports Ronnie Bremer John Edwards Robin Liddell Chevrolet Camaro GT.R 726 Chevrolet 6.0L V8 15 GT 63 Risi Competizione Olivier Beretta Andrea Bertolini Toni Vilander Ferrari 458 Italia 726 Ferrari 4.5L V8 16 GT 70 SpeedSource Jonathan Bomarito Marino Franchitti James Hinchcliffe Sylvain Tremblay Mazda RX-8 722 Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor 17 GT 66 The Racer's Group Dominik Farnbacher Ben Keating Patrick Pilet Allan Simonsen Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 721 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 18 GT 69 AIM Autosport/Team FXDD Racing with Ferrari Emil Assentato Anthony Lazzaro Nick Longhi Jeff Segal Ferrari 458 Italia 716 Ferrari 4.5L V8 19 DP 76 Krohn Racing Colin Braun Niclas Jönsson Tracy Krohn Ricardo Zonta Lola B08/70 713 Ford 5.0L V8 20 GT 88 Autohaus Motorsports Paul Edwards Matthew Marsh Tommy Milner Jordan Taylor Chevrolet Camaro GT.R 713 Chevrolet 6.0L V8 21 GT 40 Dempsey Racing Patrick Dempsey Charles Espenlaub Joe Foster Tom Long Charles Putman Mazda RX-8 713 Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor 22 GT 32 Orbit Racing/GMG Nicolas Armindo Bret Curtis Shane Lewis James Sofronas Lance Willsey Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 713 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 23 GT 42 Team Sahlen Dane Cameron Joe Nonnamaker Wayne Nonnamaker Will Nonnamaker Mazda RX-8 711 Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor 24 GT 03 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ed Brown Guy Cosmo Scott Sharp Johannes van Overbeek Ferrari 458 Italia 707 Ferrari 4.5L V8 25 GT 24 Alex Job Racing Michael Avenatti Bob Faieta Fred Poordad Bill Sweedler Cort Wagner Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 707 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 26 GT 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports with Wright Motorsports Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Long Seth Neiman Mike Rockenfeller Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 706 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 27 GT 93 Turner Motorsport Bill Auberlen Paul Dalla Lana Michael Marsal Dirk Müller Dirk Werner BMW M3 691 BMW 5.0L V8 28 GT 23 Alex Job Racing Emmanuel Collard Marco Holzer Butch Leitzinger Cooper MacNeil Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 689 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 29 GT 26 NGT Motorsport Henrique Cisneros Sean Edwards Carlos Kauffmann Nick Tandy Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 688 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 30 GT 64 The Racer's Group Gaetano Ardagna Eduardo Costabal Emilio Di Guida Santiago Orjuela Eliseo Salazar Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 688 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 31 GT 22 Bullet Racing Randy Blaylock Darryl O'Young Kevin Roush Brett Van Blankers Joe White Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 681 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 32 DP 50 Predator/Alegra Byron DeFoor Elliott Forbes-Robinson Brian Johnson Jim Pace Carlos de Quesada Riley Mk. XI 672 BMW 5.0L V8 33 DP 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Jon Fogarty Memo Gidley Alex Gurney Corvette DP (Riley XXVI) 672 Chevrolet 5.0L V8 34 GT 82 Dick Greer Racing John Fergus John Finger Dick Greer Mark Hotchkis Owen Trinkler Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 665 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 35 GT 56 AF - Waltrip Rui Águas Robert Kauffman Travis Pastrana Michael Waltrip Ferrari 458 Italia 645 Ferrari 4.5L V8 36 GT 65 The Racer's Group Joe Castellano Spencer Cox Mike Hedlund Jack McCarthy Jim Michaelian Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 643 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 37 GT 68 The Racer's Group Chris Cumming Kévin Estre Damien Faulkner Carlos Gómez Ben Keating Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 640 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 38DNF GT 55 Acumen Motorsport Frank Del Vecchio Doug Grunnet Tony Kester Scott McKee Randy Pobst Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 626 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 39 GT 18 Mühlner Motorsports America Davy Jones Bill Lester John McCutchen Mark Thomas Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 609 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 40 GT 41 Dempsey Racing Ian James Rick Johnson Don Kitch Jr. Scott Maxwell Dan Rogers Mazda RX-8 608 Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor 41 GT 12 Alliance Autosport Jon Miller Hal Prewitt Scott Rettich Matt Schneider Darryl Shoff Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 604 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 42 GT 19 Mühlner Motorsports America Scott Dollahite Ian Nater Rhett O'Doski Marco Seefried Derek Whitis Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 599 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 43DNF GT 75 Stevenson Motorsports Matt Bell Al Carter Eric Curran Hugh Plumb Chevrolet Camaro GT.R 577 Chevrolet 6.0L V8 44 GT 51 APR Motorsport Ian Baas Nelson Canache Jr. Jim Norman Emanuele Pirro Dion von Moltke Audi R8 447 Audi 5.2L V10 45 GT 74 Oryx Racing Humaid Al Masaood Saeed Al Mehairi Steven Kane Audi R8 202 Audi 5.2L V10 46 GT 17 Burtin Racing with Goldcrest Motorsports Sebastian Asch Jack Baldwin Claudio Burtin Martin Ragginger Bryan Sellers Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 424 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 47DNF GT 20 Liqui Moly Team Engstler/Mitchum Motorsports Jade Buford Franz Engstler David Murry Gunter Schaldach Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 416 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 48DNF GT 34 Orbit Racing/GMG Michael DeFontes Phil Fogg Miro Konôpka Jan Vonka Ronald van de Laar Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 383 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 49 GT 4 Magnus Racing Justin Bell Ryan Eversley Daniel Graeff Ron Yarab Jr. Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 310 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 50DNF GT 36 Yellow Dragon Motorsports Jarett Andretti John Andretti Taylor Hacquard Anders Krohn Mazda RX-8 270 Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor 51DNF GT 15 Rick Ware Racing Chris Cook Jeffrey Earnhardt Doug Harrington Timmy Hill John Ware Jr. Ford Mustang 256 Ford 5.0L V8 52DNF GT 48 Paul Miller Racing Rob Bell Sascha Maassen Bryce Miller Mark Wilkins Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 224 Porsche 3.8L Flat-6 53DNF GT 46 Michael Baughman Racing Michael Baughman Ivo Breukers Armand Fumal Ray Mason Jeff Nowicki Chevrolet Corvette 172 Chevrolet 6.2L V8 54DNF GT 62 Risi Competizione Gianmaria Bruni Giancarlo Fisichella Raphael Matos Ferrari 458 Italia 154 Ferrari 4.5L V8 55DNF GT 87 Racer's Edge Motorsports Tony Ave Jan Heylen Doug Peterson Maxime Soulet Emilio Valverde Dodge Viper 101 Dodge 8.0L V10 56DNF GT 94 Turner Motorsport Bill Auberlen Paul Dalla Lana Billy Johnson Dirk Müller Boris Said BMW M3 86 BMW 5.0L V8 57DNF GT 43 Team Sahlen Joe Nonnamaker Wayne Nonnamaker Will Nonnamaker Mazda RX-8 21 Mazda 2.0L 3-Rotor 58DNF DP 10 SunTrust Racing Max Angelelli Ryan Briscoe Ricky Taylor Corvette DP (Dallara DP01) 14 Chevrolet 5.0L V8
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