Four-way battle at the front in Rolex 24

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - There was a four-way battle at the front as the Rolex 24 reached the four-hour mark Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.

A Ferrari, co-driven by Didier Theys, Mauro Baldi and Freddy Lienhard, was out front, holding off the defending champion Riley & Scott-Ford of Englishman James Weaver, Elliott Forbes-Robinson, Max Papis and team owner Rob Dyson.

Just one lap back were the Lola-Ford of Jan Lammers, Franz Konrad and Sascha Haasen, and the Cadillac Northstar of Wayne Taylor, Max Angelelli and Eric van de Poele.

"This is some race," said Dyson, whose one-car entry, which started from the pole, remained in contention despite an extra pit after Taylor complained of a bad set of tires. "I don't know if we can keep this up for 24 hours."

The top four cars were all part of the SportsRacer category, the top class in the five-division twice-around-the-clock event.

Weaver was at the wheel of the R&S-Ford when it took the green flag at the head of a 78-car field at 1 p.m. EST and moved steadily around the 3.56-mile road course that includes three turns of the 2 1/2 -mile NASCAR oval and a twisting infield portion.

The problems began early with the Ferrari that started on the outside of the front row shredding a tire and spinning on the second lap, sending the car driven by Alex Caffi of Italy to the rear of the big field.

A Riley & Scott MKIII driven by Scott Schubot took over second place, but got into a minor problem with some slower cars and fell back with minor front-end damage. It later became the first dropout in the race.

Cadillac, making its return to racing after a 50-year absence, got off to a good start with its silver LMPs. At one point during the second hour, the Cadillacs were 1-2.

But the car co-driven by Butch Leitzinger, Andy Wallace and Frank Lagorce, lost 10 laps in the pits because of a hub problem and dropped far back.

Dyson entered only one car this year after running first and 12th a year ago.

"We're comfortable with this car," he said. "The key is knowing everybody is going to have some problem during the race. It's how you handle that problem and get back out there that makes the difference."

It's the first race of any kind for the Cadillac entries, which are built by Indianapolis-based Riley & Scott.

"Our first goal is to run to the end," said Leitzinger, who was part of the winning team here a year ago. "That would be a significant thing with an unproven car. But the Cadillac feels like a good race car."

Among the more than 300 drivers entered was 75-year-old actor Paul Newman, who was part of the winning team at Daytona in 1995 at age 70.

He was teamed in a Porsche GTU-division entry with Michael Brockman, Michael Laver and 17-year-old Gunnar Jeannette, the youngest driver in the field. The car started 50th and was up to 23rd after four hours.

This event is the debut of the Grand American Road Racing Association, a sanctioning body formed since the end of the 1999 season and based in Daytona Beach. Although it has no direct affiliation with NASCAR or International Speedway Corp., several people from those organizations are involved in the GrandAm as investors or in the administration of the series.

Weather was not expected to be a factor in the race, which began under bright sunshine with temperatures in the low 60s. Overnight lows were expected to drop into the high 30s, with more sunshine forecast for Sunday.

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