24 Hours of Daytona : Porsches and Jaguars Fight for Top Spot

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. â€”  An incredibly close battle among four cars--two Porsche 962s and two Jaguar XJR-9s--rolled into the 10th hour of the Daytona 24-Hour sports car race at Daytona International Speedway early Sunday morning.

Defending champions Al Holbert, Chip Robinson and Englishman Derek Bell, sharing one of nine Porsche prototypes in the race, lost the lead near the beginning of the ninth hour when their crew had problems changing the nose of the car during a pit stop.

But a full-course caution period, the sixth of the day, helped Holbert move up behind the Porsche of pole-winner Mauro Baldi of Italy. Just a few laps after the green flag came back out, Holbert’s Porsche took the lead for the fourth time.

Meanwhile, one of a trio of Jaguar XJR-9 prototypes in the 75-car field charged back from a lap down and moved past the car co-piloted by Baldi and two-time Daytona winners Bob Wollek of France and Brian Redman of England to take second place with 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Danny Sullivan at the wheel.

Sullivan, who is teamed with fellow American Davy Jones and Jan Lammers of the Netherlands, actually took the lead for four laps midway through the 10th hour before making a scheduled pit s1953460256Holbert.

Sullivan remained second and Redman held third.