Daytona 'a wonderful experience' for AGR duo.

Even though what looked to be a very promising Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona debut for Dan Wheldon and Dario Franchitti ended suddenly at 6am on Sunday morning, both drivers were full of praise for their Howard-Boss team and the Grand Am Series as a whole.

The two Andretti-Green Racing IRL IndyCar Series teammates were sharing driving duties in the #2 Howard-Boss Crawford-Pontiac with Dario's brother Marino and Venezuelan lady racer Milka Duno and after taking a turn at the head of the field, were poised to make a late charge for overall victory when an errant GT class Porsche turned Duno into the outside wall.

The severely damaged car was towed to the garage where an inspection by the crew of the damage resulted in their retirement from the event.

It marked a disappointing end to a very competitive beginning to the 2005 Grand American Rolex Series for the #2 CITGO sponsored team.

Dario Franchitti had previously led the event three times for a total of twenty-six laps prior to Duno's crash and the team were flying just three laps out of the lead in fourth place overall when the crash occurred.

"This was really a wonderful experience for me," Dario commented during the event. "It's the first time that I've teamed with my brother Marino, and with Milka and my Indy Racing League teammate, we had a strong team. The CITGO Team really prepared a great car, but driving through traffic was a real problem at times. This finish in no way reflects how well this team performed."

"The opportunity to drive in my first Rolex 24 with this team and group of drivers was a real treat," Wheldon added. "The CITGO Crawford was really strong, and we were able to keep the car in contention throughout the race. It's unfortunate that our raced ended the way it did, but I'm really thankful to everyone who made this possible."

Franchitti and Wheldon's AGR teammate Bryan Herta finished 9th overall in his Doran Racing entry while the #2 team were classified 33rd having completed 528 laps.