DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. A Corvette CR 5 outlasted faster prototypes to win the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona Sunday afternoon.

Piloted by Canadian Ron Fellows and Americans Chris Kneifel, Franck Freon and Johnny O'Connell, the No. 2 Corvette made 656 laps around the 3.56-mile Daytona international speedway, eight more than the white lightning racing Porsche of Mike Fitzgerald, Lucas Luhr, Randy Pobst and Christian Menzel.

The victory marked the second straight year a car in the GTS category claimed the overall victory and the third consecutive time an American manufacturer won the only 24-hour endurance race held in North America.

"I feel like I've just won the Stanley Vup," said Fellows, who finished as the runner-up in last-year's tightly contested race. "Winning our class was priority, but the overall win is a bonus."

The Corvette gained the lead after the polesitting No. 16 Dyson racing Ford M&S Mark III blew a motor in the 21st hour while holding a commanding 26-lap advantage.

"It was just one of those things, the car decided it was done and it blew up," said Butch Leitzinger, who was driving at the time of the incident. "No warning at all, just an explosion."

Team owner Rob Dyson, driving his team's other entry, knew it was serious when he saw the No. 16 parked in the horseshoe section of the road course. "Hey, we'll get over it," Dyson said. "It'll take a year, but we'll get over it."

It took less than an hour for the Corvette to take over first place after that.

(Reuter)