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After 16 hours, #40 RX-8 maintains GT class lead
As the race entered its second half, the temperature continued to drop and a thick morning haze had started to descend over the speedway. The humidity at Daytona is naturally high as the track is located near the ocean. The haze continued to thicken, and as the clock ticked past 06:00, it turned into the legendary thick fog of Daytona. The fog was so thick it was difficult to distinguish cars running just 100 metres ahead.
At 03:40 the #40 RX-8 regained the race lead with Tom Long at the wheel, and continued in that position with a margin of one lap over the #48 Porsche GT3 until the driver switch at 05:30 with Charles Espenlaub taking over. However, the RX-8 was hit by an overtaking Daytona Prototype at 05:00, causing a momentary loss of control. Surprisingly there was little damage, and the front fender was repaired with tape. The #41 RX-8 was also holding on to sixth place in the class.
After repeated pit stops, the #69 FXDD RX-8 decided to retire after completing 202 laps. At 07:00 SpeedSource's ace car, the #70 Castrol RX-8, had recovered to ninth place, 14 laps off the leader. As the sky started to turn blue at 07:30, the Caution Laps that had begun at 06:00 were still underway.
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