Joao Barbosa powered Action Express Racing to the 24 Hours of Daytona title Sunday, finishing an improbable victory in the organization's first appearance in the sports car endurance race.
The newly formed team with drivers Barbosa, Ryan Dalziel, Terry Borcheller and Mike Rockenfeller avoided major mechanical problems and benefited from a late blunder by star-studded Chip Ganassi Racing to win by 50 seconds in the No. 9 Porsche Riley. No other car was within four laps.
Ganassi's Justin Wilson was leading before he made an ill-advised stop into the garage late, believing something was wrong with the No. 01 BMW Riley. The crew didn't find anything, and the difference was too much for teammate Scott Pruett to make up in the final two hours.
Ganassi's No. 02 car retired in the early morning with engine failure. Drivers Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Jamie McMurray had led a combined 139 of the first 247 laps.
Formula One testing begins: The new Formula One campaign gets under way today with the start of preseason testing that will also bring the return of Michael Schumacher at Mercedes GP after three years out of motor racing's premier sport.
The three-day session at Cheste Circuit in Valencia, Spain, is the first of four this month before the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on March 14.
Vonn tunes up for Olympics
Lindsey Vonn heads to the Vancouver Olympics happy and healthy after enjoying a perfect Sunday.
"Now I feel like I'm ready," Vonn said after winning a super-G race at St. Moritz, Switzerland, her final World Cup event before the Feb. 12-28 games.
Vonn kept her promise to first take care of World Cup business. She extended her lead in the overall standings, clinched the super-G title with two races to spare and took instant revenge against a course that on Saturday tricked her out of a chance to go unbeaten all season in downhill.
Women's luge: Germany's Natalie Geisenberger won the World Cup finale on the 2006 Olympic track in Cesana, Italy, and Erin Hamlin of Remsen, N.Y., finished third for her third bronze of the season.
Another German, Olympic favorite Tatjana Huefner, finished second to wrap up her third World Cup overall title. Megan Sweeney of Suffield, Conn., was eighth and Julia Clukey of Augusta, Maine, was 17th. They will join Hamlin on the USA Luge roster for the Vancouver Games.
Men's slalom: Reinfried Herbst led an Austrian 1-2 finish at a men's World Cup event in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, for his second win in six days.
Herbst beat Marcel Hirscher by 0.40 seconds for his fourth victory of the season and ninth overall. He also won Tuesday at Schladming, Austria.
Ted Ligety of the United States, who won Friday, had a strong second run to rise from 10th to fourth place but was later disqualified for straddling a gate.
Bode Miller of the United States skipped the race to rest his sore ankle ahead of the Olympics.
Rahlves injured: U.S. Olympic freestyle skier Daron Rahlves dislocated his right hip during a nasty wreck in his opening skicross race Sunday at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., an injury that could hurt his chances of going to Vancouver.
Fanchini out of Olympics: Italian skier Nadia Fanchini has been ruled out of the Vancouver Olympics after crashing in the final World Cup race before the games. Fanchini came away with serious injuries to both knees following her fall in Sunday's super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Cuche plans to compete: Swiss skier Didier Cuche, the World Cup downhill leader, said he believes he can challenge for medals at the Vancouver Olympics despite his broken right thumb. The 35-year-old racer fell heavily in a World Cup giant slalom Friday at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.
Egypt takes African Cup title
Egypt won the African Cup of Nations for the third time in a row Sunday after substitute Mohamed Gedo scored in the 85th minute to earn a 1-0 victory over Ghana in the final in Luanda, Angola.
World Cup qualifier Ghana had been hoping to earn its first continental soccer crown since 1982.
Egypt played without suspended striker Mahmoud Fathallah. Ghana was at full strength.
Duke women advance in tennis
Duke's top-ranked women's tennis team beat visiting Virginia Commonwealth 6-1 on Sunday to win the ITA Kick-Off title and advance to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Team Indoor Championship on Feb. 12-15 in Madison, Wis.
Duke won five of six singles matches but had to battle at the top two spots against No. 44 VCU. At No. 1, Duke's Reka Zsilinszka defeated VCU's Kateryna Yergina 7-5, 6-4. At No. 2, Duke's Amanda Granson needed three sets to defeat VCU's Ana Bara, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
From Duke news release
