Rolex Series GT class Rolex 24 At Daytona polesitter Sylvain Tremblay finished what he started Sunday by taking the checkered flag with his SpeedSource co-drivers Nick Ham, David Haskell and Raphael Matos in the No. 70 Mazdaspeed Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8 at Daytona International Speedway. The quartet also finished ninth overall in the race.

With the exception of an off-track excursion and a few near misses, the team put together an almost flawless effort. The four combined to lead 323 of the overall 664 GT laps contested (48.6 percent), including the race's final quarter. Each driver led at least 40 laps in Mazda's first victory in any Rolex 24 At Daytona class since winning in SRP in 2001.

"Our biggest mechanical problem is my ears," Tremblay said. "I had fluid in my ear yesterday and couldn't hear anything. We also lost the driver's side mirror, which is a problem, especially here, but our spotters did a great job. The car was flawless."

Tremblay set a record qualifying time Friday with a time of 1:50.758 (115.712 mph). The victory was the fourth for the operation in Rolex Series GT, which is in its second full season of GT racing with the Mazda. The team also won the two-hour, 45-minute sprint at Daytona in July 2007.

"It was pretty special," Tremblay said of winning the Rolex 24. "I've dreamt of this since I've started racing. To win at Daytona has been a dream of mine for a long, long time. When I first talked of getting a Mazda running against the Porsches, it seemed like a joke back then. There was so much that had to happen, so many pieces we had to build. Then we had to convince other people to believe in our dream, and pull on from there."

The victory by the SpeedSource Mazda - combined with a Lexus-powered Daytona Prototype taking the overall win - broke a 14-year streak of Porsches in the Rolex 24 Victory Lane.

"Today is really the culmination of a lot of work from a lot of different people who all had a dream - to come here and race against the best," Tremblay continued. "I must say, in all the years I've been racing, the GT field was by far the stiffest, strongest field I've ever seen in any GT race anywhere in the world. I'm proud of the accomplishment of my teammates. It's a dream come true."

Ham felt a win in the series' biggest race was not only rewarding but would carry over in the season-long points chase.

"It was a reasonably uneventful race," said Ham, who led nine times for 93 laps. "We all had our moments, but the key thing was that everyone on the team did their job, and did it to the best of their ability. That in the end is why we won. This victory is definitely going to give us a good place to start. It's nice having the lead going into Homestead . Hopefully, we can maintain it."

SpeedSource also rounded out the top five with Emil Assentato, Nick Longhi, Jeff Segal and Lonnie Pechnik, who drove the No. 69 SpeedSource FXDD Mazda RX-8.