The 55th running of one of the world's greatest sports car races is upon us, as we launch a new era of Prototype sports car racing in North America, with the introduction of the Daytona Prototype International category. Plus, GT3 cars have come to the fore in North America, in the GT Daytona class, with bold new designs from Lexus and Acura, and thoroughly refreshed machines from Porsche, Audi, and BMW. BMW, Corvette, Ford and Ferrari, are all back in GTLM, too, set to battle the new mid-engine Porsche 911 RSR factory machines. Daytona Beach, even before the iconic high banks of the speedway were built, and opened in 1959, was a setting for land speed records on the beach itself, before the record breaking racers moved on to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. In 1903, Ransom Olds raced auto designer Alexander Winton, on the beach.
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Racing on the beach, continued, with many crashes (some fatal) during record attempts, and Sir Malcolm Campbell took his Bluebird racer, in 1935, to the fastest speed anyone would run at Daytona Beach. 276 miles an hour. Stock cars began racing on the beach after WW. II. and in 1959, NASCAR moved inland with the construction of a 2.5 mile super speedway which meant cars could go as fast as they wished, as long as they wished, and their drivers could push them to the limit, around and around and around. Sports cars began racing on the new speedway in 1962 with Dan Gurney winning the first three hour race after running out of gas and pushing his car to the line, on the starter motor. In 1966, the first 24 hour race was run. Now, 55 years later, we see a new chapter begin in the history of the Rolex 24.
On the northern coast of Florida, we are set for racing on this 3.56 mile, 12 turn road course. Cadillac with their new DPi-V-R has the top three places on the starting grid, with the #5 Action Express machine on pole, in the hands of Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, and Filipe Albuquerque. We already have a car locking the brakes. Emmanuele Busnelli, at the wheel of the #46 Ebimotors Lamborghini Huracan GT3 entered by Ebimotors, is already having some trouble. We will soon see the green flag. This is very exciting with the new racing season starting. Have patience. We're excited. We want to race. The drivers want to race. Play it cool so you don't make a mistake. Reliability with new cars and new teams, will be a huge deal. Surprises will be thrown out of the hat.
Hard to remember the last time no one had the same car/engine as the previous year. The cars look lovely. People are set to see a great race today, tonight, and tomorrow. Stay clean in the pit lane and on the circuit. The fuel tanks are smaller than last year, and the new E20 fuel is 20% alcohol instead of 10% alcohol. Prototypes will have a 22 lap fuel window. Between 10PM tonight and 4AM in the morning, rain could come. It is cool and overcast now. The engines should breathe well, and the tires will have enough heat.
Be there when the sun comes up at 7:15 tomorrow morning. So much darkness here, compared to the other great endurance classic at Le Mans in France in the summertime. There is a lot of fun in hearing the different engine notes of the cars, as you stand by the race track. The cars line up two by two, coming through NASCAR turns three and four. We start a brand new era of endurance sports car racing, now. Green flag! Joao Barbosa sprints into the lead ahead of Action Express Cadillac team mate, Dane Cameron. Neel Jani is third in the #13 Rebellion Racing Oreca Gibson. That car, he shares with Sebastien Buemi, Stephane Sarrazin, and Nick Heidfeld. All veterans of endurance racing, and Heidfeld, a Formula 1 veteran as well.
The GT Le Mans machines are storming ahead as well including the Corvette's Ford GT's and Porsche's. One of the new Acura NSX GT3's has an off course excursion. This is the #86 car, one of two in the field. Not sure who is driving at the moment. The #81 DragonSpeed Oreca Gibson began at the rear of this field and is charging, trying to slice it's way through the GTLM cars. We have a great battle at the front with the two ESM Ligier Nissan's and the new Mazda RT-24P prototypes. Ricky Taylor in the third Cadillac in this race (the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry), is picking up the challenge behind the identical Action Express machines.
Through the bus stop chicane, always a tricky spot on this track. Side by side stuff for the newly painted Porsche 911 RSR's from the Stuttgart factory. At the end of lap one, problems already for a Prototype contender. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Ligier is bound for pit lane. The two leading Cadillac's currently have their headlights off. This may be a new wrinkle in the rules. It used to be that Prototypes were to have their lights on at all times, but now, it could be that IMSA has said to only use them in the hours of darkness that will come later on. The #52 Ligier is having engine issues. Tom Kimber-Smith start the car, but it seems to be a fraught time for PR1/Mathiasen presently.
Oh dear. #52 has a rear right suspension problem. So, gremlins are biting early on in this Rolex 24. Nothing is broken on car #52. A hose came loose off the right side of the engine. Early issues for the factory Mazda's too as #70 is also in the lane. For Mazda, just a splash and dash on fuel. We watch the GT Le Mans battle. Mazda is taking a very conservative approach with their new RT24P. They have more horsepower, with an identical engine to last year. GTLM racers work past some of the remaining Prototype Challenge cars in the field. In the swansong for that class, there are five Oreca FLM 09 Chevrolet's entered. Mike Guasch, one of the driver's in the #52 car says that the hydraulic shifting mechanism in the car is not working. The car won't shift. Keep your chin up, chaps.
Worries surrounded the #18 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of DAC Motorsports, as it was not on the grid, but did take the start of the race. So, Lamborghini fans, one of your cars, is safe for now. It is being shared by Emmanuel Anassis, Zach Claman, Anthony Massari, and Brandon Gdovic. All 55 cars started the 55th Rolex 24. #18 was massively damaged in qualifying. More trouble, for another Lamborghini. The #16 Change Racing entry, with Jeroen Mul at the wheel, has stuffed it into the tires. That was at the west horseshoe. It looks like we'll have our first full course yellow flag. Maybe. Joao Barbosa and Dane Cameron still scrap for the lead. Prototype Challenge is currently led by Johnny Mowlem. The Brit has come out of retirement, because he hopes to have another Rolex watch.
Mowlem is at the wheel of the #26 BAR1 Motorsports entry, sharing with Tom Papadopoulos, Adam Merzon, Trent Hindman, and David Cheng. Ford and Ferrari battle in GT Le Mans. Corvette is also there. Alessandro Pier Guidi leads for Ferrari in GT Daytona. It's a Ferrari sandwich with an Aston Martin in the middle. Car #52 tried to fire up, but didn't move. Full course yellow right now. Double yellow flags. It may have been the #16 car had some assistance from the #93 Acura NSX. Nope. He went through the kink, got on the curb, and crunched the barrier. Andy Lally started the #93 Acura. Lally shares with Katherine Legge, Graham Rahal, and Mark Wilkins.
The fastest lap so far is 1:37.536, set by Joao Barbosa. Pole was a 1:36.9. So, just 7/10ths away from the pole position lap time on full fuel tanks. Good stuff so far. Mazda #70 had to pit to remove a plastic bag from the air inlet. DragonSpeed is also in the lane during this full course yellow. #81 came in with the lane closed. They are checking the right rear corner. Emergency service, you are allowed to do, but you pass through the pits a second time. #81 only had a tire inspection, and is now back on track. That's odd. Just an inspection. Well, it isn't odd, because that's for safety reasons. Can you imagine blowing a tire at 180 miles an hour on the banking? Egad! Folks, that's something no driver wants to experience.
#81 had a high engine temperature for their Gibson motor. The car is going well now, but you can't run the car hot, or the engine will go ka-blammo. Okey dokey. The race, will now resume. Joao Barbosa gets a good launch as the Ford vs. Ferrari battle picks up. Joey Hand and Toni Vilander are scrapping for GTLM honors. More worries for #52 as it's slow in the infield. In GT Daytona it is a huge traffic jam now. A gaggle of cars are dicing for position. Lamborghini vs. Audi vs. the new Lexus RC F GT3, vs. the new Acura NSX. The #57 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 battles the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Stevenson has a strong lineup with drivers who have all raced together. Lawson Aschenbach is the lead driver sharing with Robin Liddell, Andrew Davis, and Matt Bell.
The #70 Mazda sweeps past on the high banks. It's amazing, because the GT Daytona cars in full GT3 trim are quick in the twisty bits of the infield. But, by the time they get to the banking, man oh man, it's like they have the handbrake on and the Prototype drivers can push the bye bye button and whistle merrily away. Andrew Davis started the #57 Audi and runs 12th currently. Will Stevenson race the Continental Tire Challlenge? No. They will race in IMSA now. More pit time for DragonSpeed as James French passes Johnny Mowlem for the Prototype Challenge lead. Drive through penalty for Lapierre in #81. 20 minutes into this race, things look to be settling down a bit.
#16 is being brought back to the garage. We have not seen hide nor hair of the #911 factory Porsche 911 RSR. It has dropped through timing and scoring. Patrick Pilet, Dirk Werner, and Frederic Makowiecki are on the driver's strength of that car. Pilet at the controls now. Maybe the transponder is not working. The #70 Mazda is clawing it's way back into contention, with Joel Miller at the wheel of it. Miller is battling the #8 Starworks Prototype Challenge car with Chris Cumming aboard. That car is painted pink, and is being shared by Cumming, Ben Keating, rapid Canadian DTM star Robert Wickens, John Falb, and Remo Ruscitti. 3/5ths of the driver lineup in car #8 comes from Canada.
Joel Miller tries to go inside the pink PC car, but decides discretion is the better part of valor right now. New fast lap for Joao Barbosa at 1:37.150 leading his Cadillac team mate by a second or so. Car #911 may have missed a lap. No. It missed the start/finish line one time around on it's transponder. The #50 Mercedes AMG GT3 is running well. An unproven formula for the DPi machines and the global spec LMP2 cars, it seems to be working to this point. But, we are still only in hour one and have... a little over 23 hours to go, in this Rolex 24. Are we there yet? No, sunshine. Not even close. The Porsche 911 RSR has done 50 hours of testing, continuously at Sebring International Raceway. The engine and the transmission are swapped around on the car, with the "honking great diffuser". Yes, that's in the FIA regs to measure size. Meanwhile, Dane Cameron has a new fast lap at 1:37.145.
The three Cadillac's make their way by the Konrad Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 into the International Horseshoe. Cadillac has the pace right now. One of the Cadillac's gets blocked by the #27 Dream Racing Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan. Lawrence DeGeorge is driving right now, and he seemingly hadn't a clue the leaders were there. DeGeorge is the oldest driver, and least experienced in the field. He's just beginning to drive. Yours truly was a skeptic of the new Prototype formula. But, right now, that skepticism may be changing. The styling cues of the Cadillac, including the wheels, have been included, such as the headlights, and the wheels, that come off the production car.
The Konrad Lamborghini #21 has gone to the pit lane and to the garage. Early issues for the driving squad of Marco Mapelli of Switzerland, Lance Willsey from the U.S., Franz Konrad, the team owner, and Konrad's fellow German drivers, Luca Stolz, and Marc Basseng. #911 is still in the same spot on the road it was, but it is supposedly three laps down. Ah. It is. No transponder errors. Patrick Pilet has completed 28 laps. Patrick Lindsey in car #73 for Park Place Motorsports, is on the move, moving from tenth in class to fifth in class, from 38th to 31st overall. Lindsey shares the Park Place entry (a Porsche 911 GT3R, with Matt McMurry, and Porsche veteran drivers Jorg Bergmeister and Norbert Seidler.
Pit stop time, as the first of the prototypes to hit the lane is the #90 Visit Florida Racing Riley Multimatic. Tires and fuel. No driver change. Sharing the car are Renger van der Zande, Rene Rast, and lead driver, Marc Goossens. The #24 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GT has spun in the pit lane, with John Edwards at the wheel. He is in a dangerous spot, and the marshals best tend to the situation, fast! The team was not expecting the car to come in. The team is speaking to the marshals about taking it back to the garage. The pits will need to be closed. The lead battle between the two Cadillac's from Action Express, is heating up another time! Dane Cameron passes Joao Barbosa going for the chicane. This will be our first lead change in the 2017 Rolex 24.
The #26 Prototype Challenge car of Johnny Mowlem pits. The BMW boys are going to fetch their car to take it to the garage. The M6 is stuck in gear. Everything being pneumatic, power is needed to get the car back into gear. Joey Hand continues to lead GT Le Mans in the #66 Ford GT, with the #62 Toni Vilander driven Ferrari 488 GTE second. Third in class is the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R- in the hands of Jan Magnussen. Richard Westbrook is fourth in the sister #67 Ford GT. Fifth in class is the sister factory Porsche 911 RSR, the #912 with Kevin Estre currently driving. Estre, of France, shares with Austria's Richard Lietz, and former Audi GT driver, Laurens Vanthoor, of Belgium, a newly minted factory Porsche pilot.
#911 is seventh in class. Alessandro Pier Guidi leads GT Daytona ahead of Marco Sorenson in the #98 Aston Martin V8 Vantage, and the fellow Ferrari 488 for Scuderia Corsa with Alessandro Balzan driving. Mirko Bortolotti, Matteo Cairoli, and Patrick Lindsey, are next in the order. Lamborghini, Porsche, Porsche. GTD could be the Italian GT championship with all these great young Italian drivers coming to race. Bortolotti is in the #11 GRT Grasser Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 sharing with Rolf Ineichen of Switzerland, Eziquiel Perez Companc of Argentina, and Germany's Christian Engelhart.
The #59 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3R (using the same number made famous for so many years by Brumos Porsche), has Matteo Cairoli of Italy, Switzerland's Steve Smith, Reinhold Renger, of Germany, Sven Muller, of Germany, and Austria's Harald Proczyk, on the driver's strength. Dane Cameron leads his team mate by 1.6 seconds. Ryan Dalziel has brought the #2 ESM Nissan DPi to pit lane for scheduled service. Dalziel shares this car, (which won overall at the Rolex 24, last year using Honda power), with Scott Sharp, Luis Felipe "Pippo" Derani, and Brendon Hartley. Sharp is a two-time Rolex 24 winner, in 1996, and last year. Four tires and fuel. In IMSA, of course, pit stops are different from when we cover the FIA World Endurance Championship.
In FIA WEC, the car has to be shut off, and the fuel has to go in before or after the tires are changed. In IMSA, all work can be done at the same time, with the engine running. This leaves a shorter window for the driver change, and the marshals watch for drivers who don't have their safety belts cinched up. No tire warmers of the electric blanket variety allowed. Dalziel is on stone cold tires and will have to be careful. Ricky Taylor, running third in the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, resets fastest lap at 1:36.909. The #911 Porsche blew past the chicane on the back straight and is now in pit lane.
A front right punctured tire, was replaced. The #13 Rebellion Racing Oreca Gibson is now pitting, too. Porsche has not had time to fix the transponder. Standard stop for Porsche. Neel Jani stays at the wheel of the Rebellion car. The #85 JDC Miller Motorsports Oreca got new tires, but had a long stop, with Stephen Simpson at the wheel. Pit stop time, (synchronized), for both Action Express cars. Tires and fuel, and double stints for the drivers. Fuel is slow on both the Cadillac's. Not too good. Ideal stop for fuel and tires for DragonSpeed and the car #81 who wants their lap back. The sister #22 ESM car also pits. There is a smaller fuel flow inlet, and the cockpits of the new DPi cars are smaller than the old Daytona Prototypes./ #10 Cadillac, in the lane.
GTLM is seeing a heated scrum. Oliver Gavin in the #4 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R- is right up on the back deck of the #67 Ford GT of Richard Westbrook. Andy Priaulx is trailing in hot pursuit in one of the sister Ford GT's, car #69. More GTLM cars join the party. Joel Miller is leading the race in the Mazda right now! Wow! Ah. The gray machine has been overtaken by the Cadillac's. Darn./ Pit stop time for the Mazda and Miller. Tires and fuel. The #48 Lamborghini Huracan for Paul Miller Racing in GTD, pits. 45 minutes into the race. Ricky Taylor and Joao Barbosa scrap for the lead. It is a duel of the Cadillac's. Barbosa almost runs straight up the back of Taylor! He pulls out to draft Taylor down the back straight, into the chicane.
Dane Cameron leads this race, having completed 25 laps. Three of the four Ford GT's (#67, #68, and #69), run liner stern at the moment. The Ford's work their way past the GT3 spec Porsche 911 of The Racer's Group, which in and of itself, is a very quick racer. This is the #991 car shared by Santiago Creel of Mexico, German Porsche veteran Wolf Henzler, and Americans Mike Hedlund, Tim Pappas, and Jan Heylen, who are also experienced Porsche campaigners. Joey Hand, the best of the four Ford GT's in GT Le Mans, is eighth in the overall. For BMW, one car is still in the race, but one is still behind the wall with an issue the team is scratching their heads about.
#24 is shared by John Edwards, Kuno Wittmer, Dutch GT racing veteran Nicky Catsburg, and veteran DTM touring car racer turned BMW factory GT driver, Martin Tomczyk, from Germany. Alessandro Balzan brings the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 into pit lane. This is one of the first driver changes. The Ford GT's may come to the lane soon. Corvette pits, too, and the #69 Ford is also pitting. The #4 Corvette is in. Andy Priaulx stays in the Ford. The Corvette and the Ford are back on track now. When will the other three Ford's hit the lane? A plethora of GT Daytona cars now hits the lane, too.
We have in pit lane the #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 and the #98 Aston Martin V8 Vantage, pitting. Alessandro Pier Guidi out of the Ferrari, and into it goes Peter Mann of Switzerland. Paul Dalla Lana replaces Marco Sorenson in the #98 Aston Martin. No tires for the Ferrari, and a four tire change for the Aston. Slow stop for Ferrari. #51 serviced and sent. Ditto for the Aston. The #3 Corvette was also serviced and sent, and the #33 Mercedes AMG GT3 also in the lane. Here comes the #59 Porsche. It's like rush hour on the I4 into Orlando on a Monday morning. A calm stop for the #66 Ford.
The Risi Ferrari is also in the lane. The second Lexus RC F has pitted. Both #14 and #15 have made stops. The Manthey Porsche was parked crookedly in the lane, and could not exit. We focus on the #93 Acura NSX. Acura is now in the pits. #93 is leading the class in GT Daytona right now. Andy Lally at the wheel, and he is right ahead of the team car #86. Four new tires for each car, lots of fuel, and no driver change. Fuel in, and #93 and #86 are back on the road. Great fuel mileage for the Acura's, even though they don't have the whole pace. Christina Nielsen takes over the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari and now leads in the GT Daytona class.
Oh dear! Fire in the pit lane! Dream Racing, has a fire on it's Lamborghini Huracan GT3. A fuel spillage for sure. The driver, bailed out. Whew! The fire is out, but the car needs work before it continues in the race. Try and extinguish the smoke, and check the engine. How did the fuel spill for the #27 Lamborghini. That's why you wear fireproof clothing when you are on a racing team, drivers and crew. Noxious black smoke spews from underneath the car. The pit stop times, are all around a minute and a half in GTLM and are really competitive between the top teams from Corvette, Ford, Porsche, and Ferrari.
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