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Rolex 24 at Daytona |
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In the footsteps of Dan... |
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| The tradition of an international sports car race at the Daytona Speedway began in 1962 and that first race was won by America's racing legend, Daniel Sexton Gurney. He was honoured at this year's event with the position of Grand Marshal. Gurney's win was of a race of just three hours which is about how long we lasted in this year's Rolex 24 at Daytona... |
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| I was invited to join the Mastercar team's two-car assault on the 24-hours - their ninth visit to the event. They entered two Ferrari 430s. The red car, number 52, for five gentleman drivers who drove steadily and finished the race. The other car, above, was aimed at glory. My participation in the team was made possible by the contribution of Flex-Box - a Hong Kong company specialising in the design, manufacture, sale and leasing of shipping containers. |
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| As at Le Mans last year I also received support from Hong Kong's Ferrari dealer, Italian Motors Sales & Service. |
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| And the car carried Hong Kong's bauhinia flag on its roof. |
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| The drama started before the weekend began when our car was stuck in customs in Miami. It arrived only a few hours before the first practice session which we were forced to miss. This put us somewhat behind the curve - at least for those of us who had not driven before at Daytona. |
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| FIA GT hotshot Christian Montanari had driven the other 430 at the test sessions in early January and became our defacto team leader, both in pace and attitude. He performed miracles in qualifying to put car 56 on the front row of the GT class alongside the Mazda which eventually won. |
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| We lost more time, however, after Luis Monzon became involved in a relatively minor crash on Friday morning which cost us any further running on that day. |
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| At Daytona - as is typical in the USA - the team garages are not adjacent to the circuit. Above is a shot of the garage from where the cars are taken to the pits for practice and qualifying. This is less convenient than the European style but it does allow the fans to have better access to the teams and cars when they are being prepared - which is a good thing. |
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| Here's the team before the race. From left: Christian, Thomas Biagi (reigning FIA GT champion), Matthew, Henrik Nielsen from Flex-Box, Luis Monzon (2007 Asia GT champion). It was fairly cold in Florida - hence the wooly hat! |
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| Henrik's friend Peder Rejmers flew to the USA from Germany to support the Flex-Box team. |
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| This is the pre-grid on Saturday morning before the 1330hrs race start. Car 56 in second position in the GT class. |
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| Lap 1, Turn 1: Christian defends his position and begins to think about taking the lead... |
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| ... which he manages to take a couple of laps later. We led the Rolex 24! |
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| Henrik watched the timing screens in the pits. |
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| Whilst Christian stayed at the front... |
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| ... until the first full course caution (of 24 in total!) which brought most cars in for fuel - 56 included. |
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| We lost a bit of time in the stop and Christian reported the car was suffering from more oversteer than in practice. |
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| At the second stop Christian handed the controls to me and the car was refuelled and fitted with new tyres. Almost immediately there was a caution period and only a few laps after we 'went green' the rear right tyre burst on the high speed straight on the far side of the circuit. The flapping rubber destroyed various components in the engine compartent and forced us to retire. |
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| After so much promise it was highly disappointign to be heading off for an early shower - especially since I had enjoyed so little driving. |
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| The race went on into the night. |
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| And the 30 or so Porsche chased the Mazda in GT class - to no avail. |
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| Ecurie Drapeau Jaune's pit lane reporter (here with Dennis and Don Ratay) found himself without much to do! |
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| Whilst Juan Pablo Montoya went on to score his second Rolex 24 in a row (and team owner Chip Ganassi's hatrick). An incredible achievement. |
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| For which each driver - and Ganassi - won a Rolex Daytona wristwatch. Above are (from left) Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett. |
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| And finally here's Dan Gurney (right) with his son Alex who finished second. |