Canadian drivers experience highs and lows at the Rolex 24
For Canadians competing in the 2013 Rolex 24 at Daytona their results in North America’s longest sports car race generally fell into one of two opposing categories: great or something close to awful.
On the downside of the ledger, several entries with big-name Canadian drivers were early casualties in the race, among them the No. 70 MazdaSpeed/Speedsource Mazda6, which featured rising IndyCar star James Hinchcliffe and two-time Rolex 24 GT class winner Sylvain Tremblay. The car, based on the all-new 2014 Mazda6 and making its debut in the new GX class, experienced an engine failure after just 51 laps, forcing an early retirement. Hinchcliffe didn’t turn a single lap.
Another entry with a high-profile Canadian driver, the No. 77 Doran Racing Ford/Dallara Daytona Prototype (DP), experienced an untimely exit from the race when 2003 Champ Car World Series Champion Paul Tracy made contact with in the bus stop chicane with the No. 42 Team Sahlen BMW/Riley driven by IndyCar pilot Simon Pagenaud. The damage done to the under tray of the No. 77 forced it out of the race a little short (by about two hours) of the midpoint.
Unfortunately for Hinchcliffe, Tremblay and Tracy, most of the other entries carrying the maple leaf didn’t fare a whole lot better although most managed to finish the race, albeit far from podium contention.
In fairness, most were competing for small, privateer teams that were decided underdogs in their respective classes. Simply put, the cream rose to the top as the race wore on and, by the time it was over, the class winners (particularly the overall winner) were drawn from among the favourites.
Chip Ganassi Racing tends to throw down the gauntlet in this race every year with an imposing two-car effort that comes stacked with a shiny cast of all-star drivers. This year he put two IndyCar champions (Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti), a Daytona 500 winner (Jamie MacMurray) and a past Rolex 24 winner (Joey Hand) into the No. 02 BMW/Riley DP and – just in case anyone thought the talent cupboard might be bare – the sister No. 01 car was stocked with the defending Rolex Series DP champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, IndyCar talent Charlie Kimball and NASCAR and Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya.
The only thing less surprising than a Ganassi car, the No. 01 in this case, winning the race was the fact that there was no 1-2 podium sweep. Mechanical problems put an end to that possibility when they bit the No. 02, forcing it out early.
Valiant efforts to prevent Ganassi from winning its fifth Rolex 24 crown in eight years were put forth by the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP and the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford/Riley, both of which benefited from brilliant final stints from Max Angelelli and A.J. Allmendinger, respectively. In the end, Montoya was able to hold them off. In the process, Pruett took home his fifth victory (and fifth Rolex watch), which ties him with Hurley Haywood for the most in Rolex 24 history.
While the winning side in DP had a very familiar look to it, the same could not be said for GT, at least as far as the manufacturer is concerned.
Audi has a long and illustrious sports car racing lineage. The German marque has built an absolutely sterling record at Le Mans where its sophisticated and blazingly fast prototypes, like the current R18 e-tron quattro, have established an almost iron-like grip on victory circle by winning 11 times in 13 tries since 2000.
Over the past several seasons, sports car fans on this side of the Atlantic have been able to see these cars (and their predecessors) in action just twice a year in long distance races on the American Le Mans Series calendar at Sebring and Road Atlanta. Sadly for many, this too is about to change. The R18 e-tron quattros will make their final appearances at Sebring on March 16 due to the fact the LMP1 class they compete in will not be a part of the new merged ALMS-Grand-Am series in 2014.
While Audi prototypes won’t be competing in North America for much longer, the same cannot be said for its customer-based production race cars, especially after the performance they turned in at the Rolex 24. The No. 24 Alex Job Racing Audi R8 took the GT class win – Audi’s first Rolex 24 class victory – and they were joined on the podium by the No. 52 APR Motorsport Audi R8 for an impressive 1-2 finish. Overall, Audi placed four entries in the top 12 in GT, the same as Ferrari and its arch-rivals from Porsche.
Speaking of Ferrari, it was with the legendary Italian sports-car manufacturer that Canada had its best performance in this year’s race. AIM Autosport, based in Woodbridge, Ontario won the Rolex Series GT class title with a Ferrari 458 in 2012 on the strength of sterling performances from drivers Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato, which resulted in three wins and eight podium finishes in 12 races.
At this year’s Rolex 24, AIM had two 458s entered in GT, the No. 61 R. Ferri AIM Autosport Racing with Ferrari and the No. 69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD Racing with Ferrari. While the No. 61, which featured a star driver lineup consisting of NASCAR and IndyCar star Max Papis, ex-F1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella, sports car veteran Toni Vilander and Segal, was strong early, it faded to back of the GT pack and was never much a factor in the race. It finished in 21st (32nd overall).
The sister car, however, was a factor at the end thanks in part to strong stints (including the final one) by Mark Wilkins of Toronto, which landed the No. 69 on the third step of the GT podium. Wilkins, along with co-drivers Assentato, Craig Stanton, Nick Longhi and Anthony Lazzaro, were also helped tremendously on the final lap by a little misfortune when the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Audi R8 being driven by Markus Winkelhock ran out of fuel. Winkelhock was running third at the time in a bid to give Audi a 1-2-3 podium sweep when his R8 lost power.
In the newly-minted GX class, the No. 16 Napleton Racing Porsche Cayman driven by Jim Norman, Shane Lewis, Nelson Canache and David Donohue was the class of the field and went on to win after building up a substantial lead.
Coming home in second in class was the No. 22 Bullet Racing Porsche Cayman GX.R. The Vancouver-based team has competed in the GT class in the Rolex 24 on several occasions, but this result was their best result by far. Among its roster of five drivers are Canadians Karl Thomson and Darryl O’Young. Daniel Rogers, James Clay and Seth Thomas rounded out Bullet Racing’s second in class effort.
BMW Performance 200
On the undercard of the Rolex 24 at Daytona was the BMW Performance 200 featuring the Continental Sports Car Challenge. Like the Rolex 24, this race featured a number of Canadian drivers and a couple of Canadian-based teams.
While the No. 61 Roush Performance Mustang Boss 302R GT driven by Billy Johnson and Jack Roush, Jr. won the Grand Sport class and the overall race, Toronto-based Multimatic Motorsports gave a good account of itself with its four-car armada of Aston Martin Vantages. The No. 15 entry driven by David Empringham and John Farano (both from Toronto) finished second, while the No. 16 driven by Nick Mancuso and Frankie Montecalvo captured the third spot on the podium. The other two entries, the Nos. 71 and 55, finished in 11th and 12th respectively.
In the Street Tuner class, the No. 25 Skullcandy Team Nissan Altima driven by Vesko Kozarov and Lara Tallman took the win (a first for a female driver in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition since 2011). Slotting into the second position on the podium was the No. 81 BimmerWorld Racing BMW 328i driven by Tyler Cooke and Greg Liefooghe, while the Toronto-based No. 75 Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si driven by Ryan Eversley and Kyle Gimple finished third.
Daytona Postscript – The No. 74 Compass Racing Honda Civic Si was involved in a serious accident 12 laps into the BMW Performance 200. Driver David Thilenius suffered six broken ribs in the crash, but according to a recent update from the team via its Facebook page, Thilenius has been released from Daytona hospital and is recuperating at his home in California. The team indicated it expects him to be back in the seat for the race at Barber Motorsports Park in early April. PRN Ignition’s own Aaron Povoledo is Thilenius’ co-driver in the No. 74.
