First off, it’s been a while since I’ve last blogged. In fact, it’s been close to a year. I hope to reverse this trend and provide insight into the 2010 sportscar racing season with more frequent blog entries. While I can’t promise anything due to my work commitments, I’ll give it my best shot.
With that in mind, I felt it’s best to first take a look back at the annual sportscar season-opener, the Rolex 24 at Daytona. This year’s twice-around-the-clock classic again lived up to the hype, with an exciting race both in the Daytona Prototype and Grand Touring categories. I had the pleasure of covering the event SPEEDtv.com for the first time, although it was my fifth consecutive year at the Rolex 24. Time sure does fly by when you’re in this business.
As usual, the event went by in a flash, especially thanks to the weekend’s condensed format. With three rounds of practice and the first qualifying session all crammed in on Thursday, plus two more practice sessions and final qualifying on Friday, and not to mention the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Fresh From Florida 200, getting through the first two grueling days is almost as tough as the race itself.
After two days of what seemed like non-stop writing, interviewing, shooting and editing, race morning rolled around, and we were all fearing the worst. Rain had been in the forecast for nearly a week and was well documented in Marshall Pruett’s Daytona Prototype preview. While I initially shrugged off the threat, thinking the storms would never come, or at least blow over quickly, I could have not been more wrong.
The rain began to fall around noon-time, just over three hours before the start of the race. While we all took refuge in the media center, I had courageously volunteered to take the start photo of the race, not realizing how heavy the rain really was. Having survived the torrential conditions at the Petit Le Mans last year, I had invested in proper rain gear for my cameras and myself so I felt like I was well-prepared this time around. Wrong. As it turned out, most of my rain gear was mistakenly left at home, and I found myself in a race against the clock to prepare for the race start.
With some help from the Daytona media staff, who provided a spare garbage bag to cover one of my cameras, I was off and rolling with veteran motorsports photographer Bob Chapman. While we both had intentions of shooting the race start from the main grandstands on the outside of the track, Bob had heard the traditional shot had been obstructed due to the installation of taller catch fence. With that in mind, we stayed in the infield and headed towards the second hairpin. Let me just say this, it turned out to be the best decision made all weekend.
After a few hours out in the soggy, but drying conditions, hitching rides on golf carts from Bob and Rich Chenet, it was my turn to take over the live race blogging duties on SPEEDtv.com and kick start our expanded race coverage of the race. Together with Marshall and with the help of Robb Holland, we churned out an impressive amount of content during the overnight hours. In addition to the live race blog, we got numerous “Ask The Driver” submitted questions answered, participated in live online chats with Bob Varsha, David Hobbs, Chris Neville, Justin Bell, Jack Baldwin and many others stopping by, plus a few hours of rest before sunrise.
By morning, I was thanking myself for bringing my winter jacket. With daytime temperatures in the mid-50s coupled with gusty winds, it had reminded me of the near-freezing conditions we braved at the Thunderhill 25 Hours last December. The action on the track, though, helped heat us up, as a fierce battle for the overall lead developed. As it would have it, luck went in the way of Action Express Racing, which benefited from a late-race blunder by the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-BMW of Justin Wilson.
The win for Joao Barbosa, Terry Borcheller, Mike Rockenfeller and Ryan Dalziel took many of us by surprise considering the ’star power’ in the race. As it turned out, this year’s Rolex 24 was another race of attrition, with many unexpected engine and mechanical failures for the top teams. While Action Express may have not won the race on pure speed, their Porsche Cayenne V8-powered Riley had the reliability and driver smarts to make it the distance.
The GT race was equally rewarding considering SpeedSource’s comeback from an overnight crash. A dejected John Doonan, Motorsports Manager for Mazda North America, came into the media center around midnight, informing us that the No. 70 Mazda RX-8 was hit by a DP and lost over seven laps undergoing repairs. Hopes for the class win appeared to be over, but the SpeedSource boys never gave up.
Slowly, but surely, the midnight black RX-8 driven by Sylvain Tremblay, Nick Ham, David Haskell and Jonathan Bomarito climbed the leaderboard as an increasing amount of GT contenders fell by the wayside. With a handful of hours remaining, the No. 70 car was in the lead and en route to its second class win in three years. It’s a tale of never giving up, even in the toughest of times.
While this year’s Rolex 24 may have not been one for the ages, it certainly ranks as one of the more memorable endurance races in recent memory. And after surviving another Rolex 24, I can’t wait for the next one!
On Monday, Didier Theys announced his retirement from the sport, leaving some sports car loyalists reflecting back on the Belgian’s storied career. While writing the news story for Motorsport.com on his retirement, I couldn’t help but realize how much of an impact Theys had on endurance racing over the past fifteen years.
It hit a soft spot for me in particular, as some of my earliest memories of sports car racing involved Theys. I still remember watching ESPN’s telecast of the 1998 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, where he and co-drivers Gianpiero Mortelli, Mauro Baldi and Arie Luyendyk sailed to victory in their Doran Racing/Momo Ferrari 333 SP. And of course there was 2002 – the final year for SRPs at Daytona – when Theys went to Daytona victory lane for the second time piloting Doran Racing’s Lista Dallara Judd. Daytona was a magical place back then.
Theys’ SRP championship in 2002 was also memorable. He even took a stab at Daytona Prototype racing the following year, although only for a handful of races. He and Lienhard were itching to go back to “proper” prototype racing and after entering a few ALMS events with Lienhard’s Dallara, the duo took up a new challenge in the European-based Le Mans Series. Theys enjoyed success there too, picking up two LMP2 class wins with Horag Racing – the last coming at the Monza 1000km in 2007 – with Lienhard and Eric van de Poele.
Theys’ retirement actually comes one year earlier than expected, as he had hoped to once again compete with Horag Racing in the Le Mans Series with Lienhard’s Porsche RS Spyder. However, with Lienhard retiring last year, and the current economic climate, funding wasn’t apparently found for the program to continue, which is a real shame.
Over the years, Theys never had to prove himself on the race track. He always had the speed, consistency and veteran mentality to bring the car home in one piece, and usually on the top. You don’t see a lot of that today, as young ex-open-wheel hot shoes are brought in and told to go flat out, sometimes risking it all. The star power in sports car racing has changed, and while it has made for intense racing and increased exposure, it’s not the same as it was ten years ago.
Luckily, Theys will not vanish from the sport, as he’s already become active in driver coaching and instructing. He’ll likely be showing his face at the racetrack from time to time, reminiscing on his storied past.
Below, you will find a selection of my photos from the 2007 season when Theys made select American Le Mans Series appearances. That year, he, Fredy Lienhard and Eric van de Poele steered Horag Racing’s Lola Judd at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, and Theys, Lienhard and Andrea Bertolini were a part of Doran Racing’s two-race effort with a Maserati MC12.
I couldn’t help but stare in amazement Saturday evening as Raphael Matos took the checkered flag to claim his maiden Daytona Prototype race win in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series season-ending race at Miller Motorsports Park. The young Brazilian, along with season-long co-drivers Ian James and John Pew, scored Michael Shank Racing’s second consecutive win, and first for the Ford-powered No. 6 machine.
photo by: Grand-Am
Matos took control of the 1000km race in the closing stages when his crew got him out ahead of the competition after pit stops during a late caution. Once the field got the green, Matos took off and pulled away from everyone. Nobody was able to catch him in the end.
The fact that just two weeks earlier, Matos was standing in victory lane at Chicagoland Speedway, holding the Indy Lights title in his hands. It was his third professional championship, adding to his Star Mazda and Atlantic titles earned in 2005 and 2007, respectively. He also won the Skip Barber National Championship in 2003.
Matos has been a poster child for Mazda, as most of his success has come with the Japanese brand. He claimed his first sports car victory earlier this year in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, piloting a SpeedSource Mazda RX-8.
With a win in the opening and closing Rolex Series events of 2008, and in two different classes, Matos becomes one of the only, if not the first, multi-class winner in the Rolex Series (since the DP’s introduction in 2003).
Now, Matos is onto his next challenge, teaming with Ben Devlin and Gerardo Bonilla in B-K Motorsports’ brand-new Lola B08/86 Mazda in next weekend’s Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. The LMP2 Coupe will be a new challenge for all three, as they go up against the mights of Porsche and Acura. But given Matos’ track record this year, don’t count anything out.
