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!
