Tag: Daytona International Speedway

Rolex 24- Some Thoughts from Afar

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Six and a half hours of fog mad the finish closer than it should have been. Felipe Nasr and the number 7 Porsche Penske dominated the entire race from start to finish. Only body damage to the sister car, number 6, kept this edition of the Rolex 24 from ending in a 1-2 Porsche finish.

For Nasr and Penske it was three in a row, a rare feat in endurance racing.

Congratulations to the other class winners:

LMP2- Crowdstrike

GTD Pro Paul Miller Racing BMW

GTD Winward Racing Mercedes

IndyCar Drivers

Will Power had the best race among the IndyCar drivers in the field. The GTD Pro Merce3des team Power drove for finished second in class.

Other results:

GTP

Alex Palou- 5th

Colton nHerta 6th

Scott Dixon 9th

LMP2

Nolan Siegel 3rd

Kyffin Simpson 8th

GTD Pro

Power 2nd

Kyle Kirkwood 10th

GTD

Marcus Ericsson 8th

Scott McLaughlin 17th

Callum Ilott 20th

TV Coverage

I watched most of the race on Peacock The coverage was mostly okay. They seemed to do a more balanced job this year of covering all four classes, including the b collision in GTD late in the race while a battle for first overall was going on.

There were far too many commercial breaks, especially near the end of the race. When Leigh Diffey said they would go nonstop for the final 13 minutes, I thought, “How generous!”

With a six hour plus caution for fog, surely NBC/Peacock could have gotten in many of their breaks during that time.

I loved all the vintage clips the network showed this year. More of that, please.

On the other hand, the announcers seemed obsessed with mentioning A J Allmendinger constantly. Yes, he is a great driver. Yes, he has won the Rolex 24. I like A J. He is a really good guy. I just think the network should have just put him on staff if they want to mention him so much.

Final Thoughts

2026 was the first Rolex I have not attended in person since the pandemic. Since I closed Winter Headquarters late last year, I’m not sure when I will get back to Daytona.

The track announced record attendance, and I find that plausible. Each year I went, the crowd seemed larger than the previous year. The track is moving toward reserved camp spaces starting in 2027. I’m anxious to see how that works out.

I will try to get to Sebring, my favorite sports car race in North America.

I’ll be back tomorrow with some IndyCar happenings. Content days begin tomorrow, so there should be lots of news.

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@jsoupzzz24

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IndyCar Drivers In the Rolex 24

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Photo: Will Power taking his first laps at Daytona

Ten current IndyCar drivers, possibly an 11th, will get their seasons going early as they drive in this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona Internation Speedway. Colton Herta, who will drive in F2 in 2026, will also join the field.

Will Power makes his Rolex 24 debut. From what I have read, he really enjoyed the Roar Before the 245 last weekend.

Here is a list of the cars and classes where IndyCar drivers will be driving: Romain Grosjean is included. Rumors are strong that he will get the final open seat in the Dale Coyne Racing number 19.

GTP

Car 40 Colton Herta Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac

Car 60 Scott Dixon Meyer Shank Racing Acura

Car 94 Alex Palou Meyer Shank Racing Acura

LMP2

Car 8 Kyffin Simpson Tower Motorsport Oreca (Teammate Sebastien Bourdais)

Car 99 Christian Rasmussen AO Racing Oreca

Car 343 Nolan Siegel Inter Europol Oreca

GTD Pro

Car 14 Kyle Kirkwood Vasser Sullivan Lexus


Car 75 Will Power 75 Express Mercedes AMG

Car 45 Marcus Ericsson Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini

GTD

Car 16 Romain Grosjean Myers Riley Mustang

Car 36 Scott McLaughlin DXDT Corvette

Car 129 Callum Ilott Wright Motorsport Porsche

I will have a story about the Rolex every day this week as I watch the happenings remotely from home this time.

Rolex 24 Wrap Up-A Penske Repeat; Late Update: Tower Disqualified

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A late update: Tower Motorsports gas been disqualified from its LMP2 win, and the victory in the class goes to United Autosport car 22

Daniel Goldburg, Paul di Resta, Rasmus Lindh and James Allen were 44 seconds behind at the finish. The disqualification was due to excessive wear on on a skid block.

This time it wasn’t as close, and the race actually went the entire 24 hours. The Penske Porsches both finished on the podium in GTP, with 7 car driven by Nick Tandy, Felipe Nasr, and Laurens Vanthoor coming home first. It was Vanthoor’s first Rolex win.

Meyer Shank’s number 60 Acura spoiled a Penske 1-2 by getting by car 6 late in the race. It was a triumphant return to IMSA for the Meyer Shank team, who sat out last year after being disqualified from the win in 2023. The team included IndyCar drivers Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist, who joined regular drivers Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist.

There was high attrition and 14 yellow flag periods, which seemed like more as several came in rapid succession in the middle of the night. 16 cars dropped out of the race, and several others got repaired and returned to action. A five car crash in turn 1 in the ninth hour took out cars from the top three classes. There was an audible groan from the crowd in the plaza watching on the jumbotron when AO Racing’s number 77 Porsche, “Rexy,” was involved.

As usual, the Rolex 24 is 21 and a half hours of getting into position to contend during the last 150 minutes. As usual, it was a show worth waiting for. It was evident most of the race that GTP would come down to four cars- the Porsches, an Acura, and the number 24 BMW. The BMW faded from the group with about three hours left, but by then it was clear that the 7 was the best car. The fight was for second, and the Acura prevailed.

Night racing is the best.

In LMP2, Sebastien Bourdais adde to his Rolex collection in the Tower motorsports entry. He teamed with John Farano, Sebastian Alvarez, and Job Van Uitert.

GTD Pro saw a classic battle between Corvette and Mustang, which was fun to watch. The Mustang, in only its second year in IMSA, won, and the other team car finished third. Winning drivers in car 65 were Christoopher Mies, Dennis Olsen, and Frederic Vervisch.

Corvette prevailed in GTD, however, with the AWA entry, Drivers Marvin Kirchhofer, Lars Kern, Orey Fidani, and Matthew Bell piloted the car.

Alex Palou drove the number 93 Acura. The car encountered issues and finished 40 laps off the pace. Scott McLaughlin’s team finished ninth in GTD Pro.in the Trackhouse Corvette.

Notes

The amount of cautions allowed the leaders to complete only781 laps. Only the top three cars were on the lead lap at the finish.

The Lamborghini team, with Romain Grosjean as one of the drivers, did not last long and was the first car to retire.

Attendance at the Rolex 24 seems to grow each year. It is getting to the point where the track needs to exert more crowd control, especially in the general camping areas. I think reserved camping spots for everyone should be implemented. Humans are territorial by nature, and some seem to be trying to take more space than they need.

The grid walk gets more crowded every year.

Ask First -AO Racing reported that fans took some damaged parts from Rexy’s crashed car without permission. While some teams are happy to give away some parts, fans need to ask before they tak anything. Some teams can’t afford to give away anything, even if it is damaged. I would hate to see a ban on giving parts away to fans, but if this continues, the track and series might have to say no more giveaways.

Rolex 24 Preview

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Photo – IMSA

Nine fulltime IndyCar drivers from last season and a half dozen others who drove at some point in the series in 2024 will race this weekend in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.

IndyCar team owners also have entries in the 61-car field, with Meyer Shank returning to competition and Chip Ganassi Racing out for this year. Penske will field two Porsches, Rahal has 2 BMWs and Meyer Shank returns with 2 Acuras in the GTP class.

Andretti Global still has a stake in Wayne Taylor Racing’s 2 Cadillac entries.

BMW was strong during the Roar this past weekend, as were the Porsches from Proton and JDC-Miller.

IndyCar Drivers

The IndyCar drivers by class, car number, and manufacturer

GTP

60- Scott Dixon, Felix Rosenqvist Acura

63- Romain Grosjean Lamborghini

93- Alex Palou Acura

LMP 2

04 Colton Herta

8 Sebastien Bourdais

71- Hunter McElrea

73- Callum Ilott, Pietro Fittipaldi

99- Christian Rasmussen

GTD Pro

14- Kyle Kirkwood, Townsend Bell Lexus

91- Scott McLaughlin Corvette

GTD

12- Kirkwood Lexus

Kirkwood will be driving both Vasser Sullivan cars.

Other drivers of note to watch:

Former F1 driver Kevin Magnussen in the BMW number 24.

Australian Supercar champion Shane van Gisbergen and teen sensation Connor Zilisch on Scott McLaughlin’s team.

Weather

Weather usually comes into play during the weekend, and as of now rain could affect qualifying. Saturday and Sunday look dry but cooler than normal. The temperature at the start of the race should be around 60 degrees, drop to the upper 40s overnight, and finish with the air at 65 degrees.

There has been worse weather for the race, both precipitation and temperature wise, but I think the event would be better served by moving it to the first weekend in February. Florida begins to warm as the second month of the year begins.

Coverage

Qualifying on Thursday will be streamed live on Peacock, beginning at 2:05 pm Eastern.

The entire race will be streamed on Peacock, IMSA TV, and YouTube.

Over the air coverage:

All times eastern

NBC

Saturday

1:30 pm-2:30 pm

Sunday

Noon-2:00 pm

USA Network

Saturday

2:30 pm-6:30 pm

Busy Week for Indycar Drivers- Testing, Rolex24

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More than half of the full time Indycar will complete a busy week Sunday aer the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The drivers began the week in Homestead testing a team car in the spec for the first part of the Indycar Series season without the hybrid component. The car is lighter and should produce quicker times. +

Andretti Global was the quickest at the 10-car test with Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood leading sessions. Felix Rosenquist of MSR, a team allied with AG, also lead a half day round.

Jack Harvey returned to the series, driving for Dale Coyne Racing for two of the three days. Indy NXT Rookie of the Year Nan Seigel also got some time in a Coyne car.

Rolex 24 Features Indycar Drivers Throughout the Field

Fourteen drivers from the Indycar Series will participate in tomorrow’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. James Hinchcliffe will also drive in the GTD Pro class.

The GTP Cadillacs have been strong in practice. Can they put it together for 24 hours?

Full Race on Peacock; Start/Finish on NBC; USA Segments

The Pit Window News

The Pit Window will begin the move to Winter Headquarters on Monday. I hate not being at Daytona this weekend, but I will be on site for St. Pete and Sebring. The good news, I will be attending a 24 hour race this summer.

December and the first part of January has been brutal health wise for us, but we will finally get to Florida by mid week.

Here’s hoping for a safe, fun Rolex 24, and at least one Indycar driver in Victory Lane.

Rolex 24 Wrap Up

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Even before Dayna international Speedway announced a record attendance for the race, I knew it. I felt it, I saw it. It was in the jam- packed food court, and the long lines for at food trucks that in years past, you could walk right up to anytime. The record crowd was in the hoseshoe grandstand, which was nearly full all the time. In other years, it empties out after the fireworks Saturday night. When I returned Sunday afternoon, I swear some fans had been there the entire 24 hours.

The 61st Rolex had some improvements, but they still have a long way to go. Wifi was available in the infield campgrounds, but not in the main grandstand. Two video boards were added, one in the food court and one near turn 1. One is needed in the horseshoe and two more should be installed on the front stretch.

The Grid Walk, always a disaster waiting to happen, was worse than ever. The problem is getting everyone through just a couple of narrow openings, then having the crowd wait for race teams to drive through to prepare for the race. What the track and IMSA should do is have more and wider openings, and not have an entry point through the garages and near pit entrance. Once everyone gets out to the track, everything is fine, but management needs to work on the getting there part.

My Weekend

This year was my third camping experience. I have learned a lot from my friends Brian runnells and Debbie Howard, and I felt more comfortable camping this time. I was much better prepared, for one thing. Thursday night Doug Boles came to our campsite. he usually pops in, but this year he was taking an in depth look at how campers set up to give him an idea of what IMS might look like for the IMSA race this fall. He spoke to several groups of campers and viewed their setups.Bokles is always learning to improve IMS.

I had an ice chat with him about the Speedway honoring Bill Vukovich this year on the 70th anniversary of his first win. I think we will see something. We had a great chat about Vuky.

GTP- History Made

The race saw the debut of the GTP class, which replaced the DPi cars. It was refreshing. The new cars, represented by Cadillac, Acura, Porsche, and BMW, each have a distinct look. It was nice to see race cars have some variety in appearance. I thought the BMW were the best looking of this class. It was nice to be able to tell which car was approaching by its looks.

In addition to the distinctive front, there were some differences in the body style and sidepods. More of this diversity, please.

I expected the cars to have more issues in the race than they did. Only two cars fell out of contention early, and the others finished the race.

The Race

I don’t know how this happens, but after 24 hours you wouldn’t expect a class battle to come down to a pass at the line. The LMP2 finish was incredible.

In GTP, Acuras were the fastest cars, and Cadillac I thought performed better than expected. Porsches were the most disappointing. The Penske team had more development and test time than the other teams.

It was nice to see Cooper McNeil win in his final Rolex24 in the GTD class.

Yellow flags flew early and often, but then there was a stretch of six hours of continuous green flag racing. Yellows in the last hour added a bit of drama, but in the end helped the contenders with it strategy.

Too Many Classes?

While it was fantastic to see a field of 61 cars take the green, I wonder if IMSA could cut back to three classes. i don’t think it would hurt the product.

I think IMSA should eliminate the LMP3 class and consolidate GTD and GTD Pro. LMP3 cars are barely quicker than the GTD cars, and both GTD classes run the same equipment. It was challenging enough frying to follow four classes, let alone five.

This might be a case of addition by subtraction.

I will have a photo gallery up at some point tomorrow.

Some Indycar Notes

Congratulations to Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud, who were part of the winning team, the number 60 Acura of Meyer Shank Racing.

Tomorrow and Wednesday are Indycar media days. All drivers will talk to the media, and I will share what I find out. Thursday and Friday is Indycar Spring Training, with 11 hours of practice at the Thermal Club near Palm Springs, California, split into two sessions each day..

Timing and scoring is available, but there is no streaming, one of the pitfalls of going to a club track

Rolex 24 Entry List, Spotter Guide Links

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Just about to head to Daytona. Here are links to the entry list and Andy Blackmore’s fabulous spotter guide.

Entry list:

Click to access 2023-01-25-Rolex-24-IWSC-Official-Entry-List.pdf

Spotter guide:

https://spotterguides.com/portfolio/23/imsa/

I will post the weekend schedule this afternoon. Follow my Twiter ab=nd Facebook forphotos all weekend.

Blomqvist Puts Meyer Shank Acura on Rolex Pole

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Meyer Shank Racing’s Acura had paced the practice sessions, but a red flag with five minutes left in qualifying looked to quash their shot at the pole for Saturday’s Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona International Speedway.

Nick Tandy crashed in the bus stop, tearing part of the nose off of his Penske Porsche. he drove the damaged car back to the pits, but the cleanup on track took most of the remaining time in the 20 minute session. IMSA allowed the GTP cars one more flying lap.

Blomqvist was last on track and turned a lap of 1:34. to take the pole from Ricky Taylor in the Wayne Tayor with Andretti Acura. Taylor had the fastest time before the red flag. He finished third.

Pole winners for each of the five classes:

Notes

Kevin Magnussen has withdrawn from the race. He needs surgery on his hand. Will Power withdrew earlier/

A friend of mine who was at the Roar last weekend. thinks the Porsches will be very strong in the race.

Attrition in the GTP class might be high. it’s the first race for the new cars and engines.

Ricky Taylor will have an Indycar test with Andretti Autosport. I hop eit leads to at least a ride in the 2024 Indianapolis 500.