Rolex 24 at Daytona

PHOTO CREDIT: KABEL PHOTO

The 2011 event kicked off with the “Roar” a couple of weeks before race week and we immediately knew this years Rolex was going to be one tough race. In qualifying the biggest surprise was the Flying Lizard Motorsport Daytona Prototype. It was their first time running a DP and with that, the car was also a two year old car, that they leased, with a true Porsche flat six engine compared to the usual V8 engines many of the DP cars use, especially the Porsche powered ones who use the V8 from a Cayenne SUV. Joerg Bergmeister stuck the car on pole in a huge shocker while also setting a new track record. Flying Lizard is a major ALMS GT team.

As the green flag dropped at 3:30PM on Saturday the race was immediately a sprint race in typical Rolex 24 fashion. Flying Lizard kept a strong lead until small issues here and there started to break their strong running including being rear ended causing damage. The car eventually fell out of the race entirely on Sunday with a fire with just an hour and a half left in the race.

One of the biggest stories throughout the race was tires. Many teams suffered tire issues throughout the race, many of which were thought to of been from the new track surface, the heat, and the lack of testing in warmer conditions. The oval section of the track was just paved in a huge work effort finishing not long before testing. Daytona has only been repaved twice in history and the track had a nice $20 million bill.

On Sunday however it was the Ganassi Racing BMW Riley that took the overall win as the checkered flag waved at the 3:30PM mark beating the second place car, also a Ganassi Racing car by just a little over two seconds. The third spot on the podium was filled with the Action Express Racing Porsche Riley.

In the GT catagory it was the TRG Porsche GT3 that took the overall win, followed by the Paul Miller Racing Porsche, and finishing up the podium was the Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 owned by Joe Foster and famous “McDreamy” actor Patrick Dempsey.

The 2011 Rolex 24 provided another exciting race and happy drivers on the podium with new Rolex watches. As always, the race had blood, tears, and broken hearts. It’s been said the Rolex 24 is one of the hardest endurance races, it has an extremely long night, and when the sun rises you’re not almost home. Another 24 is now past and already teams aim new goals for the 2012 edition.

The Rolex Sports Car Series heads to Homestead in March for the second round of the series.

Unlike the Daytona 500, the fans all crowd the infield instead of the grandstands. The Rolex 24 uses an infield road course and sections of the high banks to form a 3.56 mile road course.

Every sports car race has much more to do than just watch the on track action. There is no telling what beauty you can find.

The grid packed before the start as the SpeedSource Mazda awaits a long road ahead.

Race cars are equipped with a pit lane speed limiter that allows the driver to simply push a button and not worry about keeping the car at the required pit lane speed.

The Dempsey Racing Mazda. Third place in GT.

The Flying Lizard Daytona Prototype.

Function at its finest.

The Rolex 24 has seen numerous charity works throughout the years, one of the teams this year continues to help the Seattle Children’s Hospital.

The Dempsey Racing Mazda on way to a third place podium.

A Daytona Prototype that has scooped up dirt in the radiator intakes. During pit stops many teams frequently blow the front of the car with compressed air to insure solid airflow to the front end. It’s small things like that that can lead to a finish or a failure in endurance racing.

The 2011 race winning BMW Riley Daytona Prototype.

The GT class Turner Motorsport BMW M3.

Porsches duke it out in GT.

The Flying Lizard car soldiered to the end.

The Rolex 24 is an international race. There are many sponsors world wide, seen here is South African Airways sponsorship on a GT class Porsche.

A GT class BMW M6.

The Dempsey Racing Mazda followed closely by a GT Camaro.

As always the Rolex 24 is a hard game to play. It may be twenty four hours long, but racing is tough and brutal.

The sole Flying Lizard Daytona Prototype qualified on pole and set a new track record their first time out, but race problems sent them down the order and with just an hour and a half left had a fire that put them out for good.

The name Brumos has massive history at the Rolex and once again Hurley Haywood, five time 24 Hours of Daytona winner, returns from retirement to once again drive a Brumos car in the 24.