Sunday Group Management

Motul Signs On as Title Sponsor of Petit Le Mans

Motul Signs On as Title Sponsor of Petit Le Mans

BRASELTON, Ga. (January 31, 2017) – Motul will serve as the title sponsor for the world-renowned Petit Le Mans 10-hour endurance race at Road Atlanta, as well as the Official Lubricant Partner of Road Atlanta and Petit Le Mans, track officials announced today.

The Motul Petit Le Mans, set for Oct. 4-7, is the final race and championship decider in this season’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as well as the ultimate race in the four-event Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup (TPNAEC).

The TPNAEC also includes other iconic endurance races at Daytona International Speedway, Sebring International Raceway and Watkins Glen International.

The long-term Motul partnership with Road Atlanta will include prominent trackside and facility-wide signage, display, hospitality and a robust in-market activation element.

“Motul set foot in the United States more than 25 years ago, yet we were missing a US landmark where we can share our passion for motorsport racing with our customers and Motul fans throughout the year,” said Motul USA president Guillaume Pailleret. “Road Atlanta is an iconic racing track in the North American racing world, hosting all major racing series and also an intense schedule of club racing all year long. We are extremely proud to be the Official Lubricant Partner of Road Atlanta and Petit Le Mans, as well as the entitlement sponsor for the 10-hour Petit Le Mans endurance race. Atlanta is the hub of the southern US and in that regard is also extremely strategic for us.”

The 2017 edition of Petit Le Mans will not only celebrate a new era of partnership with Motul, but it also serves as the closing of the second decade of the event. This year marks the milestone 20th anniversary of the first running, which was the foundation for Petit Le Mans to be known across the globe as one of the most iconic races and coveted wins in the world of motorsports.

Petit Le Mans and the Motul brand are further tied together by their mutual connection to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which has happened almost every year since 1923 in France and is the longest-running active sports car race on the planet.

“Road Atlanta is delighted to partner with Motul, a deep-rooted and truly international brand within the motorsports world, for the 20th anniversary of Petit Le Mans and beyond,” said Geoff Lee, president and general manager of Road Atlanta. “This endeavor adds even more long-term stability to our industry and to the race track, a trend that we’ve seen across sports car racing as a whole. The combination of both Motul and Petit Le Mans’ established connection to the 24 Hours of Le Mans paves the way for a very prosperous partnership, and one that we’re very much looking forward to getting started and building on.”

ABOUT MOTUL
Motul is a world-class French company specialized in the formulation, production and distribution of high-tech engine lubricants (two-wheelers, cars and other vehicles) as well as lubricants for industry via its Motultech activity.

Motul is also recognized as the specialist in synthetic lubricants. As early as 1971, Motul was the first lubricant manufacturer to pioneer the formulation of a 100% synthetic lubricant for automotive engines, the 300V lubricant, making use of Esters technology and issued from the aeronautical industry.

Throughout the years, Motul has gained experience as an official supplier to many racing teams and manufacturers and contributes with them to further technological development in motorsports.

Motul is supporting those teams in international competitions such as: 24 Hours of Le Mans (cars and motorcycles), FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Super GT, Drift, Pikes Peak, Japanese championship Super Formula, Blancpain Endurance Series, Dakar, Tour Auto, Le Mans Classic, MotoGP, World Superbike, World MX, FIM Endurance World Championship, IOM TT, MOTUL FIM Ice Speedway Gladiators World Championship, Roof of Africa and score of others.

ABOUT ROAD ATLANTA
Road Atlanta opened in 1970 and is recognized as one of the finest road racing circuits in North America. Located less than an hour north of downtown Atlanta, the track hosts several major events during the year including the world-famous Petit Le Mans, Drift Atlanta, The Mitty vintage classic, MotoAmerica superbike event and numerous club and corporate events.

Contact:

Kelsi Nilsson, Manager of Public Relations and Marketing, Road Atlanta

770.967.6143

knilsson

MOTUL Signs On As Title Sponsor of Petit Le Mans.pdf

MSA Wire: Cadillac DPis Running Strong Through First Four Hours of 55th Rolex 24

Cadillac DPis Running Strong Through First Four Hours of 55th Rolex 24

Jan. 28, 2017

Steven Cole Smith

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The sun has gone down, and so has the temperature – the cool but sunny conditions Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m., when the 55th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona took the green flag, are long gone. Four hours into the twice-around-the-clock endurance race, teams are watching the sky – and the weather radar – wondering if the rain the has remained just north of Daytona International Speedway will drift south. The temperature, currently 53 degrees, will drop to the mid-40s by the middle of the night.

Rain would make a long night even longer, as there has already been some attrition among the field of 55 cars. The leaders have covered 125 laps on the 3.56-mile infield roar course, and there are 10 cars that are more than 20 laps behind, including some promising entries like the No. 73 Park Place Porsche 911 GT3 R, sidelined when the No. 26 BAR1 Prototype Challenge car ran off into the grass, and slid into the Porsche when it got back on the pavement.

Also a surprise is the No. 14 3GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3, which has retired from the race due to a crash by driver Scott Pruett, who spun and hit the wall. “I felt like I got a little nudge from behind,” he said, possibly from a Corvette. “It’s just frustrating. It’s not how you want to get things going.”

The drivers of the three Cadillac DPi-V.R Prototypes seem to be having the most fun of anyone, absolutely dominating the first quarter of the race, swapping the lead between the No. 5 and 31 Action Express cars, and the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta Cadillac, that car driven twice by four-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon.

Gordon led the race during a caution period, but he admits he has some work to do to perfect his restarts. “These are crazier than NASCAR!” he said. “But I had a great time… it’s amazing. There’s an incredible crowd out here, so many cool cars, it’s a phenomenal race. And that’s why I want to be here and be a part of it.”

At the four-hour mark the No. 10 Cadillac was out front, followed by the No. 31 and No. 5, with the first non-Cadillac in fourth place, the No. 90 Visit Florida Multimatic/Riley P2 car. In Prototype Challenge, the No. 38 Performance Tech entry was leading.

In GT Le Mans, the No. 66 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT was out front, followed by the No. 3 Corvette Racing C7.R. And in GT Daytona, the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 was leading GT Daytona ahead of the No. 50 WeatherTech Mercedes AMG GT3.

We’ll have another report eight hours into the race. Presently, the race is airing on FS2, and radio coverage can also be found at IMSA.com.

Transcript: Rolex 24 PC – 1.29.17.doc

PC WINNERS
JAMES FRENCH

KYLE MASSON

NICK BOULLE

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by our Prototype Challenge class winners, co‑drivers of the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA FLM09, James French, Patricio O’Ward was another winner, we’re missing him, but we do have Kyle Masson and Nick Boulle. This is the second major U.S. sports car victory for the team, the first since the ALMS race in Baltimore of 2012, the first in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the first victory for all four of the drivers. Guys, congratulations.
Nick, why don’t we start with you. Obviously your car was pretty strong throughout the entire race. Just tell us what it means to get this win here today.
NICK BOULLE: To me, this is the most prestigious win in North American sports car racing. You get a lot of people from different disciplines, Jeff Gordon this year, guys from IndyCar and on and on. It’s a special, special day.
James put the car on pole, and it gave us a really great foundation and a lot of confidence, so we just stayed consistent, and despite being a young group, we’re smart and clean, worked our way through traffic, and it paid off.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Nick. Kyle, why don’t we move over to you. This is a close‑to‑home race. Can you tell us about getting the victory here?
KYLE MASSON: Well, it’s my first race in WeatherTech and my first win, and it’s pretty special to be here at Daytona, to win it as a one‑off race. But really, it was a team effort. We put together a really good team for the event, and we all performed spectacularly.
It is a local event for me, so it was mainly the one that I was trying to get into the most. It’s the one that has the most relevance in my local area, and so to bring home the win was really special.
THE MODERATOR: You’re from Orlando, correct?
KYLE MASSON: Yes.
THE MODERATOR: James, you started the race from the pole position. Again, this team, and you’ve been a part of it for quite a while, chipping away, chipping away it seemed like, and always very fast and close to the front. But for whatever reason it didn’t happen until yesterday and today. What finally fell into place for you guys to get this win?
JAMES FRENCH: I mean, I think it was a lot of pieces that had to come together. For one, just the nature of this race, you need luck on your side. There’s so many opportunities for things to go wrong, and with the crazy weather and everything, I mean, yeah, luck definitely played a part of it. But I think for the most part, it’s just having the right people involved. It’s such a close, close group of people at Performance Tech, and yeah, just having them all with the same mindset and all wanting to win for so long, it’s just bound to happen.

Q. James, you mentioned the weather. You were the unluckiest guy in the PC class with no roof over your head. How was it during the heavy rain? You must have been soaked with rain totally.

JAMES FRENCH: Yeah, to answer your question, the rain was just freezing cold. That’s the best way I can describe it. It was like 40‑something degrees, 42 degrees, and we were all soaking wet. It was cold, not a lot of grip. Basically trying to control the car in the slippery conditions with numb fingers and numb feet, it was pretty tough. But we all managed to survive.

Q. James, overnight obviously we had a lot of rain, and the PC class in particular had a lot of trouble adjusting to the conditions, and a lot of this discussion on Twitter seemed to center around really tricky power delivery. You have the most experience with the PC car since you drove both with the current rules and before the TC was added. Can you talk a little bit about the power delivery of the ORECA FLM09?

JAMES FRENCH: Yeah, so basically I think it was at Sebring last year, they added the TC systems, but they really only help in a straight line, so they don’t have a yaw sensor, so basically mid‑corner trying to get to power, it doesn’t really help you at all. So if you get to throttle it’ll eliminate the percent of slip in one axis, but yeah, you can still over steer and it doesn’t help you very much. Yeah, it’s still very difficult even with the TC.

Q. When you look at all kind of the lost opportunities you’ve had in PC where there’s been a lot of close‑to wins and just went away through almost no fault of your own, to actually get one, were you thinking, this is going too good, there’s going to be something, a $1.50 part breaks and go from there?

JAMES FRENCH: Yeah, I tried to ignore those thoughts, believe me, especially with this being the last season, and to not have a win up to this point, it definitely occurred that, okay, the opportunities are getting more and more slim. But yeah, it just seemed like everything was going really smoothly. To be honest, it wasn’t a surprise. Like I said before, we do have a really good group of people, and everybody puts in the hard work, so it was not too much of a surprise it finally came together.
THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, congratulations, thanks for joining us.
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Rolex 24 GTD – 1.29.17.doc

GTD WINNERS

CARLOS DE QUESADA

DANIEL MORAD

JESSE LAZARE

MICHAEL DE QUESADA

MICHAEL CHRISTENSEN

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, we are joined now by our GT Daytona class winners in the 55th Rolex 24 at Daytona, the season opener for the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, drivers of the No. 28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT 3R: Carlos de Quesada, Daniel Morad, Jesse Lazare, Michael de Quesada and Michael Christensen.
This is the second Rolex 24 victory for Alegra Motorsports and Carlos. They also won in 2007 in the GT class. First Rolex 24 win for Michael Christensen. This is his fifth Rolex 24 start, and for the other three drivers, this was their first Rolex 24 start.
Jesse Lazare is the 2016 IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama Platinum Cup champion. Michael de Quesada is the 2016 Porsche GT3 Cup USA by Yokohama Golf Cup Champion, and Daniel is the 2016 IMSA Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama Platinum champion.
Congratulations to them. This is also the 69th victory for Porsche in the Rolex 24, 47th class victory in the Rolex 24. Carlos, you’ve been here before, but it’s been a little while. Congratulations, and tell us how it feels to have assembled this team and really made the decision to invest in these young drivers to get them here to the top step of the podium at the Rolex 24.
CARLOS De QUESADA: Well, no, I’m obviously very excited to be here. Ten years ago we won the 24 hours, and it was just something that ‑‑ it was just unbelievable for us. We had the right team, the right drivers, the right equipment. Everything after that is luck. I told these guys the same thing.
When I assembled this team, we ran Daniel Morad with Alegra Motorsports up in Canada and he won the Platinum Cup Championship up there along with the North American Cup Championship, and then Michael, my son, went ahead and won the gold class in the USA. Because we were also running some USA Cup races, Daniel and Jesse Lazare were racing against each other and we were watching Jesse race, and just the quality of driver that he is, we decided to go ahead and invite him to drive with us for the 24 hours.
It’s just been amazing. I can’t believe that actually we’re sitting here. I’m still in shock right now, so just bear with me. These kids were just unbelievable. We went to the first test, they performed extremely well. They slowly built up to it. They always listen. You can tell them time and time again how many bad incidents can happen out there on the track, and they were just so cautious. They listened, they weren’t pushing the car too hard. They were being safe with it, and what more can you ask from these kids. They clicked off the lap times and kept the car safe the whole time. There’s not one scratch on our car, which I think back in 2007 we had a front bumper and a bunch of stuff missing on that car. I really give it to these kids. They did a great job. I call Michael Christensen, man, what a performance by this driver. He got in the car with less than three hours to go and just performed flawlessly, not one mistake. All the pressure was on him, and just the fact that he performed like that with all that pressure really was just incredible to watch.
THE MODERATOR: Daniel, congratulations, first time here at the Rolex 24 and you take home a watch. Tell us what that means to you.
DANIEL MORAD: I mean, it’s more than just material for sure. The watches ‑‑ I’m not going to say no to it. Who would, right? That’s what we’re here for. But it’s extremely special. Going back to 2015, leading up to this season, I hadn’t raced for four years, and prior to that I was racing in Europe actually against Michael in the GP3 series. It’s funny that we meet again, and this time thankfully in our car, because with a drive like that I wouldn’t want to drive against you. He just showed his class. He’s a true legend, and one of the best sports car racers in the world, and he showed that today.
But it’s a team effort, really. Carlos gave all of us the opportunity when no one would, no team owner would take the risk on four young drivers and put them together. But I think we were one of the only cars that had not a single scratch on it. We might need new vinyl or a new wrap, but I think the car is immaculate, and that all stems down from Carlos with his experience and his knowledge, also winning this race before. Just like he mentioned, he explained how anything can go wrong and just remove yourself from those dangerous situations, set everything up for the end.
And also Michael, he has a ton of experience. He’s done Le Mans twice, he’s raced the Rolex 24 twice and shared his wealth of knowledge with us, with us young guns, even though I’m the same age as Michael. But yeah, also Michael de Quesada and Jesse Lazare, just unbelievable drive. I think Michael de Quesada might be the youngest winner in the history of this race. I don’t know by how many years. You might be able to tell me.
THE MODERATOR: We will have to research that a little bit before we have a full answer. I’m sure it’s very close if not a record, so we’ll get that information and share it with you and the rest of the group here.
DANIEL MORAD: Before I stop talking because I love talking, in case you haven’t noticed, I just want to really say thanks to the team. Every single member of that team, whether they were moving tires from Continental and bringing them to our tent or changing tires, doing driver changes, every single member performed immaculately and perfectly and without them, we wouldn’t have been in this situation. We got into a very difficult spot in the race where we went a few laps down, and the team made some excellent calls and they were just flawless in the pit stops, and that last one specifically, that won us the race, aside from Michael’s brilliant drive.
Thanks.
THE MODERATOR: Let’s move over to Michael de Quesada, who we can definitively say was the youngest driver in this weekend’s field. Michael, congratulations on this victory, again, very early on obviously in your motorsports career, but pretty big feather in your cap already I would imagine.
MICHAEL De QUESADA: Yeah, yeah, it was incredible. When my dad won it in 2007 I was there and I was there with him every year that he did it pretty much since I was born, would you say? And being here today on the podium, getting that watch is just the most incredible feeling. I don’t even know how to describe it.
My teammates, they’re amazing. Mike, Dan, Jesse, my dad, everybody did so well, and I’m just so thankful.
THE MODERATOR: Let’s move over to Jesse Lazare. As Carlos mentioned a few minutes ago, you weren’t part of this team last year, but obviously your talent in the GT Cup Challenge USA obviously got you to this point. Can you talk a little bit about just how that latter really was a success obviously in getting you here to win this race today?
JESSE LAZARE: Yes, I’m very thankful that IMSA puts a great GT3 Cup program together and they’ve been doing this for so many years, and the fact they had joint races between the Canadian series and the American series gave great competition, and teams got to meet each other and new teams met new drivers, and we just were able to build a great relationship.
And then at Road Atlanta when Dan came down to compete in the last race of the U.S. championship, he had a great race, and what Carlos did for me at the banquet was something I’m going to remember for the rest of my life. I wasn’t expecting any of this, to be on the podium or win. I just wanted to go here and learn as much as I can. But the more I found out about Alegra Motorsports and how they work perfectly together, and they’re just one family with drivers that Carlos picked. Dan, I knew since I started karting when I was eight years old. He was already a star. Michael I’ve raced against in karting. We were always around the same age. And Michael Christensen, I was always a huge Porsche fan and he was always one of the favorites. So when I found out the lineup, I knew we had a good shot and I’m so thankful to be here, and I can’t wait to see what comes after this.
THE MODERATOR: Before we move over to Michael Christensen, just to back up for one second, Carlos, could you talk about how this program kind of came to life literally at the awards banquet.
CARLOS De QUESADA: Yeah, so Michael had won the gold class championship at Road Atlanta at the Petit Le Mans the last weekend, and Daniel and I were talking, we had already planned to do Daytona, we had already ordered the car. We had everything set in motion, so we were just talking about what kind of drivers we would like to see in the car. We already knew it was going to be Daniel in the car and myself and Michael, and Daniel had said, you know, it would be really cool if we can go ahead and do all the class champions or just pick class champions from the IMSA Cup Series.
So I was sitting at the dinner, at the banquet, and they gave all the awards out, and right when they gave Jesse’s last award, I leaned over to Daniel, I go, Daniel, what do you think? He goes, what? I go, what do you think if we got Jesse ‑‑
DANIEL MORAD: Sign him.
CARLOS De QUESADA: He goes, that would be really cool, let’s do it. So I went up on stage and I told everyone that I wanted to go ahead and make an announcement. No one knew. Jesse had no idea. And I brought him up on stage and asked him if he’d like to drive with us at this year’s 24 Hours at Daytona.
DANIEL MORAD: He said no at first. He had to twist his arm.
CARLOS De QUESADA: But I always believed ‑‑ I like helping young kids. I watched the kids grow up through karting, watching my son, and I remember Daniel racing. We’d do all the winter tours and everything. And just that dream, the hopes of kids trying to get to the next level, and so I tried to do what I can. I’ve always had Spencer Pigot driving my program, obviously Daniel Morad, and I’d like to just see their progression go, and it’s just so tough in this business, but I’m just glad that I was able to do this for these kids.
THE MODERATOR: Michael Christensen, over to you. You obviously brought it home for the team here this afternoon. Clearly it was a team effort, but you were the guy at the wheel when the checkered flag dropped. Describe the feeling of pulling it off here.
MICHAEL CHRISTENSEN: It was great. To be honest, it was a long plan, really. We all sat together and spoke about what we thought of the race itself, what do we need to do to be successful here, and we all were having the same thoughts, don’t touch anyone, be careful, it’s a long race, and everyone ‑‑ most guys out there are pushing hard at certain times of the race, especially a race with weather conditions like that. It’s really tough just to keep it on track, and yeah, our plan was to stay on the lead lap and have a perfect race car for the end of the race.
To be honest, we just brought our plan to life.

Q. Carlos, I believe this program is confirmed for Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup races; is that right?

CARLOS De QUESADA: Yes, that’s right?

Q. Have you decided on the driver lineup?

CARLOS De QUESADA: Not yet. We’re still working on that. But yeah, I’ve got ‑‑

Q. Is there a potential for additional races beyond that ‑‑

CARLOS De QUESADA: If I could buy three cars, I’d have everyone plus other drivers that I’d love to have.
No, it’s just a very difficult choice for me because there’s so many ‑‑ I’d love to have everyone here driving that car. Unfortunately it’s a three‑driver race, and it’s one of those decisions that I’ve got to go ahead and make.

Q. Daniel, when you look at ‑‑ you did, I think, a one‑off DP race with Carlos last year at Sebring, but otherwise you’ve been primarily single make with Porsche or you did the NASCAR one off last year. Jumping into this GTD field, 27 cars, nine manufacturers, what was kind of the prep work you got from the team in understanding how different this type of racing is versus single make?

DANIEL MORAD: Well, I mean, it went from no make, to be honest, to single make, and then Carlos gave me that opportunity to drive at Sebring last year. I mean, the race was going well there. Unfortunately we had to retire about halfway through the race with electrical issues. We managed to finish the race at the end. But now doing this, it’s a change from Cup racing for sure because in Cup racing it’s 45 minutes, you have an equal car or more‑or‑less equal with minimal changes you can make. So it’s really a fight from the moment the green flag drops. So it’s quite different from this because when the green flag drops here, everyone is going crazy, but you just have to tell yourself, like Michael told everyone before, we had a plan not to touch anybody, bring the car back as perfect as possible.
It’s not always easy, especially with the difficult conditions like in the middle of the night with heavy rain. Yeah, I mean, it’s different for sure because you have prototypes on the track. You have PC cars, you have GTLM and GT Daytona class, as well, with 27 different cars, nine manufacturers, and I have to honestly take my hat off, I did already, for IMSA, because that’s not an easy task what they face to try to get the balance of performance as equal as possible. You guys saw at the end of the race, it was pretty stellar. Amazing finish. For me it’s a classic. I don’t know about you guys.
I thought that IMSA did an awesome job, and that stems down a little bit further down to their IMSA development series where most of us have come from. Carlos, as well, he’s a 2013 champion in Canada, masters or ‑‑
CARLOS De QUESADA: Gold class.
DANIEL MORAD: Gold class champion. IMSA has really been the platform for us, and it’s quite fitting that we’re here now and we’re running the top flank series.

Q. Michael Christensen, congratulations. Looking at the total time, at the end it was very close to the second car, the Audi R8 of Land‑Motorsport. How nerve‑racking was it to find yourself at that stage of the race? And your co‑driver mentioned you did GP3 over in Europe. What brought you back to America and GT racing?

MICHAEL CHRISTENSEN: To start with your first question, yeah, it was quite nerve‑racking. Obviously it was very close, and I knew that I was a bit better than the Audi when the tires were cold or after a restart, so I really just tried to build a gap. Also, we were actually saving a bit of fuel out of the pits because we were very close to the limit and making it. I was pulling the gap, and I was just trying to save fuel. Suddenly the Land‑Motorsport car came close to me again, and I was like, I have to push now. Luckily at that stage there was enough fuel saving, but in the end there was another caution so it wouldn’t have mattered in the end. But yeah, many different things happened the last hour, but everything played well, and I knew that if I could just maintain the gap or at least get good access down the straight, I would be fine. So it was a matter of not doing a mistake really.
Coming to your second question, yeah, what brought me to GT racing? It was Porsche junior program. Basically trying to reach Formula 1, have a Formula 1 career in younger years was also my dream. But I early realized that financial ‑‑ the costs to get there, just to get there, was not possible for me. I was looking into other things, and luckily I got picked in the Porsche junior program, and I worked with these guys in the Porsche junior program for two years, and finally Porsche decided to bring us ‑‑ step me up to a Porsche works driver. I’ve really taken the Porsche ladder. Yeah, just trying to set a dream a little bit out of focus, but instead have life go into focus. So yeah, I really pushed for being a works driver since I got in touch with Porsche as I saw it was a great family, and I really wanted that since the first day.

Q. Carlos, can you just share with us and can the team share with us, you folks did a brilliant job of delivering that perfect car unscratched to Michael for the last two hours and he was basically able to unwind from seventh to first and then run away. Can you talk about what was going on in the background as far as getting the car there, and set up with the changing conditions and Spencer Pumpelly, who showed up sort of at the last minute to help with strategy and management?

CARLOS De QUESADA: Yeah, I mean, I got to really hand it to Spencer Pumpelly for coming on board like he did to help us out. He had offered his services, and Larry Hahn has been my engineer for many years now. Prior to that, he was with PTG working for the BMW team. The wealth of experience that Larry brings is just unbelievable. But when Spencer offered his services, he approached me and asked, I’d like to have him. I think he would be a tremendous help. So I was like, absolutely. I’ve known Spencer and raced against him many years, and he’s definitely a tremendous asset.
It was great because between Larry and Spencer, they were sitting there trading back and forth thoughts and working together on strategy, and it was just amazing to watch those two guys work together like they did. I mean, there was some calls that we could have made that could have gone the other way, and just the decision between the two really played in our favor.
But really, a lot of that came from experience. It really worked out.
THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, congratulations. Thanks for joining us.
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IMSA Season Kicks Off This Weekend At Daytona With Unprecedented Manufacturer Participation

IMSA Season Kicks Off This Weekend At Daytona

With Unprecedented Manufacturer Participation

Seventeen Official Automotive Partners Include Five Newcomers In 2017

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 26, 2017) – With the eyes of the racing world focused on the 55th Rolex 24 At Daytona this weekend, the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) prepares for a weekend highlighting an unprecedented amount of official automotive partners.

Between the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, IMSA now has 17 official automotive partners, including five that are new for 2017: Acura, Cadillac, Lexus, McLaren and Mercedes-AMG. The complete list is as follows:

• Acura
• Aston Martin
• Audi
• BMW
• Cadillac
• Chevrolet
• Ferrari
• Ford
• Honda
• Lamborghini
• Lexus
• Mazda
• McLaren
• Mercedes
• MINI
• Nissan
• Porsche

“As we have built IMSA into the premier sports car racing organization in North America, our racing platforms have proven to be relevant and attractive to a remarkable number of automotive manufacturers,” said IMSA President Scott Atherton. “Every one of these manufacturers have gone well beyond merely putting cars on the racetrack and have partnered with us to move the sport forward. The marketing activation we are seeing from them on and off the track will benefit all involved. Of course, we are grateful to all of our longtime partners who have been with us for years and are continuing and enthusiastically welcome the newcomers this season. There’s never been a better time to go sports car racing with IMSA.”

Each manufacturer continues to be fan focused in unique ways. At Daytona, the experience starts outside of the stadium grandstands, where fans can sign up for manufacturer-specific car corrals, special parking areas where car owners can show pride for their chosen brand while simultaneously accessing premium parking and hospitality. Additionally, fans parking in a car corral get to experience the track in the closest way possible – parade laps around the track with their peers in their own cars.

Also on the outskirts of the facility, several manufacturers provide free “Ride and Drive” programs, where fans can experience the result of motorsport development and technology transfer from race car to road car firsthand by riding in or getting behind the wheel of multiple street cars on a closed course.

The Midway, located in the Daytona International Speedway infield features no less than 12 different manufacturer displays. Each are impressive and interactive and are designed to entertain and educate attendees of the race. These displays offer amenities such as driving simulators, prize giveaways, demonstration vehicles, owner hospitality, informational kits and more.

“The Midway at Daytona very strongly resembles an outdoor international auto show,” Atherton said. “What’s interesting about the infield displays is that it appears the manufacturers are not only competing against each other on the racetrack, but also in trying to construct the most impressive and attractive display.”

Tickets for the 55th Rolex 24 At Daytona are available now at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com. FOX Sports will offer 23 hours of live programming from the 2017 Rolex 24 At Daytona, beginning with a three-hour FOX network telecast beginning at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, Jan. 28, followed by expanded coverage on FS1 and FS2.

IMSA Wire: BMW Endurance Challenge At Daytona Brings New Cars to Continental Tire Challenge

Jan. 25, 2017

Steven Cole Smith

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s understandable: The Rolex 24 At Daytona is invariably a global blockbuster, to the point where some fans might assume it’s the only race of the weekend at Daytona International Speedway.

But it isn’t. The IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge runs this Friday, before the Saturday-through-Sunday Rolex 24. Some years, fans have suggested the Continental Tire Challenge provided the best racing of the weekend. Either way, it’s a don’t-miss event, invariably packed with tight racing and fender-to-fender contact.

Here’s the prognosis: The BMW Endurance Challenge at Daytona is, by name and on paper, a four-hour endurance race, but the competitors will treat it like a 20-minute trophy dash. As with the Rolex 24, teams used to make long-range plans that included conserving the car and its drivers for late in the race.

That’s changed. If one team goes for it from the drop of the green flag, they all have to. And that’s how we expect the BMW Endurance Challenge to play out.

There are 40 cars on the entry list – perhaps more than expected, given that the top class, Grand Sport, is operating under some new rules for the 2017 season: IMSA now allows cars in GS class that match global GT4 specifications, much like the GT Daytona class in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship match GT3 specifications.

By using GT3 and GT4 specifications, manufacturers are able to build cars, or makes parts for private teams to build them, for a much larger potential buyer group, serving multiple race series all over the world.

The GT4-specification Porsche Cayman was already running in the series under IMSA rules, and now that Cayman is joined by a trio of Aston Martin Vantages, six McLaren GT4s, and a Ford Mustang fielded by defending series champion Multimatic Motorsports, with drivers Jade Buford and Scott Maxwell. Expect more cars, and more manufacturers, to join the series as the 10-race season goes on.

Porsche has 10 of the 20 cars in the GS field, and there are some genuine contenders there: Cameron Cassels and Trent Hindman in the No. 12 Bodymotion entry should be strong, as will the No. 33 and 35 entries from CJ Wilson Racing, owned by the Los Angeles Angels baseball player.

Really, it’s so tough to handicap this Continental Tire Challenge race – the competition is so physical that it’s critical to stay out of trouble, but invariably, some front-running teams suffer from contact.

The other class, and the other 20 cars in the 40-car field, are in the ST, or Street Tuner class, which are closer to their street-going counterparts. There are nine Porsche Caymans in this class too, but they aren’t prepared to the more powerful GT4 specs of the Caymans in the GS class. But they still will be strongly in contention – keep an eye on the No. 17 and 18 RS1 entries.

The Porsches’ main competition is likely to be the three Mazda MX-5 Miatas fielded by Freedom Autosport, which are the Nos. 25, 26 and 27. The No. 25 team of drivers Chad McCumbee and Stevan McAleer are back, and complement each other well.

But don’t forget the three Mini Coopers from the JCW team – at times a Mini was the fastest car in the class last season. There are also three BMWs – a 228i and two 328is, all operated by very competent teams. Neat footnote: Joining BimmerWorld owner James Clay and Tyler Cooke in the No. 84 BMW 328i is rookie driver Tyler Clary, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist in swimming.

The lone Nissan Altima driven by Sarah Cattaneo and Owen Trinkler (No. 44) should be fast, and if you are looking for a dark horse to root for, that might be the only Audi S3 in the race, the No. 75 fielded by the C360R team and driven by Roy Block and the always fast Pierre Kleinubing.

The BMW Endurance Challenge at Daytona takes the green flag at 12:15 p.m. ET Friday. Live video streaming and live timing and scoring will be available on IMSA.com and IMSA.tv. The television broadcast will be on FS1 on a tape-delayed basis on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 11:30 a.m.

Anticipation of New Era For IMSA Prototypes Provides Incredible Excitement and Intrigue

Anticipation of New Era For IMSA Prototypes Provides Incredible Excitement and Intrigue

Jan. 24, 2017

Steven Cole Smith

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – There’s seldom any shortage of excitement at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, North America’s toughest, most prestigious sports car endurance race.

For the 55th running of the Rolex, though, the excitement has started long before the green flag drops Saturday afternoon. That excitement is about what’s on the grid – an all-new field of Prototype race cars, the fastest, most technologically advanced machines ever in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

While they will race the entire IMSA season, they make their world debut this weekend and unlike any other sport you can think of, the very first event is the most grueling one there is.

It’s been a long time coming.

Four years ago, beginning with this race, the GRAND-AM Rolex Series and the American Le Mans Series joined forces, creating the WeatherTech Championship. Both of the groups had their own marquee Prototype class, with cars that, to the average fan, looked similar, but were very different under the skin.

The two cars made power differently, too. The GRAND-AM Daytona Prototype cars excelled in straight-line speed. The ALMS cars excelled in braking and handling. IMSA did not want to simply eliminate one of the two Prototype classes, because they thought it was important to protect the investments the teams made in the cars.

So, IMSA re-wrote the rules to make the Daytona Prototypes and the P2 cars competitive with each other, all the while letting the teams know that for 2017, there would be a new set of rules. This allowed the teams an opportunity to amortize their investment in current race cars, while planning to field the new model.

That time has come. A dozen brand-new Prototypes are entered – seven known as “Daytona Prototype international” cars, or DPi for short, and five LM P2 cars.

Wait – didn’t we just say the new Prototype car is meant to consolidate the DP and P2 cars? We did, and it does. DPi, and LM P2 cars use the same chassis, built by one of four approved chassis constructors: Dallara, Ligier, Multimatic/Riley and ORECA.

The differences appear in engine and bodywork. DPi cars are powered by a variety of different engine manufacturers – three to be exact: Mazda, Nissan and Cadillac. Each of these cars also uses manufacturer-specific bodywork aimed at aligning certain features of the manufacturer’s production vehicles with the DPi race cars.

There are two Mazda twin-turbo four-cylinders in the Mazda Prototypes, twin-turbo V6 engines powering the of Nissan Nos. 2 and 22 Tequila Patron ESM prototypes, and three normally aspirated Cadillac V-8s, The No. 5 Mustang Sampling team won the WeatherTech Championship Prototype title the first two seasons (2014-15) and the team car, the No.31 Whelen Engineering car, won the 2016 championship. These teams are switching from Corvette Daytona Prototypes to new the new Cadillac DPi-V.R.

The No.10 Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R. is co-driven by Taylor’s two sons, Ricky and Jordan, for the full season, alongside longtime endurance specialist Max Angelelli, who is retiring after this race following a very successful 30-year career.

The No. 10 Cadillac also has a high-profile guest driver: Four-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion Jeff Gordon, who retired from stock car racing, but says he “can’t wait” to get back behind the wheel, having raced with the Wayne Taylor team in 2007 to a third-place finish in the Rolex 24. Both Gordon and the No. 10 Cadillac DPi have done an extensive amount of testing and practice, and the team is expected to contend.

The LM P2 car essentially is more of a European specification, especially attractive to those teams that want to run the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France each June. The cars built to the P2 specifications should be able to enter Le Mans, with one restriction: The ACO, which sanctions Le Mans, insists that all P2 cars have to run the same engine a 4.2-liter V-8. There are several Gibson engines running in the Rolex 24, and three that are expected to race all season, the No. 90 Visit Florida Multimatic-Riley, the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier and the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA.

The No.2 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan DPi team returns with its secret weapon- diminutive, soft-spoken Pipo Derani, who was in the car when it won both the 2016 Rolex 24, and the 2016 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the second race on the WeatherTech Championship schedule, and 12 of the most taxing hours in motorsports because of the roughness of the historic World War II-era Central Florida track. Derani’s late-race run to the front at Sebring was one of the most compelling moments of 2016, and clearly makes this team one of the favorites this weekend.

And there’s the Rebellion Racing No. 13 ORECA fielded by this very accomplished European team, staffed by exceptional drivers. One of them arrived with the car just prior to the Roar Before the 24 test – Neel Jani had never even seen Daytona International Speedway, had never driven this particular car, and had never even driven a P2 car. And we went out and set fast time in the first of seven sessions.

The No.81 DragonSpeed ORECA, set the fastest overall time in testing at the Roar. This team’s lineup of drivers – Henrik Hedman, Nicolas Lapierre, Loic Duval and Ben Hanley – make them a force to be reckoned with.

A sentimental favorite in Prototype, though, has to be the two Mazda Prototypes, Nos. 55 and 70. The manufacturer came close to winning last year in WeatherTech Championship competition after a couple of uncompetitive seasons, but the team is still looking for its first win. Armed with a new DPi machine, hopes are high that it will come this season. If it does, expect tears in victory lane.

The Prototypes may be the premier class, but there is another class of prototype cars on the grid – “prototype” essentially referring to cars that are built from the ground up as racers, with no real attempt to pattern them after street-going cars.

The other prototype cars are the Prototype Challenge entries, easily identified as they are the only “open cockpit” cars, meaning there is no roof and you can see the driver. The PC class came to the WeatherTech Championship through the ALMS and this is the last year for the cars, which are all built on the same ORECA chassis, powered by the same Chevrolet V-8. There are five PC cars in the 55-car Rolex 24 field, and it’s tough to handicap the field, though the two Starworks Motorsport entries –No. 8 and 88 – represent a lot of experience and many wins over the years.

NOTES:

Speaking of experience: Most IMSA races are two hours and 45 minutes long, easily handled by the two regular drivers. But Daytona always brings in some interesting guest drivers to share the load and this year, it’s a gold-star roster.

Aside from Jeff Gordon in the No. 10 Prototype, look for IndyCar champ Scott Dixon (No. 67 GTLM Ford GT), with teammate and Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan in the No. 69 Ford GT, one of four in the class. Current IndyCar racer Sebastien Bourdais is in one of the other Chip Ganassi-fielded Ford GTs, the No. 66, class winner at Le Mans last year. In Prototype, IndyCar racer and Orlando resident Spencer Pigot is in the No. 55 Mazda Prototype. Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice is in the No. 20 PC car, and could be there all season.

While Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal is fielding a two-car BMW team in GTLM, his son Graham, an IndyCar winner from 2016, is driving the new Michael Shank Racing No. 93 Acura NSX. There’s no problem between son and father – it’s just that Graham’s IndyCar is powered by Honda, which owns Acura, and the company wanted to keep him in the family. His Acura teammates include Katherine Legge and Ryan Hunter-Reay, both with IndyCar pedigrees. Legge will be in the Acura all season.

Memo returns: Ask any IMSA regular about the worst crash in recent memory and odds are the first one mentioned would be Daytona Prototype driver Memo Gidley’s absolutely devastating crash in the third hour of the 2014 Rolex 24. Gidley’s Gainsco Daytona Prototype was dominating the race when a Ferrari suddenly slowed in front of him. Gidley pulled out to pass another car, not knowing the almost-stopped Ferrari was there, and ran into the back of it.

Gidley’s DP was destroyed and it took a long time to remove him from the car. He survived, and has recovered, much to the delight of a legion of fans the personable driver has.

Memo and his wife, Mari, will attend the Rolex 24 as guests of IMSA. “I’m looking forward to saying ‘thank you’ to so many people that were part of helping me when I was injured. IMSA and everybody associated with this race gave me a lot of support and I want to say thanks. Even though many have been in contact on email or over the phone, I haven’t seen them in person for three years. When you work to help somebody, it’s always nice to see how it ended up, and I want them to see how strong I am and that I’m back. I also hope that my recovery can inspire anybody else dealing with something similar.”

Gidley has been cleared by doctors to race, which is considered a genuine miracle by those who witnessed the crash. Does he have unfinished business at Daytona? Likely this visit will help him decide.

Porsche Motorsport Weekly News – 24 Hours to Go

Dear Journalist:
Early each week, Porsche Cars North America will provide a weekend summary or pre-race event notes package, covering the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Pirelli World Challenge (PWC), the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) or other areas of interest from the world of Porsche Motorsport. Please utilize this resource as needed, and do not hesitate to contact us for additional information.

– Porsche Cars North America Motorsports Public Relations Team

Porsche Motorsports Weekly Event Notes: Monday, January 23, 2017

Porsche Motorsport Schedule in North America. Upcoming Event.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

Event:	55th Rolex 24 At Daytona, Daytona International Speedway
Dateline:	Daytona Beach, Florida
Date:	Thursday – Sunday, January 26-29, 2017
Track Length:	3.56-miles, 12-turn
Race Duration:	24-Hours
Class:	GTLM (Porsche 911 RSR) GTD (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
Round:	GTLM. 1of 11 GTD. 1 of 12
Next Round:	55th Annual Rolex 24 At Daytona, Daytona International Speedway, January 28-29, 2017

IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge

Event:	BMW Endurance Challenge at Daytona, Daytona International Speedway
Dateline:	Daytona Beach, Florida
Date:	Friday, January 27, 2017
Track Length:	3.56-miles, 12-turn
Race Duration:	4-Hours
Class:	GS (Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR and Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport)
Round:	GS. 1 of 10
Next Round:	Sebring 150, Sebring International Raceway, March 18, 2017

Porsche Profile.

Event Story Lines.

Time for Your Close-Up 911 RSR. International Race Debut for New Porsche 911 RSR Comes in North America.

The new Porsche 911 RSR celebrates its race debut at the Rolex 24 Hours At Daytona with the 55th running of the sports car classic on January 28-29. The Porsche GT Team, the new name for the official two-car “works” program in North America, tackles the first outing of the year with the pair of 510 hp Porsche 911 RSR racers. The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) class is the most hotly contested sports car racing category in world with factory efforts from BMW, Chevrolet, Ferrari and Ford all involved. With 22 overall and 76 class victories, Porsche is the most successful manufacturer in the history of this prestigious race [full event statistics and history can be found in the

Porsche Weekly Notes Package No. 3, January 17, 2017.

Six Porsche factory drivers will share the twin 911 RSR’s in the twice around the clock classic. The No. 911 Porsche GT Team 911 RSR will be piloted by Patrick Pilet (France), Dirk Werner (Germany) and Frédéric Makowiecki (France). The No. 912 will be rotated through the driving trio of Kévin Estre (France), Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) and Richard Lietz (Austria).

Alongside the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Daytona is the second great long distance classic in international motorsport. The race is contested on the 3.56-mile road course that links the world famous Daytona high banks and tight infield. With such a prestigious pedigree, the race draws competitors from all disciplines and corners of the globe adding to its allure as one of the top motorsport events.

The 911 RSR is a completely new development: the suspension, body structure, aerodynamic concept, engine and transmission have all been designed in Weissach, Germany from scratch. Depending on the size of the restrictor, the motor, which is now positioned in front of the rear axle, puts out approximately 510 hp. Thanks to the larger-for-2017 rear diffuser combined with a top-mounted rear wing, the level of downforce and the aerodynamic efficiency were significantly improved over 2016. The new factory design of the 911 RSR with the basic colors white, red and black has further developed the clear and dynamic design language of Porsche Motorsport.

The first of the 22 outright Porsche victories at Daytona went to Vic Elford, Jochen Neerpasch, Rolf Stommelen, Jo Siffert and Hans Herrmann in 1968 driving a Porsche 907LH (longtail). In the traditionally very competitive GT classes, Porsche has put together a record 76 wins. The most recent win in the GTLM class was in 2014 with Richard Lietz (Austria), Nick Tandy (Great Britain) and Patrick Pilet (France) at the wheel of a 911 RSR. Five overall victories in the years 1973, 1975, 1977, 1979 and 1991 as well as a class win in 1972 makes American Hurley Haywood the most successful Porsche pilot at Daytona.

Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Head of Porsche Motorsport.

“The 24 Hours of Daytona is the perfect race to debut our new 911 RSR. Porsche celebrated some of its greatest victories at this fascinating long distance classic, and we’re looking forward to showcasing our 100 percent newly developed car to sports car fans in the USA at its maiden outing. Facing the first factory entry of the year against very strong opposition, the Porsche GT Team is hoping that the 911 RSR performs well and has a race without any major problems. We also want our customer teams running our 911 GT3 R to experience a good and successful start into the season.”

Marco Ujhasi, Director GT Factory Motorsports.

“Daytona is the first big race of the year and that alone poses a special challenge. Adding to the suspense this year is that it’s the first race outing of our new 911 RSR. We conducted intensive tests over the last few months and gained vital insights. The new driver combinations have already meshed well together. So, in this respect, we’re heading to Daytona feeling very confident.”

Patrick Pilet, Driver, No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.

“It’s always exciting to contest this race, especially now, of course, with our new car which we’ve worked hard on developing over the last year. The last time we came to Daytona with a new 911 RSR was in 2014, and we won. Hopefully, that’s a good omen.”

Dirk Werner, Driver, No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.

“I couldn’t have wished for a better race for my first outing as a Porsche works driver. I’m very impressed from what I’ve seen so far of the 911 RSR. I know how much effort goes into the development of the car and I hope that we can turn those huge efforts into a good result on the racetrack.”

Frédéric Makowiecki , Driver, No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.

“A 24-hour race is something very special for every race driver, but at the same time it’s an incredibly exciting task. I’m looking forward to racing in the USA again – and in Daytona, no less, at one of the most important and challenging long distance races in the world.”

Kévin Estre, Driver, No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.

“It’s always thrilling to start a season with a new car. Daytona is an important venue to establish where we stand, but it also has its quirks. You have to attack right from the start, but you can’t afford to take too many risks so that you have a healthy car at the end to fight for victory. I hope we find the best compromise and finish amongst the leaders with our new 911 RSR.”

Laurens Vanthoor, Driver, No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.

“To contest my first race as a Porsche factory driver in Daytona is something very special for me. It’s a dream come true. I really wanted to compete in the USA and have Kévin alongside me as a teammate – and in fact all my wishes were granted. Now it’s up to me to justify that confidence at my first Daytona race by performing well.”

Richard Lietz, Driver, No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.

“The successes that Porsche has already celebrated in Daytona are a huge motivation for us all. The new 911 RSR proved to be outstanding during the preparation phase, and we drivers know what it takes to finish at the front of this race.”

Works Men. Porsche Commits Large Contingent of Factory Drivers to Rolex 24.

With eleven factory drivers and one Porsche “Young Professional”, Porsche has the largest contingent of “works” drivers of any manufacturer competing in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Driving for the Porsche GT Team, Patrick Pilet (France), Dirk Werner (Germany) and Frédéric Makowiecki (France) share the cockpit of the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR. Tackling the legendary long distance race at the wheel of the No. 912 racer are Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium), 2016 winner of the FIA GT World Cup and the Intercontinental GT Challenge, as well as Kévin Estre (France) and Richard Lietz (Austria).

In the GT Daytona (GTD) class where the 911 GT3 R is the Porsche of choice, entries fielded by five customer teams bring North America’s only factory driver Patrick Long (Manhattan Beach, California) to the No. 54 CORE autosport entry, Jörg Bergmeister (Germany) in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports car, Michael Christensen (Denmark) in the Alegra Motorsports 911 GT3 R, Sven Müller (Germany) racing the No. 59 Manthey-Racing machine and Wolf Henzler (Germany) reprising his role at the head of the No. 991 TRG driving effort. Porsche “Young Professional” Matteo Cairoli (Italy) will share the Manthey-Racing No. 59 with Müller.

For Dirk Werner, Laurens Vanthoor and Sven Müller, the 24 Hours of Daytona is their first race as Porsche works drivers.

Top-Three Repeat? Porsche 911 GT3 R Customer Teams Look for Return to Rolex Podium.

In the GT Daytona (GTD) class, customer squads will campaign five Porsche 911 GT3 R, one year after the car made its endurance race debut at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) with a podium finish.

The 911 GT3 R is fitted with the new ultra-modern, four-liter, flat-six engine with direct fuel injection. Porsche had designed the more than 500 hp customer sports racer for worldwide GT3 series on the basis of the 911 GT3 RS production sports car. It is a perfect fit for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Pro-Am class.

Patrick Long, Driver, No. 54 CORE autosport Porsche 911 RSR.

“Daytona is a great start to the season. I’ve contested this race many times, yet I really look forward to it every time. The 911 GT3 R has great aerodynamics and is the ideal car for Daytona. It’s good on the straights and under braking. That’s critical on this racetrack.”

Jörg Bergmeister, Driver, No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

“I’ve won Daytona three times, yet every year I can’t wait to race there again. Heading into the new season with such a classic against strong opposition from many different racing series is simply fun.”

Michael Christensen, Driver, No. 28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

“Daytona is a great race and a real highlight to kick off the season. You never really have much time to prepare because the previous season usually finishes late in the year. In this respect, Daytona is always a difficult race. It’s a real classic that every race driver definitely wants to win.”

Wolf Henzler, Driver, No. 991 TRG Porsche 911 RSR.

“The 911 GT3 R is a great racing car for customers. I had a lot of fun driving it at Daytona last year. I’m looking forward to contesting the entire season in the USA for my new TRG team and I hope that we achieve a great start into the new season.”

Sven Müller, Driver, No. 59 Manthey-Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

“Ever since our tests in early January on this great racetrack, my anticipation has been growing. I can hardly wait for the race to start. I learned a great deal at my first Daytona race last year. I hope I can share these experiences with my teammates and we achieve a good result.”

Matteo Cairoli, Driver, No. 59 Manthey-Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

“It’s fantastic that Porsche gives me the chance to compete at Daytona. This has been a lifelong dream. It will undoubtedly be one of the most interesting and exciting experiences of my career so far.”

Early Recruit. Alegra Motorsports Signed First Porsche Driver for 55th Rolex 24 in 2007.

College football is well known for its early signees: those star athletes who agree to attend a major university before their senior year of high school. Those scenarios are less common in auto racing but Alegra Motorsports has had its eye on one particular driver for a decade. He would have barely been seen in the revelry of the Rolex 24 At Daytona podium in 2007 when Alegra Motorsports and its founder Carlos de Quesada (Tampa, Florida) pulled his son Michael up on the Daytona International Speedway (DIS) stage among their victory celebration. The two shared a moment during which the father told his son that one day the two of them would share a Porsche in this classic race.

True to his word, and with a talented son whose skill was proven in 2016 by winning the IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA Gold Cup championship, the de Quesadas are teamed for the first time in the 55th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. The father-son combo will be sharing the No. 28 Porsche 911 GT3 R in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Daytona (GTD) class with an impressive list of Porsche talents. Porsche factory driver Michael Christensen (Denmark) anchors the team along with the 2007 GT class winner and his son. Additionally, Porsche Young Driver Academy graduates Daniel Morad (Toronto, Canada) – who won the 2016 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama Platinum Cup championship – and 2016 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama Platinum Cup titlist Jesse Lazare (Montreal, Canada) add to the quintet of talent. This will be the first race for the combination, which is scheduled to compete in each of the four Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup races (Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen and Petit Le Mans).

Carlos de Quesada, Driver/Owner, No. 28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

“Michael has been standing behind the fence for many years. Since he was born we have been bringing him to the races. He has always been looking on, hanging out in the pits wishing he could be in there. Now he is old enough and has done a phenomenal job driving the last two years in IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge so we decided that we would go-ahead and start-up a GTD program to help develop Daniel Morad and Michael. It is going to be very exciting to be able to drive in the car with my son ten years since winning the 24 Hours of Daytona. To try and go for it again with a chance to stand on the podium with Michael is almost more than I could ask for.”

Cayman Mix. Cayman GT4 Clubsport and GT4 Clubsport MR Half the CTSCC GS Grid

The Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport debuted in the IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) in 2016. The entry-level professional racer narrowly missed winning the GS class championship in its first season but earned four wins and 17 podium finishes in the ten races. Following the worldwide success that includes two one-make series competing in the eastern and western halves of the United States as well as making-up the Silver class of the Ultra94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama, Porsche Motorsport commissioned Manthey Racing to fine-tune the car in late 2016 to meet the international GT4 category rules package. The fruits of those labors, known as the Porsche Cayman GT4 Club MR, comprise five of the ten mid-engined Porsche entries in the series. The remaining five cars are grandfathered versions of last season’s car.

The “MR”, short for Manthey-Racing, upgrade qualifies as an SRO-homologized GT4 racing car, thereby allowing it to participate in national and international races in the GT4 category. For 2017, that includes the GS class of the IMSA support series.

The technical highlights of the upgrade package include lightweight elements such as carbon fiber doors, carbon fiber front bonnet, a polycarbonate windscreen and an optional lightweight battery, which reduces the vehicle weight by around 88 pounds. The two-way adjustable race suspension kit with linear bearing and the sway bar with blade adjustment further improve driving dynamics. Performance optimization is rounded off with a rear wing larger than that of the basic vehicle, combined with extended wing brackets.

Through balancing, the grandfathered Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport is expected to be fully competitive with the MR as well as manufacturer entries from Ford, Aston Martin and McLaren scheduled to run this season. The Series’ first race of the season, to be held on January 26 at 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course, is the first “endurance” race for the Championship. At four hours it is more than double the length of the mainstay races. A total of 40 cars, 20 in the GS class, will take the green flag at 12:15 p.m. ET of the BMW Endurance Challenge at Daytona.

Porsche Protagonist. Jeff Zwart Named to Road Racing Drivers Club Class.

Attempting to pigeonhole Porsche protagonist Jeff Zwart into a category is like trying to catch the rays of the sun glistening off a photo of one of his Pike Peak Hill Climb Porsche 911 specials; it can’t be done, not even by Zwart’s keen artistic eye. One is better sitting back and enjoying the outcome of the result. All combined, Zwart’s multifaceted career has earned the easy-going, Southern California personality a place in the Road Racing Drivers Club (RRDC) membership class of 2016. Zwart and 16 others have been asked to join the prestigious RRDC as “Regular Members”. Another five “Associate Members and three “Honorary Members” were also inducted. All will be inducted into the elite club at a private dinner held in Daytona Beach, Florida later this week.

While never a Porsche factory driver, the Long Beach, California-native is renowned for his prowess on the rally scene, particularly his mastery of the legendary Pikes Peak International Hill Climb where he has won the Invitational Class eight times (1994-’98, 2002, 2010, 2015), all in Porsche 911s. Prior to that, the Art Center College of Design graduate had made himself known in the world of photography shooting for Road & Track magazine. After creating his own production company, Zwart would go on to frame and produce some of the great automotive marketing campaigns of the generation including for Porsche.

In addition to his Pikes Peak success, Zwart co-drove a Porsche Cayenne with Paul Dallenbach at the challenging TransSyberia Rally (Moscow to Mongolia) in 2007, earned the 1990 SCCA Pro Rally Open Class Championship and the 2004 Baja 1000 Challenge Class title.

Head of the Class. Porsche Connections Deep in RRDC.

The Road Racing Drivers Club (RRDC) will be celebrating its 2016 class of inductees at a private banquet this week in Daytona Beach, Florida. The class of 17 Regular Members, five Associate Members and three Honorary Members is ripe with Porsche connections. While most professional road racers have some tie to the German marque, of the 25 announced earlier this month, eight have more than a passing relationship with the brand.

Jonathan Bennett (Charlotte, North Carolina) is the driver/owner of the No. 54 CORE autosport Porsche 911 GT3 R that he will campaign for the full 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona (GTD) season with co-driver Colin Braun (Harrisburg, North Carolina). Beyond its role as the entrant in GTD, CORE autosport is also responsible for the day-to-day operations of the official GT Le Mans (GTLM) class factory entry, the two-car Porsche GT Team, with the Porsche 911 RSR. CORE has held that position since the North American factory program first ran in 2014.

John Fitzpatrick (England) is a legendary figure in 1970s Porsche motorsport folklore. The Brit won the Porsche Cup in 1972, ’74 and 1980. He also took a Porsche 935 K3 to the 1980 IMSA GT Championship.

Spencer Pigot (Pasadena, California) is best known as an open wheel racer. However, the young Californian took part in inaugural Porsche Young Driver Academy in 2012 and finished third in the 2013 IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama.

Jeff Purner (Birmingham, Alabama) earned the 1985 Skip Barber Racing Series Championship, is the 1990 IMSA Firestone Firehawk GS Champion and was the 1993 Trans-Am Rookie of the Year before moving into racing school instruction and management. Today, Purner oversees the Porsche Sport Driving School at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.

Al Unser, Jr. (Henderson, Nevada) is a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner from a legendary motorsports family. He is also a two-time Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona overall winner, both times piloting a Porsche 962 to victory lane.

Jeff Zwart (Long Beach, California) is an eight-time Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Invitational Class winner. Each of Zwart’s victories came at the wheel of a road car-based Porsche 911. His career outside of the car includes marketing campaign video creation for Porsche.

Don Kitch (Bellevue, Washington) has 20 years of experience in amateur and profession road racing. Porschephiles will know him best for his instrumental role in the creation of the Team Seattle “Heart of Racing” campaign that entered Porsche 911s with Alex Job Racing generating millions of dollars for children’s health related charities.

Walt Czarnecki (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan) is best known for his role as Roger Penske’s right hand man. Very often that right-hand was standing beside the “Captain” as Penske Racing campaigned various Porsche products. Most recently, Czarnecki’s instrumental role with Penske saw the team campaigning a Porsche-powered Daytona Prototype in GRAND-AM in 2009. Prior to that, Penske ran the Porsche works effort in the American Le Mans Series’ LMP2 class with the Porsche RS Spyder.

The Road Racing Drivers Club is a U.S. organization made up of many of the America’s and Europe’s most successful racing drivers. Members are elected by their peers and include Formula One World Champions, Indianapolis 500 winners, champion sports car drivers and top American amateur road racers. The membership also includes leading industry professionals, race officials, and motorsports journalists who have made significant contributions to the sport.

Jon Bennett, driver/owner, No. 54 CORE autosport Porsche 911 GT3 R.

“I started this journey in 1992 with a tax refund check and childhood dream to drive racecars. My success is a testament to being creative, never giving up, and the incredible importance of teamwork and sharing success with others along the way.

“Mentored by my good friend and SCCA champion Ray Stone and aiming for legends Mark Donahue and Al Holbert, it is an honor to join those who came before me in the RRDC.”

Porsche Entries at Daytona International Speedway.

Total Car Count. 17 Porsche Motorsport-produced cars are competing at Daytona during the 55th Running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona weekend.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Total Car Count: Seven (7) Porsche entries will be competing in the first round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

GTLM Class – Two (2) Porsche 911 RSR.
No. 911 Porsche GT Team	Patrick Pilet (France)/ Dirk Werner (Germany)/ Frédéric Makowiecki (France)
No. 912 Porsche GT Team	Kévin Estre (France)/ Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium)/ Richard Lietz (Austria)
GTD Class – Five (5) Porsche 911 GT3 R.
No. 28 Alegra Motorsports	Michael Christensen (Denmark)/ Daniel Morad (Canada)/ Jesse Lazare (Canada)/ Michael de Quesada (Tampa, Florida) / Carlos de Quesada (Tampa, Florida)
No. 54 CORE autosport	Patrick Long (Manhattan Beach, California)/ Nic Jönsson (Buford, Georgia)/ Jon Bennett (Charlotte, North Carolina)/ Colin Braun (Harrisburg, North Carolina)
No. 59 Manthey-Racing	Sven Müller (Germany)/ Matteo Cairoli (Italy)/ Harald Proczyk (Austria)/ Steve Smith (Switzerland)/ Reinhold Renger (Germany)
No. 73 Park Place Motorsports	Jörg Bergmeister (Germany)/ Patrick Lindsey (Santa Barbara, California)/ Matthew McMurry (Phoenix, Arizona)
No. 991 TRG	Wolf Henzler (Germany)/ Jan Heylen (Belgium)/ Derek DeBoer (Ashland, Oregon)/ Santiago Creel (Mexico)/ Tim Pappas (Boston, Massachusetts)

IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.

Total Car Count: Ten (10) Porsche Motorsport-produced entries will be competing in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge at Daytona.

GS Class – Ten (10) GT4 Spec – Five (5) Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR Grandfathered GS Spec – Five (5) Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport
No. 4 Team TGM Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR		Ted Giovanis (Highland, Maryland)/ Guy Cosmo (Palm Beach Gardens, Florida)/ Hugh Plumb (Unionville, Pennsylvania)
No. 11 GMG Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR	Elias Sabo (Newport Beach, California)/ James Sofronas (Villa Park, California)/ Matthew Halliday (Beverly Hills, California)
No. 12 Bodymotion Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport	Cameron Cassels (Canada)/ Trent Hindman (Wayside, New Jersey)
No. 21 Muehlner Motorsports America Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport	TBD
No. 28 RS1 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR	Dillon Machavern (Burlington, Vermont)/ Dylan Murcott (Ancram, New York)
No. 33 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport	Till Bechtolsheimer (New York City, New York)/ Marc Miller (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
No. 35 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport	Russell Ward (Seabrook, Texas)/ Damien Faulkner (Ireland)
No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR	James Cox (Nokomis, Florida)/ John Tecce (Gladwyne, Pennsylvania)/ David Murry (Atlanta, Georgia)
No. 46 TeamTGM Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport	Ted Giovanis (Highland, Maryland)/ Guy Cosmo (Palm Beach Gardens, Florida)/ Hugh Plumb (Unionville, Pennsylvania)
No. 88 GMG Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR	Carter Yeung (TBD)/ Andy Lee (Colorado Springs, Colorado)/ Alec Udell (The Woodlands, Texas)

Where to Watch:

All IMSA Series information, audio and live timing and scoring for each on-track session is additionally available on the IMSA App

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.	Channel/Web Address
Qualifying Broadcast Thursday, January 26 3:00 p.m. – 4:40 p.m. ET	IMSA.tv and IMSA App
Race Broadcast. Live Saturday, January 28 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET 5:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. ET 11:00 p.m. – 11:55 p.m. ET Sunday, January 29 12:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ET 12:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET	FOX FS2 FS2 FS2 FS1
Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.
Live Qualifying Streaming Thursday, January 26 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. ET	IMSA.tv and IMSA App
Live Race Video Streaming Saturday, January 28 12:05 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. ET	IMSA.tv and IMSA App
Television Broadcast February 11, 2017 11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.	FS1
Audio Streaming	IMSA.tv and IMSA App
Live Timing and Scoring	IMSA.tv and IMSA App

Social Media.
Porsche Cars North America.	@Porsche
Porsche GT Team	@PorscheNARacing
Porsche Motorsport – GT Cars.	@PorscheRaces
Porsche Racing – 919 Hybrid.	@Porsche_Team
Model Hashtags.

Series Hashtags.
GT3 Cup Challenge USA.	#GT3USA
GT3 Cup Challenge Canada.	#GT3CAN

Future Porsche Events.

Pirelli World Challenge

Event:	Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg Street Circuit
Dateline:	St. Petersburg, Florida
Date:	Saturday-Sunday, March 11th-12th
Track Length:	1.8-miles, 14-turn
Race Duration:	Two, 1-Hour Races
Class:	GT/GTA (Porsche 911 GT3 R) GT Cup (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) GTS (Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR)
Round:	GT/GTA. 1 and 2 of 10 GT Cup. 1 and 2 of 8 GTS. 1 and 2 of 12
Next Round:	Grand Prix of Long Beach, Long Beach Street Circuit, Long Beach, California, April 9, 2017

IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama

Event:	65th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Sebring International Raceway
Dateline:	Sebring, Florida
Date:	Race 1. Thursday, March 16 Race 2. Friday, March 17
Track Length:	3.74-miles, 15-turn
Race Duration:	Two, 45-minute races
Class:	Platinum (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, MY 2017) Gold (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, MY 2014-2016)
Round:	1 and 2 of 14
Next Round:	Grand Prix of Birmingham, Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Alabama, April 22-23, 2017

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

Event:	65th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Sebring International Raceway
Dateline:	Sebring, Florida
Date:	Saturday, March 18
Track Length:	3.74-miles, 15-turn
Race Duration:	12-Hours
Class:	GTLM (Porsche 911 RSR) GTD (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
Round:	GTLM. 2 of 11 GTD. 2 of 12
Next Round:	Grand Prix of Long Beach, Long Beach Street Circuit, Long Beach, California, April 8, 2017

FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC)

Event:	The Prologue, Autodromo Nazionale Monza
Dateline:	Monza, Italy
Date:	Friday – Saturday, March 24-25
Track Length:	3.6-miles, 11-turn
Race Duration:	NA
Class:	LMP-1 Hybrid (Porsche 919 Hybrid) LMGTE-Pro (Porsche 911 RSR, MY 2017) LMGTE-Am (Porsche 911 RSR, MY 2016)
Round:	Official Pre-Season Test Days
Next Round:	Six Hours of Silverstone, Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, England, April 17, 2017

Porsche Motorsport Video News Releases

Photography:

http://press.porsche.com/media/gallery2/v/photos/motorsports/happenings

Porsche Cars North America Media Site:

http://press.porsche.com/

Porsche Cars North America Motorsports Site:

http://www.porsche.com/usa/eventsandracing/motorsport

Porsche North America Race Team Portal:

porscheusa.com/racing

Porsche Motorsports Media Information:

Current news, images and notes relating to Porsche can be found on our press kit. Please contact Dave Engelman or Tom Moore for the latest Porsche Motorsports media kit.

Contacts:

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New Cars, Experienced Teams Make GT Class Favorites Tough to Predict in Rolex 24

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Fifty-five IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship entries take to the grid in, coincidentally, the 55th edition of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. There are four classes, two of them Prototype and Prototype Challenge, both populated by purpose-built race cars that resemble street cars only in passing.

The other two classes are both GT – that stands for “Grand Touring” or “Gran Turismo,” in Italian. There are 11 GT Le Mans entries, which are primarily factory-supported. And there are 27 GT Daytona entries, the largest class in the field. Both GT Daytona and GT Le Mans cars are based on production cars, so GT competitors look very much like the street-going models they are based on.

We’ll take a look at the GT field today, and tomorrow, we’ll preview the Prototypes.

For casual fans, GT may take a little getting used to: Some cars run in both the GT and GT Le Mans classes – an example would be the Porsche 911 and the Ferrari 488. We once asked a competitor what the difference between a GT Daytona and GT Le Mans car, and he replied, “About a half a million dollars.”

The GT Le Mans cars are more sophisticated than the GT Daytona cars, but what once was a substantial performance gap between the two classes is narrowing. Yes, there may be Porsche 911s and Ferrari 488s running in both GT Le Mans and GT Daytona, but count on the GT Le Mans models to be significantly faster.

Speaking of the Porsche 911, that’s the big news in GT Le Mans for 2017. Daytona marks the premiere of the Porsche 911 RSR, which was first shown to the public at the Los Angeles Auto Show. While it resembles the last-generation 911, this RSR has the six-cylinder engine moved closer to the front, from its traditional rear-engine configuration. It’s been called a mid-engine car now, which may be a bit of a stretch, but moving the engine forward should improve the overall balance of the RSR, as ideally, a race car should have 50 percent of the weight on the front, and 50 percent on the rear. The engine shift will help the RSR in that regard.

While the other GT Le Mans entries haven’t undergone such dramatic surgery, the Ferrari, Corvette, BMW and Ford teams have not been standing still. Especially the Ford Chip Ganassi Ford GTs, which made their world competition debut at the 2016 Rolex 24 At Daytona, then went on to a class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 50 years after the Ford GT won Le Mans outright.

Ganassi fields four Ford GTs, two in North America, and two in Europe. This year, all four Ford GTs will be in attendance, as the company very much wants a Rolex 24 win on the car’s resume, right beside the Le Mans victory.

This year, of the 11 entries in the class, there are two Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs, two BMW M6 GTLMs, two Porsche 911 RSRs and a lone Ferrari 488 GTE. You can make a case that, in general, some of the GT Le Mans teams may be the most experienced, the most professional of any class on the grid. Corvette Racing team has been together a long time – there are people still with the team that were there in 1999 for the Corvette C5.R’s debut at Daytona.

The biggest difference since then? There was a time when teams worked hard on race strategy, perhaps sending out one car to run flat-out for as long as possible, while the other entry takes it much easier, saving the car, hoping to be in contention for a late-race dash to the checkered flag, theoretically the tortoise passing the crashed and broken hares. No longer.

“It’s an all-out, full-speed battle, every minute of the 24 hours,” said Doug Fehan, Corvette Racing program manager, and the man in charge of the Corvette team – since that 1999 Daytona debut. Count on some close, brutal racing in the GT Le Mans class.

If you’re looking for more widespread changes in the GT ranks, then you’re looking at the GT Daytona class for 2017. Last year’s rules change that made the class a home for cars built to international GT3 specifications has resulted in interest from multiple manufacturers.

The GT3 class is raced in about 50 series around the world, and that has resulted in substantial interest by manufacturers, who realized they could build and sell GT3 cars profitably with a moderate investment, since One Size Fits All. The rules are essentially the same in multiple series, which gives owners of GT3 cars some security regarding resale value of their cars, knowing that they won’t become obsolete in a season or two.

That manufacturer interest has made a big impact on the 2017 Rolex 24 At Daytona field, with three new manufacturers joining the WeatherTech Championship field for the entire season, debuting at Daytona.

Acura will be racing its new NSX with a two-car team, as will Lexus, heading to Daytona with a pair of new RC F GT3s. There are three Mercedes AMG GT3s, which are not new to GT3 racing, but are new to the WeatherTech Championship. All three cars could be contenders: Michael Shank Racing, which fielded a winning Honda-powered Prototype last season, is now in charge of the Acura initiative. The Lexus team is headed by former Trans-Am champion Paul Gentilozzi, and a solid driver lineup led by Scott Pruett, who at 56 may be the most experienced and definitely is the winningest driver in the field, with five overall and 10 class wins at Daytona.

The Mercedes teams have enlisted Riley Technologies and its legendary president, Bill Riley, to manage the team, which are really three separate entries: Former Dodge Viper racer Ben Keating needed a new car to race since Dodge discontinued the Viper, and he turned to Mercedes, mostly because his co-driver, Jeroen Bleekemolen, had raced the Mercedes in Europe and loved it.

The second Mercedes team is the WeatherTech entry, which moved over from Porsche during the off-season. The team is backed by company founder David MacNeil and will be co-driven for the full season by his son, Cooper MacNeil, and Gunnar Jeannette, with Australian Supercars reigning champion Shane van Gisbergen and AMG factory driver Thomas Jaeger completing the Daytona lineup. And the third Mercedes entry is the SunEnergy1 Racing car led by Kenny Habul, an Australian businessman who is the president of SunEnergy1, a leading producer of solar energy products.

With or without the seven new cars, competition in GT Daytona is impossible to handicap. Last year, the brand-new Lamborghini Huracán GT3 was the fastest car in the class, but teething pains kept the Lambo teams out of victory lane. This year, there are eight Lamborghinis in the field, and with a year of development they could be the favorites, especially the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini, which did find victory lane late in the 2016 season.

And the Porsche, Aston Martin, Audi (the R8 LMS GT3 is very similar beneath the skin to the Lamborghini Huracán), BMW and Ferrari teams will do all they can to defeat the newcomers. There are some very experienced drivers and teams in this class, as well as some relatively inexperienced competitors, which is one of multiple reasons why the Rolex 24 is so fascinating: At 4 a.m., you may have a driver who had never seen Daytona until this year, exhausted after that initial adrenalin rush has worn off, fighting to stay alert as a herd of Prototypes driven by career racers flash by, lapping the track 10 seconds faster.

There are two kinds of winners in the Rolex 24 At Daytona: The ones who actually cross the finish line first in their class, and all the other drivers and teams that manage to hold it all together for all 24 hours, even if they finish 50 laps behind the winners.

There’s a very good chance that the closest racing will be within the two GT classes. And this may be the strongest lineup ever in these classes.

Television coverage begins Saturday, January 28 on FOX at 2 p.m. ET, with 23 total hours of racing coverage on FS1 and FS2 throughout the weekend. There’s also flag-to flag-coverage available via FOX Sports GO with FS1 authentication.

– MEDIA DAY – Graham Rahal

Q. What did you think of Clemson’s victory?

GRAHAM RAHAL: To be honest, after the Ohio State game, I thought they’d beat Bama. I mean, I don’t think Washington is very good at all. Anyway…

But that’s not what we’re here to talk about.

Q. Let’s maybe start off a little bit, if you can remember that far back, recap your 2016 season a little bit and then maybe what you’re looking forward to for 2017.

GRAHAM RAHAL: Well, yeah. I thought 2016 was a year of tremendous potential. The potential really that we did tap into, if you look at our qualifying performance was pretty solid everywhere compared to 2015 where our qualifying was certainly weak. But 2016 we were in the ballpark a lot. We were in the Fast Six a lot.

I want to say every single road course we were, rather than Watkins Glen where we got the penalty.

So you know, I felt like speed-wise, our performance was actually better than 2015, pretty considerably, and we just did our season reviews about a month and a half ago, and it’s pretty clear to see performance-wise, the team performed a lot better. However, we had a lot of things that just didn’t quite go our way, whereas in 2015 we had bounces that certainly did. 2016 the bounces didn’t happen. We had to fight a lot harder, still managed to get a top-five finish in the championship, but you know, if I look throughout the entire season, it starts right off with St. Pete running in the top 5, getting punted. Everybody knows that whole image.

So you know, you get — running from fifth, solidly if fifth, great race car that day, there’s no doubt we would have stayed there if not improved, and you finish 13th or whatever. So right there is a missed opportunity.

And then that carried on to Long Beach, and had a brake line come loose in Detroit when we started fifth or sixth. Just a lot of just mishaps that cost us.

I think a really genuine shot to go — I don’t know if anybody could have challenged Pagenaud consistently, but there’s no doubt I think we could have been in the top two.

Lots of potential, and we just have to find going forward a way to keep that performance level, enhance it a little bit. Obviously the cars aren’t really going to change at all. We’ll see what Firestone brings on the tire front and what we have to adjust to there, but hopefully we can keep the speed from the car. We really need to improve at Indy. That’s our main focus of everything this off-season. And also get a little bit of those breaks.

You know, that’s kind of the goal. That’s what we feel like we need.

Really we’ve had no changes with the new organization. I mean, we brought on Tom German to kind of help out on the engineering front with specialty projects, particularly because Indy was such a struggle. We really messed up on some aerodynamic testing that we did before. We only did one day of wind tunnel testing, and it completely fooled us, and that’s what happened to us at Indy. We just reacted to this one day, and the data points weren’t even correct, and it literally ruined our entire month.

You know, we were an outlier for the Honda camp by far, as far as our aerodynamic settings. We shot ourselves in the foot, and so we just kind of have to reset, and Tom will help us do that.

He brings, obviously, a lot of experience from Penske mainly. Clearly he was with Rossi last year, but going forward or going backwards from that, he had many, many years at Penske, so on the preparation side of things, he’s already pinpointed a couple things that we need to do.

But other than that, you know, the organization is going to stay the same, keep trucking along just as it has been.

Q. You mentioned the fact of not changing the cars obviously this year. We’ve heard about that. Your thoughts on that? Are you frustrated and disappointed because you kind of know your lot right now, it’s going to be tough to make that leap.

GRAHAM RAHAL: It is. It is. But my hope, as a Honda guy through and through, is that the engine can continue to improve and overcome what the aero kit lacks. There is no doubt that there’s aero kit inefficiencies, but it is what it is.

And yeah, is it a little bit tough kind of going into a season knowing, okay, we’re going to have the same uphill battle we’ve had for the last couple years? Yes. But again, I actually believe that Honda on the engine side is pretty strong, and I think that that will continue to develop. A couple new hires that they’ve had starting middle of last year really helped the performance of the engine, I think, the second half of the year, just getting comfortable pushing it a little bit more, and I think that will continue to happen.

You know, I hope we can get enough — as they say, horsepower can overcome anything. So we’ve just got to get enough of it somehow.

I know that they’re working hard to make that possible for us.

Q. Rico (team manager Ricardo Nault) and (engineer) Eddie (Jones) both said that you probably drove better last year than in 2015. Do you agree with that?

GRAHAM RAHAL: Yeah. I mean, in 2015 definitely when we had our opportunities we took them. There was no doubt. If I look at last year, I definitely was more confident. I feel like I was — if it came down to like having to throw a lap in, I feel like I did a good job maximizing what we had for sure.

But I think everybody else did a good job adjusting, too. I’ll be honest, we finished second at Sonoma, but my car was like awful at Sonoma until the race, and it took a combination, an effort to put that magical qualifying lap in, to get it into the Fast Six, and then what do we do, go on to Sunday, and that’s not just me, that takes everybody, from all the engineering staff, Joe, my Honda engineer, everybody. What are we going to do to improve this thing, and they did a great job, too.

You know, yeah, I think that I probably drove better last year than 2015. But hopefully the best is yet to come. I don’t know. I mean, it’s hard when you look back. As a driver you always have to be critical of where can you improve, where were mistakes, what did you kind of let go, you know, and where did you lose points. Last year there weren’t that many cases of it. Like I said, we had a couple cases of mechanical issues and stuff like that, which was very rare for us, and then we had a couple cases of just getting caught out like St. Pete and getting punted, and the place that I know I hurt us the most is Long Beach because we were fast at Long Beach and I crashed right before qualifying, and we — it was just a panic just to try to get the car put back together, so that’s probably an area that I really hurt us a lot.

Q. How do you look at where the series is at as a whole? Do you think it’s on the upswing with some momentum?

GRAHAM RAHAL: I think there’s no doubt it’s on the upswing. And what I like about what we have going on here is there’s no fake news out there. There’s no — let’s just say something just to say it. Genuinely, everybody, Jay and the entire organization here, Bill, they’ve done a great job. And there’s no doubt it’s headed in the right direction.

I think when people see the new car, people are going to really like it. I mean, you guys know how it is. You’ve got your just passionate haters out there that are going to continue to just do that. But in general, what I really enjoy is I do see the series has so much potential and is headed, without a doubt, in the right direction.

And I don’t see that that’s going to stop any time soon. I mean, I don’t. I hope that our TV package can improve in the years to come and we can continue to get in front of more eyeballs. But the at-track attendance is strong, and like I said, the thing I appreciate the most from what I’ve seen is the honesty within and outside of the sport.

You know, areas where we’re weak, we’re going to tell you we’re weak. In areas where we’re strong, we should be proud of it. But it’s good to see. I like what I’ve seen out of Jay’s group in particular. I think it’s strong.

Q. Do you think some of the haters will be quieted when they see the return of what they prefer in a race car with the 2018 kit?

GRAHAM RAHAL: I think so. I think so. What people need to realize is IndyCar racing has never been more competitive than this. And people go on about the aero kits. They go on about all this stuff. But this is the deepest field anywhere in motorsports. It is the closest field anywhere in motorsports. And okay, last year you’ve got — obviously Penske won a lot of races last year. You know, but they’re one hell of a team, too. It’s a great organization, but at the same time, you’ve got a lot of other people that have opportunities and chances to win. I mean, it’s just — these guys that are worried so much how the car looks or the noise of the engine or whatever, the racing is great.

Now, I do hope that the new car has less aero wash. I do hope that the under tray is more effective and that you can actually follow closer to make the road course racing a little easier because with these aero kits for sure, it’s more difficult. And really, you then rely more on the tires to create the falloff and then create the racing, which Firestone has done a great job of that.

But I think the new car — you know, I haven’t seen the finished product by any means, but I think it looks pretty awesome. You know, it’s — I’m excited about it.

For me, it’s more like what I feel an IndyCar should look like.

Q. There’s going to be a ton of eyeballs on Indy this year. You say IndyCar is on this big swing. They’d better sell out again or people are going to jump off the bandwagon, aren’t they?

GRAHAM RAHAL: No, I’m not worried about that. I’m not worried that they’ll sell out again because it’s hard to really sell out anymore. Now, I do know ticket renewals are the best that they’ve ever been by far, percentage-wise, and I know a lot of people that I talk to when I travel and go to other races, they talk about the experience and how they won’t miss another Indy. I have no doubt that it’s going to be — it’s going to be really good. But I don’t think by any means if it’s not sold old that people are going to jump off.

The race has lasted over 100 years not by chance, you know, and it’s going to continue to go on and be successful for many, many years to come.

Now, the race last year had a lot of drama, right down to the — obviously to the very, very, very finish. I have no doubt that this year is going to be the exact same.

But if you look at it, if you look at the potential of it, again, it’s just trending upwards. With the snake pit and everything they have going on there, with the facility upgrades and everything, there’s no reason to believe that by any stretch of the imagination is this thing going to fall backwards at all. I mean, I think it’s — everything that they’re doing is only going to — Keith Urban is playing, right? That’s a huge draw. I mean, everything. I think all the partners are all hands on deck, and it seems to be headed in absolutely the right direction.

Q. What was the most memorable thing or most fun you had during the off-season?

GRAHAM RAHAL: Actually I would say, yeah, the — for me, the Honda Classic, getting to go with Firestone and Honda was — I’m a big hockey guy, so that was a lot of fun. That was a really, really cool experience for me to go see.

Q. That’s the NHL Winter Classic?

GRAHAM RAHAL: That’s what I mean, Winter Classic. Honda Classic is a golf tournament I’m going to in a week. I’ve been pretty busy this off-season. Everyone is like, we need a shorter off-season. I’m like, hell no, I’m all over the place.

And on a personal level, just getting to spend some time at our dealerships, I’m getting more involved in our dealership group, and I’m very passionate about it, getting to go up there and see them and seeing all our award winners again this year, we had our team Christmas party, and there’s — there are well over 600 people there. It’s impressive to see the way that the company has grown, and it gives me personally a lot of pride for what Dad and his partners have created there. On a personal level, that’s what was most powerful for me.

Q. You said before when looking at adding a second driver to the team, we saw Rahal Letterman announce Oriol Servia. How has the dynamic of the team changed with Oriol addition to 2017, confirming it this early?

GRAHAM RAHAL: Well, you know, Oriol is a clear plug-in for us. First of all, he’s a great guy. Second of all, he will help us. He’s going to help our performance at Indy. I can tell you that right now. And third, he’s been there so many times with the organization, he’s been in and out of the team a handful of times. He knows everybody. He’s been part of the team before. So it’s a clear fit.

One thing we learned last year, and I love Spencer (Pigot), I think he’s got great potential in his career, but like at Indy last year, I mean, you might as well have been a one-car team. Legitimately there was no information coming off of that car to help, and when we were having these aerodynamic issues, you need somebody to say, hey, I tested it, too, and I’m not really sure or whatever.

And when we were following this aero path, the comments from the other side were just like, yeah, it’s just a lot better. So you just react. We need just a very experienced guy who can help lead us down the right path, and Oriol is going to be that guy.

You know, I think there was a bunch of drivers, and I can’t tell you who because I don’t know because they don’t tell me, but I know there were several drivers who came to the team that wanted to run full season, had budgets to do it and everything else, and they were all turned away. I mean, they’ve genuinely — the team is focused on making sure if there is the addition of a second car full-time, it has to fit the right environment. We don’t see turnover, in an area here of Indy, if you want a job, literally all you’ve got to do is walk across the street. So normally you do see pretty high turnover. You guys might see the same faces in the pack, but a lot of times they’re at different places every couple years. We don’t see that, and we really are proud of the environment that we have, and so Oriol is a guy that fits that just perfectly and won’t upset the apple cart, so to speak.

Hopefully that continues on, and hopefully he’s not — and you can tell him I said this. Hopefully he’s not falling apart over 40 now and everything else. But he’s a great guy, and I think he’ll do a heck of a job for us. We’re looking forward to it.

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