That was a good way to start the season. Much better than what we’d seen last season. If the momentum that the series has gathered at Daytona carries over through Sebring and beyond, we could be witnessing the start something really quite nice.
Prototypes
The Ganassi win wasn’t really that surprising at all. After all, they have now won half of the 12 races they have entered at Daytona. With a record like that, they will be a favorite entering every Daytona 24 hour race from now through eternity. By taking the well known expertise of the Ganassi team, adding in some exceptional driving talent, combining it with the known quantity of the Riley chassis and the now emerging power of Ford, you have the makings of a very potent racing effort.
Ganassi and his team have proved that they are one of, if not the best racing team in North America. They have won with the Lexus and BMW motors in the past, but there is something that looks to be much more official with the tie in that they have with Ford now. In the past, the BMW/Dinan and even the Lexus packages were nice, but they didn’t pack the punch that the new tie in with Ford looks to have.
Ford is serious about this. There has not been been such a presence of Ford personnel as we saw at Daytona for many a year. The Sebring win last year started the ball rolling for Ford, but this Daytona win will really get the momentum going in a big way. If there was any doubt in the minds at Ford about racing the new GT (of which I truly doubt there is) this win has to all but guarantee that the GT program as well as the Continental Series Mustang effort (and where ever else the horse might be racing in the world) will be given a green light to move ahead, full speed ahead.
It is in this partnership with Ganassi that Ford has found a partner that will lead them into racing the way it should be done. Ford hasn’t always had that reputation. Throughout the ages, there are just as many stories of Ford Racing failures as there have been Ford Racing success. We celebrate the success and tend to ignore or conveniently forget the rest. Anybody remember the C-100?
In the media post race interview, all of the right things were said. Especially interesting was the Chip Ganassi reaction towards the Star Car label that was stuck upon the winning car. It was in this interview that Chip actually interrupted another interviewee to state that he did not like at all the Star Car label. While earlier on he was somewhat reserved and also reflective, he came out quite a bit more assertive and adamant about that label being a “media created thing and something that I don’t support.” He went on to say that all of his driver line-ups are the same, there are no stars at all in his stable, only equals. Sometimes there are some that are more equal than others, but in this case Chip said all of the right things at the right time. This was especially pertinent as it took place just before some of the media started to get ready to crown Scott Dixon the supreme being of the universe. Some of that had to be pretty uncomfortable for the drivers up on the stage (including Scott himself, who responded appropriately).
The Ganassi win was in some doubt at the end, at least until the Wayne Taylor Racing effort became unraveled. That team raced like they deserved the win, only to be let down late in the race by what may be viewed as a pretty major oops. The miscalculation of the drive time for Jordan was downplayed by the team after the race, but that mistake could really end up haunting the team down the road in a points battle, especially if they are found guilty of exceeding the drive time limits. Time will tell…
Action Express too looked like a possible winner, but their effort became disconnected during the night and the Gary Nelson led team just couldn’t get it all together properly and they had to fight from behind. Thanks to the insipid regulations that allow teams to easily make up lost laps, they were actually in a position in which to put up a fight late, but it wasn’t to be. It’s just as well, as if they had come through for the win after being handed back their laps, it would not have been a deserving win, at least in the eyes of this writer.
So what about P2? It definitely looks to be stronger than last season, but how strong will it be once ESM and Krohn leave the series for other pastures? Most of the P2 teams had their moments. Mazda led the race overall and Michael Shank not just qualified on pole, but also put in a strong run, only to fall short at the end. It almost seems as if the old P2 curse was revived, in which these car simply couldn’t get a break. Again like years ago, the P2 car challenge simply wilted on the vines.
Extreme Speed especially had a rough race. Their expectations weren’t exceptionally high entering the race, considering how new the cars are, but I’m sure they’d wished for more run time, even if it was to get used to running the cars for their upcoming WEC adventure.
And the Deltawing. It was odd, this was a race in which the car looked like it had a shot at competing, only to have yet another gearbox failure early on. This was something that the team had worked long and hard at during the short off season, but unfortunately that hard work did not pay off at all in this race. I will say one thing though, that car looked awfully skitterish on track. That front end was darting all over the place, those that drove that car appear to be a brave bunch indeed.
GTLM
This promised so so much, only to be reduced to a so-called shootout at the end between 2 cars, one that looked quite bashed up and the other that was actually quite clean looking, at least from my perspective.
That Corvette won was not all that surprising. It even looked like it could be a Corvette 1-2 in the hard fought class until the #4 got tangled up in a couple of incidents. But in the end it came down to the #3 being chased by the battered and bruised whiteish BMW. While the margin of victory was tightened by the late COREtion, the BMW just never appeared to have what it was going to take late in the race.
The early promise of a race in the class was prevalent through a good portion of the race, and for awhile it looked as if a good old fashioned 6-car shootout might be possible at the end, but it simply wasn’t meant to be.
For Porsche, the race was brutal. First there was the delay to the #912, which dropped 6 laps back, but was able to again use the regulations to crawl back. But that effort was scuttled by the attempt of the Porsche program to double team an Aston Martin, only for it to all go bad in a bizarre incident which knocked both of the cars out of contention and possibly a driver or two in for a stern conversation. And if that wasn’t enough, then there was the Falken entry, which was making a stunning debut at Daytona, but was forced from the race with terminal engine issues. This effort showed that the Falken win at Petit to close 2014 was not a fluke at all. These guys need to be taken seriously.
Risi, after a truly horrendous 2014 Daytona looked like they were on the positive side of fortune again when electrical gremlins struck. While they were leading, the car started misfiring in the overnight hours and everything the team threw at the car was to no avail. In the end, it appears as if a problem with the wiring loom doomed their efforts this time.
The positive thing for the class was that for this track layout, the balance between the different cars was quite nice. If this continues, we as fans of the sport can continue to look forward to the great battles we have come to expect from this class.
But make no mistake, this race belonged to the #3 and the potent driving squad of the bearded Jan Magnussen, the quiet Antonio Garcia and the always smiling Ryan Briscoe. They not just led the most laps in class (389 out of 725 completed), but they were the fastest on track with Mags setting a class best 1:43.942 (the only car in the class to break into the 1:43s) but they also spent the least amount of time in the pits of the final contenders, 28 stops totaling 36:05.22 for the 3, vs. 29 stops totaling 43:27.324 for the second place finishing #25 BMW. On top of that and for what it’s worth, they also won the newly sponsored and generally forgotten Dekra Green Challenge Award for those that care about that sort of stuff.
LMPC
One word, CORE. This race was theirs yet again, at least for 23 ½ hours. Then disaster struck.
In traffic, steady and fast Colin Braun got tangled up with a slower DP and ended up in the grass where the infield rejoins the banking. As Braun motored off OK after the off, all appeared to be OK. But instead of a drive to pit lane to have the car checked over, something let go at the exit of the bus stop and then next thing we know, Braun was crawling out of a wrecked and burning car, somewhat stunned. The team was still credited, due to massive attrition in the class with a 3rd place finish.
This was a crushing blow for the team, but through it all, Jon Bennet came out as a star. His comments and demeanor after what was a frustrating race help show why this team is so great. Win or lose, he is a class act.
All of the above is not meant to disrespect the eventual winners. PR1-Mathiasen ran a strong race throughout and kept themselves within shouting distance of CORE throughout the race. In fact the pressure applied by Tom Kimber Smith late in the race may have contributed to the incident which took CORE out. With Kimber Smith closing late, it may have caused Braun to be a little more forceful than he’d thought he’d need to be in traffic and this may have contributed to the demise of CORE.
In finishing second, BAR1 came from being down 11 laps on the class leaders to eventually finish only 1 minute back, aided by the generous wave around rules, class attrition, as well strong pace throughout.
GTD
Face it, this one was all about Viper. The eventual winning car, the #93 Viper Exchange entry overcame starting the race last, due to a qualifying issue on Thursday. Come race day, the 2-car effort pretty much dominated the proceedings. First off, the # 33 was the strongest, but when mechanical ails hit that one, it was the #93 that took over at the top, leading the last quarter of the race before a late caution tightened the final margin to about 7 seconds over the #22 AJR Porsche.
This race was a bittersweet win, coming as it did on the still raw emotions of the cancelation of the Viper GTLM effort that was announced just after Petit.
For the Ben Keating owned and Bill Riley led team, this win helped ease some of the emotions. It was also meaningful to the drivers, as Kuno Wittmer and co-driver Dominik Farnbacher were with the GTLM effort last season, with Kuno taking home the driver championship.
This class does not get the focus of the other classes when covering a race, but it seemed that anytime the top of the class was checked, it was a Viper either leading or near the top. This is a tribute to the effort of Bill Riley in putting together not just the team, but also the car. It is also a tribute to the perseverance of Ben Keating who had to watch his car burn to the ground at Sebring last season, here now less than a year later, his team is victorious in what may be the biggest race that they can be in for the season.
As far as a race, the on track action was great and the race officials really made the proper calls, it seemed like there were no longer the hair trigger approach to throwing a caution. This race the officials gave proper time to allow a situation to sort itself out before throwing the yellow and this was a welcome and appreciated change from what we have seen at times in the past.
Not welcomed was many of the usual Daytona problems. First of all, pit lane is probably the most unwelcome place of any track that the series visits. Besides being crowded, many of the teams make it nearly impossible to access anybody during the course of the event. This is truly frustrating. Thankfully some of the PR people do come up with availability time with their drivers, which does help their cause.
Personally I have a love-hate relationship with the Daytona 24 Hours. While I appreciate the history of the event and the difficulty of competing in it, I simply do not enjoy attending it. This is a statement echoed by many that were at the track this last week, covering all aspects of involvement.
Oh well, we made it through Daytona 2015. Now on to Sebring…
Gary Horrocks
