Scott Dixon will contest the 2022 Rolex 24 at Daytona together with Renger van der Zande, Sebastian Bourdais and Alex Palou in the #01 Cadillac Racing DPi, it’s the latest in a series of appearances that the five times Indycar Champion, 2008 Indy 500 winner has made at the event. A somewhat unusual preseason ‘routine’ for a top drawer single-seater racer.
“I’ve done Daytona every year since 2004 so it’s been a while!”
And the regular trip to Florida has been for from easy to slot in years past, despite a regular winning record that has seen the Kiwi take three overall and one GTLM class win in that time.
“Back then it was probably more crazy. I remember flying from Phoenix one night to get here for the test or to even get here for the race. Whereas now in IndyCar you know, the last time I drove the Indy car was in the middle of September and the first time I’ll drive it this year will be February 14. So it’s nice to actually fill that gap with some Daytona testing and then obviously the Daytona 24.”
Tell us a little bit about the evolution of the race through your experiences here. From the DPs, into the United SportsCar Championship and now DPI. And what comes next?
“I guess my first year in 2004 was kind of eye-opening. It was new for the team as well at that point. I won’t lie it was a pretty miserable race. I think it rained for about 18 hours or something. I think they ran out of wets!
“We had no defroster I think we tried doing the race without a windscreen at one point. And we tried doing it with drilling holes in the floor, the car was full of water, but the fields back in those times I think we were over 80 cars. Compare that to today’s DPi fields of seven or eight cars, back then we had 30 plus cars going for the win!
“So the racing was pretty fierce and those cars were a lot of fun to drive. They were definitely very basic, still a sequential shift, but fun fun to drive.
“So you know, I think the evolution, even for me throwing in four years of doing the Ford GT programme, and then the first year out of that and starting with Wayne Taylor and the DPI, it’s a quick car and it’s a tough car, the pitstop windows are very short, it’s only about 38 minutes to 40 minutes, which you know, hopefully, that will change once we get to the LMDh and kind of extend that a little bit.
“But I feel like a lot of categories right now around the world are going through a pretty exciting time. So evolution I’d say started really strong with manufacturers and now it’s taking off again in in a crazy way. Thankfully for the unification I think between WEC and IMSA, it’s going to be an interesting period of time for a lot of people.”
You’re right, there’s only seven cars in the top class but there’s not a weak link in amongst them? Winning this is going to be tough?
“It’s always tough. It used to be an endurance race, and now it’s a 24 hour sprint race, the cars are mechanically very sound, of course, you can have small problems that take you out of it. But you’re flat out from the word go, there’s no kind of lull.
“And I think the series has done a very good job of the cars being pretty even, it’s always tough, I know, to try and get the BoP correct. But they found a pretty good format, I think in the last few years. So it’s always interesting, it’s always tough!”
For the most part you are on the outside and looking into sportscar racing, from the perspective of someone whose full time job is elsewhere, how interested are the professionals in your regular orbit in what is going on for the future here?
“I think it’s changing the game for sure.
“I think with a lot of manufacturers pulling out a while ago, it was tough. There was a lot of drivers that were contracted to manufacturers and the scarcity of being able to find a team was pretty bad.
“It was not good for the driver market, I guess you could put it that way.
“Whereas now it’s kind of re-ignited that, which is great for the sport in many ways, and especially on the driver front.
“For the marquee races, whether it’s you know, Daytona 24 hour, Sebring 12 hour or even Le Mans, it’s going to be super exciting, this is a great period to be involved in and I think, that pulls a lot of emotions into trying to get into a programme for some people that otherwise wouldn’t have considered it as an option or a career path.
And finally, what about your route forward Scott. Do you see your involvement continuing at this level, or would you like to maybe do a little bit more as this new era emerges?
“IndyCar is still my main programme. You know, hopefully IndyCar stops putting races on the same weekend, as sports car racing. I think there’s two conflicts this year with Sebring and then also with Le Mans. Everybody knows when those races are, so that that gets a bit frustrating, but, you know, I think maybe once Roger is competing in the field, that those conflicts won’t happen!”
