The spellbinding final battle between eventual GTD PRO winners Pfaff Motorsport and KCMG which ended with contact at the Le Mans Chicane saw Laurens Vanthoor in reflective mood post-race, Tears were shed on the in-lap after a potential win, and let’s not forget, one that would have completed Laurens’ ‘set’ of the big four 24 Hour races in GT (he already has won at Le Mans, Spa and the Nürburgring.
Post-race though there were several displays of a very classy nature. This image captured by Porsche as the two factory drivers found each other in Parc ferme, and then this Tweet from the Vanthoor this morning
— Laurens Vanthoor (@VanthoorLaurens) January 31, 2022
Chapeau Gentlemen! And a hearty congratulations to the Pfaff Motorsports crew, and to Matthieu Jaminet in particular.
DPi Leaders
We noted in our post-race coverage that all seven of the DPi’s led the 2022 Rolex 24 at least once. Now the walking, talking encyclopaedia of sportscar racing knowledge that is Janos Wimpffen adds a further layer of proof of the competitiveness of the field.
23 of the 27 Dpi drivers led the race at some point, the only four that didn’t were Ben Keating, Earl Bamber, Mike Rockenfeller and Marcus Ericsson. Astonishing! Bamber topped the class in the post-race analysis of fastest 50 laps by online analyst The ‘B’ Pillar.
Driver Analysis, DPi, Fastest 50 Laps, @IMSA, @DAYTONA; @earlbamber fast for @Cadillac, while @RickyTaylorRace, @PipoDerani & @AlexPalou speedy; @tom_blomqvist putting in the leg work for victorious @MeyerShankRac pic.twitter.com/q3ZxILDhdP
— The B Pillar (@thebpillar) January 31, 2022
Daytona Paddock Visitors
More motorsport industry personalities spotted in the paddock during the race weekend included Haas F1 Team Principal Günther Steiner, DTM Event Director Frederic Elsner and ex Asian Le Mans Series CEO Cyrille Taesch Wahlen. The DSC Ed spotted him from afar and had to wait his turn to say “Hi” with no shortage of people from the paddock coming to greet him warmly, Cyrille was tight-lipped on his future but he clearly has a plan!
He’s seen here with KCMG’s Cristina Villar, an Asian LMS customer from some years back!
