Over the past week, DSC has been fortunate enough to speak with several drivers at Daytona International Speedway and, specifically, those within the premier GTP class.
Many were part of the class’ debut at the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona last year, while others find themselves new to the category, or in a new environment.
Tom Blomqvist, Two-time Daytona 24 Hours Champion:
It didn’t seem like you’d be back in the IMSA paddock when you transitioned to IndyCar and Meyer Shank Racing went on hiatus – so how did this deal with Action Express happen?
TB: “I mean, if I can keep doing sports cars, there’s no better thing, right? It has given so much to me. I still want to be able to compete, especially in this race.”
“To be honest, you know, people started hearing rumours about whether or not MSR will stay on the grid this year. And so they just put the question to me, put the question to Mike, and said, ‘If there was ever an opportunity if Tom was around, would that be okay?’ That’s kind of how it started, to be honest. And it just evolved from there.
“They kind of gave their blessing, and no one wanted to stand in the way of me still doing the sportscar stuff.
“They [AXR] obviously wanted to try and get me on board, because I’ve had a lot of experience in the sportscar scene, I’ve won some races – so, I think it was, on both sides, I guess it was a bit of a no-brainer, really.”
And you’re one of the few drivers, so far, that’s had experience in multiple GTP makes – coming from Acura to Cadillac, has there been a big difference?
I was surprised at how comfortable I felt, relatively quickly
TB: “It wasn’t as big as I was expecting. I was expecting a bigger difference. At the end of the day, the regulation is actually really small and confines the cars to quite a small box. But obviously, there are differences, some pros and cons of each. I’m probably one of the only guys who’s experienced different machinery. There’s a few of us now. Honestly, I was surprised at how comfortable I felt, relatively quickly.”
Sébastien Bourdais, 2014 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona Overall Winner / 2017 GTLM Class Winner
What are the big steps you’ve seen with the Cadillac programme over this first year of GTP?
SB: “I wouldn’t say big steps, because you’re only allowed to make set-up changes and software changes once the car is homologated.
“Obviously the knowledge of the car has improved hugely throughout the season, and honestly, really the second phase of the season, because the first phase of the season, we were trying to catch up from disaster after disaster, and the lack of spare parts and, and gearing up with a new team.
“We only really started to have time to develop the car from say August. That was the hardest thing, knowing that there were so many things that we couldn’t do because we just didn’t have the time, or didn’t have the car, or didn’t have the parts.
“We just made steady progress after that start to learn more about the car. I feel like the first race where we felt we were really under control was Petit Le Mans and that was a really good one for us.
“I think we’re in good shape here but I wish we were not the car with the least power car at such a power sensitive track. To me, that’s not a good thing. Even though we end up doing the same lap times, if they get a sniff of your tow you’re a passenger and you can’t pass them back then that doesn’t help you. So I hope we don’t end up there, but I’m very worried about it.”
Marcus Ericsson, 2022 Indianapolis 500 Champion:
Marcus, welcome back to Daytona. First race in this generation of prototypes – you must be enjoying the ARX-06?
ME: “It’s like a spaceship. That’s what I described it, the first time I drove it here in Daytona in December. It’s a very impressive car, and there’s so many tools inside the car you can play with.”
Many of your IndyCar peers have done this race several times, including your old Ganassi team-mate Scott Dixon – would you like to come back to do this more often?
ME: “I did Daytona two years ago with Chip (Ganassi), and that was my first ever endurance racing experience. And that was a lot of fun. Ever since, I’ve been looking at ways to try and get back here. It doesn’t get much better than to come back here with this team (WTRAndretti) and team-mates, for sure.
It’s a very impressive car, and there’s so many tools inside the car you can play with
“Being an IndyCar driver, that’s my main focus – but as we’ve seen with a lot of other IndyCar drivers, you can combine that with doing a lot of sportscar racing.
“I think the way sportscar racing is going at the moment, as well, it’s very attractive. It’s definitely something that’s on my list – and Le Mans, of course, is one of those races you want to do before you retire.”
Laurens Vanthoor, two-class IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Champion:
I think a lot of people are curious, now that Porsche has an established base of competitive privateer teams like Proton and JDC-Miller: Is there needle between yourselves at Porsche Penske, and those privateers?
LV: “No question about it, Porsche Penske wants to be the Porsche team that wins. Porsche and also Penske would want to win Daytona and Le Mans, and not a customer team. I guess that’s normal. But, it’s in a healthy manner. There are still collaborations. It’s not that we have different materials than the customers.”
Obviously, the 963 improved quite a lot from the start to the finish of this year. But, it wasn’t one big change that solved all the problems – was there?
LV: “There wasn’t one big thing which was necessarily the big thing. We gradually improved, point by point – drivers, team, software, car, everything – and that showed up.
“I hear in the media that the others are scared of Porsche, which is good!”
Nick Yelloly, 2023 Six Hours at the Glen Winner:
Where do you feel BMW stands now versus this time last year?
NY: “I think as a team, as a manufacturer, we learned a hell of a lot – due to the fact that we’ve just had more mileage. We struggled last year with knowing the car as well as we’d have liked due to the few issues we had in testing, and the testing mileage in general.
“We need to build upon that for this year, of course, and naturally, with two programmes running now, the amount we can learn the whole time is doubled. So our progress, in theory, should be a lot better.
“Technically, we had the problem in the first hour here, which was unfortunate for ourselves. Otherwise, on the #25 car, we were – touch wood – relatively good in terms of technical problems. But I think we have ironed out all of those now, we know why we had the issues that we had. And now, it was more working on general pace and making sure that we’re fast enough to compete for those race wins.”
Images © Richard Dole, Jake Galstad, Michael L. Levitt / IMSA
