The pre-race ceremonials for the Rolex 24 Hours are getting underway under clear skies and sunshine, temperatures up now into the mid 60s F.
The crowd, and the queue for autographs is far, far larger than anything we’ve seen here for this race before – The plan is working so far it seems.
In the paddock a handful of cars are undergoing last minute tweaks, the Marsh Corvette DP, Ganassi’s Riley Fords, The MSR Riley Ford, the #912 factory Porsche GTLM and the Aston GTLM all with hands on but with no apparent dramas.
There are two significant winning runs to watch over the 24 Hours:
Riley are looking towards a potential 10th overall win on the trot, with their hopes pinned on Ganassi, MSR, Starworks and the polesetting Riley chassied Corvette DP of Gainsco/ Bob Stallings and – you never know! – the Highway to Help DP or indeed the GTLM or GTD Vipers.
Porsche meanwhile are looking to extend the longest podium finishing record – at least one Porsche has finished on, at least, a class podium every single year since the very first (3 hour) race here in 1962 – If they do it again in either GTLM or GTD it will be 52 consecutive years.
We’re posting the final grid and starting drivers in a moment or two but there are two significant changes as the #71 Park Place and #27 Dempsey Racing GTD Porsches are pinged for fielding a driver who has not yet qualified for the race. They’ll start from the back row.
In fact there are no fewer than eight cars starting from the back of the grid after various issues and infractions, the starting drivers of the Octet of Shame feature an FIA World Champion (Bruni) a Porsche factory driver (Hartley) , a Corvette factory driver (Magnussen) and fast starters Norbert Siedler and Tom Kimber Smith.
The grid as a whole will be a change from previous years, the 68 cars will start behind a single Safety car in overall qualifying order with no separation between the Prototype and GT fields – Seats around Turn One will be at a premium!
