Thanks for joining me again for another one of these. This weekend didn’t exactly go to plan, but that’s racing, right?
The last few days have thrown everything at us, both for me as a sportscar rookie, and the team for getting the car ready in less-than-ideal circumstances. The Roar is a proper race weekend with all the same ups and downs, competitiveness, and late nights as the real deal next weekend, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
So, what happened? Friday was a good day, Practice 1 and 2 went well. The NSX is amazing to drive around Daytona, and my teammates Mario, Marc, and Till have been super helpful in getting me up to speed. Then going into Saturday, the weather took a turn. We weren’t sure how much longer the track would stay dry as I jumped into the car for Practice 3, so I was focused on keeping it on the black stuff and banking some more experience in traffic.
About 6 or 7 laps into the run, the rain started coming down harder and I was honestly just taking it easy, not trying to push my luck as I went through the fast left of Turn 5. The car had other plans. Once the rear stepped out, there wasn’t a lot I could do other than try to slow down as the car spun out onto the infield. Unfortunately, we hit the barrier pretty hard. Game over.
The ride back to the pits was agonising. You can’t help but feel there’s something you could have done in that situation to change the outcome, and I obviously felt bad for taking time away from my teammates, Till especially, as we planned to race the Roar together the next day. But the way the team approached assessing the car, planning, and rebuilding it was just mind-blowing.
I have to hand it to Gradient Racing, the whole crew came together and essentially rebuilt the back half of the car, engine and everything in one night.
Marc was strapped back in the car for Sunday’s warm-up and that was it, #66 is back in the game. Insane!
Thankfully, the race itself was straightforward compared to Saturday’s rollercoaster ride. Don’t get me wrong, I had an amazing time taking the green flag on the banking, racing in the pack (we’ll get to that shortly), nailing our driver change and so on, but I was equally satisfied to bring the car home and reward the team for their hard work getting us back out there.
We start the 2022 Rolex 24 of Daytona 16th in class. That’s really cool to say.
Now, back to the racing. More specifically, racing AROUND people in a wide GT car. At Daytona. While the DPi’s hunt you down. As cool as it was, it’s probably the craziest race I’ve ever driven in. You don’t really appreciate how big these cars feel compared to say, an Indy Lights car, until you’re racing three-wide down to Turn 1, and only two of you are going to make it through in one piece. On saying that, I feel like I got the hang of things quickly and made a few passes to get P13 before pitting. Not bad.
The other thing I’m getting used to is sharing the car. Having only ever raced karts and single-seaters before this weekend, watching the car you just got out of continuing to race around the track is definitely weird. And you know what, kind of exhilarating too. Till did a great job bringing the car home, and I actually think having that immediate reference of, ‘Ok, what’s Till doing here’, or how he was managing traffic and things like that, was super useful.
Working together with Marc, Mario and Till has been a great experience. Literally, everything they’ve mentioned, from specific stuff about the car’s unique handling to preparing for the 24 itself, has been invaluable and I’ve seen a definitive improvement to my pace based on their feedback. My confidence is growing all the time, and I think together as a team we’ve got a really strong package for the big race coming up.
I’d also like to congratulate Ricky Taylor and the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing crew for winning the 24 pole. Ricky was one of the coaches at the HPD Academy, he’s a great guy, and it’s awesome to see Acura (and by extension, Honda) so well-represented.
Here’s hoping for a slightly less dramatic 24 hours this weekend!
Pics Halston Pitman and Jon Bennett (no, not that one!)
