A Final Word On Nick Tandy…

Much has been written about the achievement of Porsche Penske Motorsport driver Nick Tandy since the chequered flag fell on Sunday afternoon, and rightly so.

Becoming the first driver in history to claim overall wins at the Le Mans 24 Hours, Nürburgring 24 Hours, Spa 24 Hours and now the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, is a truly remarkable feat.

The 40-year-old Briton has been a force at the highest levels of sportscar racing for more than a decade now and shows no signs of slowing down.

He remains at the top of his game and along with Porsche Penske Motorsport, has a real chance to fight for an IMSA GTP title this year following his Rolex 24 triumph alongside Felipe Nasr and Laurens Vanthoor.

He also has the chance to go even further than this ‘Slam’; if he wins Round 2 of the IMSA SportsCar Championship in March, he will also have outright wins at Petit Le Mans and the Sebring 12 Hours on his CV too.

Post-race, Tandy was – unsurprisingly – extremely emotional, both visibly and audibly.

To claim four overall wins at the biggest races sportscar racing has to offer, and being the first to do so, is an astonishing achievement, made possible via a combination of hard work, talent and faith from the higher-ups at Porsche. It has etched his name in sportscar racing history, as one of the very best.

Following the post-race press conference, DSC pulled him to one side to get some additional comments.

Here’s what he had to say:

“Well the thing is,” he said when asked to describe how much winning the Rolex 24 in particular means to him, as an avid fan of stock car racing. “I first came here in 2008. The first time I came here was to watch the 500 when I was doing F3 testing. So when the chance came up to actually race here in 2011, it was mindblowing, and it still is mind-blowing to race here.

“It’s like Indy. We race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and it’s like a cathedral, hallowed ground in motorsport. As a stock car fan, I always dreamt of coming here to watch stock car racing, and now I race here in the infield.

“When you come here, to these big races, you expect to win,” he added when asked to reflect on his ‘Grand Slam’ achievement in a wider sense. “If you didn’t, then why bother?

“So when you do go win these important ones, and you expect it, it doesn’t feel as big. It’s great, of course it is, because it doesn’t happen often. But, I guess, when you actually stand back and look at it, and think: actually, there are so many people trying to win these races.

“You see them, you talk to them, and you think about the fact that you’ve won them yourself, it makes it different to look back on the moments.

“It’s a different for me right now, here. Since I won Spa, I realised that nobody had ever won the four big 24-hour races outright before. So it was always a massive thing coming here to try and tick the box, to be the first.

“I’ve joked with Earl (Bamber) since he won the Nürburgring 24 in 2023, and he’s always joked: ‘I’m going to come to Daytona and I’m going to do it before you!’ and I’ve quietly thought ‘No you’re ****ing not!’ And now we’ve ended that!

“And Porsche is a big part of the reason. It does help to be with the most successful sportscar brand in history, but you’ve got to work to put yourself in the car.

“So it’s something else really. I won’t forget this feeling.”