(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Pipo Derani lit up the Daytona International Speedway with his eye-opening performance in the No. 2 Tequila Patrón ESM Honda Ligier JS P2. The 22-year-old drove superbly on every stint, taking the lead with one-hour, 17-minutes remaining and pulling away down the stretch to lead the Tequila Patrón ESM team to victory in the 54th Rolex 24 At Daytona, the opening round of the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup. Derani was joined by Johannes van Overbeek and car owners Ed Brown and Scott Sharp for the 24 hour grind. It was the first overall triumph for both Honda and Ligier in the event, and the second overall victory for Sharp, who teamed with rival car owner Wayne Taylor in 1996. “The last two hours and a half was pretty tough, pretty intense, with the Taylor brothers pushing us really hard trying to victory,” Derani said. “I was trying to not make any mistakes and keep the gap. To increase the gap up to the end was amazing. I need to thank my team for the amazing car they gave me.” Max Angelelli (No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta Corvette DP co-driven by brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor plus Formula One veteran Rubens Barrichello) finished second overall, 26.166 seconds behind. Editor-In-Chief's Note: We are again pleased to feature John Thawley's superb photographic work in the pages of Autoextremist.com. You can check out a two-page gallery of John's scintillating images from Daytona here. -PMD
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Pipo Derani, Scott Sharp, Ed Brown and Johannes van Overbeek on the podium after their big win in the Rolex 24. The winning car completed 736 laps on the 3.56-mile circuit, 2,620.16 miles, with the competitive race featuring 76 lead changes. “When you have a supporter like Tequila Patrón and Ed, you want to deliver wins like this,” Sharp said. “2015 was a bit of a rough year for us. We made a lot of changes as November rolled around, and to see all that culminate together and to come out of the box and win a big race like this is just huge for us.”
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
The factory-entered No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR driven by Earl Bamber, Michael Christensen and Frederic Makowiecki finished third in GTLM.
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Hopes were high for the Ford GT Team, but myriad problems (gearbox, electronics, etc.) put the team behind almost from the very beginning, so the rest of the 24 hours were used for much-needed development testing. The No. 66 Ford GT was driven by Sébastien Bourdais, Dirk Müller and Joey Hand. Ford operatives tried to put a brave face on things, but they couldn't mask the disappointment. Things don't get any easier with the 12 Hours of Sebring coming up.
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Lucas Luhr (No. 100 BMW M6 GTLM) crashed in turn one due to a brake problem. Luhr was unhurt, but the damage forced the team to retire the car from the race. Luhr had shared driving duties with John Edwards, Graham Rahal and Kuno Wittmer.
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Rene Rast (No. 44 Audi Tire Center Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 co-driven by Andy Lally, John Potter and Marco Seefried) won the GT Daytona (GTD) with fuel strategy playing an integral role in the finish. Fabio Babini (No. 28 Konrad Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3) passed Rast with nine minutes to go, but then ran out of fuel with just three minutes remaining in the 24-hour race. Rast finished 3.048 seconds ahead of Nicky Catsburg (No. 540 Black Swan Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R co-driven by Patrick Long, Timothy Pappas and Andy Pilgrim). Ben Keating, Jeff Mosing, Damien Faulkner, Gar Robinson and Eric Foss (No. 93 ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper GT3-R) finished third in GTD.
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Chris Miller, Misha Goikhberg, Stephen Simpson and Kenton Koch (No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Hi-Tide Boat Lifts/Red Line Oil ORECA FLM09) scored a breakthrough first win in the Prototype Challenge (PC) class, but it wasn't without some drama. At the 15-hour-mark Kenton Koch spun in Turn 6 on cold tires and impacted a barrier while leading the class by 19 laps. The team lost 10 laps making repairs. “Cold tires and a tired head,” Koch said of the incident. “It was a mistake and I felt terrible about it. I’ve never driven so slow in my life to make it the finish line. We were pretty far ahead, so we played it safe and made it to the end.” Tom Kimber-Smith (No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA FLM09), the 2015 Rolex 24 PC winner, finished second with a new set of co-drivers including Robert Alon, Jose Gutierrez and Nicholas Boulle.
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Johnny Mowlem (No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports Zoolander/Southwest Realty Advisors/Top 1 Oil ORECA FLM09) captured his second-consecutive Prototype Challenge (PC) TOTAL Pole Award at Daytona for the Rolex 24, running a lap of 2:06.312 (101.951 mph). He shared the car with NASCAR veteran Brendan Gaughan, as well as Marc Drumwright, Tomy Drissi and Ricardo Vera. They finished third in PC.
Editor-In-Chief's Note: I would like to applaud IMSA for getting the GTLM formula right. The cars were fast and closely competitive. That said, I agree with John Thawley - the GTLM cars should be appreciably faster - as the speed differential between GTLM and GTD needs to be more pronounced. -PMD
(Lexus)
Lexus and their F Performance Racing will race the RC F GT3 in the IMSA Weather Tech SportsCar Championship GTD class. “We are excited to reach this agreement with IMSA to campaign the RC F GT3 at such a high level. Our hope is to build a strong foundation for the new F Performance Racing organization during 2016 season, seizing the opportunity to develop the team and the race vehicle in anticipation of the multi-car effort during the 2017 season,” said Jeff Bracken Group Vice President and General Manager, Lexus division. F Performance Racing also announced that Sage Karam will join veteran racer Scott Pruett as drivers for F Performance Racing when the East Lansing, Michigan-based team campaigns the Lexus RC F GT3 for a limited schedule in the 2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. “We have had our eye on Sage for some time,” said Paul Gentilozzi, Managing Partner of F Performance Racing. “His experience in IMSA events with Scott at Daytona and Sebring showed us great maturity. Our program is a building experience, and having Scott Pruett as a teammate/mentor is really a priceless commodity. I am sure Sage will fit in with our group and help us get a first victory for Lexus and F Performance Racing.”
(Honda)
As expected, Honda announced that the company has renewed its commitment to INDYCAR, signing a new multi-year agreement to continue participation as a manufacturer in the Verizon IndyCar Series through 2017, with an option to extend the agreement through the 2020 season. This comes after INDYCAR capitulated to Honda's demands to allow the manufacturer to tweak its aero package for 2017, so there's no surprise here.
(Renault images)
Group Renault Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn has formally announced the Renault Sport Formula One Team. The new F1 car consists of the Renault R.S.16 chassis, developed and manufactured in Enstone, while the Renault R.E.16 power unit will continue to be developed in Viry-Châtillon. Bob Bell is appointed F1 Chief Technical Officer and will manage the efforts of Nick Chester as Chassis Technical Director and Rémi Taffin as Engine Technical Director. Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer are confirmed as Renault Sport Formula One Team’s race drivers, and will be supported by Esteban Ocon, who joins the team as Third and Reserve Driver. Renault-Nissan Alliance partner Infiniti will continue to support the Renault effort by developing the second generation of energy recovery systems (ERS) for the F1 power unit. The technical collaboration between Total and Renault will also continue in 2016.
Editor's Note: Watch the latest episode of AutoextremistTV on YouTube here. -WG