2014 Prototype Lites Standout Novich Experiences Dream First Rolex 24 At Daytona

Andrew Novich always has been the member of his family who is perpetually running late. Dinner. School. Appointments. 

Those days are over. He has no more excuses for tardiness. Not after last weekend at Daytona.

 

Novich, from Novato, California, is proudly wearing a brand-new Rolex Cosmograph Daytona watch, after driving for the winning PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports team in the Prototype Challenge class of the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 24-25 at Daytona International Speedway.

 

“Every time I look down at my wrist, I’ll remember what I did this weekend,” Novich said of his new timepiece. “It doesn’t just tell time; it tells history.”

 

Novich, 22, became a winner of one of the world’s most prestigious races in his first try. It also was his first start in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship after finishing runner-up in the IMSA Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda championship in 2014 with Comprent Motor Sports.

 

The victory by Novich and co-drivers Tom Kimber-Smith, Mike Guasch and Andrew Palmer was arguably the most unlikely in any of the four classes that raced twice around the clock on the 3.56-mile Daytona circuit.

 

The No. 54 CORE autosport team – which won PC honors in the Rolex 24 and TUDOR Championship in 2014 – was headed for a second consecutive victory at Daytona, with Colin Braun leading the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen car by 47 seconds with 20 minutes remaining.

 

Then disaster struck.

 

Another car made contact with Braun, spinning his car into the grass. He resumed on track, unaware of rear suspension damage caused by the hit. His car then snapped into the outside SAFER Barrier as he tried to brake for the Bus Stop Chicane. The damaged suspension punctured the oil tank, and the car ignited in flames. Braun was able to escape without injury, but CORE’s race was over despite leading the PC class for nearly 80 percent of the event. CORE was credited with third place.

 

“It’s definitely a case of anything can happen in a sports car race,” Novich said. “To experience it is another thing. It doesn’t seem real when people say that. But it’s definitely true.

 

“When I first saw Colin off in the grass in (Turn) 5, I was a little skeptical because I’ve never known Colin to make a mistake like that. Then he got going again. I was like, ‘What the hell happened?’ Then when I saw him in the SAFER Barrier on fire, I was obviously very concerned because he’s one of my close friends.

 

“My first reaction was, ‘Oh, my God, is he OK?’ I was really worried that he got out before the car decided to demolish itself. Colin doesn’t make mistakes like that, so I knew it had to be something mechanical on the car that had gone wrong.”

 

Kimber-Smith inherited the lead for PR1/Mathiasen and drove the car safely home to Daytona’s Victory Lane, the culmination of a comeback from six laps down early in the race. All four drivers on the team became first-time winners of the most prestigious sports car race in North America.

 

“They were presenting the overall winners, and we were in line and in this massive crowd of people,” Novich said of the post-race scene in Victory Lane. “The car was surrounded by people, and everyone was so amped up and excited. It was such an ‘Oh, my God, we actually did this’ moment.”

 

The PR1/Mathiasen team achieved the improbable despite a power-steering failure with 14 hours remaining in the 24-hour race. Novich drove all of his stints at night, after the power steering quit.

 

But he had two aces up the sleeve of his driving suit to cope with the extra strain caused by no power steering. First, Novich trained hard over the winter to build his strength for longer endurance events, as the Prototype Lites races in which he competed in 2014 are just 30 and 45 minutes long per weekend. Second, Prototype Lites cars do not have power steering. Novich knew the feeling.

 

“Luckily, I’ve driven the Lites car, which has no power steering to begin with, so that was only marginally harder than that,” Novich said. “That was OK. It was definitely helpful to have been in the Lites car.”

 

Novich was one of eight drivers in the 53rd Rolex 24 At Daytona with recent experience in Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda. He raced under the lights last season in Prototype Lites at Kansas Speedway, another big plus during his stints between sundown and sunrise last weekend at Daytona.

 

“I guess it goes to how good of a proving ground Lites is,” Novich said. “With Comprent, I had driven in the Lites in Kansas. So it wasn’t that much different than Kansas, to be honest.”

 

The day after his Rolex 24 wasn’t that different for Novich, either. He raced to the Daytona Beach airport after his winner’s interview in the media center, clearing security quickly and just making his flight to the West Coast.

 

Less than 24 hours after winning the Rolex 24, Novich sat in his regular Monday morning chemistry class at the University of California, Davis, where he is a dual major in biochemistry and managerial economics.

 

Novich admitted he would sneak a few peeks at his new Rolex during class and smile with fond memories of an incredible weekend at Daytona, including a special moment shared in Victory Lane with his stepfather and driving coach, Gordon Bentley.

 

“After I got the watch, he pulled me aside and said to me, ‘Andrew, you no longer have any excuse for not knowing what time it is or being late for anything any more,'” Novich said. “It was so funny. It was such a smart-ass comment at the end of such a long event. It was so well timed and very comedic.”

Adam Sinclair