Driving like a seasoned veteran, 22-year-old Luis Felipe Derani turned in a dominant final driving stint, taking the lead with one-hour, 17-minutes remaining and pulling away down the stretch to lead Tequila Patrón ESM to victory in the 54th Rolex 24 At Daytona, capping off a sensational race in the opening round of the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup. It was the first sports car race in America for Derani, a 22-year-old from São Paulo, Brazil who originally had dreams of a Formula One career before focusing on endurance sports car racing.
Derani was joined by Johannes van Overbeek and car owners Ed Brown and Scott Sharp in the No. 2 Honda Ligier JS P2. 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.
Derani crossed the finish line 26.166 seconds of the No. 10 Corvette DP of Wayne Taylor Racing driven by Max Angelelli. Brothers Jordan and Ricky Taylor of Apopka and Rubens Barrichello. Finishing third was the No. 90 Corvette DP of VisitFlorida Racing, co-driven by Ryan Dalziel of Orlando, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marc Goossens.
“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.”
Over the 24 hour-span, the top-three finishing teams completed 736 laps around the 3.56-mile DIS road course – a total of 2,620.16 miles, the approximate distance from Daytona Beach to Bakersfield, California, 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.”
Max Angelelli finished second, 26.166 seconds behind in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP co-driven by brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor plus Formula One veteran Rubens Barrichello, a late roster addition. Wayne Taylor Racing – owned by the 1996 and 2005 Rolex 24 winner – finished second for the third time in the last four years.
Visit Florida Racing took the remaining podium position with a lead-lap finish for Ryan Dalziel, Marc Goossens and Ryan Hunter-Reay in the No. 90 Corvette DP, 1:27.276 seconds behind at the checkered flag.
Scott Pruett came up short in a bid for an unprecedented sixth overall victory in the event, finishing fourth in the defending Prototype champion No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP co-driven by Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Felipe Albuquerque. The team ran in contention until a broken axle sent the Action Express Racing team to the garage for repairs with less than four hours remaining.
The defending winning No. 02 Ford Chip Ganassi EcoBoost Riley of Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson ran in contention for the first half of the event before falling back with brake problems. Its chances ended shortly after the 21-hour mark when Larson crashed in the International Horseshoe, resulting in major front-end damage, although the team managed to repair the car to finish seventh in the Prototype class.
JDC-Miller Motorsports scored a breakthrough for its first Prototype Challenge (PC) victory, dominating the class in the No. 85 Hi-Tide Boat Lifts/Red Line Oil ORECA FLM09 shared by Chris Miller, Misha Goikhberg, Stephen Simpson and Kenton Koch.
The Prototype Challenge (PC)-leading 85 Miller Motorsports team survived a scare at the 15-hour-mark when Kenton Koch spun the 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, the 2015 Rolex 24 PC winner, finished second with a new set of co-drivers in the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA FLM09: Robert Alon, Jose Gutierrez and Nicholas Boulle. Brendan Gaughan, Johnny Mowlem, Tomy Drissi, Marc Drumwright and Ricardo Vera took third in the No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports entry.
Mark Wilkins worked the defending two-time PC class champion No. 54 CORE autosport Flex-Box/Composite Resources ORECA FLM09 into the class lead before the car suddenly slowed at 8 p.m. with terminal engine problems. Wilkins joined Jon Bennett and Colin Braun in winning the class in 2014, only to lose last year’s race with a spin in the chicane caused by suspension damage with less than 20 minutes remaining in the event.
The Rolex 24 At Daytona is the annual twice-around-the-clock, season-opening event for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Rolex 24 dates to 1962 with an original three-hour incarnation won by legendary driver Dan Gurney – the start of a progression to its current status as North America’s premier sports car race of international renown.
This latest edition of the endurance classic also will be remembered for early-race problems experienced by a number of top contenders, including two big Prototype favorites. The defending race-winning No. 02 Ford EcoBoost/Riley DP, of Chip Ganassi Racing, went out with a break problem eight hours into the race on Saturday night, running second at the time with IndyCar star Tony Kanaan at the wheel. An hour later, the No. 60 Honda Ligier JS P2 from Michael Shank Racing pulled off with engine problems while leading the race. Then, midday Sunday, the No. 02 had break woes again, with NASCAR regular Kyle Larson crashing as a result and putting the car out for good.
In addition to the Prototype classes, two other classes competed in the Rolex 24. Those results:
· GT Le Mans: A back-and-forth duel between familiar Corvette Racing entries produced a spectacular last hour in a class that is both production-based and exotic. At the finish, Oliver Gavin, driving the No. 4 Corvette C7.R, nipped teammate Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 by a scant .034 seconds.
· GT Daytona: In the WeatherTech Championship’s other production-based class, Andy Lally, Rene Rast, Marco Seefried and John Potter took the win for Magnus Racing in the No. 44 Audi R8 LMS GT3.
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About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
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