The Rolex 24 finished up the action yesterday and it was certainly one of the more interesting races in recent memory. The GT Classes were very tight and the Prototypes further provided plenty of drama.
Warning the following contains spoilers about the 24 hour race at Daytona. If you plan on watching recorded coverage later, then come back to this article later. Otherwise read on…
This past weekend was the 54th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Plenty can happen in a 24 hour endurance race and quite a bit did happened. Many machines in the GT classes looked like they had the race well in hand when many fans headed to bed. However, by the morning most of these cars were either out of the race or well back in the pack.
The GTLM and GTD classes featured new race cars from Audi, BMW, Porsche, Ferrari and Ford. Some showed promise, but many suffered from accidents or mechanical failure.
Warning: the following contains spoilers and if you recorded the race you may want to read this at a later date.
In a rain soaked day of qualifying for the Rolex 24 at Daytona the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR and 911 GT3 R set themselves up for a good 24 hour race this weekend. The 911 GT3 RSR qualified one-two in the GTLM class and the 911 GT3 R qualified first and third in the GTD category. For the R that isn’t a bad way to make your racing debut.
The famed race at Daytona marks the start of the IMSA SportsCar Championship season. In North American sports car racing it doesn’t get any bigger and the Rolex 24 for many motorsports fans starts the racing calendar. It leads nicely into the start of Formula 1, NASCAR and WEC, plus it hits on a weekend with no meaningful NFL games (let’s face it the Pro Bowl is now just a glorified pickup game).
This coming weekend is the start of the endurance racing season. On January 30th and 31st the 54th annual Rolex 24 at Daytona will take place and BMW Team RLL starts the next chapter in their racing history. Last season they competed using BMW Z4s in the GTLM class, but they are replacing those with BMW M6s.
The twin-turbocharged V8 powered M6 posted the quickest time a few weeks ago at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 testing. The lap at the three day event was 1:45.06 which gives the team reason to be hopeful of a class victory this weekend.
We are just over a week away from the Rolex 24 and the start of the endurance racing season. The legendary American 24 hour race at Daytona will see Mazda with a new engine powering their prototypes. Both of the Japanese auto maker’s prototype entries will use the new MZ-2.0T power plant and they are hoping that it will lead to a class victory.
Mazda has had a good amount of success at the Rolex 24 with 23 class victories since 1975. This year also marks 25 years since Mazda took an overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. They are still the only Asian based manufacture to have pulled off an overall victory in French classic.