daytona 24 hrs just finished...

[bella]

i feel sorry for max papis. he should have won it. 4th overall, the radio tells me.
well done wendlinger/beretta/dupuy, though...

[Joe Fan]

Even with the high attrition rate of the SR class, it is hard to believe that a GTO class car won the race overall. But if any GTO could win it (especially at that track) it would be a Dodge Viper--a totally awesome car. I love it! I am glad to see Wendlinger win--a great story in itself. Also it was the closest Daytona 24HR race in history.

[Gerard]

Unofficial results of the first 20 cars:

1. O. Beretta/K. Wendlinger/D. Dupuy - Dodge Viper GTS-R
2. J. Bell/R. Fellows/C. Kneifel - Chevrolet Corvette C5-R
3. D. Donohue/J.P. Belloc/N. Amorin.- Dodge Viper GTS-R
4. J. Weaver/R. Dyson/M. Papis/E. Forbes-Robinson - R&S/Ford
5. T. Archer/M. Duez/V. Vosse/J.P. Belloc - Dodge Viper GTS-R
6. A. Duncan/R. Sanguiolo/C. Vann/S. Watson - Dodge Viper GTS-R
7. E. Messley/T. Seiler/W. Brun/J. Hugenholtz - Dodge Viper GTS-R
8. G. Rosa/F. Rosa/L. Drudi - Porsche 911 GT3 R
9. W. Kaufmann/E. Palmberger/L. Stewart - Porsche 911 GT2
10. D. Quester/P. Peter/H.J. Hofer/L. Riccitelli/H. Willems - Porsche 911 GT3 R
11. L. Schumacher/J. O’Steen/M. Snow/S. Hayner - Porsche 911 GT2
12. C. MacAllister/M. Fitzgerald/S. Marshall/D. Marshall/G. Merril - Porsche 911 RSR
13. A. Wallace/F. Lagorce/B. Leitzinger - Cadillac Northstar LMP
14. M. Angelelli/W. Taylor/E. van de Poele - Cadillac Northstar LMP
15. K. Buckler/D. White/M. Petersen/W. Gaughran/P. Collin - Porsche 911 GT3 R
16. M. Conte/B. Lambert/R. Pobst - Porsche 911 GT3 R
17. D. Gaylord/D. Kitch/S. Miller/K. Takahashi/K. Buckler - Porsche 911 GT3 R
18. P. Favre/S. De Sadeleer/P. Hardman/N. Springer/J. Ulrich/R. Wilson - Porsche 911 GT3 R
19. M. Jurasz/R. Lintott/A. Zigelmann/U. Gallade - Porsche 911 GT2
20. A. Ahrle/C. Bouchut/P. Goveslard/J.L. Chereau - Porsche 911 GT3 R
Unofficial results by Speedvision.

[KC]

The performance of the Team Oreca Viper and the Corvette C5R were quite amazing. Karl Wendlinger in the Viper and Ron Fellows in the Corvette finished in the closest ever race at the Rolex. The last 25 minutes of the race saw these two ont he same lap separated by about 40 seconds. Even thought the Corvette had outqualified the Viper by around 3.5 seconds, Wendlinger was able to get qualifying lap times out of the Viper after 23 and 1/2 hours of racing. Amazingly enough, the Corvette handled so well that the team did not change the brake pads or rotors for the entire race. That says much about the Pagid brake pads and Brembo (I think) rotors.

Max Papis did an amazing job as did the entire Dyson Racing team just to finish the race. Dawn on Sunday saw the Lincoln (nee Ford) drop a valve and fall down to seven cylinders. Soon after it fell down to six cylinders and lost over 40 mph on the straights. After about ten laps of limping around at over 2 minutes a lap, Papis started straight lining th corners and dropped his lap times down to 1 min 50 seconds. After wards he said that he did not use the brakes except for the hairpins. The team hung on for the longest but where eventually overtaken by two of the Vipers and the Corvette.

The 22 car Sportsracers field was decimated in the night as one by one engines failed or drivers hit something hard enough to destroy the car. The temperature fell to 35 fahrenheit (around 5 celsius) during the night and many of the drivers complained of near frozen extremities.

Team Oreca has now won in every major form of sports car racing with their Vipers. Class wins at LeMans, GTS championship in the ALMS, multiple championships in the FIA GT series, and now class and overall win at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. An amazing run for a deserving team.

[marcus]

well what a race Ive only seen highlights of the first 3 hours so far but after that short time it looked like being a cracker...I think I will get to see some more tommorrow but I was surprised to see that the viper won..well done to team Oreca and the corvettes to sound like they were impressive.

big thanks to Gerard for posting the finishing order !!!

[Jared]

I can hardly help but think that, although sports car fans know that a GTO car isn't supposed to win overall, the Viper/Vette 1-2 could be helpful to sports car racing. Imagine the headlines (which I haven't read since my little brother stole the paper this morning) "Viper beats Vette to win Rolex 24."

Outside of racing, everyone know what a Viper and a Vette are. (Those are the two cars that one might see everyday that just reek of coolness.) They don't know or care what a Riley & Scott or a Reynard is, or about a funky-looking Ferrari. They don't identify with those cars. They do identify with a Viper and a Vette or a Porsche.

About the race, it was something else. A winning margin of 30 seconds after racing flat-out for 24 hours? Wow.

[marcus]

I agree with you Jared that this win can do sportscar racing a whole heap of good..you sometimes forget about the average person on the street who doesnt know anything about the sport who would be able to identify with a Corvette or a Viper as being the kind of car they would like to drive...most would never have heard of Riley and scott or reynard and I guess they would have said what the heck kind of Cadilac is that??

I was more interested in the sports racers because they are (usually) the front runners and the cars are quite inovative and therefore hold more relavence to me than the road going cars turned racers...I am sick of seeing so many Porsches but while they annoy me with being easy to obtain and easy to run and so bloody many of them I feel that provide excellent racing and are very competitive cars so they have a right to be there...but boy am I sick of the site of so many of them...but as you say the public can identify with them and think...hhhmmm maybe I will buy a Porsche just like the one I saw racing at Daytona

[champcarfan01]

I feel sorry for all you poor people who had to watch the 24 hours of Daytona from your living rooms! My living room was in the infield at Daytona. The sound of those Porsche's and Viper's flying around the track all night long. AAAAHHHHHHHH! I love this sport!!!!!!!!!

[Gerard]

You lucky devil!

[marcus]

did you happen to take any snapshots??/

if so why not post some here so we could all enjoy them.

hope you had a great time