24 Hrs of Daytona: Variety is the spice of life
Posted: January 27, 2012 Filed under: Grand Am | Tags: Corvette Prototype, Daytona 24 Hours, Grand-Am Road Racing Series, mario andretti Leave a comment »
In 'Vette We Trust (photo: Grand-Am)
When the flag drops Saturday afternoon for the 50th running of the 24 Hours of Daytona, the grid will feature something new: variety. After five years of sterile Daytona Prototypes, the Grand-Am Series has opened up competition (slightly) for prototypes that look closer to their showroom brethren. The first of the new generation is a stylish Corvette prototype adopted by five of the top teams.
To which we say: finally. The older generation of DP cars were some of the ugliest prototypes to hit the track. The new DPs are sleeker, more modern, and less bulbous than their predecessor. How good is the new ‘Vette prototype? Good enough to take three of the top five spots on the grid for Saturday, although Wayne Taylor’s SunTrust DP Corvette was edged out for pole by the new Ford-Riley by just a tenth of a second.
If that wasn’t enough, this year Audi has produced an R8 challenger for the GT class. APR Motorsports will be the first team to race the R8 in anger in North America. As always, the GT field is packed with a combination of heavy-duty American muscle, European style (including a new Ferrari 458 adapted to the series for 2012), and Japanese speed (Mazda is supplying four teams, Dempsey, Sahlens, Yellow Dragon and Speed Source).
The 24 hours at Daytona has seen its ups and downs. In the early 1960s, the race attracted top international grand prix drivers like Pedro Rodriguez, Jo Bonnier, Innes Ireland, Phil Hill and Dan Gurney, as well as Indy legends Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt, plus sports car heroes such as Brian Redman, Mark Donohue and Ken Miles. Imagine racing a long-tail Porsche 917 around the high-degree of banking at Daytona. It took serious balls, to be frank.
The race made it through the hard times in the late 1990s, when GT cars ruled the roost before the introduction of the current generation of prototypes (cheered not a little bit by a victor for the Dale Earnharts, big and little, behind the wheel of a Corvette). In the early 2000s, the series pursued cost containment and eventually found a formula that keeps attracting new teams. To be sure, the NASCAR affiliation never hurts, giving us Cup drivers like Juan Montoya, along with Indy stalwarts like Dario Franchitti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Scott Dixon.
This is the 50th running of an endurance race at Daytona, and it’s timed perfectly for a new generation of prototypes. When this race began in 1962, people scoffed at “Big” Bill France’s vision of an international sports car race at NASCAR’s temple of speed. But the race endures, and in our view, it’s looking better than ever.
The Daytona 24 Hours has become a classic endurance race. This is Mario Andretti's winning Porsche from 1989 (photo: autoweek.com)
Ganassi/Telmex BMW took third in qualifying.
