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Massa makes Daytona visit

Friday, 05 January 2018


By Marshall Pruett (words & image)



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Recently retired Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa was a surprise visitor to the 'Roar Before the 24' at Daytona International Speedway on Friday.
The Brazilian, who spent the 2017 season mentoring F1 rookie Lance Stroll at the Williams Grand Prix team, spent the opening practice session hopping from pit to pit as he visited with F1 friends and countrymen.

"I'm just here to see some friends," Massa told RACER. "There's a lot of people to see."

Massa's first stop came in the United Autosports pit where he spent time with McLaren's Fernando Alonso (pictured) and McLaren team principal/United Autosports owner Zak Brown. The 11-time F1 race winner moved next door to the Jackie Chan/DC Racing team where Stroll is making his second Daytona start.

The young Canadian was delighted by Massa's appearance, and at the end of the session, a final stop was made in the Acura Team Penske pits after he was waved in by Helio Castroneves.
With Paul di Resta – who stepped into Massa's Williams last year at Hungary – in the field at United Autosports with Alonso, Daytona has its strongest F1 representation in decades with active drivers, part-timers, and a recent graduate of grand prix racing.

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Cadillac roars early at Daytona

Friday, 05 January 2018


By J.J. O'Malley / Image by Marshall Pruett



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Cadillac came out of the blocks strong in the 'Roar Before the Rolex 24' test, sweeping the top four positions in the the opening practice session of the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Joao Barbosa led the 75-minute practice with a lap of 1m37.266 in the No. Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R., followed by Ranger van der Zande in the No. Konica-Minolta Cadillac, Tristan Vautier in the 90 Spirit of Daytona entry and Felipe Nasr in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering car.

The Cadillacs are now running with a de-stroked 5.5 liter V8 engine – compared to the 6.2 liter powerplant that carried the marque to seven victories and the championship in 2017.

"Being fastest in the opening session is not important at all," Barbosa said. "We're just going through our test plan which is working really well, and we're happy to see that our car is running as well as it did here last year. We still have a lot of boxes that we need to check to be ready for the 24 Hours. Obviously, we can always improve, but we're happy to be fast right now."

Colin Braun was fastest of the LMP2 Prototypes, running 1m38.041 in the No. 54 CORE autosport ORECA 07-Gibson.
Richard Westbrook led the GTLM category, 1m44.095 in the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Ford GT, while Ralf Ineichen was fastest in GTD, 1m47.104 in the No. 11 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3.

All but four of the 50 entries participated in the uneventful session, run under sunny skies but a chilly 40 degrees. Notably absent from the session were the Mazda Team Joest RT24-Ps. According to the team, the late arrival of some new parts forced the Japanese DPis to spend the session in the garage.

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[h=2]AXR quick again as Cadillac sweeps top four spots[/h] Saturday, 06 January 2018


By J.J. O'Malley / Image courtesy Action Express



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Felipe Nasr posted the fastest lap for the second straight session Saturday evening at Daytona International Speedway, leading a 90-minute evening practice in the fifth session during the Roar Before the Rolex 24.

Nasr turned a lap of 1m37.322s in the Action Express Racing No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi V-R, backing up his time of 1m36.973s in the afternoon period of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship testing.

• Results

Cadillac scored a top-four sweep. Ryan Hunter-Reay was second in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor entry, followed by Christian Fittipaldi in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac and Eddie Cheever III in the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona car.
Colin Braun led the LMP2 contingent in the 20-car Prototype class, 1m37.854s in the No. 54 CORE autosport ORECA 07-Gibson.
"Night practice was fun," said Braun, who has been a Rolex 24 regular since competing at age 16 in 2005. "This place at night, with the traffic and the speeds in a Prototype car brings me back to having a lot of fun in the old Grand-Am DP days.
"The test is going great. ORECA has been fast right off the bat, and having Romain [Dumas] and Loic [Duval] have been a great asset, because they know the car well. We've been going through our program, and we're very happy."
Sebastien Bourdais led GTLM with the best lap of the weekend, 1m43.798s, in the No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT. He was followed by Gianmaria Bruni, 1m44.353s in the No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR, and Ryan Briscoe, 1m44.434s in the No. 67 Ford GT.
Dominik Baumann put Lexus atop the charts in GTD for the first time this weekend with a 1m47.496s in the No. 14 3GT Racing Lexus RCF GT3. Teammate Jack Hawksworth was third fastest, 1m47.590s, 0.094 seconds behind Mirko Bortolotti (1m47.528s) in the No. 11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
NEXT UP: Sunday's 30-minute sixth and final practice session starts at 10:45 a.m., followed by 15-minute qualifying rounds for each of the three classes to determine pit selection for the Rolex 24 weekend.

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[h=2]Pruett to retire after Rolex 24[/h] Friday, 05 January 2018


J.J. O'Malley / Image by Dole, Ethan/LAT & Marshall Pruett



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The upcoming Rolex 24 At Daytona will be Scott Pruett's final appearance as a driver.

"As an athlete, if you're fortunate to have a long and successful career, and lucky enough to come to the end on your terms you're truly blessed, and I am," Pruett said to preface his surprise remarks to the media in attendance at the Roar Before the Rolex 24. "You've been asking me this question for a long time and I've kept you in the dark, and today, after 50 years of racing, the 2018 Rolex 24 At Daytona will be my last race."
Pruett – who began his career racing karts at age eight – will drive the 3GT Racing No. 15 Lexus RCF GT3 with Jack Hawksworth, David Heinmeier Hansson and Dominik Farnbacher in his 28th appearance in the Daytona classic. Pruett first competed at Daytona in 1985, and went on to score a record-tying five overall victories among a record 10 class triumphs.

His career includes competing three times in the Indianapolis 500, where he was co-rookie of the year in 1989. He won the 1995 Michigan 500 among two CART victories, and raced in the 2000 Daytona 500 during a brief stint at NASCAR's premier level. He also won the 1991 IROC event at Daytona, beating Bill Elliott to the wire in his comeback less than a year following a major accident in testing.
However, it's in sports cars were he will be remembered. He won three Trans-Am titles and the IMSA Camel GTO crown twice early in his career, and in his comeback with Chip Ganassi Racing captured five titles between 2004 and 2012 (below). Overall, he's scored a record 60 victories in major sports car competition.

"Even though I've had achievements in other forms of racing, sports cars is where my heart is," Pruett said. "I totally dug doing Indy cars for 10 years and my NASCAR stint, but overall, I think people will remember me for sports cars. By far, sport cars was my thing. I loved the competition. From IMSA to Grand-Am and back to IMSA, the thing that was constant was the competition."
Two of Pruett's Rolex 24 victories have been with 3GT team owner Paul Gentilozzi, winning overall in 1994 in a GTS class Clayton Cunningham Nissan and in 2002 in the GTS category in a Jaguar fielded by Gentilozzi.
"To come to a race like this, it's not driver, it's drivers, and it's team," Pruett (below with Lexus Racing boss Mark Egger) said. "There are so many elements that are a part of it, and to win as many times as I've had makes it even that more special."
Gentilozzi said that having Pruett in his line-up is a plus for his race team.
"Those who know him know how driven he is to succeed," Gentilozzi said. "Scott raises the level of expectation of everybody on your team. He makes you do your job."
Away from the track, Pruett owns and operates an award-winning winery – Pruett Vineyard. He will also continue in a role as an ambassador for Lexus.
"Now I will be spending a little more time with my family," Pruett said. "The wine business has gone far beyond my expectations. Twice I've had the highest-rated Syrah in the world by Wine Spectator – and I'm the winemaker – and it's a family business. I've also extended my relationship with Lexus, being able to out and drive fun cars and promote a brand that I truly love."
While he might miss the competition, there's one element of retirement that Pruett is looking forward to enjoying.
"Not having to go out in that damn workout room every day and sitting on a rower or an elliptical," he said. "It's been so many years of working out. All my training is indoors, and I can tell you, it's incredibly boring, and I've been doing it for years and years and years! Now I'm looking forward to going out and having an incredible final race in the Rolex 24."

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[h=2]Cadillac Racing Special: Race Ready[/h] Wednesday, 10 January 2018


By George Tamayo / Images by Jake Galstad, Richard Prince


Winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona on the Cadillac DPi-V.R's race debut, and following that with six more victories in the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship didn't happen by chance. Cadillac's philosophy of committing early and committing thoroughly to an all-new racecar built to an all-new set of technical regulations was key.

"Being prepared, and having the best product, is all down to the people," says Cadillac Racing's Director of Motorsports Competition, Mark Kent. "Not only the people within Cadillac, but in our race teams and technical partners, too."
"By the time we got to Daytona, everyone was familiar with the DPi-V.R," adds Wayne Taylor, team owner of Wayne Taylor Racing. "We'd done many miles of testing and even a 24-hour race simulation at that point, so our engineers and drivers really had a handle on the car before the season got off to a proper start."
But preparation can only take you so far if a car doesn't have the raw speed and performance to race at the sharp end of IMSA's ultra-competitive Prototype class. First impressions of the DPi-V.R for 2017 Drivers' champ Jordan Taylor told him he had nothing to worry about on that front.
"The first time you take a racecar out on track, you know if it's got what it takes," he says. "The Cadillac, from the very first lap I drove it, was incredible. The power and drivability, the downforce, the braking, and how nimble it felt – just wow."
For all the most successful racecars, the sum is greater than the parts, and that's certainly the case with the DPi-V.R.
"You can't just put a pile of parts together and expect to win," says Kent. "You need to put in the work to be successful. You have to balance the chassis, engine and aero, and then make the right compromises in each of those areas to ensure the overall package is optimized."
Central to the DPi-V.R package is its naturally-aspirated V8 engine. Given Cadillac's illustrious history with such a configuration – going all the way back to 1914 – it was the obvious choice. But sentiment doesn't win championships, and the V8 landed its role on merit.
"We looked at all the engine options from the Cadillac portfolio, and we felt a V8 would give us optimal performance across the range of tracks we'd race on," says Kent. "One of the key things that made it so successful was its reliability. To win races, you have to finish races..."
WORKING AS ONE
In 2017, Cadillac was the only Prototype class manufacturer to split its cars between multiple teams: Wayne Taylor Racing with the No. 10 DPi-V.R, and Action Express Racing with its No. 5 and No. 31 entries. For 2018, two teams become three, with the addition of a fourth Cadillac for Spirit of Daytona Racing.
As Mark Kent notes, Cadillac sought out partner teams who could not just hold up their end of the bargain – as in, win races and, ultimately, championships – but would elevate the project as a whole.
"It's what we call a 'key-partner approach,'" says Kent. "The goal is to have our teams work and learn together. For our part, we bring the right resources, such as ECR on the engines and Dallara on the chassis, as well as our own experience, and we share knowledge across all the teams. That spirit of cooperation and sharing and working together raises the bar for everybody."
Ultimate validation of such an approach came on the race track, with all three Cadillac DPi-V.Rs winning at least once in 2017.
"Cadillac's way of doing things means everyone can play to their strengths," says Action Express team manager Gary Nelson. "Thanks to all the testing miles and work Cadillac put in on the DPi-V.R before the season began, we started with a strong base. It was then our task to optimize the cars for the races, which is where our expertise lies."
For more on the Cadillac DPi-V.R's multiple championship-winning 2017 season, check out RACER's 2018 Cadillac Racing Special digital magazine HERE.
Get the latest news on Cadillac's 2018 race programs HERE.

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Alonso has strong first impressions of Daytona

Friday, 05 January 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=a0NV3GUtq60

Alonso on the track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mus8CYA3ftM

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Two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso made his first visit to Daytona during the Roar Before the 24 and shared the experience of lapping the high banks in his United Autosports LMP2 car, along with other insights, with the IMSA media corps after the opening practice session.

"I did unfortunately only a short time this morning, only three laps, but enough to have a feeling in the car," said Alonso. "Obviously the corners and high banking were special – you feel the compression there in the body, you feel the visibility change, because when you are in let's say the 'normal' part of the circuit, horizontal, you have a view from the car that is a little bit longer ahead, while when you are in the banked corner you see only the next 200 meters of the track. So I was trying to look, you know, 'Where was the track going?' So it was good fun."
The Spaniard acknowledged being struck by the immense scale of Daytona International Speedway.
"You feel, you smell motor racing here – that's a good feeling for any driver," he said. "The speedway is amazing – the size is huge, so I Imagine this grandstand full of people for the [Daytona 500] NASCAR race , and it would be an amazing thing to experience."
Did that mean he wanted to experience NASCAR racing for himself?
"Not in my thoughts at the moment, because NASCAR driving techniques are very unique, those cars, so I would need a lot of practice, a lot of testing before making that adventure, and at the moment I don't have enough weekends free with all the things that I am doing." he replied. "So, no plans yet, but definitely after being here for the 24 Hours, definitely I will watch the race on television at least. That will be the first step!"
Alonso emphasized his Rolex 24 approach would be the same as his he took for his Indianapolis 500 debut last May.
"More or less the same goal as Indianapolis – first of all try to learn different driving techniques, try to learn from the specialists of endurance races, try to be a better driver when the 24 Hours finishes. That the aim for me: First time in an endurance race, first time in a prototype car, first time driving at night, first time driving with GT cars around. So many new things will come, step by step, so that's quite a big challenge but I am ready to enjoy. As in Indianapolis, if you feel the opportunity and you feel competitive, you go for it."
While making clear that the Rolex 24 is an exploratory event alongside his primary role in Formula 1 with McLaren this year, Alonso reiterated his interest in competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this June too, if the right circumstances arise, while a possible return to Indy in 2019 is also in his thoughts.
"To race in some [other] iconic events during the season and not disturbing Formula 1 is part of the plan," he explained. "Doing this race is a kind of first step in endurance, and how these races are and how much I enjoy them. After the 24 Hours here in Daytona I will have a better understanding of these championships. The Le Mans 24 Hours and the Triple Crown is another target, so if I can fits Le Mans this year, now that I'm not doing the Indy 500, that will be great. And hopefully the following year the Indy 500 can be in the plan again."

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Friday Test session

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQccNeOa64g

MRNASCARFAN25
Published on Jan 5, 2018

2018 Rolex 24 Roar Test Session Friday from today first test of the IMSA SERIES WEATHER TECH CHAMPIONSHIP FROM DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

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MidKnightR1
Published on Jan 6, 2018


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puCI_Kj7AhA

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfUQXao16OI

KTrain2787
Published on Jan 6, 2018

2018 Roar Before The 24 Saturday with night practice.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R0i8EuobsU

KTrain2787
Published on Jan 7, 2018 2018 Roar Before The 24 Sunday. IMSA at Daytona International Speedway testing for the Rolex 24.