Rolex 24, Daytona – Preview
Four In A Row For Chip Ganassi? A little over three weeks into the new year, the second 24 hour race of 2009 takes place in Florida; but while the Dubai event was essentially a bit of fun in the sun, the 47th Rolex 24 at Daytona is an altogether more serious affair and again boasts a most impressive display of driving talent. The most obvious thing about this year’s entry is its reduced size from previous years. 51 cars is the lowest entry of the Daytona Prototype era and the lowest since 2003; and with the #7 Penske Porsche Riley looking more and more like a phantom entry, the reality is that we are unlikely to see more than 50 cars taking the start. Having said that, perhaps we are fortunate to see an entry as large as this, given the economic uncertainty of the moment, and perhaps quality will prevail over quantity; for quality there is in abundance. The DP category in particular is bursting at the seams with talent and the 19 or 20 cars should put on quite a show. Chip Ganassi Racing has pretty much owned the place since 2006 and the team returns to defend its title for the third straight year with two Lexus Rileys. Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Pruett are on for a hat-trick of wins this year and are joined again by Memo Rojas in the #01 car. Pruett and Rojas went on to clinch the drivers’ title in the Grand-Am Series last year, but their end-of-year form was not spectacular, so perhaps the pendulum of fate is swing away from them for this race? But even if the #01 car doesn’t clinch the top step, the line-up in the #02 sister car – Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Alex Lloyd – will take some stopping. Either one of these cars has to be included in the ‘favourites’ folder. 2007 Grand-Am champions Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty finished runners-up in ’08 after a strong and consistent second half to the year after an indifferent start. They are joined in the #99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley once more by NASCAR ace Jimmie Johnson and Champ Car star Jimmie Vasser, and the quartet will be hoping to go one better than in ’08 and take the win. Ryan Briscoe scored a podium last year in the Penske-Taylor Riley Pontiac, but this year teams up with 2008 ALMS P2 champs Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard in Penske Racing’s very own Porsche Riley (#16). The car achieved the eighth fastest time (1:42.154) at the official test in early January, but there is little doubt that this car will be at the sharp end come Saturday afternoon. It will be interesting to see how the Penske Porsche compares to the Brumos version. The local team was winless in 2008 and is desperate to change that situation in 2009. The familiarly-liveried cars with numbers 58 and 59 will carry the fight to Penske and the others as the team seeks to claim a trophy it last got its hands on in 1978. In such a historic week in America, who knows what may happen? Or could the silverware be heading in the direction of Georgia? Tracy Krohn’s Lolas get to race with Ford power for the first time after extensive testing. If all the elements of the package work together as intended, then the #76 car (Nic Jonsson, Darren Turner and Ricardo Zonta) in particular could be in with a shout of glory. In the larger GT category, testing form suggests that this will once more boil down to Mazda vs Porsche; but you write off the Pontiacs at your peril. The #70 SpeedSource RX-8 took the chequered flag ahead of everyone else last year and will return with special purpose in 2009 to defend the title; racing in memory of Sylvain Tremblay’s wife, Carol. The Daytona win was one of three for the car last season, en route to a third-place championship finish, and there seems to be no reason why the #70 can’t again be up there. Banner Racing’s Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards took the championship title in 2008, despite a disappointing seventh at the big race, and finished the season with a win. Having Jan Magnussen alongside once more is unlikely to hinder their chances this weekend. Stevenson Motorsports #57 crew of Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell kept their title challenge up for the entire season and only just fell short of the crown. They too will be hoping to improve on their previous Daytona result (ninth) and are joined by Jeff Bucknum for the enduro. The Porsche challenge is, as ever, immense, with TRG (five cars) and Farnbacher Loles (six) again wheeling out the big guns. The standout cars from an impressive list are the #67 for TRG (Jorg Bergmeister, Andy Lally, Patrick Long, Justin Marks and RJ Valentine) and the #87 for FL (Wolf Henzler, Leh keen, Dirk Werner and Richard Westbrook). This promises to be a battle royal. As an illustration of the driver talent on display in Florida, of the ten current Porsche factory drivers, only Marc Lieb gets the weekend off. The JLowe Racing Porsche of Jim Lowe, Jim Pace, Tim Sugden and Johannes van Overbeek is now being prepared by Farnbacher Loles and could well also be a serious contender for honours. So there you go – the field may be reduced, but picking the winner from either category is no easier. Perhaps a factor will be the 2009 Pirelli rubber? There is supposed to be no difference from the ’08 tyre, but reports from the January Daytona test suggests that they do drive differently. The schedule: Thursday 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM Practice
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM Practice
3:45 PM - 4:00 PM Qualifying* – Daytona Prototype
4:15 PM - 4:30 PM Qualifying* – GT
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM Practice *sets top 20 cars in class grid positions Friday 9:00 AM - 9:45 AM Practice
11:00 AM - 11:20 AM Final Qualifying*
12:30 PM - 1:15 PM Final Practice *only for cars not qualified in top 20 of each class on Thursday Saturday 3:30 PM Start - 47th Rolex 24 At Daytona MH | 
