The Rolex 24 Car Manufacturer's War!
Can Am
The battle between Ford and Ferrari was something to see in the later parts of the race, after the corvette dropped off. Personnally, I would have liked to see Ferrari chalk up another race victory, basically because over the years I have gained a good deal of respect for their entire company. In fact, a brand new Testarosa remains my favorite car in the world. Make no mistake, even though Ford won the race, Ferrari still held the majority of top ten spots and finished better than the Fords overall. Even more so, in my opinion, I believe that the day would have ended with a victory for Ferrari if the crew chief in charge of the second place Ferrari (the won that finished with Angelini behind the wheel) hadn't made the most stupid tire changing decisions I've ever seen in my life. What kind of idiot decides to put racing slicks on a car that has to run on a track that has just been poured on! Even more stupid, what kind of idiot decides to bring the car in for yet another tire change at the first sign of trouble, without waiting to see if the weather cleared up, or even entertaining the option of having the driver being able to tough it out on the track! On another note, I'd like to congradulate the pit crew of the winning team. Lets face it, the race was won for these guys by a combination of the second place crew chief's stupidity, and the their pit crew's speed. The second place Ferrari was going at least 5 mile per hour faster than the leading car, and the pit crew was able to keep the leading car in the lead.
GT2
Personnally, I was slightly depressed with this class. I seriously thought that that this class would beat the GT3s. I know it's slightly wishful thinking, but I seriously thought it would happen. They had a good battle going throughout the entire race, but as the field started to pan out the battles between the GT2 cars became few and far between.
GT3
This was a one car show throughout the entire night and into the morning. You know the name of that show, its called Corvette. That Corvette kicked the butt of every car on that track. Just the simple fact that that was the Corvette's debut year, coupled with the fact that it was winning half the race, and you have the stuff dreams are made of. BAM!!! You wake up. If I was winning that much of the the Superbowl of car racing so convincingly, and then to have it all ripped away by a quirk of fate and mechanical problems, I would probably go nuts right in the middle of the track. I am glad that they were able to finish the race with the engine running, as opposed to the car sitting in the pit stall taking up space.
GTT
Camaros? What Camaros? This entire class was held up by the mustang. Frankly, it had to be, IT WAS THE ONLY CAR LEFT!!! I don't believe this was a coincedence either, I think there was something wrong with the Camaros. Maybe they couldn't handle Daytona. On a happier note, the crew behind that mustang was incredible. That was their first race, in an almost street stock car. They were rewarded for all of their efforts by finishing first in their class, even though at the end they were the only car left in their class.
Click Here to be returned to my Homepage