The 56th Rolex 24 at Daytona – Alonso’s 2nd US Adventure

Time for another article from our regular guest Nigel Chiu, and his preview of the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The Rolex 24 at Daytona is one of the toughest and most unpredictable races to win in motorsport. With not too much going on in the four and two-wheel world at this time of the year, the Daytona 24 Hours is a race that is watched by many. This doesn’t even take into account that the two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso will be taking part in the event for the very first time. 185 drivers from 25 different countries and 6 different continents will embark on one of America’s greatest races, which is set to be a classic.

Like any endurance race, you need to stay out of trouble and you need to have good reliability. But at Daytona, something will go wrong to pretty much every car during the race and it’s about how you can recover from a bit of bad luck or a mistake from the team or a driver. If you have no problems, you’re most likely to stay on the lead lap in your class and that is the key to victory at Daytona International Speedway. Daytona has a really long nightly period were the race can be won but usually lost; it’s the longest night of any endurance race, therefore the shortest daytime conditions.

The Schedule (Click here)

All times in the schedule are local/eastern USA times. Add five hours to get the times in the UK. The key times:

Thursday 25th January  Qualifying: 20:55-22:00 (UK time)

Saturday 27th-Sunday 28th  Race: 19:40 Sat-19:40 Sun (UK time) 

You can watch it all on IMSA.tv as long as you are outside the USA, or you can listen to the IMSA Radio team including John Hindhaugh, Paul Truswell and Shea Adam.

The circuit requires a car with good top end speed to do well and fight for the top spot. Most of the banked oval is used with the infield section requiring a need for low-speed downforce. But you have to sacrifice the downforce for speed in a straight line because it’s easier to overtake lapped traffic if you have a fast car on the banked oval part of the track compared to the tight and twisty section through the likes of the International Horseshoe and the trick turn one.

The Entry List (Click here)

The entry list for “The Roar before the 24” is exactly the same as the one for the race itself.

With the new Pesnke team coming into the prototype class, there have been a lot of driver changes. The defending champions is the number 10 car with Jordan Taylor being the only driver to stay with the team. I mentioned Acura Team Penske because they are not only a new team but a team that has an all-star line-up. Indycar champion Simon Pagenaud, superstar Juan Pablo Montoya and the very fast Dane Cameron makes up the number 6 car, then the sister Penske has defending winner Ricky Taylor, 3-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves and Indycar star Graham Rahal makes up the number 7. The Penske cars must be kept an eye on. It didn’t take them long to challenge for race wins in the ultra competitive Australia Supercars championship so I expect them to be right up there

On the list, you may have noticed that ex-F1 drivers Felipe Nasr and Paul Di Resta are taking part in cars 31 and 32 respectively. Di Resta is in the United Autosports team which is the team that the great Fernando Alonso is part of. He will be in car number 23 with Brit Phil Hanson and the European Formula 3 champion Lando Norris.

Alonso is using this race to see how much he enjoys endurance racing. I’m sure that he just loves racing in general and the challenge of the Triple Crown is something that, I for one, cannot wait to see how it pans out. A drive with Toyota at Le Mans is still unknown but it will almost certainly happen in the future. We all saw how much extra attention the Indy 500 received last year with the presence of Alonso and I hope that the Daytona 24 receives a lot of added attention as well.

Another current F1 driver is doing Daytona as well. Lance Stroll will take on the 24 hour race for the second time in his racing career. Last time, he finished 5th overall and he will hope that he can get his Oreca onto the podium because he has some very good team-mates including Robin Frijns and Felix Rosenqvist. Twenty prototype entries with some of the finest racers in the world will battle it out for the overall win at the weekend.

In the GTLM (GT Le Mans) class, it’s all about quality manufacturers and quality drivers. Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Porsche and BMW will battle for glory in the tightest class in the race. Yes, BoP (balance of performance) plays its part and I’m not a fan of it one bit. But, if you forget about it and just look at the racing then all is good. The driver line-up is always great and this year is no exception. I’m a harsh critic of who’s a good or bad driver and I can honestly say that every driver in the GTLM class is fast and attacking which is what I like to see. Last year, Ford won the race and the exact same drivers (Sebastien Bourdais, Joey Hand and Dirk Muller) will look to defend their title. It’s literally a toss of a coin for who’s going to win that class. You cannot afford any reliability or technical problems in the GTLM class and driver speed is key.

The final class is the GTD class which is full of different types of cars and drivers. From Lamborghinis and Ferraris, to BMWs and Porsches the GTD class is just as hard to call as the other two classes at Daytona. The GTD class has professional and amateur drivers but don’t assume that the “am” drivers are slow and rubbish. Most of them are pretty quick and one of them holds the record for the most overall Daytona 24 Hour (5) race wins, his name is Scott “hello to my family at home” Pruett. If you don’t get the gag, then copy and paste the quote and Scott Pruett into YouTube. Pruett is retiring after the race meaning that the Daytona 24 will be his final race. The 57-year-old is a legend and it’s the perfect time to go because he’s clearly not as fast as he used to be and he’s done everything that he could possibly do. He’s one of America’s best ever racers and for one last time rather than saying hello, it’s time to say goodbye. 21 highly competitive GTD cars will do battle all day and all night and I’m sure that they will put on a show.

Nearly all the time, at least one of the classes will go down to the wire. Whether it’s a fierce, titanic battle in the dying minutes of the race, or a fuel race when we just sit on the edge of our seats to see if the leader of a class has judged it perfectly and has enough fuel to get home and win. Expect no less in 2018 as the intensity rises whilst the drama bites you at any moment.

The “Roar before the 24” has already happened but with BoP and teams sandbagging a little, it’s usually not indicative of the actual pace of each car. The biggest BoP change so far is for Acura’s brand-new ARX-05 DPi has received an increase in fuel capacity (+4L, 80L total) and will flow fuel faster during pit stops with a larger opening in the restrictor (+1.5mm). Cadillac’s DPi-V.R, which dominated every session at the Roar, has lost power to its 5.5-liter V8 engine with smaller openings feeding air to the motor and has received an increase in fuel capacity. For more on the latest  Balance of Performance changes CLICK HERE.

Changes can be made up until the race itself. My take on BoP is that I really don’t like it but I can see that it’s needed or else one car will dominate and it will be like the last few F1 seasons. It’s a bit too artificial for me and teams and drivers do sandbag in testing and practice sessions such as Daytona or Le Mans. Remember in 2016, when Ford were sandbagging with a new car at Le Mans, nobody noticed until the race when they clearly had the fastest car. I hope that Penske aren’t doing the same but I wouldn’t be surprised. You aren’t actually allowed to sandbag and if you do, you will get a big penalty and a hefty fine. Hopefully, nobody has been holding anything back too much.

I think that the Daytona 24 is the race were good luck is vital. In a race were the number of safety cars will reach double figures, timing your pitstops are crucial. If you pit just before a full cause caution (safety car) comes out, then you will gain a lot of time. This is essential when it comes to your last pitstops. Staying on the lead lap is another key to victory but it’s relatively easy compared to other endurance races because of the “wave around” rule. It can often confuse the state of the race but it creates lots of strategical scenarios which the team has to stay on top of. Rain hit the race last year and early forecasts suggests that we will get some weather this weekend.

This will only add to the pressure and the skill that’s needed from every driver to stay out of trouble. With every car running a low downforce set-up, rain will make it significantly more difficult in the infield section and the hard braking zones because there will be much less grip. Traffic will play its part in all classes, especially the Prototype class. As mentioned before you want to overtake on the banking because you won’t lose any time there and when it comes to an inevitable sprint at the end, manoeuvring your way through lapped cars whilst trying to gap your rival who’s right underneath your rear wing is very hard and it can easily go wrong in a split second. In a race that’s 24 hours long, it will all be won and lost in seconds.

So, a double Formula 1 world champion, Indycar champions, NASCAR winners, Indy 500 victors, the best GT drivers, rising stars, American legends and 24 hours to soak it all up. It’s the perfect way to kick off the motorsport year!