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The 99 Gainsco-Stallings Racing crew services the car during a pit stop in the Grand-Am Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway. (Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images)
Attrition and racing incidents are a part of endurance racing. Part of the challenge is keeping a car running near its limit for hundreds of laps.
Fatigue, both mechanical and human, has touched almost every team in some way. Blown engines, broken transmissions, driving errors resulting in collisions with walls, tires barriers, other cars …
It is often the team that can rebuild a car quickest, rather than the one which can lap quickest, that wins the race.
On lap 495, at 7:33 a.m., Burt Frisselle high-sided on the curb at the Bus Stop chicane, destroying the splitter and bringing out a full-course caution. The team was able to change the whole nose in in under three minutes.
The 88 Orbit Racing Porsche GT3 of John Baker blew an engine and burst into flame, extending the yellow. Baker driove it back to the pits where it was extinguished, but the car was badly damaged.
Max Papis in the in 01 Ganassi car was penalized for jumping the restart, after being penalized for using an illegal tool during its the pit stop.
The SpeedSource Mazdas started creeping up in GT standings as the 57 Stevenson car lost fifth gear and lost many laps. Racing luck seemed to be helping SpeedSource—briefly.
Debris on the track brought out the fifteenth yellow on lap 505, and on lap 516, the 14 Autometrics Motorsports Porsche locked up under braking, ran wide and nosed hard into the tires, bringing on the sixteenth full-course caution.
Still under yellow Anthony Lazzaro’s 69 SpeedSource Mazda started smoking heavily after leaving the pits. His team told him it was just overfilled oil spilling onto the hot motor, but he came in to have it checked. In the pits, the crew found the rotor chambers full of water and retired the car. The 69 Mazda had qualified fastest in class, but in a 24-hour race, it is the final lap that matters, not the qualifying lap.
On the restart, Max Papis in the 01 Ganassi car forced his way past AJ Alllmendinger’s 06 Shank Racing machine to take second place, and then took off after Mike Rockenfeller in the Action Express Porsche.
The three leading cars were again within two seconds of each other, and racing for position
On lap 527 laps the 60 Shank car of Burt Frisselle blew a tire after running over debris on the track, and the decaying tire tore up the bodywork as he brought it back the pits. The 70 Mazda also had a flat on that lap.
A lap later the 57 Stevenson Camaro spun but avoided hitting anything.
On lap 529 the 59 Brumos Porsche came in for repairs to the splitter, another in a long series of trips to the pits for repairs.
On lap 562, AJ Allmendinger lost a right rear tire after coming together with the 22 Bullet Racing Porsche, while running third.
On lap 583, Ryan Dalziel in the leading Porsche had a lost moment and nearly missed a corner. He made a good save, avoiding hitting anything, losing only time.
On lap 586 at 10:29 a.m. Dion Von Moltke in the 7 Starworks Motorsport BMW-Riley crashed leaving pit lane and slammed into the end of the wall, destroying his car and bouncing into the path of Bryce Miller in the 48 Miller Barrett Racing Porsche GT3, damaging that car seriously also.
The incident brought out the seventeenth full-course caution. The entire field had to pit to check for tire damage.
Under the yellow, the GT leader Bobby LaBonte in the 71 TRG Porsche ran out of fuel on the course. Apparently the “Reserve” switch was thrown at some point during a refueling or driver change, which ran the tank empty with no warning.
Also under yellow, the 06 Shank car spun, and had to go back to the pits.
After the restart on lap 592, Jaoa Barbosa in the Action Express Racing Porsche-Riley led Max Papis in the 01 Ganassi car by one second. Two laps back was Brian Frisselle in the 06 Shank Ford-Riley, and two laps further back, Richard Westbrook in the Crown Royal/NPN Ford-Riley.
In GT, Andrew Davis in the 57 Stevenson Camaro was back in the lead, thanks to Bobby Labonte running out of fuel. LaBonte handed over the 71 TRG Porsche to Spencer Pumpelly, now in second, a lap back. Seth Niemann in the TRG/Flying Lizard Porsche was three laps further back, third in class.
Fatigue, bad luck, racing incidents, other people’s problems … Endurance racing is about racing, but it is also very much about enduring.
