WTR Secure Daytona 24hr Victory

[farjam]

The Moment that all things could go wrong for nando again , but Jordan did an amazing job:
https://twitter.com/MotorsportsNBC/status/1089637924583428096

 

[LTLGamer1]

In LMP2, Pastor Maldonado wins? Certainly didn't expect that.

 

[wombat999]

I'd say Spa 24h and Nurburgring as well!

Let's not overlook the Bathurst 12 Hour either.

 

[Lestienofficiel]

Amazing race, Alonso is just a legend

 

[Michael Stead]

Bathurst 12 hour

Speaking of, 1 week to go. https://www.bathurst12hour.com.au/

 

[Boby Kim]

Nice that i know the outcome before i watched the race. Thanks RD! Hopefully you will continue doing this with F1

 

[Patrick van der Meulen]

Let's not overlook the Bathurst 12 Hour either.

You mean the “Cohones-of-Steel 12 Hour”?

 

[daveftones]

The Moment that all things could go wrong for nando again , but Jordan did an amazing job:
https://twitter.com/MotorsportsNBC/status/1089637924583428096

Amazing job? Amazing luck.

 

[LeSunTzu]

There was no luck in that move, but fine driving. The clip only shows the end of the action. In reality the Lambo starts wiggling at the beginning of its braking and Taylor cleverly backs off to avoid it.

 

[callumjtc]

I couldn't believe it during one of Alonso's night stints when he overtook the Acuras within 2 laps the pulled a 44 second lead in 14 laps. That was incredible.

 

[T04STY]

In LMP2, Pastor Maldonado wins? Certainly didn't expect that.

He's actually doing quite well in LMP2. He's quick and doesn't do stupid things as he used to do in F1. I think in 2018 he didn't have a single car to car or car to wall contact in the whole WEC season.

 

[Patrick van der Meulen]

He's actually doing quite well in LMP2. He's quick and doesn't do stupid things as he used to do in F1. I think he didn't have a single car to car or car to wall contact in the whole WEC season.

In F1 he just failed bigtime. But in other classes he really is just a very capable and competitive driver indeed.

 

[Stephen O'Sullivan]

The weather put Race Control in an impossible position. There were times when a delayed FCY on a soaking track endangered the drivers, and periods when a relatively dry track was still hazardous because the massive splitters on some cars dug into the remaining puddles.

Watching the race became a guilty pleasure for me; it was so good that I didn't want it to stop. That last two hours before the final stoppage, when the drivers couldn't see properly, when cars were wrecking left, right and centre, and when some amazing battles broke out in the different classes, verged on the extraordinary.

With hands wrapped around a thrumming steering wheel, eyes searching for reference points in the wall of grey spray in front of them, engines roaring above the pit instructions in their ears, even the most frightened drivers must have thought to themselves: "This is stupid, this is dangerous... this is epic." (I'd have been tempted to cry, "Now, this is pod-racing!") It was the classic motorsport mix of fear and elation.

That was a risky, risky race haunted by the possibility of a really bad accident. However, everyone rode their luck - this time. Finally, kudos to the cold, wet, tired and busy track marshals and recovery teams. They were the real stars.

 

[RogueVale]

Alonso competed in another category, both dry and wet and without yellow flags would have doubled all

 

[Deleted member 241736]

crazy race also the imsa live stream was curious starting 30 mins later in Germany. nm - this was only the prologue for BATHURST 12H this week.

 

[Mike Kadlcak]

Real winner of that race is the WTR race engineers - whoever set that car up was an absolute genius, no-one anywhere seems to mention Jordan Taylor doing exactly what Alonso did & just drive away from everyone else at the rate of several seconds a lap, several times - and he wasn't any slower either ( nor was Kamui when they actually let him in the car... he got four stints the entire race! ). The win came down to the rain lottery and whoever the director felt like leaving in front when the reds came out, sadly - that wasn't a 24hr race, just a 10 hour one. Risi led GTLM much of the time & BMW were nowhere, except when the final red came out...

I suspect Caddy might get a whack of the BoP hammer before the main season starts, somehow.

Agree... Caddy won the BoP game, simple. They even said Penske were favorites, not Caddy before the race. (while they said that they must have had heavy sand bags in the cockpit.) This BoP game must go... if there is a team working their ass off to get the car faster they just get hurt by the BoP guys.

Well the rest of the season might get better.

 

[Zuffenhausen Weiss]

I'd say Spa 24h and Nurburgring as well!

..also one for Citroen 2CVs (at Snetterton) and one for Fun Cups (at Spa) also

 

[Will Mazeo]

Agree... Caddy won the BoP game, simple. They even said Penske were favorites, not Caddy before the race. (while they said that they must have had heavy sand bags in the cockpit.) This BoP game must go... if there is a team working their ass off to get the car faster they just get hurt by the BoP guys.

Well the rest of the season might get better.

All the cars were BoPed perfectly in this race. Every team had one driver that could catch Alonso or get close to him on pace. Mazda was very fast, Acura had the pace. Both Mazda cars were running different strategies and still managed to be on front in one moment or the other. When the rain arrived the best car setup for that appeared and was Nasr team IMO.
If the race stayed dry or the rain was not enough to red flag it would've been epic.Only team behind in the DPi was Core because of their first year with this car and their engineer said on Twitter after their first run in January 4 or 5 the car was very different of a spec P2 despite using a P2 as base
Also Cadillacs are half of the DPi grid, the odds of one of them on the top is higher

 

[Richard Dastardly]

All the cars were BoPed perfectly in this race. Every team had one driver that could catch Alonso or get close to him on pace. Mazda was very fast, Acura had the pace. Both Mazda cars were running different strategies and still managed to be on front in one moment or the other. When the rain arrived the best car setup for that appeared and was Nasr team IMO.
If the race stayed dry or the rain was not enough to red flag it would've been epic.Only team behind in the DPi was Core because of their first year with this car and their engineer said on Twitter after their first run in January 4 or 5 the car was very different of a spec P2 despite using a P2 as base

10 & 31 were in a bit of a league of their own much of the race ( ignoring the wet, when some of the drivers in 10 and 31 were in a league of their own - Nasr/Taylor were extraordinary, Pipo & Curren were surprisingly slower than expected, especially in the later swamp ). I'd debate 31 having the best rain setup - maybe for Nasr who left Alonso standing still in the last green until he overshot T1 slightly, but everyone looked good in the WTR car, most of the time it drove like it was in different conditions than the rest of the field.

One day Mazda might finish something... how can Joest be this bad

 

[Andrew Harper]

10 & 31 were in a bit of a league of their own much of the race ( ignoring the wet, when some of the drivers in 10 and 31 were in a league of their own - Nasr/Taylor were extraordinary, Pipo & Curren were surprisingly slower than expected, especially in the later swamp ). I'd debate 31 having the best rain setup - maybe for Nasr who left Alonso standing still in the last green until he overshot T1 slightly, but everyone looked good in the WTR car, most of the time it drove like it was in different conditions than the rest of the field.

One day Mazda might finish something... how can Joest be this bad

Sorry I'm going to have to disagree slightly. As @Will Mazeo mentioned all four classes were very close during this race. The conditions split them up though and from that point of view it was felt the Caddy's were better in the cooler night conditions and that was it. However I am wondering that with the 10 and 31 the team put a slightly more compromised setup on the cars. They have huge amounts of experience at Daytona and they knew the weather would be moving in later on and also for a long period of time so they may well have tried to prepare for it.

Great drives by all finishers though, very difficult conditions and the visibility at the end was just zero.

People are raging about Mazda online but the #77 was a turbo failure (so blame AER for that if you like). The #55 was just a mistake combined with being in the wrong place at the wrong time (collected by another car) which could happen to anyone. It's also Mazda USA. It's not a huge Japanese works effort (although there is some involvement on that side).

I read a great article in Racecar Engineering some time ago about the Mazda after Joest took it over and it was a huge job getting the car sorted. It didn't have enough cooling. The aero was not stable, the suspension and brake designs were compromised. It needed a complete rethink. So to get to this stage is a minor miracle and the pole lap was a good sign that the car is at least quick now.

Considering their power plant I was surprised they were that fast at Daytona. They went very well at Sebring last year before they hit problems so I am looking forward to the next one to see how things develop.

A great first race with battling all the way through the field. I think this years IMSA championship is going to be a great one