1. Full field photo
The traditional full field photo was arranged on the start/finish straight on Wednesday morning, the 61 cars making a good picture ahead of the weekend.
More than one paddock wagling heard that the race itself could see packs almost as big and sometimes almost as tight!
2. Cosmo Canned from the GTD seat after only beating half of the GTD PRO field
The truly extraordinary story of how and why Guy Cosmo lost his ride on the Rolex 24 after last weekend’s qualifying race can be heard in full at this week’s TWISC.
Aboard the #32 Mercedes AMG, he was replaced by James Davison, who – according to legend – was sunbathing on an Australian beach when called to Daytona. Good luck James – No pressure!
3. Carbahn by Peregrine Huracan Origins
One reason Paul Miller Racing is not competing in the 2021 Rolex 24 Hours with their Lamborghini Huracan while the team awaits delivery of their new BMW M4 GT3 is that they no longer own the Lamborghini!
The #39 Carbon by Peregrine Racing GTD car is indeed Paul Miller Racing’s ex-machine.
4. Cetilar Numbers
The Italian GTD team are a welcome addition to the IMSA Championship’s Endurance Cup runs in 2022, a little less welcome that they were allowed to adopt their bespoke WEC number styles.
A polite intervention from the IMSA tech team ensured that the numbers the car wore when it started roaring were replaced with the standard font by the end of the testing weekend!
5. A decade for Jarett Andretti
Mazda may not be back in DPi this year, but a Mazda Alumni is! Jarett Andretti’s second appearance in the Rolex 24 Hours comes a decade after his first in 2012, when he shared the #36 Yellow Dragon Motorsports tube-frame Mazda RX-8 with a crew that included his late father, John Andretti .
6. IMSA Radio Return Trackside
IMSA Radio is on site for their first IMSA event since the outbreak of the pandemic. Pit lane reporter Shea Adam returned at Petit Le Mans last year, but the stand team of John Hindhaugh and Jeremy Shaw, plus the additional pit lane crew of Joe Bradley and perennial favorite Andrew Marriott, are returning to the track in North America for the first time since the Rolex back 24 of 2020.
7. LMDH demo postponed
As already reported on DSC, a planned public appearance and demonstration run for the new Porsche LMDH will not take place this weekend due to delays in the test program.
8. Mühlner P3 fleet!
With the IMSA Prototype Challenge cars getting underway last weekend and the WeatherTech field races next weekend, there was a rare opportunity to see all four of Muehlner Motorsport’s USA Duqueine D08s in one place!
Expect more from Bernard Muehlner’s team including an almost certain LMP2 effort in the European Le Mans Series.
9. Proton USA, with Norfolk accents!
There was confusion from DSC when our rep approached the Proton USA crew who looked after the #15 GTD PRO Mercedes AMG and answered our questions in perfect German only to find that no one in the garage understood a word of ours !
Following the #99 Porsche at Le Mans last year in GTE Am, this appears to be another almost exclusively crewed by Multimatic (Multimatic plays a key role in supporting Mercedes AMG’s North American motorsport programs) in and out of the cockpit as a working relationship between Multimatic and Proton continue to thrive!
10. KCMG breaks new ground
While it’s not the first time the KCMG brand has appeared at Daytona, having supported A NASCAR efforts a few seasons ago, it’s certainly the team’s first outing at the Rolex 24 Hours and, like us believe, the first ever for any team flying the Hong Kong flag.
Unfortunately, due to ongoing travel restrictions, the team’s founder and owner, Paul Ip, is unable to travel to Florida for the race, but the effort is being led on-site by KCMG’s team manager and former LMP2 Le Mans winner, Matt Howson. We look forward to seeing the always enthusiastic Paul Ip somewhere at the circuit as soon as possible.
11. LMP2 Futurewatch
Marshall Pruett for Racer.com has been sniffing out the potential future timelines for LMP2, a story of growing interest in IMSA and the European paddocks.
More on that coming from DSC in the next day or two
12. Two Ollie Millroys?
Either Ollie Millroy’s son Mylo was having an insane growth spurt, or Frederik Schandorff’s original racing suit wasn’t ready in time!
13. BMW M celebrates 50 years
BMW M Motorsport and BMW of North America are celebrating 50 years of BMW M with activities including a parade of historic and current BMW M vehicles, including a 1980 BMW M1.
The Rolex 24 Heritage Exhibition in the Daytona Fan Zone will feature three racers that made history by winning IMSA races: the 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL, the 2015 BMW Z4 GTLM and the triumphant BMW M8 GTE 2019 at Daytona.
14. Mike Krack farewell tour
And the 24 Hours of Rolex marks what is likely to be the last appearance in the IMSA paddock for Mike Krack, the outgoing head of BMW Motorsport, before assuming his new role as team principal of Aston Martin’s F1 endeavors.
Bon voyage Mike
15th Toyota Test Away Day
Mike Conway and Pechito Lopez had a busy week as the world champion pair flew back to Europe for a GR010 test at Motorland Aragón with the 2022 spec car, which also featured test, development and reserve drivers Nick de Vries and Sebastien Ogier at the rally Star gets his second real oil opportunity to test the hypercar after driving at the Bahrain Rookie Test in November.
Ogier is expected to be featured in an ELMS LMP2 project in 2022.
16. 20 for DSC
This is DSC’s 20th Anniversary event. The first time the DSC crew gathered under the then-brand new (and very orange) banner was the Rolex 24 Hours in 2002.
We’ll be telling the stories and much more in this anniversary year – for now, here’s a picture from that first event – Founder Ed Malcolm Cracknell takes center stage here, along with a slightly less dedicated current DSC Ed, founding partner John Brooks and the longtime DSC -North Americans Russell Wittenberg and Lyndon Fox as well as a very young and fresh looking Andrew Cotton and the longtime PR man of Pirelli, Saleen and most recently Brembo Jack Gerken.
17. Corvette chassis
The two Corvette Racing C8.Rs are #3 chassis #004 and #4 chassis #002.
With thanks to Corvette Racing guru Nigel Dobbie, this means the number 4 is the same car that raced in 2021 with the same number in IMSA.
The car running as #3 here is the car that ran at select WEC races and at Le Mans as #63 (chassis 005 was the #64 car at Le Mans).
18. BoPness
Since the beginning of track action, there have been some significant power balance adjustment cycles in GTD (and GTD PRO) for the roar with power and weight adjustments in the Corvette, BMW and Ferrari runners, particularly given the Vettes and BMWs power increases and weight breaks , later the weight was tucked back into the C8, Rs, but allowing the cars to run a less aggressive rear wing angle to try to address a reported straight-line speed deficit.
As always here at DSC, we are happy to report such adjustments as factual changes before and during an event, but reserve our judgment on the success of the BoP process until after the event.
19. David Pittard, NorthWestAMR debut
A clarification/correction to a story on DSC earlier this week, David Pittard, part of the #98 NorthWestAMR crew in GTD here and ready to race the full season in the GTE Am class of the FIA WEC with Paul Dalla Lana is not, as we previously reported, a 2022 AMR works GT driver, but an official NorthWest driver.
20. Helm will travel
As is usual with the season opener, a few drivers in the paddock are looking for a last minute opportunity that could arise in the event of drama for a team or driver who, for example, is unlucky enough to be benched only halfway through GTD PRO range or similar.
DSC spotted Matt McMurry from a distance and had the opportunity to catch up with Gabby Aubry, whose scheduled LMP3 ride with Forty7 Motorsport was canceled almost on the eve of the event.
21. Replacement car
Several teams have backup cars and chassis in or close by in the paddock with Algarve Pro’s third Oreca chassis and a second McLaren.
22. Guy Cosmo
No news, just a pic of Guy Cosmo!
23. Incoming Announcements
This looks to be a busy week for major news. While the earlier-awaited confirmation of Lamborghini’s LMDH plans will not now take place, other media announcements are pending from both Ford and IMSA. Watch this room
24. Tincknell fell
Pre-event favourite, Harry Tincknell (Source: Harry Tincknell), we understand was beaten by Jules Gounon in Monday’s ‘Motorsport Attorney Invitational’ organized by exceptionally capable and helpful sports and immigration specialist Dustin Hesseltine.
At the event, held at the LPGA International course near the circuit, Gounon prevailed with a frankly underwhelming performance from Tincknell, who just barely finished second.
The Multimatic contract driver is understood to have decided against a protest but likely instead insists next year’s event includes darts.
