DPi
Wayne Taylor Racing
The No. 10 team recovered from a stop-and-go, plus a 60 second penalty, in the final six hours to secure their second-consecutive overall victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Race control issued the penalty for Ryan Briscoe, who passed by the red light at the exit of pit road. Briscoe would serve his penalty, but in the mean time dropping a lap to the overall leaders. Fortunately for Briscoe at WTR team a timely full-course yellow helped put them back on the lead lap. Consequently, Briscoe stormed back, took the lead and the team never looked behind again.
In the end, Kamui Kobayashi carried the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R to the checkered flag. The Japanese driver shared the triumph with Ryan Briscoe, Renger van der Zande and five-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon.
“We focused on the race, we came back from the Roar, we found something good so we bring it back for race weekend,” said Kobayashi.
“And once we rolled out, it was fast. This win is all about people helping each other, bringing the speed, bringing the car together. I think the team really felt like family.”
The team claimed their third overall victory, in the past four years. This is the four overall win, in total, for team owner Wayne Taylor.
LMP2
DragonSpeed earned LMP2 class honors, finishing two laps ahead of nearest rival PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports. Both teams swapped the lead multiple times throughout the race. The No. 81 Oreca 07-Gibson soared to the top spot for the final time halfway through the 17th hour.
Ultimately, Ben Hanley, Colin Braun, Harrison Newey and Henrik Hedman all earned Rolex watches.
“The guys have great pit stops and great strategies all day. When you execute like that and make no mistakes, you’re usually rewarded with a victory,” said Braun.
Next, DragonSpeed will prepare for the NTT IndyCar Series season opener, on the streets of St. Pete. Team regular Ben Hanley will get behind the wheel on March 15.
GTLM
Following an epic battle with both Porsche 911 RSRs, in the final hours, the No. 24 BMW Team RLL squad won GTLM by 14 seconds.
In other words, this gave the team back-to-back class victories in the 24-hour endurance race. Jesse Krohn passed Porsche factory driver Nick Tandy, with 45 minutes remaining.
“It’s stressful,” said Krohn.
“I had little sleep through the night. It was all on my shoulders in the end. I didn’t want to be the guy who finishes second and denies these guys the watches. I put my head down, I didn’t know how we did it. I’m out of words. No mistakes from anyone at BMW RLL. This is what it takes to win the race.”
Krohn shared the GTLM class victory with John Edwards, Augusto Farfus and Supercars ace Chaz Mostert.
GTD
Andrea Caldarelli held off a hard-charging Marco Mapelli, giving Paul Miller Racing the GTD Rolex 24 win. The two Italians battled intensely towards the end. Ultimately, the No. 48 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 finished 21 seconds ahead.
“The last eight hours were like a sprint race,” said Caldarelli.
In addition, Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Corey Lewis were Caldarelli’s teammates.
