Dan Thorn wrote:Alonso's Epic Daytona 24 Hours Performance In Numbers
28th January 2019
A quick look at some of the gaps, positions, and lap times that defined Fernando Alonso's drive in the Daytona 24 Hours
Fernando Alonso wasn’t just one of the winning drivers in this weekend’s Daytona 24 Hours. He was the driver who, it could be argued, won the No.10 Wayne Taylor Racing crew the race.
He’s driven many remarkable races in his long career. Even in his short time in endurance racing he’s already been able to make the difference, such as with his superb night stint at Le Mans last year. However, his performance behind the wheel at Daytona was on another level and must surely be up there among the best races he’s ever driven. Here are some of the highlights in numbers.
9th
The position Alonso was in when he exited the pits for his first stint, just under two hours into the race. By the time of his first pit stop, he was up to fourth and was soon into the top three.
2
The number of laps it took Alonso to go from third to first. After a great battle with the Acura of Helio Castroneves, he scythed ahead entering the bus stop chicane and set off after leader Rene Rast. Just over a lap later (albeit technically two separate laps later) heading into the first corner, he swooped up the inside of the Mazda to take over the top spot.
20
The number of seconds he pulled on the rest of the field while leading… twice. Once in front, Alonso pulled away at over a second a lap and although other drivers could match him in clean air, it was through traffic where Alonso made up the time. After extending the gap behind him to 20 seconds, a caution period for the stranded No.24 BMW wiped out all his hard work. No worries - when the race went green again, Fernando simply rebuilt the 20-second gap.
15
The number of seconds covering most of the rest of the DPi field while Alonso was out in front. You might attribute the lead he built in the early stages to natural field spread, but the DPi class is a seriously close category. At one point, the gap from Alonso to second place was 13 seconds, while the gap from second to eighth was only 15 seconds. Another early hint that, at times, Fernando was in a class of his own.
4th
The position Alonso was in when he started his second stint as the rain began to fall. He was immediately on the pace, going two seconds a lap faster than anyone, and moved up to second in the space of just a couple of laps. A well-timed pit stop followed by a caution period put him in the lead.
3-5
The number of seconds per lap Alonso started to pull out on the rest of the field once he took the lead. In soaking conditions he put on a masterclass of adaptability, bravery and skill as he left the other drivers trailing in his wake - almost literally, considering the amount of standing water on the circuit.
50
The number of seconds Alonso was ahead of the car in second place after just 35 minutes of racing. Perhaps the most impressive thing about his wet weather speed was that it wasn’t just the odd lap here and there - it was simply relentless pace, lap after lap, regardless of conditions or traffic. He would surely have lapped the entire field had the No.4 Corvette not crashed, triggering a safety car and wiping out his lead.
2nd
The position Alonso was in at the end of the race when he was calling for a safety car. It’s common for whoever is in the lead in bad conditions to ask for a stoppage, but the track was so wet that Fernando was calling for the race to be neutralised despite running second - risking losing the race in the process. Had race control heeded his words just a few minutes sooner, the No.10 car wouldn’t have won.
3
The number of other drivers who won the race with Alonso. Yes, Fernando was mightily impressive, but so were his teammates, and they deserve a whole heap of credit. Kamui Kobayashi was frequently the fastest driver on the track during his night stint (and set the car’s fastest lap of the race), Renger van der Zande recovered from fourth to first after losing out through caution periods, and Jordan Taylor fought hard to retain the lead and build a gap during one of the wettest stages of the race - and also had to dodge potential accidents.
1
The number of drivers who gave the No.10 crew a seriously hard time and could easily have won the race for their team. Former Sauber driver Felipe Nasr set the overall fastest lap of the race, took the lead from Jordan Taylor late on, and seemed to be the only person able to match Alonso in the wet. He held the lead in the closing stages and fought off Fernando for several laps before succumbing to the pressure - Nasr ran wide at the first corner and lost the position. 10 minutes later, the race was stopped for good. So close and yet so far, but a drive for Nasr to be proud of nonetheless.
***Fernando Alonso became the third Formula 1 world champion to win the Rolex 24 at Daytona, joining Phil Hill (1964) and Mario Andretti (1972). However, the Spaniard is technically the first to do it in a 24-hour contest, as Hill’s win came in the Daytona Continental 2000 km format and Andretti’s in a six-hour race due to the fuel crisis.
***The win came in only Alonso’s seventh sports car racing start, 12 months after making his prototype debut at Daytona in a United Autosports Ligier JS P217 Gibson before going onto claim overall victories in the FIA World Endurance Championship Six Hours of Spa and 24 Hours of Le Mans.
***Alonso said in the post-race press conference that he’s likely to “start negotiations” with team owner Wayne Taylor on the purchase of the team’s winning Cadillac DPi.V-R for his museum in his hometown of Oviedo, Spain.
***It was the first time the Rolex 24 featured two red flags in the race’s 57-year history. A 1-hour and 38-minute stoppage occurred on Sunday morning, which was followed by six additional full-course caution periods, including one lengthy yellow. The eventual race-ending red was flown with 1 hour and 57 minutes remaining.
***IMSA’s senior director of race operations Mark Raffauf likened the conditions to the 1981 and 2004 editions of the race.
***Michelin came fully prepared for the possibility of rain, with 6,000 wet weather tires on hand for the weekend, enough to cover the entire field for 24 hours. “Through the great efforts by a tremendous number of people and collaboration from IMSA, the race teams and our key partners, we were able to meet [the] challenges in preparing and then adapting to the many changes as the race weekend evolved,” said Michelin North America motorsports director Chris Baker.
***IMSA made a last-minute clarification to the maximum rear wing angles of DPi cars in a bulletin sent to teams only 50 minutes prior to the start of the race. It’s understood the max wing angles, which were not initially defined in the 2019 Rolex 24 BoP, were established at the same levels from last year’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans.
***Wayne Taylor revealed that his first contact with Kobayashi came by an accidental phone call that woke up the Japanese driver in the middle of the night. “I phoned him at 3 a.m. in the morning and I suddenly realized, what have I done? I put the phone down. He called me back and said, ‘Who is this?’ I said, ‘This is Wayne Taylor, would you be interested in coming to Daytona with us?'”
***Three-time IMSA champion Taylor will be inducted into the South African Hall of Fame next month.
***Van der Zande becomes the fourth Dutch driver to win the race outright joining Arie Luyendijk (1998), Jan Lammers (1990 and 1988) and Toine Hezemans (1978).
***Cadillac DPi debutants Juncos Racing and JDC-Miller Motorsports had challenging outings, with a throttle issue forcing Juncos’ entry to start from the pit lane, followed by a power issue in the fourth hour, en route to a 30th place finish overall.
***While the No. 85 JDC-Miller entry came home fifth, the No. 84 Cadillac DPi was eliminated from contention early after Juan Piedrahita hit a spinning Mark Kvamme in the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson.
***Remarkably, it was Stephen Simpson’s first retirement from a race since 2014.
***Alex Zanardi praised Augusto Farfus’ storming final stint in the No. 25 Team RLL BMW M8 GTE that took Farfus and co-drivers Connor De Phillippi, Philipp Eng and Colton Herta to GTLM class honors. “Even if I had ten legs, I don’t think I could have done what Augusto did in the end!” said Zanardi.
***The Brazilian only got the call up to race last Saturday when visa delays prevented Tom Blomqvist from taking part.
***Eighteen-year-old Herta, in his WeatherTech Championship debut, meanwhile, set the classes’ fastest race lap. The second generation-driver has served as Team RLL’s reserve driver since last year.
***BMW Motorsport director Jens Marquardt told Sportscar365 they have a “clear plan” for its Sebring driver lineups, with the manufacturer set to not have any crossover between its WeatherTech Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship driver pairings.
***Herta and Eng are set to continue with BMW Team RLL in the remaining Michelin Endurance Cup races, although in seperate cars, with potential third drivers for its MTEK-run WEC entries for Sebring not yet announced.
***Rik Breukers’ second consecutive Rolex 24 GTD class win with Grasser Racing Team, meanwhile, comes after being part of the overall-winning team in the Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai earlier this month.
***AJ Allmendinger kept his streak alive of leading the Rolex 24 in every race appearance with Meyer Shank Racing, when he assumed the top spot in GTD just prior to the first red flag. The former NASCAR driver, who was also serving on NBC Sports’ broadcast team in the race, has been part of the team’s lineup in 13 of the last 14 years.
***The No. 99 NGT Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R was the race’s first retirement with engine failure, likely stemming from damage sustained from an incident by Alfred Renauer in the opening hour. Ironically Alfred’s twin brother, Robert, had the first incident of last year’s race when he crashed the No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche on the pace lap.
***An entry list quirk resulted in the flag of Swaziland being displayed in the line of flags around the International Horseshoe indicating the different nationalities competing in the Rolex 24.
***The landlocked African nation was represented because Simona de Silvestro, making her first appearance at Daytona, had ‘SWZ’ listed as her abbreviated national demonym. The more traditional ‘CHE’ abbreviation was used for the other Swiss drivers, including Marcel Fassler and Simon Trummer.
Daniel Lloyd wrote:Makowiecki: Porsche “Suffered a Lot” in Daytona Rain
Fred Makowiecki says Porsche pace was affected by Rolex 24 wet conditions…
January 28, 2019
Fred Makowiecki says Porsche GT Team “struggled” in the wet conditions that characterized the second half of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
The French driver, who shared the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR with Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet, said there was a noticeable drop in the car’s pace when the rain started to fall just before 5 a.m. local time.
Early splitter issues for the No. 912 car meant the German manufacturer’s No. 911 machine was the prime Porsche for much of the race.
It ended up becoming an integral part of the lead battle in the opening half, with Makowiecki overtaking BMW Team RLL’s Augusto Farfus for the lead just before the 12-hour mark.
However, it went on to finish two laps down in fifth after multiple spins and incidents in the wet conditions including a collision with the then-leading No. 66 Ford GT of Joey Hand with three hours to go.
“To be honest, unfortunately we did not have the speed in the rain that we had in the dry,” Makowiecki told Sportscar365.
“Overall, we suffered a lot in the wet, especially the full wet conditions because there was a lot of aquaplaning. You could see that we could not follow the Ferrari, the BMW or the Ford also, and we suffered a lot.
“In the dry we were very competitive. To be honest I think that we had a clear chance to win if it was dry. Unfortunately, it was not the case like that.
“[We are] proud about what we achieved this weekend because if you have a look we have always been at the front of every session. Unfortunately, the rain decided a different result for us.”
Makowiecki explained that the Porsche 911 RSR was more competitive in the wet when it ran with its engine placed further back in the chassis in the previous-generation model which retired in 2016.
“It was especially [competitive] with the old architecture in the car with the engine on the back,” he said.
“With the mid-engine, we for sure have no more advantage compared to our competitors – the balance is the same as everybody else.
“We probably need to work a little bit on that because it looks like we are more sensitive in terms of aquaplaning than our competitors.
“For us, we swapped from one of the top manufacturers in terms of speed in the dry to maybe the slowest in the wet.”
Dry Pace Encouraging for Sebring
Makowiecki feels Porsche will be more competitive at the typically dry Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring based on its clear-weather pace in the first half of the Rolex 24.
The Frenchman won Sebring last year with Tandy and Pilet, as well as the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans.
“We come as the winner from Sebring so we expect to be competitive,” he said.
“We want to do it well. Daytona is always a big moment of the season and when we don’t realize the result we expect, we really want to come into Sebring and get a strong performance.
“[At Daytona in the dry] the car was easy running, easy going, no issues. Stint after stint, we could always fight and be at the front. We had perfect conditions until the rain came.”
Porsche’s No. 912 crew of Laurens Vanthoor, Earl Bamber and Mathieu Jaminet recovered from the early setbacks through multiple full-course yellows to finish third after the No. 67 Ford was demoted post-race for a time penalty.
Daniel Lloyd wrote:Westbrook: Red Flag Timing “A Kick in the Nuts”
Richard Westbrook, Ford left ruing the timing of red flag that decided GTLM race at Daytona…
January 27, 2019
Richard Westbrook said the red flag that brought the 57th Rolex 24 at Daytona to a premature end was a “kick in the nuts” for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing.
Westbrook had just pitted from the GT Le Mans class lead moments before the race was red-flagged in treacherous conditions, handing the win to the No. 25 BMW M8 GTE driven by Augusto Farfus.
He ultimately finished third on the road in the No. 67 car also driven by Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon, but the crew was demoted to fourth post-race with 1 minute and 48-second added to its final time.
This was because Westbrook took an emergency pit stop for the splash of fuel without taking a mandatory full service afterwards.
Westbrook told reporters after the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opener that the conditions were “ridiculous” and that the race should have been brought to a stop earlier.
“We were out of gas, so we had to pit whatever, but I just don’t know why they were waiting to throw the red flag,” he said.
“The conditions weren’t getting worse, they were just incredibly bad through that last green period.
“It didn’t matter what speed you were driving at, 30 or 130. You just couldn’t keep the car on the track. It was a lottery.”
Westbrook felt that the FCGR squad made the right strategy call to leave him out during the 16th full-course caution of the race with two and a half hours remaining.
This set the No. 67 Ford on a 40-plus lap stint which lasted until the final caution period, which turned into the race-deciding yellow, with just over two hours to go.
“We were looking at the radar and we knew that the weather was going to get worse and worse,” he said.
“You can’t even bank on throwing a red and then calling a race like they did at Petit Le Mans in 2015, but that is in the back of your mind.
“The best place to be is in the lead. At that point [before the red flag] we were controlling the race and leading the way.
“Obviously we had to pit and everyone else was going to have to pit a few laps later, but we were the unlucky ones today, that they threw the red just after we pitted.”
The 43-year-old Englishman described the weather in the second half of the race as like nothing he had ever experienced before.
Rain started falling over the Daytona International Speedway at around 4:40 a.m local time and continued beyond the checkered flag.
“I’ve driven in many conditions in my life, in the Nürburgring in the fog and the rain,” said Westbrook.
“But nothing like that. It was ridiculous. But then to throw the red when they did is like a real kick in the nuts.”
