YEA! Cathi gave me tickets for the 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona for Christmas.
The 2014 race was the 52nd anniversary of the Rolex 24 At Daytona and it was also the debut event for the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. The Rolex 24 was on Jan. 25-26, 2014 at Daytona International Speedway.
The TUDOR United SportsCar Championship is the result of the merger of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. IMSA is the sanctioning body for the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. See the home page for a photo of Dave’s 1990 IMSA license.
We had a great condo room at the Royal Floridian Resort in Ormond Beach, Florida.
Cathi in her Corvette shirt preparing lunch. We stayed at the Royal Floridian Resort in Ormond Beach, Florida
The view looking south from our second floor balcony at the Royal Floridian Resort in Ormond Beach, Florida
Everyone knows that Cathi cheered for the C7 Corvettes and the Daytona Prototype Corvettes but I had a hard time deciding which team to root for in 2014. I have been a fan of the Flying Lizard Mortorsports team but this year they switched from Porsche to Audi. So, while I followed their progress during the race I pulled for the factory Porsche team, especially watching Patrick Long driving the #912 Porsche 911 RSR and also the #911 Porsche.
Cathi was very excited about the finish of the race. The first four cars were Corvette Daytona Prototypes. The overall winner was the Action Express Daytona Prototype Chevrolet Corvette, driven by João Barbosa, finishing about a second and a half ahead of another Corvette Daytona Prototype, the Wayne Taylor Racing car driven to the finish by Max Angelelli.
The #911 Porsche 911RSR finished 6th overall and first in the GTLM class.
The two Chevrolet Corvette C7.R cars in the GTLM class did not do so well. The No. 4 car had a transmission bearing failure and spent about 30 minutes in the pits to change the transmission but was still able to finish 5th in class. The No. 3 Corvette C7.R went from the rear of the grid at the start to the GTLM class lead at the six-and-a-half hour mark but overheating caused it’s retirement.
The Flying Lizard Motorsports team put both of their Audi R8 cars in the top 5 of the GT Daytona class. The No. 45 car finished second in class and the No. 35 car finished fifth in class. The No. 58 Porsche 911 GT America of Snow Racing finished third in the GT Daytona class.
We watched the Mazda prototype team but neither of the Mazda prototype SKYACTIV Technology diesel powered cars finished the race. The #07 car finished 445 laps but retired after throwing an oil pump belt and losing oil pressure. The #70 car finished 369 laps and retired due to overheating caused by a radiator clogged due to track debris.
The tickets, which are just armbands this year, looked like this. We didn’t care for the color of the hats this year.
Here are a few photos I took during the race.
