What an experience. The Daytona 24 hours was unlike anything I’ve ever imagined or done before. A real proving ground that requires true grit from the drivers, team and car.
Even before I got into the car, I was very well placed. Being part of the SpeedSource team was my first advantage; these guys have form, having won the GT class two out of three times in the past three years, and I was hoping to help chalk up yet another victory over the weekend. Secondly, I was privileged to be partnered by a group of exceptional drivers for this feat of endurance; Number 70’s line-up was completed by Sylvain Tremblay, John Edwards and Jonathan Bomarito.
I arrived trackside on Thursday to prepare for testing, and it all went off smoothly, however it quickly became apparent that the Porsches and Chevvies had a straight line speed over the Mazdas, and we knew that at Daytona that was going to make it tough for us. On the corners the Mazda was unstoppable, but in a straights we just couldn’t compete.
Qualifying followed on Thursday afternoon, and Sylvain was our nominated driver. It was pretty close between the Mazdas, but as a whole we were still off the pace compared to the other manufacturers. We qualified 16th out of 35 in class, 31st out of 50 cars overall; it certainly wasn’t as good as we had been hoping for.
Friday gave us the quiet before the storm, and I was out of the car, but Saturday moved at a completely different pace as we geared up for the off. In the morning we had our driver and team photographs followed by a team meeting. We discussed various scenarios, tactics and our plans for safety car periods and pits stops.
At midday there was autograph signing and the fan walkabout. The cars were already in pit lane, but with a huge swell of fans it was pretty much impossible to see any of our competitors even from our pit stand. It was a pretty awesome sight.
At 3.30pm Eastern time the race started. The roar of the engines as the lights went green made the ground shake, and the following first hour went smoothly. I headed off to rest as my first go in the car would only be once darkness had set in, and I needed to be as fresh as possible for the off.
In the third hour of the race I was back in pit lane and John was in the car. We were in P15 and had had to take an unexpected pit stop due to a high speed puncture in the second hour. This had caused some unwanted damage to the rear of the car, but despite this we were still going well and making a comeback. Within 30 minutes we had moved into 9th position. I jumped in and took us through the next two hours or so, and my enduring memory is that there were plenty of wild drivers taking some unnecessary risks considering we still had 18 hours of the race remaining.
My next stint was roughly at 2am and towards the half way point of the race. On my way to the pits I was taken to the garage and my heart sunk when I saw the car in bits being stripped and repaired. Apparently we had been making huge progress within the top 10 before suffering an alternator failure, and as a consequence had lost our in-car radio link, lights and power steering. It forces us to pit.
Twenty five minutes later the car was back on the track. The SpeedSource crew had reacted quickly and repaired what they could. We had moved down to 20th and now were around 15 laps down. Our chances of winning had been blown to pieces, but we weren’t going to give up the fight that easily; in the remaining 12 hours anything could happen…
I was in the car after John again. We kept our driver sequence, starting with Sylvain, Jonathan, John then myself. I was in the car for another good 2 hours, but by now it had seen better days.
Not long after I finished my run, around 4am, the fog settled around Daytona. There was a three hour caution period where pit stops were allowed but no overtaking was permitted. It was the slowest part of the race, and we were all relieved when the safety car finally went back into the pit lane; we made our way back into the top 10.
By the time it had reached the 18 hour mark, we were as far up as 8th position. At 21 hours we gained 7th, and by the penultimate 23rd hour, I got out the car and handed over to Sylvain in 6th place. It had been a good recovery, and despite a bit of a battering, the car was still holding together with a few extra pieces of tape and straps wrapped around it.
With 7 minutes before the end of the 24 there was a final and sudden safety car due to debris on the track. It arrived just in time for the last lap, and every car was doing whatever it could to make up any last minute time and position before the finish line, but for us, there was just too much of a gap to the car in front to make a difference.
We crossed over the line in 6th position, completing 670 laps (2,385 miles) averaging a speed of almost 100mph for 24 hours. It had been a fantastically challenging 24 hours, but an awesome experience; I had completed my debut 24 hour race, perhaps not quite the result I was hoping for, but I was grateful for the strength of the team I had been a part of. There was never any sense of giving up even when the car wasn’t in its best condition towards the end of the race. A huge amount of respect to my co-drivers and crew – I was lucky enough to be able to rest during the night between being in the car – but the crew stayed up and endured it all to make sure the car kept on running.
Finally, I’d like to say congratulations to Mazda for providing a car that stood up to 24 hours of track abuse, pushing it to its limits. I’d like to thank the SpeedSource crew for being the best team out there, doing everything they could to keep the car on track, and of course to all my co-drivers for doing an awesome job behind the wheel. This is one race I want to be competing in every year.
The International GT Open returned to Italy this weekend for the penultimate round of the 2010 series. After racing at Imola in May, the circuit of choice this time was Monza, the home of the Italian Grand Prix and the spiritual home of Ferrari’s loyal fans.
CRS Racing’s Adam Christodoulou had a lot on his shoulders this weekend: racing a Ferrari for the first time and at Monza, also for the first time. The young Briton excelled himself though and, along with Tim Mullen, bagged a podium finish in Sunday afternoon’s race.
The weekend got off to a damp start as both of Friday’s free practice sessions were run in wet conditions. With no dry running under their belts the teams went into Saturday’s sunny qualifying sessions blind but Adam did a great job, matching the seventh place that Tim took for race one.
The first race took place on Saturday afternoon. Tim took the start in the No.91 CRS Ferrari in 8th and did his usual good job, despite struggling a little with the car’s handling. Adam then jumped in and brought the Ferrari home in eighth place.
The start of race two today was down to Adam in the No.91 car. Adam started from 7th on the grid and he had a great run, all the way up to 4th place by lap 5, handing over to Tim mid race and finishing 3rd taking the fourth podium finish of 2010 for the No.91 CRS Ferrari.
“It was a better weekend than Brands Hatch, that’s for sure,” said CRS MD, Mark Busfield. “Adam adapted very quickly to the team and to the car and got up to the level he needed to be at very quickly indeed. I’m very pleased to see Tim and Adam on the podium here.”
« It’s been a great opportunity to be working with the CRS team again, » said Adam. « It was a tough start to the weekend not getting any dry running before qualifying, and I was defiantly thrown in the deep end, but the whole team worked extremely hard during the weekend and after race one on Saturday evening. The hard work and commitment from the team has shown in race two, every time I jumped in the car it felt better and I drove faster, and to walk away with a podium on my first experience back with the team is fantastic. »
After a season full of highs and lows, we finally arrived at the season finale; a successful end to our 2010 season and my first year in Grand AM racing.
I was feeling confident about the weekend’s racing, especially after my experience here at Miller Motorsports Park last year. On that occasion I had been both pace setter and race winner in the Star Mazda class. But this year, things were very different. With no aerodynamic downforce, greater power and more weight, it was going to be a challenge to get my head around how to tackle the high speed corners sitting in this new car – a Grand AM Mazda RX8.
During the start of the weekend I was quite surprised at how cold it was during the mornings. I’m sure it was warmer in England before I left (a rare experience!), and I ended up wearing a coat on both mornings whilst watching John in practice. During these sessions the other manufacturers seemed to be able to achieve better performances at the lower temperatures, but as the day warmed up, the Mazda’s got into their groove and steadily showed progress.
Qualifying was on Friday night, and I was at the wheel. We were feeling a little unsure on what our performance was going to be like as we hadn’t been able to simulate a lap on new tyres beforehand. I was one of the first out of the pit lane, and quickly brought the tyres up to temperature so I could get started on my fast lap. Unfortunately, everyone had to pit almost immediately due to a car getting stuck in a dangerous position on one of the corners. The track soon went green again though, and I made sure I left a big enough gap for myself to have clear laps all throughout qualifying.
With just seven minutes left, we were only going to get three more laps in, perhaps four if we were lucky. My 3rd lap felt good. The car seemed to have transformed since the test sessions, and it felt hooked up. I was able to brake later than in any of my earlier sessions, could turn the car faster and get on power earlier. I went over the line and that got us into P2.
We had time for one more, and it became obvious this lap was going to be even quicker when I noticed the predicted times. I had half a lap to go when I found myself behind two other racers, and unfortunately I caught them up a lot faster than I had expected. With four corners to go I was being slowed down so I aborted the lap to see if I could get in for one final spin, but the chequered flag was already out.
No one else had managed to go any faster than me on that last lap, so my time remained fast enough to give me second place on the grid. I also had generated the fastest time of all the racing Mazdas. As happy as I was with this and our race position, I was still a little annoyed that traffic had interfered with what might have been the ultimate grid position. But, a front row spot is still a great place to be, and last time we started on second (at Limerock) we won, and that really fuelled my optimism.
Sunday arrived, and it was an even colder still, now blowing quite a breeze. I hoped the weather would improve as I knew our car would be perform at it’s best in the warmth.
The lights went green, and I went into the first corner on the outside. I was boxed out, so opted to go all the way around the outside, which put the car into 3rd position. I slid out mid-corner, nearly colliding into the car next to me and had to take evasive action which made me lose further positions. I was now in 5th, but I managed to battle my way into 3rd and stayed there until our first pitstop, 45 minutes into the race.
The #68 SpeedSource guys completed a faultless stop, getting on new tyres and filling up with a full tank of fuel. I got back out on track and the new tyres gripped straight away. As I shot down the start/finish straight, the leading #57 Camero came out the pits ahead of me. I tried to get past him into turns 2 and 3 but he defended his position well. I tried again at the hairpin, but one of the Prototype cars caught up and went for a move on me which put a halt on my overtaking manoeuvre. Our car was noticeably quicker around the corners, but the Camero’s engine was just too fast on the straights.
The #57 Camero pulled away further once the track was clear, but at this halfway stage of the race, our lap times were well matched and it still looked positive. With an hour and twenty to go, the safety car was deployed for debris on the track, and cars started to pit. We stayed out on track for one more lap during this time, were given the drive by, and took the advantage.
I was flat out all the way around the next lap and came into the pits. We went for a driver change, and John took the car off me with a set of new tyres and more fuel. Another faultless driver change had meant we had jumped ahead of the #57 Camero and moved up to 4th as other cars pitted.
#57 squeezed past just as one of the Prototype cars overtook us on a difficult part of the track, but a further two cars pitted and we’d moved back up into 3rd. Now looking strong, we knew our car would be fast in the final stages of the race. Our only concern was fuel; would there be enough to last until the chequered flag? Each car runs on roughly an hours-worth, and most other people had pitted with just over sixty minutes remaining.
Everything was running smoothly until car #31 span on one of the blind sections of the track – the two leading cars had already cleared that part of the track, but John hadn’t past it when suddenly the #31 car moved right into his line. Everyone on the pit cart shouted out with fear and it was a close escape. John had just been able to shift around the car, closely avoiding contact and what almost certainly would have been a huge crash.
Another safety car was deployed whilst debris on the track was cleared, but by the time we got the green flag again, there were just under 20 minutes remaining. It was nail-bitingly close at the end and everyone was battling for position. With the two Cameros ahead of John defending their position, it was hard for him to get alongside especially with their straightline speed. As the final lap came up, John tried everything he could and went for an overtake on the very last corner, but the #57 was prepared and defended well. We crossed the finish line in 3rd, just fractions of a second behind the Cameros.
Miller was a great place to end the season. We’d finished with a podium and as the top finishing Mazda on the day. I still can’t quite believe that we’ve already had our final race for this season. It’s been an emotional year of racing, and a fantastic experience for both myself and John in our rookie year racing in sports cars.
We’ve has a huge amount of support from Mazda and all of the SpeedSource team over the past few months, and it goes without saying that we would not have been able to achieve half of what we have done with any other manufacturer and without their unfaltering enthusiasm. Despite missing the season opener at Daytona, we still managed to finish 5th overall in the championship – a positive start, and I look forward to next year to be in contention for the 2011 Championship win.
This weekend saw the Grand AM series take to the Legendary Streets of Montreal Circuit, Gilles Villeneuve.
On the evening that I arrived to the hotel I had already been impressed by the Montreal area. The taxi driver had shown me a few places, including the track and a few other local attractions. I was told we would be catching the underground train to the track and I was intrigued to find out that all the land removed to build the Metro system was the base of the man-made island that holds the Montreal Circuit.
This weekend was another NASCAR / Grand AM weekend, and thousands of Canadian fans surrounded the track for the race. We first set foot on the track on Friday, and John Edwards was first out in the car. However, he only managed to complete a single out lap as one of out competitors had laid down a slick of oil from turn 2 until 9 where they eventually stopped.
This took a chunk out of testing while the marshals put down sand to soak up the mess. Eventually the track was reopened, and I was able to complete a few laps, although there was a lack of grip the whole way around. I’m sure the oil had something to do with it, but the track hadn’t been used since the F1 Grand Prix earlier in the year, and this also was likely to be a factor.
Throughout the day the track improved. We pretty much a whole day of testing before qualifying in the early evening.
I was one of the first out the pits, but the track temperature was down from earlier. It took a few laps to get the tyres up to heat, and I started pushing when the start of the lap felt good. That was until I reached turn 9 under the bridge which lay in the shade – I couldn’t slow the car down quickly enough – and I took a quick detour across the grass.
I made my way back to the pit lane just for a quick once over to make sure there was no damage, then got back to the business of qualifying, Marcus my engineer radioed-in to tell me that we had 4 minutes to go. I hadn’t even completed a fast lap yet and was currently second from last. I knew I only had one more lap, maybe two, and the pressure was on.
On my last lap I jumped up the standing and straight in to 4th position where I would start Sunday’s race. I was happy with the qualifying position, also being the top Mazda, but I can’t say I wasn’t disappointed about my mistake earlier in the session.
On Sunday the race started at 2pm. It was probably the warmest it was going to get all day, and I was starting on the outside for turn one. Off the line it went well on whole; I was side by side with another car but they had a better exit out from turn 3 allowing them to power past before the next corner. Immediately as the second lap began there was a big crash heading into the hairpin, as two Prototype cars must have collided, and one had ended up in the wall bouncing them back across the track, throwing debris everywhere. The safety car was out.
During the safety car period we used the advantage to pit and put a splash of fuel in. We jumped up into 4th position while everyone else came in to do the same. The 68 SpeedSource crew did another faultless stop. The race went green, but quickly there was further contact between Prototype cars at turn 2, with cars blocking the whole track the focus became avoiding contact with the debris. Some cars opted across the grass but I managed to stay on the tarmac, holding my position. Straight away there were two more safety cars for separate incidents, and it meant pretty much the whole of my stint behind the wheel had been behind the safety car. We were at the half way stage now and decided to pit to use the safety car as time for a driver change. I was in 3rd position as I handed the controls over to John Edwards.
John took us back into the race, trying to hold our position. The Mazda 69 car managed to get past, but there was a huge gap to the cars behind – we were over three-quarters of a lap ahead due to the safety car – but it wasn’t that way for long as another safety car was needed. This time a Prototype had laid down oil all the way down the back straight.
This was bad news. John was holding his ground as the race restarted, and we knew our car would be good towards the end, but suddenly the number 31 car made a dart for us and attempted to make an overtaking manoeuvre, but crashed straight into the back of us spinning us right around and left us facing the wrong direction. We couldn’t believe it. With only 15 minutes to go in this 2-hour race, our chances now looked battered. John managed to continue on with just minor body work damage, and we just hoped for another safety car and time to pit, but that opportunity never came. We were down in 9th until number 31 served their drive-through penalty for the earlier contact, and we ended up finishing 8th.
It was a disappointing result for us, but some good did come of the weekend. Mazda superbly secured the Manufacturers championship with only one race to go, so big congratulations to them and all the Mazda Teams for their efforts and hard work that have helped to secure the title.
Our next and final race for this season is at Miller Motorpark in Salt Lake city. I’m feeling confident and looking forward to it – last year I was the pace setter and race winner there – so we should be in with a fighting chance of a good result.
