Monday 30th January 2023

Brits abroad deliver at Daytona

Aston celebrates first-ever class win at 2023 Rolex 24; Artura GT4 makes competitive debut

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2023 is a huge year for sportscar racing, as the latest hybrid cars - including those from BMW, Porsche and Cadillac - take to the track in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, ahead of the whole new Hypercar era for them in the World Endurance Championship in 2024. This year’s IMSA season kicked off at Daytona over the weekend with the Rolex 24, with an Acura of all cars winning the race overall in the GTP category, and it was a great 24-hour race for the British teams involved, with both McLaren and Aston Martin claiming GTD podiums.

The Vantage GT3s took a one-two in the class, the first time an Aston has won at Daytona in 12 attempts. The winning #27 car of Roman de Angelis, Marco Sorensen, Ian James and Darren Turner was actually the highest-place GT of all the finishers, coming home in 16th, just a couple of seconds ahead of a GTD Pro AMG GT3. The second-placed GTD, the #44 Magnus Racing Vantage driven by Andy Lally, John Potter, Spencer Pumpelly and Nicki Thiim were the third GT car home. Some way to kick off the 110th anniversary year…

Heart of Racing Team Principal (and driver of the winning car!) Ian James said: “Words can’t do justice to how proud I am of this team and what they’ve achieved this weekend. To win the Rolex 24 at Daytona is the crowning glory for anyone involved in IMSA and it means the world to all of us to have finally done it.”

Following a few spots down the road from the #44 Aston was a McLaren 720S, taking third place in the GTD class and making a good weekend even better for those supporting Team GB in Daytona. Amazingly, the first seven GT cars home were all on the same lap (729) for some idea of how close the running is. The #70 Inception Motorsport entry of Brendan Iribe, Fabien Schandorff, Oliver Millroy and Marvin Kirchhofer were only 17 seconds off the class winner after a full day of racing. No mean feat for a GT3 car now in its fifth season of competition.

There were more reasons to be cheerful for McLaren, with a successful debut for the new Artura GT4. The first two cars built, which will be campaigned by Motorsports In Action and Crucial Motorsport in the 2023 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, both finished the four-hour Daytona race. Notably, the #58 Crucial Motorsport car, piloted by Michael de Quesada, Henry O’Hara and Aurora Straus started the race in 30th and came home sixth, an auspicious start for the new race car.

McLaren Automotive’s Director of Motorsport, Ian Morgan, said of the performance: “This was a fantastic weekend that began with a very strong result for the Artura GT4 in the IMSA Michelin Pilot challenge at Daytona this weekend. The nature of GT4 regulations and competitiveness of the field means that we were realistic with our expectations, and this is great reward for the development team’s hard work over the last 18 months in building a great race car for our customers.”

One more bit of great Brit news from Florida over the weekend - Jenson Button is going to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. It gets better, too, as he’s going to be racing with Jimmie Johnson and Mike Rockenfeller, in a NASCAR. You read that right. It’s this year’s Garage 56 entry, which has previously allowed wildcards like the Nissan Deltawing, with the project first announced in March 2022. A collaboration between Chevrolet (the car is a Camaro ZL1), Goodyear, Hendrick Motorsports and NASCAR, it ought to be an incredible way to mark the 100th running of the 24 Hours and 75 years of NASCAR.

“As a lifelong racing fan, I have always dreamed of racing certain cars, with and against certain drivers and competing in certain events,” Button said. “In June, a number of those dreams will come true in one event when I get to bring NASCAR to the world stage alongside my pals Jimmie and ‘Rocky’ for the 100th anniversary of the most prestigious race in the world. I’m really looking forward to sharing this journey with NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear, and current and future NASCAR fans from around the world.” Always good for a soundbite, is Jenson. But in case this year’s Le Mans didn’t sound exciting enough already, what with the centenary plus new cars from the likes of Peugeot and Ferrari, consider anticipation now off the charts. June can’t come soon enough.

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• Ferrari targets Le Mans win with all new prototype
• McLaren announces new 585hp Artura Trophy

[Red6]

Awesome stuff! Congratulations.

[FourWheelDrift]

"There were more reasons to be cheerful for McLaren, with a successful debut for the new Artura GT4. The first two cars built, which will be campaigned by Motorsports In Action and Crucial Motorsport in the 2023 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, both finished the four-hour Daytona race."

I hope they did the other 20.

[EclypseDesigns]

I love Aston and have one myself. But that picture of the team celebrating against a backdrop of a massive empty grandstand does somewhat sumup my opinion of motorsport these days.

[RumbleOfThunder]

That Nascar entry at Le Mans sounds very interesting! I suspect it will fly down the Mulsanne since there's little downforce. The corners, not so much.

[arbseven]

EclypseDesigns said:

I love Aston and have one myself. But that picture of the team celebrating against a backdrop of a massive empty grandstand does somewhat sumup my opinion of motorsport these days.

In like other motorsports events the several 100,000 spectators were not in grandstands but in the paddock and infield. Having done the support races for this event and 12 Sebring the fan experience is very different to what you are used to.

[arbseven]

FourWheelDrift said:

"There were more reasons to be cheerful for McLaren, with a successful debut for the new Artura GT4. The first two cars built, which will be campaigned by Motorsports In Action and Crucial Motorsport in the 2023 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, both finished the four-hour Daytona race."

I hope they did the other 20.

Actually there is a 4 hour support race. So if they did that there is no need to do another 20!!!

[Antj]

arbseven said:

In like other motorsports events the several 100,000 spectators were not in grandstands but in the paddock and infield. Having done the support races for this event and 12 Sebring the fan experience is very different to what you are used to.

Done Daytona 24hr a few years back after an invite from a pal who commentates in Nascar and also covers the Daytona 24hr. It was a cracking event, its nothing like le mans or N24, but its worth at least doing once. We were there for the first year of the latest ford GT. Nice weather although not as warm as we would have liked, but still, not many races where you can then go to disney land after.

i hope to one day attend a Nascar event just for the spectacle.

[ate one too]

Hot Dog .....

[usualdog]

arbseven said:

EclypseDesigns said:

I love Aston and have one myself. But that picture of the team celebrating against a backdrop of a massive empty grandstand does somewhat sumup my opinion of motorsport these days.

In like other motorsports events the several 100,000 spectators were not in grandstands but in the paddock and infield. Having done the support races for this event and 12 Sebring the fan experience is very different to what you are used to.

Good to hear, i thought the same about the empty grandstands.

[jimbobarooney_d]

Such a cool race. Really cool to be able to see the whole track for the duration. And seeing how destroyed the cars look at the end...

PS, don't forget the Alex's and Jack in GTP

[Mark_Blanchard]

RumbleOfThunder said:

That Nascar entry at Le Mans sounds very interesting! I suspect it will fly down the Mulsanne since there's little downforce. The corners, not so much.

Not the first time.

[vaud]

"Roman Senna De Angelis"

Nothing says helicopter parenting more than naming your child after an F1 driver and then them ending up in motorsport.

Though to be fair he does seem quick!

[Sgt Joe Roberts]

Why no mention of British driver Wayne Boyd who won the LMP3 class at Daytona?

[nismo48]

Excellent stuff

[mersontheperson]

“with an Acura of all cars winning the race “

What does this mean? This is the third year on a row that Honda Motorsport has won the race, why the incredulity?

A note to the author, Honda have quite a good history in Motorsport, Google is your friend