THE MUSTANG SAMPLING CHEVROLET CORVETTE DAYTONA PROTOTYPE FINISHES FOURTH IN THE ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA
The Mustang Sampling Chevrolet Corvette Daytona Prototype completed the 4,141 of the first 4,142 laps of competition following the merger of GRAND-AM and the American Le Mans Series. In the 54th annual Rolex 24, the black, white and yellow C7.R inspired prototype was well on it’s way to beginning the new WeatherTech era the way it began the TUDOR.
For the four drivers, the pursuit of victory in North America’s most prestigious endurance race was within their reach. Portuguese driver João Barbosa qualified the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP in the 11th position, racing his way into the top-5 before handing the reigns over to Brazilian driver Christian Fittipaldi.
As the darkness crept in over the World Center of Racing, the team claimed the lead and appeared to be poised to make a run at victory, a familiar position for the two-time and defending series champions. The four drivers entered the race with a combined 16 Rolex watches, it appeared they could leave Daytona International Speedway with 20.
Scott Pruett was seeking a record-breaking sixth Rolex 24 at Daytona victory and wasted no time getting the Mustang Sampling Corvette DP to the front of the field. Despite an off-course excursion after running through oil from an expired engine, Pruett handed the car back to defending series champion João Barbosa, still within the top-5.
Over the 24 hours, the Mustang Sampling Corvette DP went off the track three times and continued to battle back to the front each time. As the morning sun rose over the backstretch, the attrition rate began to increase; however, the championship winning entry continued to charge forward in the hands of the veteran drivers.
After Portuguese driver Filipe Albuquerque raced Corvette DP to the lead shortly after 11:00 a.m., the two-year run of 100% mechanical reliability came to an abrupt end. The team suffered left-rear driveshaft failure, the same failure experienced two hours earlier by the team’s Whelen Engineering Corvette DP.
Undeterred by the adversity they were faced with, the team maintained their “Expect to Win” philosophy, completing the repair in 11 minutes. The Mustang Sampling Corvette DP lost only five laps and continued to press on to the finish.
Rallying back over the final three and a half hours, the team finished fourth and continued a streak of 22-consecutive races without a DNF.
“This team never gives up,” said driver João Barbosa. “They continue to fight no matter what adversity they’re up against. Obviously we wanted to win, but we made the most of what could have been a really bad day and gained some valuable points for the championship fight.”
Barbosa’s teammate, Brazilian Christian Fittipaldi fought extremely hard against the eventual race winners to score five points at the 18th hour of the event for the North American Endurance Cup title.
“You always want to win Daytona,” said Fittipaldi. “You still can’t let the desire to win at Daytona take away from your focus on winning the two championships at the end of the season. At the end of the day, we know we scored as many points as we could given the circumstances.
“To go two years without a major mechanical failure is a huge milestone, but even bigger is the fact that we finished this race and were inside the top-5. You truly can’t say enough about this team and their determination.”
In addition to earning 29-points towards the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the team scored 13-points towards the North American Endurance Cup title.
“We were able to rebound as a team and finish out the event,” said team manager Gary Nelson. “At the end of the day we had a mechanical failure that kept us from running at 100 percent for 24 hours. We’ll learn from that and hopefully we become a stronger team from it.”
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship resumes on March 19th at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring where the Mustang Sampling Corvette DP will look to defend their 2015 victory, a race in which they won by an entire lap.
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