Rolex 24 2015 Preview: Shank versus the world?

By Jan 24, 2015, 9:00 AM EST
1 Comment

The above headline is not something I expected to write even one month ago, but it’s the key storyline going into today’s 53rd Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The 2012 Rolex 24 champions, Michael Shank Racing, enter today’s race as prohibitive favorites – even though one of their drivers is a high school junior (coincidentally, at the same high school I attended) and the team is about to embark on its first voyage with its brand-new LMP2-spec chassis (well, not brand-new as it has several races under its belt, but very new compared to Daytona Prototype-spec machinery).

Shank’s No. 60 Ligier JS P2 Honda, in the hands of his long-time full-season co-drivers Ozz Negri and John Pew, Daytona veteran and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series ace AJ Allmendinger and 17-year-old Rolex 24 debutante Matt McMurry, topped all four of the pre-race sessions. Negri and Allmendinger led two practice sessions apiece, and Negri scored his second Rolex 24 pole – albeit nearly a decade after his first.

While the short-term goal for Shank, who is a racing “lifer” and has made his race team his primary business (unlike others where the race team is only part of the business) is a Rolex 24 win, the long-term goal is being the first to change the game for running top-level prototype machinery in North America.

You see, the DP-spec cars have always been derided as something of a redheaded stepchild in the grand scheme of things, particularly in terms of their place in the pantheon of great-looking sports cars (spoiler alert: until the last 3-4 years, they weren’t).

They have provided great racing, but, have only been raced within the GRAND-AM Rolex Series and now, the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. In an overall scale, the DPs have not been widely accepted beyond the borders of Daytona Beach and their affiliated series.

So a P2 car winning at Daytona – particularly in the hands of a prior DP stalwart who built his business and won the 50th anniversary of the race in 2012 in a Riley-Ford DP – would send shockwaves through the sports car world.

“The new car is a bit of fresh air,” Shank said during the Roar Before the Rolex 24 test. “DP is what established our team, to allow smaller teams to be competitive, and I’ll always owe GRAND-AM and the France family for that vision.

“But we needed to make a change based on where I think the world is heading for ’16, ’17, ’18 and beyond. We went to the Ligier JS P2 and we did it. You’ll talk with Philippe Dumas (from Ligier chassis manufacturer Onroak Automotive); we did the deal about Dec. 1 and have been rolling since.”

The longer-term plan for Shank is a Le Mans appearance, ideally in 2016. But 2015 will see the team lay the groundwork first.

Shank’s car isn’t the only P2 in the field, but as Krohn Racing has a new car and a gentleman driver, the Tequila Patron ESM HPD ARX-04bs are premiering and the SpeedSource Mazdas seek reliability rather than an outright result, Shank’s has the best shot of up-ending the DPs.

As this is a race preview and not merely an ode to Shank’s efforts both this week at Daytona and at the Roar earlier this month, we would be remiss to avoid the other potential win contenders.

Defending champions Action Express Racing will no doubt be the top Corvette DP contender in the hands of Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and IndyCar ace Sebastien Bourdais. Bourdais is bullish on the team’s improvements for 2015, in what is now the No. 5 Mustang Sampling-backed entry.

“At the Roar we got the paddle shift, all the new software and everything out of the way,” Bourdais told MotorSportsTalk. “It was all good. At the Roar, we had a bit of a different aero balance with the wing we’re given. We’ll land on our feet.

“We found a couple tenths and could be quicker than at the Roar. It should be a very tight race. Ganassi is much better prepared than they were last year. The package was quite strong. Ideally, we should definitely be a strong contender for the last few hours.”

Ganassi, as hinted at, should have a much stronger shot at the overall win than it did 12 months ago.

The twin-turbo, Ford EcoBoost V6 engines are a more refined, better package than it was upon debuting last year. Either of the team’s Riley-Fords – the full-season No. 01 or “all-star” No. 02 featuring NASCAR stars Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson and IndyCar champions Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan – is a win contender provided it stays out of the garage.

“It’s night and day difference,” said Scott Pruett, a five-time Rolex 24 champion and co-driver of the No. 01 with Joey Hand, Charlie Kimball and Sage Karam. “It was a massive undertaking switching the cars over, putting in the different technologies and engine, with a twin-turbo V6, and all the things that go along with that.

“We knew coming in last year it was going to be tough at best. It was great to win Sebring, Long Beach and COTA, but now we can take everything we learned and move forward in 2015.”

Beyond those four cars, the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP is also in with a good shout at overall victory. A win for brothers Jordan and Ricky Taylor, along with WTR longtime driver Max Angelelli would emulate the feat achieved by Wayne in 2005, with Angelelli and Emmanuel Collard.

Other potential spoilers could potentially include the No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Racing and Whelen Engineering-backed No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP, but neither car has shown enough outright pace to be considered a “favorite.”

It’s not the other three classes beyond Prototype lack intrigue, but they’re also harder to pinpoint.

GT Le Mans and GT Daytona are both wide-open. Any combination of Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Dodge, Ferrari and Porsche could win, but it will take a mix of great pace, great reliability and likely great luck to remain in contention into the Sunday morning hours.

On paper, anyway, it seems a car with a shade of orange should win Prototype Challenge in either CORE autosport or RSR Racing.

Starworks Motorsport could surprise and BAR1 Motorsports stole the headlines in qualifying with of all things, a SpongeBob SquarePants movie-liveried No. 16 car where Englishman Johnny Mowlem rung the neck out of it for the class pole in an inspired effort.

All told, today’s race should be a fun one, as 53 cars go for their chance at glory and a new Rolex watch.

ROLEX 24 PRE-RACE RECAP

Qualifying Report
Class previews: P, PC, GTLM, GTD
Roar Recap

With throaty roar, NASCAR Next Gen Camaro is taking Le Mans by storm on global stage

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT
Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Chris Graythen/Getty Images
2 Comments

LE MANS, France — The V8 engine of the NASCAR Chevrolet Camaro has a distinct growl that cannot go unnoticed even among the most elite sports cars in the world at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

When the Hendrick Motorsports crew fired up the car inside Garage 56, NASCAR chairman Jim France broke into a huge grin and gave a thumbs up.

“The only guy who didn’t cover his ears,” laughed seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson.

GARAGE 56 SPECS: Full comparison of NASCAR Cup car to Le Mans car

BUTTON’S BIG MOVE: Hendrick drone tour was NASCAR entryway for F1 champion

France has been waiting since 1962 – the year his father, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., brought him to his first 24 Hours of Le Mans – to hear the roar of a stock car at the most prestigious endurance race in the world.

A path finally opened when NASCAR developed its Next Gen car, which debuted last year. France worked out a deal to enter a car in a specialized “Innovative Car” class designed to showcase technology and development. The effort would be part of NASCAR’s 75th celebration and it comes as Le Mans marks its 100th.

Once he had the approval, France persuaded Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear – NASCAR’s winningest team, manufacturer and tire supplier – to build a car capable of running the twice-around-the-clock race.

The race doesn’t start until Saturday, but NASCAR’s arrival has already been wildly embraced and France could not be more thrilled.

“Dad’s vision, to be able to follow it, it took awhile to follow it up, and my goal was to outdo what he accomplished,” France told The Associated Press. “I just hope we don’t fall on our ass.”

The car is in a class of its own and not racing anyone else in the 62-car field. But the lineup of 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button and Johnson has been fast enough; Rockenfeller put down a qualifying lap that was faster than every car in the GTE AM class by a full three seconds.

The Hendrick Motorsports crew won its class in the pit stop competition and finished fifth overall as the only team using a manual jack against teams exclusively using air jacks. Rick Hendrick said he could not be prouder of the showing his organization has made even before race day.

“When we said we’re gonna do it, I said, ‘Look, we can’t do this half-assed. I want to be as sharp as anybody out there,” Hendrick told AP. “I don’t want to be any less than any other team here. And just to see the reaction from the crowd, people are so excited about this car. My granddaughter has been sending me all these TikTok things that fans are making about NASCAR being at Le Mans.”

This isn’t NASCAR’s first attempt to run Le Mans. The late France Sr. brokered a deal in 1976, as America celebrated its bicentennial, to bring two cars to compete in the Grand International class and NASCAR selected the teams. Herschel McGriff and his son, Doug, drove a Wedge-powered, Olympia Beer-sponsored Dodge Charger, and Junie Donlavey piloted a Ford Torino shared by Richard Brooks and Dick Hutcherson.

Neither car came close to finishing the race. McGriff, now 95 and inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame in January, is in Le Mans as France’s guest, clad head-to-toe in the noticeable Garage 56 uniforms.

“I threw a lot of hints that I would like to come. And I’ve been treated as royalty,” McGriff said. “This is unbelievable to me. I recognize nothing but I’m anxious to see everything. I’ve been watching and seeing pictures and I can certainly see the fans love their NASCAR.”

The goal is to finish the full race Sunday and, just maybe, beat cars from other classes. Should they pull off the feat, the driver trio wants its own podium celebration.

“I think people will talk about this car for a long, long time,” said Rockenfeller, who along with sports car driver Jordan Taylor did much of the development alongside crew chief Chad Knaus and Greg Ives, a former crew chief who stepped into a projects role at Hendrick this year.

“When we started with the Cup car, we felt already there was so much potential,” Rockenfeller said. “And then we tweaked it. And we go faster, and faster, at Le Mans on the SIM. But you never know until you hit the real track, and to be actually faster than the SIM. Everybody in the paddock, all the drivers, they come up and they are, ‘Wow, this is so cool,’ and they were impressed by the pit stops. We’ve overachieved, almost, and now of course the goal is to run for 24 hours.”

The car completed a full 24-hour test at Sebring, Florida, earlier this year, Knaus said, and is capable of finishing the race. Button believes NASCAR will leave a lasting impression no matter what happens.

“If you haven’t seen this car live yet, it’s an absolute beast,” Button said. “When you see and hear it go by, it just puts a massive smile on your face.”

For Hendrick, the effort is the first in his newfound embrace of racing outside NASCAR, the stock car series founded long ago in the American South. Aside from the Le Mans project, he will own the Indy car that Kyle Larson drives for Arrow McLaren in next year’s Indianapolis 500 and it will be sponsored by his automotive company.

“If you’d have told me I’d be racing at Le Mans and Indianapolis within the same year, I’d never have believed you,” Hendrick told AP. “But we’re doing both and we’re going to do it right.”

Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Fans gather around the NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that is the Garage 56 entry for the 100th 24 Hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe (Chris Graythen/Getty Images).

General Motors is celebrating the achievement with a 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition and only 56 will be available to collectors later this year.

“Even though Chevrolet has been racing since its inception in 1911, we’ve never done anything quite like Garage 56,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “A NASCAR stock car running at Le Mans is something fans doubted they would see again.”

The race hasn’t even started yet, but Hendrick has enjoyed it so much that he doesn’t want the project to end.

“It’s like a shame to go through all this and do all this, and then Sunday it’s done,” Hendrick said. “It’s just really special to be here.”