‘So excited to be uncomfortable’
The nerves hit Jimmie Johnson as he stood on the starting grid before the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
The seven-time NASCAR Cup champion is beginning a new chapter of his career – at 45 years old – in unfamiliar race cars. He was tabbed to start the most prestigious sports car race in America for his Action Express team, and Johnson had just one goal for his first stint in the Cadillac.
“Certainly didn’t want to break the toy in the first couple of hours,” Johnson said after driving about 70 minutes Saturday around Daytona International Speedway.
He gave the No. 48 over to teammate Simon Pagenaud and then turned to Kamui Kobayashi, the two-time reigning winner of the Rolex 24, for an animated debrief.
Jimmie Johnson, the seven-time NASCAR champion, is competing in his eighth Rolex 24 but his first in a decade. Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Johnson, a little more than two months removed as the most dominant NASCAR driver of the past two decades, has “jumped into the deep end of the pool with weights on my ankles” as he transitions into new formulas of racing. This Rolex 24 is the eighth of his career but first in a decade, and it’s a warm-up for his move to IndyCar, where he’ll be a rookie in a field stacked with drivers half his age.
His career change has made for a busy offseason of testing alongside some of the top drivers in the world, and the demands have lit a spark in Johnson. He was winless in the final three seasons of his NASCAR Cup career.
“I know the world that I’m stepping into, and I know what I walked away from and the comfort that I had there, and I’m very aware of how uncomfortable I am going to be stepping into this new arena, and it makes me feel alive,” Johnson said. “I am so excited to be uncomfortable and so excited to learn something new, so excited to drive these cars and really kind of grow as a driver and have a bunch of new experiences in life.
“It makes me feel more alive than I have in quite some time.”
The Rolex began with a healthy field of 50 cars, a strong rebound after an event-low 38 entries last season. Daytona officials said infield attendance would be limited for the event but did not release a capacity number. Campers were permitted only in motor homes, with tents banned and masks required on property.
Alegra Motorsports announced right before the race began that driver Michael de Quesada tested positive for COVID-19 and had left the speedway to self-isolate. He was replaced in the Mercedes competing in the GT Daytona class by Mike Skeen.
Otherwise, the event went on as scheduled. The midway bustled with fans visiting manufacturer displays, the Ferris wheel was up and running and many of the best road course racers in the world were eager for the twice-round-the-clock endurance event.
Johnson held his own in his first stint driving the Cadillac, and the Action Express entry, fielded in part with Hendrick Motorsports and sponsored by Ally, has a solid chance at the overall win. His team will have to contend with the full-time Action Express entry, which brought in reigning NASCAR champion Chase Elliott for his sports car debut.
Hendrick sent a handful of its employees to Daytona, including former Johnson crew chief Chad Knaus and Jeff Gordon, who was part of the Rolex-winning team in 2017 for Wayne Taylor Racing. Johnson climbed atop the pit stand after his drive to chat with both Elliott and Gordon.
Elliott seemed despondent after his first run in his first sports car race. He said he was “terrible,” “way off the pace” and “didn’t do a good job at all.”
“I need to step up for these guys the next go-around,'' he said, adding he hit the curb early in his run. “I was a little worried I damaged the underneath. Definitely can’t be doing stuff like that.”
His No. 31 Action Express entry had slipped to last in his class after the driver change between Elliott and Mike Conway. But the Cadillacs appeared to have an edge, at least according to Acura factory driver Dane Cameron. The Acura program has two DPi entries, both new to IMSA’s top series.
That includes Wayne Taylor Racing, which returned to Daytona as winner of the past two Rolex 24s, as well as three of the past four dating to Gordon’s win. But the team switched from Cadillac to Acura during the offseason and is still adjusting to the move. The transition has been eased by drivers Ricky Taylor, Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi, who all piloted the Acura the past three years for Team Penske.
But the Cadillacs – there are four in the seven-car DPi class – have so far been leaders of the pack. The Action Express entry with Elliott in the lineup started from the pole after winning last weekend’s qualifying race, and Chip Ganassi Racing has not shown any signs of rust after a year out of the series.
The Ganassi entry was the overall race leader a little over two hours into the race behind starter Renger van der Zande, who along with Kobayashi won two straight with WTR. Both are seeking to become the first driver to win three consecutive Rolex watches.
Ganassi, who has eight Rolex victories, is also using reigning IndyCar champion Scott Dixon and Kevin Magnussen, who moved to sports cars after seven seasons in Formula One.
As Dixon awaited his turn in the car, he marveled at the job Johnson has done over the past two months. Dixon and Johnson will be Ganassi teammates in IndyCar.
“I think a lot of people, what they see, especially on our team, is just his work ethic and he grinds out everything,” Dixon said. “He’s just trying to get up to speed as quick as possible. This probably has to be the biggest task for anybody that has ever tried going from polar opposite ends of motorsport.”
Johnson acknowledged he’s an old dog trying to learn new tricks.
“It’s been fun really challenging myself behind the wheel in an entirely new way,” Johnson said. “These high-downforce cars, it’s just a lot of fun, number one, and just a massive challenge to rewire all the things I’ve learned from driving the heavy sedans.”
Rolex 24 At Daytona: No. 5 Cadillac Leads after Six Hours
By Mark Robinson
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – If the first quarter of the Rolex 24 At Daytona is any indication of the rest of the race and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, it’s going to be a year to remember.
The opening six hours of the famous endurance race Saturday featured no-holds-barred competition from the drop of the green flag. Instead of biding their time and patiently waiting for the final hours, drivers and teams in all five classes turned up the wick early and often as day turned to night.
Five of the seven entries in the top class, Daytona Prototype international (DPi), took a turn at the front. The six-hour mark represented the first juncture where points were awarded in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. The leaders at the time were: the No. 5 Mustang Sampling/JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi-V.R in DPi; the No. 11 WIN Autosport ORECA LMP2 07 in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2); the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 in the new Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class; the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in GT Le Mans (GTLM); and the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R in GT Daytona (GTD).
Flag-to-flag coverage of the iconic Rolex 24 continues throughout the night on the array of NBC Sports platforms. Tune in to the NBC Sports App until 11 p.m. ET. Coverage then moves to NBCSN from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. before returning to the NBC Sports App from 3-6 a.m.
As daylight breaks in Daytona Beach, live coverage shifts to NBCSN from 6 a.m.- 2 p.m. before the dramatic concluding hours are broadcast from 2-4 p.m. on NBC. The checkered flag will wave at about 3:40 p.m. The entire race streams on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.
DPi Highlights: Johnson Revels Being in Car when Green Flag Waves
By Holly Cain
For the first time in his heralded career, NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson was tabbed as the driver to start the Rolex 24, in his eighth appearance. Johnson started the No. 48 Ally Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi from the sixth position and was running second when he pitted for the team’s first driver change a little less than two hours later.
Even with his face was covered by a mask for his post-stint Zoom news conference, the joy was apparent in Johnson’s face. His eyes revealed it had been an exciting start to his race.
“It’s just so much fun to be back in this race and to have an opportunity to drive for Action Express and to have my former sponsor with Ally on board and (former NASCAR crew chief) Chad Knaus is here and Jeff Gordon,” Johnson said.
“The prerace, although I did miss the fans not being there, there was just a great energy to be standing there knowing I was getting ready to start this amazing event. I’ve never had the honor to start in this race before, so a lot of really cool emotions, memories and thoughts I’ll never forget.”
Johnson conceded to having “butterflies” in his stomach walking to the grid but was pleased with his opening effort in the car.
“Nerves were probably a little higher than I wanted them to be, but at the same time I did look around and realize what I was getting ready to do and tried to savor as much as possible,” Johnson said.
The race start wasn’t as kind to the No. 55 Mazda Motorsports Mazda DPi, which suffered a double whammy of bad luck in the opening hour. First, the car would not start when the command was given. Once it was fired, driver Oliver Jarvis had to take the green flag from the back of the field. When Jarvis made his first pit stop some 40 minutes into the 24-hour race, he was cited for a pit-lane speeding violation and assessed a drive-through penalty. Still, the Mazda remained in contention at the six-hour mark, a single lap back.
Albuquerque Awed by Intense Early Action
By Jeff Olson
During the opening hours of the race, Filipe Albuquerque considered asking engineer Brian Pillar for some popcorn. The view of the wild racing in front of him was that good.
“They were banging doors,” Albuquerque said. “I was like, ‘This is early.’ They were going wide. It was tough. … I had a little contact, unfortunately, with GTDs and LMP3s. They don’t know really where to go sometimes because there are so many cars. But the car is fine.”
Albuquerque started fifth in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R and was fourth when he was replaced by Ricky Taylor some two hours and 25 minutes into the race. Taylor quickly put the No. 10 car, which Taylor and Albuquerque share with Alexander Rossi and Helio Castroneves, into the lead.
After the harrowing beginning, Albuquerque made a prediction.
“It’s going to be about who makes the least mistakes,” he said.
Opening Stint Has Pagenaud Pumped
By Jeff Olson
Simon Pagenaud had one thought when he got out of the car.
“I’ll tell you what, I’m jacked right now,” he said. “I’m just jacked! I had an awesome time at the wheel. The adrenaline went up. It was non-stop concentration. It was really, really fun.”
Pagenaud handled the second driver stint in the No. 48 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R, handing over the car to teammate Mike Rockenfeller in fourth place in the DPi class shortly before the four-hour mark.
Throughout his stint, Pagenaud, who also shares the car with Jimmie Johnson and Kamui Kobayashi, raced closely with the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac, the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac and the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura.
“We were battling in traffic, passing each other,” Pagenaud said. “Honestly, you’ve got to be on your toes. Every single braking zone, every single corner, you’re passing traffic. Unbelievable. You really have to be sharp on your reflexes. If you don’t see well at night, you’re going to be in trouble.”
Magnussen’s Rookie Radio Mistake
By Jeff Olson
Kevin Magnussen made one mistake during his first stint in the race: He forgot to plug in his radio.
Magnussen got situated and belted into the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R after replacing Renger van der Zande, but forgot to insert the radio wire attached to his helmet to its place in the car.
The result was silence.
“I made a rookie mistake,” Magnussen said. “I didn’t plug in my radio, so I was waiting for them to tell me to go, but my radio wasn’t in. I didn’t realize it until it was a couple of seconds too late. I plugged it in, but then I had to wait for them again to tell me to go. We lost, I don’t know, five seconds, so I lost the lead and went from P1 to P3.”
Once on track, Magnussen worked back into second place before being replaced by Scott Dixon. The radio won’t be forgotten again.
“That’s now out of the way,” Magnussen said. “It won’t happen again. I’ll plug the radio in immediately next time.”
Le Mans Prototype 2: Defending Champion DragonSpeed First out of Race
The No. 81 DragonSpeed USA ORECA LMP2 07 will not defend its Rolex 24 class win. The car retired three hours into the race after a pair of early off-course excursions with Rob Hodes at the wheel. Hodes went off course at the famous Bus Stop chicane 40 minutes into the race and again at Turn 2 about a half-hour later. The car spent extensive time in the garage for repairs, attempted to return with Ben Hanley driving but ended its run after completing just 53 laps.
Two other LMP2 entries were among the early retirees as well. The No. 20 High Class Racing ORECA that started second in class was out of the race after 56 laps. Ex-Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica was among the driver lineup but was unable to turn any race laps.
The No. 29 Racing Team Nederland ORECA ran in the top three early but was damaged when Fritz Van Eerd had contact with the wall in Turn 7 about two hours into the race. Van Eerd was treated and released from the infield medical center. The car was taken to the garage for repairs shortly after and didn’t return, completing 65 laps.
Those retirements helped open the door for the No. 11 WIN Autosport ORECA, with Steven Thomas, Tristan Nunez, Thomas Merrill and Matthew Bell sharing driving duties, to stake their claim at the front.
“My first three stints, we were able to get up there and at least stay around the leaders,” Thomas said. “Then we put Tristan in the car, and he just drove it straight to the front.”
Nunez, the former Mazda DPi driver, was pleased with how the new team was progressing in a packed LMP2 field.
“The WIN Autosport machine is on rails right now so it was a lot of fun out there,” Nunez said. “It’s great to have a different perspective now. The class numbers are insane. Ten LMP2 cars is insane. The racing’s close, lots of top-notch drivers. Steven did a great job the first stint so really excited to see where it goes from here.”
Le Mans Prototype 3: Issues Hamper Top Starters in Class
The top two starters in LMP3 suffered damage to their cars at almost the same time less than 20 minutes into the race. The No. 6 Muehlner Motorsports America Duqueine M30-D08, the class pole sitter with Moritz Kranz at the wheel, slowed with apparent suspension damage and limped back to pit lane for repairs. At the same time, Ryan Norman spun in the No. 7 Forty7 Motorsports Duqueine and, following reports of fluids leaking from the car, drove directly to the garage.
The No. 6 was fighting its way back into contention at the six-hour mark, sitting third in class, two laps behind the leading No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier. The No 7 was soldiering along sixth in class, 35 laps off the pace.
GT Le Mans: Not the Way to Start a Race
It was an inauspicious race start for the GT Le Mans class. As the GT cars came to the green flag, Bruno Spengler (No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE) ran into the back of Kevin Estre (No. 79 WeatherTech Porsche 911 RSR-19). The contact turned Estre into Alessandro Pier Guidi beside him in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE.
While the others were able to continue with minimal damage, the No. 79 Porsche was wounded in the front and rear. When a large piece of rear bodywork shook free minutes later, its resulted in the first full-course caution of the race. The No. 79 spent 14 minutes on pit lane for repairs. Spengler was assessed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.
“It was quite an emotional start,” No. 62 Ferrari driver Pier Guidi said. “It was quite tricky. You don’t expect something like this for the start of a 24-hour (race), but we were lucky honestly. I was hit hard but the car is fine. I managed to stay with the Corvette and the car was OK. The race is still on for a long time, so we’ll keep going.”
Not unexpectedly, the two Corvette Racing Corvette C8.Rs set the pace in class, with the Nos. 3 and 4 dominating up front. Still, the top five in class remained on the lead lap, with the No. 79 Porsche still 12 laps back.
GT Daytona: Time to Wright the Ship
As expected, the GT Daytona class saw a wide variety of leaders and front-runners through the first quarter of the race. When the six-hour mark was reached, it was the No. 16 Wright Motorsport Porsche in front. Quite the achievement considering what the team has gone through in the past week.
First, the team’s primary car was crashed in Roar Before the Rolex 24 testing and team owner John Wright worked with Black Swan Motorsport to acquire a new chassis. Then driver Ryan Hardwick crashed again, this time in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge practice as the team was working to make its debut in that series. Hardwick suffered a concussion in the later incident, which sidelined the 2020 Bob Akin Award recipient from competing in the Rolex 24.
The team added Trent Hindman, GTD champion in 2019, to replace Hardwick. The drama didn’t stop the No. 16 from leading the class at the six-hour mark and picking up invaluable IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup points.
“We’re all really happy to be here, given the lead-up to the race,” said Jan Heylen, the team’s endurance race driver who opened in the car. “I’m happy that Ryan’s doing well and recovering well. I know he really wanted to be here and do this with us.
“Like any long-distance race, we’re just trying to look after the brakes, the car, and be there at the end at the 20-hour mark and hopefully have a good car to go race.”
Rolex 24, H6: Bourdais leads Dixon at quarter distance
IndyCar aces Bourdais and Dixon put on a fascinating battle for the lead soon after they took over their Cadillacs from Tristan Vautier and Kevin Magnussen respectively, in the fifth hour.
Finally, just before the start of the sixth hour, Dixon slipped into the lead and Bourdais pitted the Mustang Sampling car. Dixon went a couple laps longer but resumed behind his rival, and remained there, not able to get the deficit beneath 7sec. Following another round of stops, Bourdais’ advantage was out to 15sec. Dixon has now whittled that down to 10sec.
Their battle didn’t appear to hold them up, as Dixon pulled half a minute clear of the Ally Action Express Racing #48 Cadillac then driven by Mike Rockenfeller, and the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05, driven by Helio Castroneves who suffered an overly long stop.
Jonathan Bomarito ran fifth in the Mazda RT24-P, but the other two cars in the fastest class hit trouble in the fifth hour. Chase Elliott believed he hit a curb too hard and so the #31 AXR Cadillac was brought in early and off-sequence to put Mike Conway in the car.
Then the car returned to the pits for a further checkup for possible damage and resumed 66sec down on the leaders before AXR pitted for a ninth time to install Pipo Derani in the driver seat. Derani eventually demoted Bomarito to sixth, and the Mazda driver pitted to hand over to Oliver Jarvis.
Olivier Pla in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura had a coming together with a BMW and spun, before handing off to Juan Pablo Montoya who was left running seventh.
In LMP2, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports went behind the wall with a bad misfire and fell seven laps off the class lead. That left the battle for victory between DragonSpeed’s #82 car, WIN Autosport, Tower Motorsport by Starworks, Cetilar Racing – the lone Dallara runner in the class – Era Motorsport and RWR Eurasia.
In LMP3, Scott Andrews’ Riley Motorsports has a one-lap advantage over the Sean Creech Motorsports car which was rudely punted into a spin by a GT car, while Muehlner Motorsports and CORE autosport run a further lap down.
Alexander Sims and Nicky Catsburg have carried on the good work by the fulltime Corvette pairings, Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy and Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor, and the C8.Rs ran well over a minute clear of their nearest rival, the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488.
The Italian car was being chased by the two BMW M8s until Jules Gounon pitted and handed over to Alessandro Pier Guidi.
Just before the 5hr30min mark, Sims fell off the road at the International Horseshoe, and after they’d both made pitstops, he was behind Catsburg but repassed him not long before the six hours was up. Connor De Phillippi and Marco Wittmann currently run third and fourth in class in the BMWs, ahead of the Risi Ferrari.
A key runner in the GT Daytona class, the #111 Grasser Racing Lamborghini was plagued by electrical gremlins and is over 30 laps from the class lead.
This remains an exciting affair – as ever in GTD – with Klaus Bachler leading for Wright Motorsports, ahead of Paul Miller Racing’s Lamborghini Huracan, Roman De Angelis in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin, Indy Dontje in the Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 and Luca Stolz in the Sun Energy Mercedes all covered by just 10sec.
Oliver Gavin in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F was also in the hunt until getting pinged by Race Control for speeding on pitlane.
Turner Motorsport also received a penalty after an alarming incident in which the BMW M6 was sent out while the fuel hose was still attached. Fortunately, no team members were hurt although Bill Auberlen was sprayed by fuel.
But with three quarters of the race still to go, both penalized teams have plenty of time to catch back up.