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GRAND-AM
GRAND-AM: Rolex 24 Controversy Sparks Procedural Reviews
GT teams raise concern over full-course caution, wave-by procedures during last month's 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona, in a SPEED.com exclusive...
The battle for GT honors came down to a five, and sometimes six, horse race in the closing hours. However, questionable officiating calls may or may have not had an impact on the race results, teams allege. (Photo: John Dagys)
The 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona will likely go down in the history books as being one of the most competitive and hardest-fought GT races GRAND-AM has ever seen. With more than 45 teams representing both sides of the U.S. sports car racing scene, the world’s best descended upon Daytona International Speedway for the golden anniversary of America’s premier endurance race.
While the battle for the overall win in Daytona Prototype lived up to the expectations, the race for the GT honors not only came down to the competitors’ fight on the track, but also for some controversial officiating calls, according to several teams, that may or may have not impacted the results of the twice-around-the-clock classic.
The issues at hand, as SPEED.com has learned following a week-long investigation, stemmed from a newly introduced full-course caution procedure for GT competitors, where the first car one lap behind received a ‘Free Pass’ around the leader to regain the lost lap during each yellow period.
Coupled with a wave-by procedure given to GT cars ahead of the DP leader, periods of confusion broke out on whether teams were making legal maneuvers or simply trying to take advantage of the rather complex system to gain additional time and laps while under yellow.
“I'm not sitting here saying it was perfect,” said Mark Raffauf, GRAND-AM Managing Director of Race Operations. “From our perspective, operationally, we had some challenges. It wasn't as smooth as it should or could have been and there were a lot of reasons for that.”
Raffauf, a 30-plus year veteran of the sport who has served as GRAND-AM’s Race Director since the series’ inception in 2000, helped institute the new caution procedure for this year, which was aimed at giving a complete cycle to the GT cars following pit stops in a matter of a typical three-lap yellow.
But factor in the overall-leading Daytona Prototype field, and the split strategies many teams were on, and the GT race was often times affected by the DP’s actions. It particularly became apparent during pit stops, which shuffled some GT cars ahead of the DPs on track.
This came despite GRAND-AM’s staggered pit lane procedures, where DPs pit on the first lap of caution, followed by GTs on the second lap, with the field going back to green following the third lap of yellow.
“There were probably four occasions where the wave-by procedure was improperly orchestrated,” said TRG team owner Kevin Buckler, whose No. 67 Porsche finished second in class. “Of those four, two of them became moot and two of them became major.”
Buckler alleges two instances where the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche, the eventual race-winning car, stepped out of line while under yellow, took unauthorized wave-bys and gained a lap on the competition on each occasion.
While Buckler claims to have proof of the uncorrected infractions through on-board footage and lap charts, Raffauf says GRAND-AM’s data, consisting of a position-based car locating system that recorded the every move of each entry, shows that the correct officiating calls were made in each case.
The Magnus Porsche didn’t walk away unscathed either, which had two penalties, including one for passing under a yellow, which team engineer and strategist Lars Giersing claims was wrongfully given per the rulebook.
While both Buckler and Giersing claim each other’s cars took unauthorized wave-bys and were not penalized, other entries too were either hit with penalties or unfairly gained a lap while under yellow.
“I don't think there was any one team disadvantaged more than others in bad calls,” Giersing said. “The way the yellows were working, if you were a lap down, because of the ‘Lucky Dog’ (free pass), you would get it back. If not, [the 67] would have not come back up again because they they were a couple of laps down.”
Many of the questions came during the nighttime hours, according to Raffauf, who admitted to having issues identifying cars while under the partially-lit high-banked oval. It resulted in a few extended yellows to sort out the field.
“The process of the wave-bys is supposed to occur at a certain period of time and when it doesn't, we kind of go back to our other process, which is to get back to the race and do the field split and get going, which is what we did a couple of times,” Raffauf said.
“I don't want to say we were confused, but we realized that we had more things going on incorrectly than we could possibly deal with and kind of had to make some decisions to get the deal under control and get back to green. It was a perpetuating thing. You could keep having people pit and never get done, you'd be yellow forever.”
While the battle for the overall win in Daytona Prototype lived up to the expectations, the race for the GT honors not only came down to the competitors’ fight on the track, but also for some controversial officiating calls, according to several teams, that may or may have not impacted the results of the twice-around-the-clock classic.
The issues at hand, as SPEED.com has learned following a week-long investigation, stemmed from a newly introduced full-course caution procedure for GT competitors, where the first car one lap behind received a ‘Free Pass’ around the leader to regain the lost lap during each yellow period.
Coupled with a wave-by procedure given to GT cars ahead of the DP leader, periods of confusion broke out on whether teams were making legal maneuvers or simply trying to take advantage of the rather complex system to gain additional time and laps while under yellow.
“I'm not sitting here saying it was perfect,” said Mark Raffauf, GRAND-AM Managing Director of Race Operations. “From our perspective, operationally, we had some challenges. It wasn't as smooth as it should or could have been and there were a lot of reasons for that.”
Raffauf, a 30-plus year veteran of the sport who has served as GRAND-AM’s Race Director since the series’ inception in 2000, helped institute the new caution procedure for this year, which was aimed at giving a complete cycle to the GT cars following pit stops in a matter of a typical three-lap yellow.
But factor in the overall-leading Daytona Prototype field, and the split strategies many teams were on, and the GT race was often times affected by the DP’s actions. It particularly became apparent during pit stops, which shuffled some GT cars ahead of the DPs on track.
This came despite GRAND-AM’s staggered pit lane procedures, where DPs pit on the first lap of caution, followed by GTs on the second lap, with the field going back to green following the third lap of yellow.
“There were probably four occasions where the wave-by procedure was improperly orchestrated,” said TRG team owner Kevin Buckler, whose No. 67 Porsche finished second in class. “Of those four, two of them became moot and two of them became major.”
Buckler alleges two instances where the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche, the eventual race-winning car, stepped out of line while under yellow, took unauthorized wave-bys and gained a lap on the competition on each occasion.
While Buckler claims to have proof of the uncorrected infractions through on-board footage and lap charts, Raffauf says GRAND-AM’s data, consisting of a position-based car locating system that recorded the every move of each entry, shows that the correct officiating calls were made in each case.
The Magnus Porsche didn’t walk away unscathed either, which had two penalties, including one for passing under a yellow, which team engineer and strategist Lars Giersing claims was wrongfully given per the rulebook.
While both Buckler and Giersing claim each other’s cars took unauthorized wave-bys and were not penalized, other entries too were either hit with penalties or unfairly gained a lap while under yellow.
“I don't think there was any one team disadvantaged more than others in bad calls,” Giersing said. “The way the yellows were working, if you were a lap down, because of the ‘Lucky Dog’ (free pass), you would get it back. If not, [the 67] would have not come back up again because they they were a couple of laps down.”
Many of the questions came during the nighttime hours, according to Raffauf, who admitted to having issues identifying cars while under the partially-lit high-banked oval. It resulted in a few extended yellows to sort out the field.
“The process of the wave-bys is supposed to occur at a certain period of time and when it doesn't, we kind of go back to our other process, which is to get back to the race and do the field split and get going, which is what we did a couple of times,” Raffauf said.
“I don't want to say we were confused, but we realized that we had more things going on incorrectly than we could possibly deal with and kind of had to make some decisions to get the deal under control and get back to green. It was a perpetuating thing. You could keep having people pit and never get done, you'd be yellow forever.”
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