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GRANDAM: Alex Gurney Gainsco Rolex 24 Report2008
Written by: Alex Gurney   
02/06/2008 - 04:11 PM
Daytona Beach, Fl
 
Alex Gurney, 2007 Daytona Prototype champion along with partner Jon Fogarty, walked away from the 2008 Rolex24 with precious 2nd place point in hand. (Photo: GrandAm) ยป More Photos




I had a great time at this year’s Rolex 24 and it ended up being an “almost” perfect start to the season for the GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing team. This was my third time competing in this race and I have to say it seemed a bigger “happening” than ever before with significantly more press, marching bands and a huge infield crowd. I think Grand-Am is really starting to get some traction and its fun to be a part of the growth of this series. This time was also extra special for me for a couple other big reasons. My dad was announced as the Grand Marshal, and we would start this race as the reigning Grand-Am champions. That’s kind of a dream scenario for me and I still have to pinch myself. A few years ago, I was just a driver coach, working on engineering, and without a ride (I was rideless in ’03 and ’04), so it feels like quite a turnaround on many levels.

As we entered the race weekend, we were actually still searching for quite a bit of speed. Unlike last year, we actually really struggled to find a good setup going into this race weekend. Unfortunately, we gathered lots of conflicting data from the early January test days, and we were still trying to find an answer to a brake issue that would not go away. The way Grand-Am schedules the testing and practice sessions, they join the Daytona Prototypes and the GTs together for all sessions and this makes it very difficult to get clear laps and to run consistently on the limit to really find out what the car is doing. I think I figured from 45 laps or so that I ran in testing, I probably had
two laps that were without traffic. Add to that, the fact that we had to get four different drivers through the car, in constantly changing conditions, it then makes it very hard to advance the setup of the car. The big change from last year is the switch from Hoosier tires to Pirelli tires. The cars are certainly turning faster lap times with the Pirelli's but they definitely require some pretty big setup changes to get the most out of them. Our big issue was braking and the fact that we were locking up brakes quite easily and damaging tires at a disturbing rate. We only get 30 sets of tires for the whole 24 hour weekend to use any way we want, so it actually really forces you to conserve. Overall, Pirelli has done a great job. I can’t imagine having the 24 hour as the first race when you are a new tire supplier. Supplying 67 cars with enough tires to do a 24 hour race, all the logistics involved, and having all the tires be consistent set to set must be a very daunting task.

Another obstacle we are facing this year is the recent rule changes that have been made at the end of last year and in the off season. The series gave the Lexus cars and the Ford cars some breaks engine-wise and I’ll be very politically incorrect and say that I don’t think they were justified. I don’t know if anything will change there. Anyway, Pontiac has always done an exceptional job in this series and has shown great commitment in trying to put out a winning, reliable product. I’m glad to be in their corner and I know they will be doing everything they can to win another championship in 2008.

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