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GRAND-AM
IN THE COCKPIT: Andy Lally, Rolex 24
2012 Rolex 24 At Daytona GT class winner Andy Lally files his first column for SPEED.com and recounts the record-setting run by Magnus Racing.
Part of the popular 'Rolex Wars' poster the Magnus team had made for the 50th anniversary of the Rolex 24. (Magnus Racing)
The Three Months of Daytona
The 50th Anniversary of The Rolex 24…fans will tell you it’s a 24 hour race. Crews will tell you it’s more like 38 hours. For me, it’s been more like three months. So to walk away with my fourth win (and seventh Rolex watch), well there’s not enough words in this column to describe it.
When I look back in 20 years, the decision to join Magnus Racing last November will likely be one of the most pivotal ones I’ve made. After much internal debate and consultation with those closest to me, I decided to walk away from a six-year relationship with another team, one which created a lot of strong results on track. Two Rolex 24 wins, a Rolex GT series championship, and an opportunity to drive in NASCAR leading to my Sprint Cup Rookie-of-the-Year title last year… not a bad run.
At the same time, however, you hit a point in your career where you have to ask yourself what’s important moving forward. I’ll spare the details, but everyone has their breaking point with any job, and I finally hit mine last year; in spite of an amazing opportunity (and one which I’d do all over again).
Enter Magnus Racing. The team is only in its third year, but it’s made up of a ton of guys who I’ve worked with in the past, all very experienced winners, and with an attitude and sense of humor that I really identify with. Led by my teammate John Potter, who I won in the Continental Challenge series with, the challenge of working with a new team on the cusp of their first win is the kind I really relish in. When I joined the team last winter, some wondered about the logic of joining a team that had never won, but for me, the challenge of working with everyone to finally bring something we knew they could do was exactly why I was here.
I knew I was in the right place when during the January test days, the team set me up in a very familiar room, 247 (read: 24/7). There’s a staple hotel, right next to my favorite staff at The Wing House, that I stayed at the year I won my first Rolex 24 in 2001… and I’ll never forget the room they gave me, room 247. I’m not terribly superstitious compared to some, but certainly you remember the little signs and omens here and there, and that room has always been one which seemed to bring good juju.
Unfortunately, I discovered at the test that the juju came in the form of menthol and nicotine, as apparently they’d switched the room to a smoking room! I don’t do terribly well with that kind of scent, but luckily a couple of the crew guys are fairly regular smokers so we switched… but at least the connection was still there.
After a successful test, we came in to the race knowing we had a real shot at this. Even better, I’m not sure anyone else did… which is exactly how I like it. Even SPEED’s own Marshall Pruett didn’t pick us as one of his favorite, but rather more as a side-column dark horse! What no one else caught, and I believe was the key to victory, was that through the entire month our car never had an off. Not one spin, not one “moment,” not even a wheel dropped. Nothing. Richard Lietz, with his vast Porsche experience, is expected to drive with perfection, so it’s not surprising at all. What surprised me was how far John Potter had come, and how unbelievably quick newcomer René Rast was.
John’s last two years with Craig Stanton, one of the best coaches in the business, clearly paid off. John was on the pace all week, and kept us in strong contention. René Rast, the two-time Supercup Champion, I believe just announced himself to North America. HOLY CRAP that kid is good.
The 50th Anniversary of The Rolex 24…fans will tell you it’s a 24 hour race. Crews will tell you it’s more like 38 hours. For me, it’s been more like three months. So to walk away with my fourth win (and seventh Rolex watch), well there’s not enough words in this column to describe it.
When I look back in 20 years, the decision to join Magnus Racing last November will likely be one of the most pivotal ones I’ve made. After much internal debate and consultation with those closest to me, I decided to walk away from a six-year relationship with another team, one which created a lot of strong results on track. Two Rolex 24 wins, a Rolex GT series championship, and an opportunity to drive in NASCAR leading to my Sprint Cup Rookie-of-the-Year title last year… not a bad run.
At the same time, however, you hit a point in your career where you have to ask yourself what’s important moving forward. I’ll spare the details, but everyone has their breaking point with any job, and I finally hit mine last year; in spite of an amazing opportunity (and one which I’d do all over again).
Enter Magnus Racing. The team is only in its third year, but it’s made up of a ton of guys who I’ve worked with in the past, all very experienced winners, and with an attitude and sense of humor that I really identify with. Led by my teammate John Potter, who I won in the Continental Challenge series with, the challenge of working with a new team on the cusp of their first win is the kind I really relish in. When I joined the team last winter, some wondered about the logic of joining a team that had never won, but for me, the challenge of working with everyone to finally bring something we knew they could do was exactly why I was here.
I knew I was in the right place when during the January test days, the team set me up in a very familiar room, 247 (read: 24/7). There’s a staple hotel, right next to my favorite staff at The Wing House, that I stayed at the year I won my first Rolex 24 in 2001… and I’ll never forget the room they gave me, room 247. I’m not terribly superstitious compared to some, but certainly you remember the little signs and omens here and there, and that room has always been one which seemed to bring good juju.
Unfortunately, I discovered at the test that the juju came in the form of menthol and nicotine, as apparently they’d switched the room to a smoking room! I don’t do terribly well with that kind of scent, but luckily a couple of the crew guys are fairly regular smokers so we switched… but at least the connection was still there.
After a successful test, we came in to the race knowing we had a real shot at this. Even better, I’m not sure anyone else did… which is exactly how I like it. Even SPEED’s own Marshall Pruett didn’t pick us as one of his favorite, but rather more as a side-column dark horse! What no one else caught, and I believe was the key to victory, was that through the entire month our car never had an off. Not one spin, not one “moment,” not even a wheel dropped. Nothing. Richard Lietz, with his vast Porsche experience, is expected to drive with perfection, so it’s not surprising at all. What surprised me was how far John Potter had come, and how unbelievably quick newcomer René Rast was.
John’s last two years with Craig Stanton, one of the best coaches in the business, clearly paid off. John was on the pace all week, and kept us in strong contention. René Rast, the two-time Supercup Champion, I believe just announced himself to North America. HOLY CRAP that kid is good.
Road Atlanta
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