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GRAND-AM
IN THE COCKPIT: Jeff Segal, Rolex 24
It was clear to see that every team and manufacturer had pulled out all the stops to try and win the Golden Anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona...
The No. 69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD Ferrari finished eighth out of a highly competitive 45-car field in the Rolex 24. (Photo: John Dagys)
Almost a week after the 50th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, I think its safe to say that my own physical recovery from the race is complete, but the emotional battering I took from the ups and downs of the race weekend will take longer to heal. We entered the weekend brimming with confidence, and hopeful that we could steer our Ferrari 458 Italia GT Grand-Am to the podium, if not a win.
Practice and qualifying only served to reassure us that our confidence was well founded, as we secured a front-row qualifying spot in one of the most competitive GT fields anywhere in the world. Sadly, the race result would be a letdown for our AIM Autosport Team FXDD organization, as our consistent front running pace and polished pit work would not be enough to overcome a variety of small issues we encountered as the race unfolded.
Looking back on our weekend, though, it wasn’t all doom and gloom, as our car’s eighth-place finish was in fact quite respectable given the fierce level of competition from the other 45 entries in the GT class. The outright pace of this year’s race was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before, and despite the sprint-race mentality employed by most of the drivers, the rate of attrition was surprisingly low.
It was clear to see that every team and manufacturer had pulled out all the stops to try and win the Golden Anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and the quality of the competition in the GT class certainly reflected this effort. Ferrari also pushed hard to make an impression in their comeback to GRAND-AM racing, and while I feel that we showed tremendous promise for the future of this model in the GT class, ultimately I think we still have some work to do before we can beat the established Rolex Series GT manufacturers at their own game.
Our weekend in Daytona started very well in fact, with the car showing a very strong pace from the start of the first practice session. I shared driving duties for the first morning with my long-time co-driver Emil Assentato, as we worked to tune the car for the track conditions and prepare for qualifying. We were fortunate that all of the changes made by the team since the Roar Before the 24 had pushed the car in the right direction and towards the top of the charts, and we focused on minor changes to the suspension and aerodynamics before qualifying to perfect the package.
Overall we agreed that the car was fairly easy to drive, consistent in terms of tire wear, and our main concern was to try and coerce some more top-speed from the car to compete with the lightning-fast Porsches on the long straights of Daytona International Speedway.
I had been nominated to qualify our car for the race, and heading into qualifying I’ll admit that I was feeling a bit nervous. I felt good about the performance of the car that AIM Autosport Team FXDD had worked hard to prepare, and I felt good about my ability to get the most out of our car in these conditions. However, I’ve probably never competed in a field stacked with as much driving talent as there was in this year’s GT class, and the practice times had showed that a time difference of one tenth of a second could mean five or more positions in the results. I knew it was going to be critical to maximize everything in order to qualify at the front in this crowd, so the pressure was really on me to deliver.
With the experience of qualifying at Daytona several times in the past few years, I headed out on to the track aware that my best chance for success was to find a good drafting partner. Drafting in qualifying is always a tricky art though, as there is a very fine line between benefiting from a strong tow down the straight, or instead getting blocked in the next braking zone by the leading car if you are too close. I was well positioned to catch the tail end of the draft from both Turner Motorsport BMW M3s as qualifying began, but on each of the first three laps it seemed like they would make a large mistake on one part of the track or another, forcing me to abort my laps to avoid making contact with their cars.
With time quickly running out in the 15-minute qualifying session, I decided to pass the M3s and try to get the critical tow I was seeking from a Dodge Viper I could see running just up the road. The first part of the lap was excellent, and I felt like I really nailed the infield portion of the track perfectly. Exiting turn six and coming onto the banking, I was ideally positioned behind the Viper, whose size relative to our Ferrari 458 made it the perfect drafting partner to punch a big hole in the air in front of me.
I drafted right up behind the Viper, looking to use the speed boost to pass him before the bus-stop chicane, which would have left me on target for a very fast lap. However, the high-powered Viper showed remarkable top speed, and despite the huge effect of the draft that I had received, it wasn’t enough for me to clear him before the braking zone. We entered the bus-stop side-by-side, sideways and into the dirty part of the track, ruining both of our laps and leaving me with just one more lap to produce a lap time before qualifying ended.
Determined to secure a good qualifying position but without a drafting partner in front of me, I began my last lap of qualifying prepared to take maximum risk to produce a quick time and a grid spot towards the front of the field. Supremely late braking in turn one produced an alarming twitch of the 458’s rear-end, which was caused by a momentary lock of the rear brakes. Its an uneasy sensation fighting to keep the car pointed in the right direction as you decelerate from nearly 180mph into turn one, but the precious few tenths of a second gained are worth it in qualifying. I was careful not to overdrive the painfully slow turn three, then used all the road to stay flat-out through the kink, and maximized the power-down out of turn five and six to carry good speed onto the back straight.
Practice and qualifying only served to reassure us that our confidence was well founded, as we secured a front-row qualifying spot in one of the most competitive GT fields anywhere in the world. Sadly, the race result would be a letdown for our AIM Autosport Team FXDD organization, as our consistent front running pace and polished pit work would not be enough to overcome a variety of small issues we encountered as the race unfolded.
Looking back on our weekend, though, it wasn’t all doom and gloom, as our car’s eighth-place finish was in fact quite respectable given the fierce level of competition from the other 45 entries in the GT class. The outright pace of this year’s race was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before, and despite the sprint-race mentality employed by most of the drivers, the rate of attrition was surprisingly low.
It was clear to see that every team and manufacturer had pulled out all the stops to try and win the Golden Anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and the quality of the competition in the GT class certainly reflected this effort. Ferrari also pushed hard to make an impression in their comeback to GRAND-AM racing, and while I feel that we showed tremendous promise for the future of this model in the GT class, ultimately I think we still have some work to do before we can beat the established Rolex Series GT manufacturers at their own game.
Our weekend in Daytona started very well in fact, with the car showing a very strong pace from the start of the first practice session. I shared driving duties for the first morning with my long-time co-driver Emil Assentato, as we worked to tune the car for the track conditions and prepare for qualifying. We were fortunate that all of the changes made by the team since the Roar Before the 24 had pushed the car in the right direction and towards the top of the charts, and we focused on minor changes to the suspension and aerodynamics before qualifying to perfect the package.
Overall we agreed that the car was fairly easy to drive, consistent in terms of tire wear, and our main concern was to try and coerce some more top-speed from the car to compete with the lightning-fast Porsches on the long straights of Daytona International Speedway.
I had been nominated to qualify our car for the race, and heading into qualifying I’ll admit that I was feeling a bit nervous. I felt good about the performance of the car that AIM Autosport Team FXDD had worked hard to prepare, and I felt good about my ability to get the most out of our car in these conditions. However, I’ve probably never competed in a field stacked with as much driving talent as there was in this year’s GT class, and the practice times had showed that a time difference of one tenth of a second could mean five or more positions in the results. I knew it was going to be critical to maximize everything in order to qualify at the front in this crowd, so the pressure was really on me to deliver.
With the experience of qualifying at Daytona several times in the past few years, I headed out on to the track aware that my best chance for success was to find a good drafting partner. Drafting in qualifying is always a tricky art though, as there is a very fine line between benefiting from a strong tow down the straight, or instead getting blocked in the next braking zone by the leading car if you are too close. I was well positioned to catch the tail end of the draft from both Turner Motorsport BMW M3s as qualifying began, but on each of the first three laps it seemed like they would make a large mistake on one part of the track or another, forcing me to abort my laps to avoid making contact with their cars.
With time quickly running out in the 15-minute qualifying session, I decided to pass the M3s and try to get the critical tow I was seeking from a Dodge Viper I could see running just up the road. The first part of the lap was excellent, and I felt like I really nailed the infield portion of the track perfectly. Exiting turn six and coming onto the banking, I was ideally positioned behind the Viper, whose size relative to our Ferrari 458 made it the perfect drafting partner to punch a big hole in the air in front of me.
I drafted right up behind the Viper, looking to use the speed boost to pass him before the bus-stop chicane, which would have left me on target for a very fast lap. However, the high-powered Viper showed remarkable top speed, and despite the huge effect of the draft that I had received, it wasn’t enough for me to clear him before the braking zone. We entered the bus-stop side-by-side, sideways and into the dirty part of the track, ruining both of our laps and leaving me with just one more lap to produce a lap time before qualifying ended.
Determined to secure a good qualifying position but without a drafting partner in front of me, I began my last lap of qualifying prepared to take maximum risk to produce a quick time and a grid spot towards the front of the field. Supremely late braking in turn one produced an alarming twitch of the 458’s rear-end, which was caused by a momentary lock of the rear brakes. Its an uneasy sensation fighting to keep the car pointed in the right direction as you decelerate from nearly 180mph into turn one, but the precious few tenths of a second gained are worth it in qualifying. I was careful not to overdrive the painfully slow turn three, then used all the road to stay flat-out through the kink, and maximized the power-down out of turn five and six to carry good speed onto the back straight.
Road Atlanta
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