ROLEX 24: DP Preview

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ROLEX 24: DP Preview

Part one of our 2010 Rolex 24 preview features the Daytona Prototype category, where changes in drivers, engines and a forecast of rain will make for an unpredictable race.

Marshall Pruett | Posted January 25, 2010 Oakland, CA

Armed with a stronger engine and a well-honed operation, it might be GAINSCO/BSR's year to finally add the one piece missing from their trophy case: the Rolex 24 hardware. (LAT)

If you wanted one word to describe the possible outcome of the Daytona Prototype category at the 2010 Rolex 24, ‘unpredictable’ would be a good place to start with.

With rain in the forecast (as of Monday) and a smaller DP field, the possibility of attrition for the DP field is higher than usual. Throw in some new faces to DP, new teams, and a shuffling of powerplants, and predicting this year’s winner becomes nearly impossible.

DP entries are down by five from 2009, with 14 prototypes battling amongst an expanded GT class where 28 cars are scheduled to compete. With a 2:1 ratio of GT cars, executing a clean race and making decisive passes will be more important than ever for the DP cars.

Relative parity in power and initial acceleration will make it hard for DP cars to pass the more skillfully driven GT entries, which could tempt the more impatient prototype drivers to make dive bomb passes into the major braking zones. Depending on how much Mother Nature affects the race, the team that finds itself in victory lane at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday will likely have benefited from equal doses of skill and good fortune throughout the race.

Like every good endurance race, tires and fuel needs will lead to slight variances in race strategies between the teams. With a number of surface material changes, especially on the transitions from the oval to the road course, traction is always at a premium on the 3.56-mile, 12-turn circuit.

Keeping a Daytona Prototype pointed in a straight line for 24 hours is made even more tricky due to the use of traction control being disallowed by the series. Varying grip throughout the track, big changes in ambient temperature, 500hp engines and the specter of rain should once again deliver excitement for fans watching on SPEED and those in attendance.

Barring frigid conditions at night, the Pirelli tires that every Roles Series car competes on weren’t capable of being double stinted in 2009, but with a new compound this year, look for teams to perform fuel-only stops for half of their scheduled visits to pit lane.

While the new Pirellis can go twice as long, DP teams will still be making stops to refuel their 24-gallon tanks every 31-35 laps (every 53-60 minutes). With a stop every hour, and possibly a few extra stops to change to (or from) Pirelli wets, expect the more seasoned teams with up-to-the-minute weather data to make some rather bold pit strategy decisions.

If the race conditions weren’t unpredictable, the DP class itself is filled with a number of curve balls within the teams and under the hoods of the cars.

The 2009 edition of the race featured a number of different chassis and factory engine combinations all vying for DP class honors, and while that trend continues again in 2010, the balance of power has shifted dramatically in the engine department.

With Lexus and Pontiac gone for 2010, BMW has been the big mover as Steve Dinan’s privately-built 5.0L V8s replace the Lexus units in Chip Ganassi’s Rileys. The loss of Penske Racing has reduced the Porsche flat-6 runners by one, while the Porsche Cayenne V8 powerplant continues for 2010 in the back of the Spirit of Daytona Coyote chassis and also in AER's Riley.

Ford maintains a strong presence in DP with 5 of its 5.0L ‘Cammer’ V8s built by Roush Yates Engines, and despite the closure of Pontiac, GM will have one team, 2009 DP champions GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing, using a Pontiac-badged-as-a-Chevrolet V8 in 2010.

All totaled, Ford and BMW units power 5 entries apiece for the Rolex 24, with 1 for Porsche’s flat-6, two for their V8, and one for Chevy.

On the chassis side, Riley accounted for 13 of the 19 Daytona Prototypes in the 2009 Rolex 24, claiming the overall win, and 6 of the top 7 spots. Riley still dominates the class with 10 cars this year, as all of their most successful teams return to use the Mooresville, NC-built prototypes.

After Riley, the Italian Dallara chassis has the most users with two, followed by one each from Lola and Coyote.

One notable absence from the field is the Crawford chassis – the first time the Rolex 24 will be without the North Carolinian DP chassis since 2004. (Beyer Racing made a late entry on Wednesday with their Crawford chassis. ~Ed.)

Looking at the possible star chassis/engine combinations in the Rolex 24, Rileys powered by Ford, BMW and Porsche have sheer numbers on their side, but each engine manufacturer has a different point to prove this year.

Ford looked like an early candidate for the 2009 Rolex 24 victory until crank trigger sensors felled all but one car, the Wayne Taylor Racing SunTrust Dallara. BMW has a single win in DP competition at the 2008 Laguna Seca sprint race, but when it comes to 24-hour racing, their top finish of 19th in last year’s race reveals how far they will have to go to claim the Rolex 24 victory.

Porsche, on the other hand, had no issues making it to the finish line last year, taking a popular win with Brumos Racing. Porsche’s 4.0L flat-6 will have a different challenge in 2010 after the series pulled back some of the impressive power they displayed on the way to their Rolex 24 win. Some of that power was given back during the season, but whether the legendary mill will have enough grunt to out-gun the V8s once again will provide another plot line to follow closely.

Max Angelelli topped the ‘Roar Before the 24’ test twice earlier in the month, proving that the Dallara-Ford is ready to take on the best that Riley has to offer. But with just one Dallara in the WTR stable and just two of the chassis in the field, overcoming the odds that heavily favor the Riley will take a flawless race Max ‘The Axe’ and the rest of his teammates.

Let’s take a look at each Daytona Prototype team and how they might stack up after 24 hours of racing this weekend:

01
Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
Riley-BMW
Max Papis, Miami, Fla.
Scott Pruett, Auburn, Calif.
Memo Rojas, Mexico City, Mexico
Justin Wilson, Dacono, Colo.

The Ganassi camp went home after last year’s race with an empty feeling after waging a thrilling duel to the finish, only to watch as the Brumos Porsche team ended Chip’s quest to win four consecutive Rolex 24s.

The team is back with the same two-car entry, but a change to BMW power and a shuffled driver line-up leaves the 2004, 2006 and 2008 DP champions on slightly less firm ground than in year’s past.

Max Papis is a late replacement for Marino Franchitti, whose last-minute Acura testing call-up required stepping out of the seat. Papis, an absolute stud at the Rolex 24, rejoins the Ganassi camp after partnering Scott Pruett to the 2004 series title.

A proven commodity like Papis will only help Pruett and Memo Rojas in their quest the Rolex 24 win, as will Justin Wilson, who normally plays the role of IndyCar arch nemesis to Ganassi’s Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon.

The lanky Briton has a lot of Rolex 24 experience with Michael Shank Racing, and combined with salty veterans like Pruett, Papis, and the greatly matured Rojas, Ganassi has assembled a team in the 01 that is as gritty and determined as they come. With the 01 serving as their full-time Rolex Series entry, maximizing their points haul this weekend will be the first order of business.

The only question mark falls with their BMW engines, but with such a successful staff of engineers and strategists on the timing stand, Ganassi Racing is poised to put their full might behind the 01 car to get the team to the checkered flag. Provided the BMW makes it to the finish without interruption, this wouldn’t be a bad car to put your bets on...

02
Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
Riley-BMW
Scott Dixon, Indianapolis, Ind.
Dario Franchitti, Nashville, Tenn.
Jamie McMurray, Mooresville, N.C.
Juan Pablo Montoya, Miami, Fla.

It would be easy to dismiss the 02 car as simply an all-star entry – one that doesn’t have the same kind of investment in their results as the 01 car, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

The combination of fire and ice within the same car, with old friends Dario Franchitti and Juan Pablo Montoya providing the flame and Scott Dixon and Jamie McMurray bringing an air of calm to the cockpit, is a unique dynamic within the two-car team.

Dixon, Franchitti and Montoya are all accustomed to spending life on the edge at well over 200mph for long periods of time, but don’t think for a moment that Sprint Cup star McMurray is the odd man out in this 4-man rotation. The skill needed to herd a Lumbering stock car around for most of the last decade primed McMurray for the more friendly DP car.
Everyone within the team, and especially the veteran crew members, left the ‘Roar’ test mightily impressed with Jamie’s outright speed and consistency.

Ganassi’s embarrassment of riches behind the wheels of the 01 and 02 leaves the team with their best line-up to date. If Dinan’s BMWs perform as the team expects, it could be a long race for the rest of the field.

6
Michael Shank Racing
Riley-Ford
AJ Allmendinger, Huntersville, N.C.
Brian Frisselle, Aspen. Colo.
Mark Patterson, Bronxville, N.Y.
Michael Valiante, Vancouver, B.C., Canada

A sentimental favorite since their debut in the series, Michael Shank Racing has embodied the spirit of what a small team can develop into with the right leader and the right personnel. Never the best funded or most extravagant team, MSR delivers a steady threat to win each year through sheer guile, determination and a tight-knit group of drivers and engineers.

If the Ganassi team can get their cars to the end of the race without any dramas from their new BMW engines, a fourth win in five years isn't hard to imagine. (LAT)

Shank’s blue-collar operation has been snake bit at the Rolex 24 of late; the #6 Riley-Ford was the first DP out of the 2009 race, soon followed by the sister #60 car. But if anyone is ready to put the misfortunes of the ’09 event behind them, it’s MSR.

The 6 has the best matched driver line-up between their two entries, and Ford has come ready to assert themselves as the dominant motor in the series. 2010 could be the year that MSR achieves equal status with GAINSCO and Ganassi atop the DP power brokers.

A win at the Rolex 24 is something they want dearly, but if doesn’t happen, finishing within sight of their major rivals is crucial for the underfunded team. They can’t afford to leave the race with major repairs required, and their savvy owner will make sure that point is drilled home repeatedly.

7
Starworks Motorsport
Riley-BMW
Bill Lester, Atlanta, GA.
Dion von Moltke, Coral Gables, FL.
Mike Forest, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
TBD

Ford believes the electronics issue that dropped most of their cars from the 2009 race has been solved, and if that's the case, Michael Shank Racing's #6 could play a major part in the outcome of the race. (LAT)

A new team for 2010, Starworks Motorsport enters the Rolex 24 staring up at a huge learning curve to overcome. Bill Lester anchors the driving team as the only driver with more than one season of DP experience beneath him, while Continental Tire Series veteran Dion von Moltke continues to adapt to the prototype ranks, and the fast but inconsistent Mike Forest hopes to deliver a more measured performance this weekend.

Getting their Riley-BMW to the finish line would be a major accomplishment for the team to build upon.

9
Action Express Racing
Riley-Porsche (Cayenne V8)
Joao Barbosa, Porto, Portugal
Terry Borcheller, Vero Beach, Fla.
Ryan Dalziel, Orlando, Fla.
Mike Rockenfeller, Altnau, Switzerland

From the ashes of the #59 Brumos Racing car, Action Express Racing was born for 2010. Operating under the same roof as Brumos Racing will help the new, independent team, and with such an eclectic group of drivers, the 9 car ranks atop this year’s dark horse entries.

All four drivers have something to prove – with some more than others.

The new Starworks team begins a steep climb up the DP ladder at the Rolex 24, led by sportscar veteran Bill Lester. (LAT)

Barbosa took the 2009 DP finale with Hurley Haywood, but it was just his first after years of trying. 2003 DP champion and 2004 Rolex 24 winner Borcheller is always ready to deliver, but the gap to his last win –the ’04 Rolex 24 – continues to widen. Dalziel’s speed has never been questions, but he needs to prove the messy financial issues of ’09 haven’t affected his focus, and Audi factory driver Mike Rockenfeller continues his redemptive efforts to erase the doubts that cropped up about him after his embarrassing crash at Le Mans in 2007. They rank amongst the nicest assembly of drivers in the paddock, and despite their various concerns, every one is capable of winning. How they jell at Action Express will be an interesting sub-plot to keep track of.

A win would be a long shot, but a top-6 would go a long way to help the reputations of all four drivers. While I don’t expect them to vie for the victory this weekend, the combo of Barbosa and Dalziel could provide the biggest surprise for the rest of the season.