CC Drivers in 24 Hours of Daytona Results/Thoughts

[Snrub]

Did anyone else watch the Grand Am race @ Daytona? What did you think of the CC drivers or drivers who are/were somehow involved in the series? I watched the majority of it. Synopsis from what I gathered:

* Bourdais and CDM both messed up near the start of their first stints, but they seemed to do alright once they were accustomed. Their car was plauged with issues. When Newman was in the car they held the front of the car on with straps that they tied to the rear wing. It was fairly commical. Newman seemed well off the pace, but his car was also a heap when he started driving.
* PT seemed to fit in nicely and from what I could tell his laps were similar to CDM and Bouredais. The Bell Motorsports car was cursed as well.
* Moreno - I didn't see him on track, but his car dropped out early.
* Gidley, Valiente, McDowell, Barborelli (sp?) - Car had lots of problems, I couldn't get much of a read on their progress.

What are your thoughts/insights?

I think it would be really cool if Newman could perhaps team up with someone (eg. Bell Motorsports) to setup a second satelite team for '06 that would be well prepared and could run a CC all star team.

[enemy-ace]

From what I saw it just seemed to be nothing but a series of unfortunare events for the teams with Champ Car drivers. I couldn't help but think that there was something wrong with the Bourdais, Newman, daMatta car from the beginning. It just seemed to be to coincidental that all the drivers struggled to keep it on the track. These guys are all just to good to all be off their game at the same time.
Too bad really, it would have been fun to see them scrapping for positions.
Tony Stewart continues to impress, the guy is truly talented.

[JohnSSC]

Actually I thought Bourdais put them behind early by nearly binning the car for no reason. CDM did not look bad later.

This is going to rankle many here (and I have followed PLN since his SCCA days) but Paul Newman needs to get out of Daytona Protoypes and if he is going to compete at all in something like this he should drive in GT. He may be able to muster the speed over short bursts but over a 24 hour race someone who is 80 years old should not be out there in a DP car.

Gidley looked great early but they developed car problems through the night.

The IRL guys, Franchitti, Dixon, Manning and I will include Stewart looked really good. I was also impressed by the Labonte Brothers and the other NASCAR guys. Until their cars deteriorated they were doing quite nicely. Manning was driving really well early Sunday - he was turning 48's at like 8 a.m.!

[Snrub]

Minus Dario's mistakes, I'd agree with you John. I'm not sure how much Newman was off the pace due to lack of ability vs. damage to the car. Even CDM's spin was odd given the way it happened, the fact that the cars have traction control, etc.

I can't remember who it was, but during the evening they were chasing Manning but didn't get by. When they got out of the car and were interviewed they said "Man whoever was in that #3 car was doing a terrific job! His tires were gone and he was sliding around." (implied that he was still fast)

Regarding Stewart, I wouldn't include him in the IRL list anymore than I would classify all of the IRL drivers but Briscoe and Weldon as being from the CC side. Not to take anything away from Stewart I do hold him in high regard, but I think much was made of the fact that he started pushing hard in the evening. I'm not sure that is the most effective way to do things or that others couldn't have done the same.

I'm always really impressed watching Pruett in Sportscars, etc. He usually looks like the class of the field. @ Daytona he was pushing hard for most of the race because he had to get points. He was good in CC, but he seems much better with a roof over his head. Given two identicle cars, I'm not sure that anyone who was present can beat him.

[enemy-ace]

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

I was also impressed by the Labonte Brothers and the other NASCAR guys.

From what I saw of Bobby Labonte he was getting eaten alive under braking. He looked out of his depth. I guess for a guy who runs ovals mainly he did well.

[Ac.]

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

The IRL guys... Manning ... looked really good. Manning was driving really well early Sunday - he was turning 48's at like 8 a.m.!

Manning is definitely a road course driver and is far better turning left and right than he ever will in the IRL. If he had found a good ride in Champ Car he would have competed for podiums.

I don't blame him for leaving though. He went from making enough $ to eat to a big salary with a big team.

[Kicking-back]

Ac - The IRL will give him the chance to turn left and right this year

[JohnSSC]

I think the thing to remember here is that the strongest drivers from either series can compete with some world class talent. Johansson, Andy Wallace, Boutsen et al are outstanding at this type of racing and for these guys to jump in and go in a format that they are unfamiliar with and a vehicle that they are unfamiliar with says something.

As far as Bobby Labonte under braking not looking so good, I would agree. This (I think) was first foray into the endurance racing thing - Terry has done this before though. I think they both did a very creditable job as did Jimmy Johnson. I would imagine that of all the things you do on an oval, braking is probably the biggest transition that they have to make when going to road courses. You just don't have a comparable "approach corner, stomp on 'em and turn in" kind of methodology going even on the short ovals.

[JohnSSC]

Just to correct my post above - I meant to write Didier Theys, not Thierry Boutsen - not sure what happened to my brain on that one!

[racefanatic]

Does anyone know what happened to Bourdais/Brockman/Newman/da Matta? I know Cristiano was in the car when they retired, but all I heard on SPEED was that they retired overnight.

I felt bad for PT when that tire came apart - he seemed to to really well.

Darren Manning, Scott Dixon, and Casey Mears were really fun to watch. What a great group of guys!

I didn't even know that Roberto Moreno was there until I saw him in that interview after their car dropped out.

Happy racing season everyone; only 41 days until Long Beach!!

[MLM]

Originally Posted by enemy-ace

From what I saw of Bobby Labonte he was getting eaten alive under braking. He looked out of his depth. I guess for a guy who runs ovals mainly he did well.

Sorry, but I most strongly disagree!
IMO, he did OK for his FIRST endurance race! I'm with you, JohnSSC!
IMO, he did better than CdM in HIS 1st endruance race (Sebastien spun also...and he's an endurance racing veteran!)
I was impressed, overall, by the NASCAR drivers and also by the IRL drivers. The jury's still out, in:re the CC drivers )

BTW, how many laps/stints did Paul Newman run? (and I'm just asking...not being a smart-alek)

[GP Racer]

I have to agree with racefanatic, that the team of Dixon/Manning/Mears was alot of fun to watch, and easily the best team effort from all of the crossover drivers. There 7th place finish is very respectable considering that they didn't have a sports car driver among them. Also, the cameras caught Dixon pulling tires with the crew to get the car fixed and out of the garage in the middle of the night. He was pumped! That breakdown cost them a much higher finish. Manning was running fastest laps of the race, and was really on fire, and what can you say about Mears, who beat Coulthard in The Race Of Champions and now this. He's getting to be a great all-around driver.

The CC drivers never really seemed to get the handle on these cars, but this was the first time for all of them I believe. They weren't for the most part on the stronger teams though and some bad luck didn't help either.

Tony Stewart can just flat out drive anything. He deserved the win, but for the second year in a row, a mechanical breakdown late in the race spoiled the win. These NASCAR guys can really drive. After seeing their performance in these cars, they have my respect. To bad they didn't go open wheel!

[Snrub]

PT did nothing that deserved critisism and his lap times where there, so I don't see the "jury being out" on him. CDM's problem was wierd, as I said earlier I suspect there was more to it than that.

Not that I don't think the Nascar guys can't drive, but Busch and Bobby Labonte certainly didn't do the Nascar side any better than Bourdais did the CC side and Bourdais has performed in other endurance racing. If the jury is out on the CC guys, it's out on the Nascar guys too.

During that shot where Dixon jumped in to grab the tire, I *think* I saw Manning jump in and do something too. I'd agree on the Casey Mears sentiment as well. I don't consider the Race of Champions to mean much except in the example GP Racer mentioned. After getting out of the car Casey was very humble and said "It's a new car and circuit for both of us so I don't think it means much." The interviewer said "Well actually DC had substantial time testing the car on [circuit xxx] just last week." I got a real kick out of that. Even so, the WRC guys didn't impress as much as one might have expected when they were in a WRC car against someone who'd never driven one. It was a REALLY tight circuit.

I'm not really an enduro fan but I decided to give this one a try. I have to say I wouldn't bother watching again, it's far too equipment dependant and I was hoping that the drivers would still get to race due to the somewhat primative equipment being more reliable. I'm going to continue watching the shorter Grand Am races, a better comparison test of driver vs. driver would be during these, which Dixon and Manning did last year. I hope we get to see more crossovers during these races.

[24Hours]

I have not heard anything on Briscoe, how did he perform?

[Rime]

Did Jan Lammers, who finished 3th and leading the race before getting gearbox problems, not drive Champcars a 'few' years back?

[JohnSSC]

Yes, he did. There are a number of former CART participants other than those that had been mentioned here already.

Stefan Johansson was both a driver in the CART days and had fielded a team.