24h Daytona: Triumph for Rolf Ineichen
24 HOURS OF DAYTONA At the biggest endurance race in the USA, Rolf Ineichen celebrated his greatest success as a racing driver to date by winning the GTD class in a Lamborghini. Hugo de Sadeleer and Simon Trummer finished 4th and 6th with their LMP2 sports car teams. A victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona - in any [...]
Every racing driver, whether professional or amateur, strives to win the 24 Hours of Daytona - regardless of the class. For Rolf Ineichen, this dream became reality on Sunday at the umpteenth attempt. As at Le Mans, all drivers in the three winning classes will receive a valuable watch from main sponsor Rolex.
The driver from Lucerne won the GTD class with the GRT Grasser Racing team in a Lamborghini Huracan. This corresponds to the GT3 class in Europe.
Ineichen has already won several races in the ADAC GT Masters and also in the Blancpain Endurance Series with the works-supported team from Austria over the past few years. At the 56th edition of the 24 Hours of Daytona, the biggest endurance race in the USA, the professional gentleman racer from central Switzerland (he runs Otto's with his brother Mark) delivered another astonishing performance.
Together with works driver Mirko Bortolotti (I), the Dutchman Ric Breuckers, who was sponsored by Lamborghini as a youngster, and the French professional Franck Perere (ex-Toyota F1 test driver), Ineichen won the strongly contested GTD class. The performance is all the more impressive given that both Grasser Lamborghinis had to start the race from the back of the grid as they failed to pass a post-qualifying check (engine stall test) due to a technical problem.
Bortolotti had previously set the third-best time and the fastest time in post-training, which underlined the team's potential for the race. Two weeks earlier, the Grasser-Lambo was the fastest car in the Dubai 24 Hours field and finished third overall after time-consuming tire damage in the early stages.
Good USA premiere for Sadeleer and Trummer
Overall victory went to an American team with a Cadillac DPi and drivers Filipe Albuquerque (P), Christian Fittipaldi (BR) and Joao Barbosa (P). With 808 laps (4628 km) on the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway, they set a new distance record.
Hugo de Sadeleer from Lausanne finished fourth overall, four laps down, in the Ligier LMP2 of a British team. Simon Trummer finished his first race in the USA with an American team in an Oreca LMP2 in sixth position.
The last Swiss class winner at Daytona was Marcel Fässler two years ago. This time, he finished fourth in the GTLM class with Corvette Racing. Chip Ganassi Racing took a one-two victory with its two Ford GTs ahead of the two Corvettes and the other opponents from Ferrari, Porsche and BMW (with the new M8).
