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Daytona, 08-12 November, 2017
Competitors in the Classic 24 Hour meeting enjoyed predominantly fine pleasantly warm weather throughout the five days, apart from those running in the support races on the Saturday morning, which had squally showers. Fortunately these blew through before the start of the Trans Am finale race, although the track was still damp at the start and this caught a few people out. Classic 24 Hour competitors had a total of five races in each of the six groups, four in the main 24 Hour Classic event of 45mins duration, with a mandatory 3mins pit stop in each race, preceded by qualifying races for each group on the Friday, which determined grid positions for the first main race of the weekend. The main event was supported by six HSR races, BRM Chronographes V/GT classes plus H/P & GTM classes one hour Enduro races, a Bob Woodman Tire International/American Challenge race and the previously mentioned 2017 Trans Am series finale race. Add in all the practice and qualifying sessions, and it can be seen that there was almost constant track action throughout the running of the event.
Within the entry list there were a number of well known motor racing names taking part. The renowned Red Bull designer Adrian Newey was to have taken part, but his car suffered suspension failure in an early practice session and couldn’t be repaired. Others included Joao Barbosa, Aaron Scott, Dieter Quester, Luca Riccitelli, Ron Fellows, Lyn St. James, Jochen Mass, Patrick Long, Andy Wallace, Jurgen Barth, Butch Leitzinger, Memo Gidley, James Gue, Eric Curran, Jules Gounon, Terry Borcheller, Bruno Junqueira, Eric Van de Poele, Didier Theys and Gunnar Jeannette, to name but a few.
Most classes had very strong entries, with groups B and C having the lowest numbers with 13 in each class, still a respectable number, whilst the highest number was in group E with 34 entries, closely followed by group F with 29 entries. Some competitors obviously trusted the reliability of their machinery and their own stamina, as they also competed in some of the support races. Within the entry list there was a wide variety of machinery, ranging from a very standard looking Volvo PV544 sedan, through a plethora of bewilderingly numbered Porsche models, a wide variety of sports prototypes of various ages, including a Ferrari F333 SP, whose V12 engine sounded glorious as it screamed around the banking, to the likes of the recent IMSA series Coyote Corvette DP cars.
The 24 Hour Classic racing started at lunchtime on the Saturday with a Group C race, featuring the likes of Porsche 962s and Jaguar XJRs. 24 hours later it was the turquoise Leyton House liveried Porsche 962 of Tommy Dreelan and Aaron Scott that emerged as the class winner, with the Tic-Tac liveried 962C example of Hendrick Lindberg taking the runner-up spot. Victory in Group A went to the Lola T70 Mk IIIB of Gerard Lopez and Frantz Wallenborn, from the McLaren M1B of British duo Andrew Beaumont and Nigel Greensall. The Group B class win was taken by the # 94 Chevron B23/36 of Ryan & John Harrold with Kevin Wheeler, followed home by another Chevron, this being the B36 of Josh Boller. 3rd place in this class went to a rather splendid Red Bull liveried BMW M1 Procar driven by Austrian racing legend Dieter Quester and Luca Riccitelli, the 1997 ISRS Champion. Victory in Group D went to the # 16 Oreca-Dallara SP1 of Florent Moulin from Luxembourg, with Brit Nigel Greensall having a busy weekend, and once again finishing on the podium, this time partnering Mark Brannon in the # 77 Riley & Scott Mk IIIC to take 2nd place. In Group E the overall win was taken by David Porter and the Portuguese driver Joao Barbosa, a regular successful competitor in US sports car racing for many years, in the # 18 Pescarolo 01-Judd. They started the final 45mins race with a 15secs deficit to the # 12 Courage/Oreca LC70E of Dean Baker and Eric Van de Poele, which a virtuoso drive by Barbosa turned into an 18+secs advantage by the end of the race. The Group F victory was taken by the # 99 Porsche 911/993 of Mike Gaulke and Thomas Merrill from the # 11 Porsche RSR of Richard Stuart Milne and Pablo Peon from Argentina. As an aside Mike Gaulke drove the same cat to victory in the V/CTC Enduro race on the Friday afternoon, obviously just warming himself and the car up for the main event! As can be seen just from the few names mentioned above, there was a broad international field of drivers, proving the attraction of the gathering.
Of the other races on the bust schedule, the 2017 Trans Am series finale was the next biggest draw after the main event, and attracted a massive field of 43 starters in the four categories, TA, TA2, TA3, and TA4, which features mostly modern American muscle cars like the Chevrolet Camaro and Corvette, together with Ford Mustangs as the bulk of the top two classes, with the class group depending on the degree of modification, i.e. the TA runners are virtually silhouette racers. The TA3 and TA4 classes are fairly open, in that there were Porsches and even an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 and a Ferrari 430 Challenge participating. As previously mentioned in the opening paragraph, this race on the Saturday morning started on a damp track, catching out a few of the competitors, who entertained with some trips across the grass on the infield in the opening stages. However, as the track dried out things stabilised, and status quo was restored, with the # 98 TA class Ford Mustang of Ernie France Jr. taking the win, his 10th of the season, having already wrapped up the series championship two races before this one, he finished the series on a high note. 2nd overall was the # 06 Chevrolet Corvette of RJ Lopez, with a TA2 group car, the # 34 Ford Mustang of Tony Buffamonte taking the final podium spot, and with it a class win which moved him into 2nd place in the overall TA2 championship standings for the year.
Daytona 24 Hour Classic Results Position | Race # | Car | Driver(s) | Group A | 1st | 1 | Lola T70 Mk IIIB | Gerard Lopez/ Frantz Wallenborn | 2nd | 96 | McLaren M1B | Andrew Beaumont/ Nigel Greensall | 3rd | 44 | Chevron B16 | Gray Gregory/ Randy Buck/ Alex MacAllister | Group B | 1st | 94 | Chevron B23/36 | Ryan & John Harrold/ Kevin Wheeler | 2nd | 119 | Chevron B36 | Josh Boller | 3rd | 7 | BMW M1 Procar | Dieter Quester/ Luca Ricitelli | Group C | 1st | 14 | Porsche 962 | Tommy Dreelan/ Aaron Scott | 2nd | 33 | Porsche 962C | Henrick Lindberg | 3rd | 42 | Porsche/Fabcar | John Higgins/ Charlie Monk | Group D | 1st | 16 | Oreca-Dallara SP1 | Florent Moulin | 2nd | 77 | Riley & Scott Mk IIIC | Mark Brannon/ Nigel Greensall | 3rd | 76 | Riley & Scott Mk II | John McKenna/ Ross Thompson | Group E | 1st | 18 | Pescarolo 01 LMP | David Porter/ Joao Barbosa | 2nd | 12 | Courage/Oreca LC70E | Dean Baker/ Eric Van de Poele | 3rd | 33 | Coyote Corvette | John Reisman/ Eric Curran | Group F | 1st | 99 | Porsche 911/993 | Mike Gaulke/ Thomas Merrill | 2nd | 11 | Porsche RSR | Richard Stuart Milne/ Pablo Peon | 3rd | 761 | Porsche Cayman GT4 | Charlie Craig/ Cory Friedman | Clubsport | HSR Races | Groups 2, 3 & 5 | 1st | 69 | Ford Mustang | Oliver Bryant | 2nd | 86 | Chevron B16 | Martin Lauber | 3rd | 181 | Chevrolet Camaro | Chris Beighton | Groups 6, 7 & 11 | 1st | 5 | Lola B07/18 | Steve Scullen/ Gunnar Jeanette | 2nd | 2 | Audi R8 | Travis Engen | 3rd | 33 | Coyote Corvette | John Reisman | Groups 8, 9 & 10 | 1st | 21 | Ford GT Mk 7 | Brad Jaeger/ Memo Gidley | 2nd | 63 | Ford Falcon GT1 | Doug Richmond | 3rd | 101 | Dodge Charger | Grahame & Oliver Bryant | | | NASCAR | | V/CTC Enduro | 1st | 99 | Porsche 911/993 | Mike Gaulke | 2nd | 13 | Porsche 911 RSR | Mike Banz | 3rd | 22 | Porsche 911 | James Newman/ Catesby Jones | H/P/GTM Enduro | 1st | 2 | Audi R8 | Travis Engen | 2nd | 33 | Coyote Corvette | John Reisman | 3rd | 11 | Oreca FLM-09 | Keith Frieser | Bob Woodman Tire International/American Challenge | 1st | 69 | Ford Mustang | Oliver Bryant | 2nd | 181 | Chevrolet Camaro | Chris Beighton | 3rd | 281 | Porsche 911 IROC | Brady Refenning/ Jack Refen | Trans Am Race | 1st | 98 | Ford Mustang TA | Ernie Francis Jr. | 2nd | 06 | Chevrolet Corvette TA | RJ Lopez | 3rd | 34 | Ford Mustang TA2 | Tony Buffomante |
Ferraris at Daytona 24 Hour Classic Meeting, November 2017 Race # | Model | Colour | Entrant | Chassis # | HSR Races | 65T | 365 GTB4 C. Conv’ | Red | George Tuma | 12681 | 15 | 360 Challenge | Red-White Stripe | Ken Marlin | 118068 | 36 | 360 Challenge | Red | Patrick Mullaney | 119608 | Trans Am Race | 11 | 430 Challenge | Black | Marko Radisic | 150980 | Daytona 24 Hour Classic | 11 | 360 Challenge | Black | Marko Radisic | ? | 15 | 360 Challenge | Yellow | Ken Marlin / Patrick Mullaney | 118536 | 295 | 458 Challenge | White-Red | Chris Carel / Gianfranco Casedei | 185121 | 51 | F333 SP | White-Green-Blue | Clive Joy | 022 | Keith Bluemel 11/2017. |