Corvette Dominates GTLM, Barely Loses Prototype in Rolex 24

This past weekend, the teams of the Tudor United Sports Car Championship took to the road course of the Daytona International Speedway for the 2015 Rolex 24 and for the Corvette Racing teams, this year was all about improving on their effort last season.

Both of the Corvette C7.R teams looked strong in the 2014 Rolex, but mechanic gremlins prevented the championship-winning teams from winning at Daytona.

This year was all about exorcizing those demons in GT LeMans while the guys in the Corvette Daytona Prototype teams looked to back up their overall victory from 2014.

In the Prototype class, a handful of teams campaigning the brand new C7 Corvette Daytona Prototype were looking to continue the dominance that they displayed last year with the C6 Corvette DP.

The Corvettes controlled the Prototype class for most of the 2014 Tudor season, and teams like Wayne Taylor Racing and Action Express Racing were back in 2015 with a new body design, but the same goals – dominating Daytona.

After being one of the quickest two cars in each of the first 3 practice sessions, the #5 Action Express Corvette DP looked poised to go after another Rolex 24 overall win.

While the Honda and Ford EcoBoost Prototype cars were the top dogs in qualifying, pushing the top two Corvettes to 5^th and 7^th starting spots, the Corvette DP teams quickly worked their way to the front of the field.

Even with mechanical issues on and off throughout the 24 hour race, the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette and the #5 Action Express Corvette spent all day at the front of the Prototype class and the front of the whole field.

The only real competition came from the #01 and #02 Ford EcoBoost DP teams, who spent the 24 hour race battling with the Corvettes. When the #01 Ford dropped out with transmission problems and the #10 WTR Corvette looking considerably faster than the #02 Ford, it looked as though Wayne Taylor’s team would cruise to victory.

Unfortunately, a math error made while calculating Jordan Taylor’s drive time during the final 6 hour stretch forced the #10 Corvette onto pit road for a driver’s change with less than 15 minutes left in the race. During that driver swap, the Taylor Corvette dropped from first to a distant third – erasing any chance of winning the race.

This allowed the #02 Ford EcoBoost car to win the Rolex 24, while the #5 Action Express Corvette finished 2^nd and the Wayne Taylor Corvette finished a very disappointing 3^rd.

Over in the GT LeMans class, the two Corvette C7.R teams came to Daytona looking to win the Rolex 24 and really, the vast majority of people watching the race expected to see the Corvette Racing teams stomp the GTLM field.

Before the race, the #3 Corvette C7.R was one of the quicker cars through the first few rounds of qualifying while the #4 Corvette was further back in the field, but when qualifying came around – the roles were reversed. The #4 Corvette claimed the GTLM pole position while the #3 team car started in the 5^th spot in the class.

In the first six hour portion of the race, the #4 Corvette was the class of the field while the #3 Corvette worked its way up through the crowd. At the end of the first six hour stretch, the Corvette C7.R teams were running first and second with the #3 car up front and the #4 car a close second. At the 12 hour mark, the Corvettes were still running 1-2 in the GTLM class, but now the #4 car was up front while the #3 Corvette sat in second.

Come the end of the third six hour portion of the Rolex 24, the top two positions hadn’t changed from the previous segment and while the #3 team of Jan Magnusson, Antonio Garcia and Ryan Briscoe faced a late run from one of the BMW team cars, the Corvette Racing C7.R cruised to a nearly undisputed win of the 2015 Rolex 24. In winning the GTLM class, the #3 Corvette Racing entry also finished an incredible 5^th overall.

Unfortunately, later in the race, the #4 Corvette got tangled up with a slow moving Prototype car that did some significant damage to the front end of the car.

The team was lightning quick in repairing the front of the car and while only a few laps were lost, the chances of winning were gone for the team of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Simon Pagenaud.

However, the #4 Corvette managed to hang onto the 3^rd spot, giving the Corvette Racing team two podium spots at the first race of the year – which is also arguably the biggest race of the 2015 endurance racing season in the USA.

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Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com