Derani Shines As ESM Rules Rolex 24
Story and Photos By:IMSA Series Media
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Pipo Derani is a 22-year-old Brazilian racer who had never seen Daytona Int’l Speedway prior to a practice session a few weeks ago, and has never raced anywhere in the U.S. before.
Now, the virtually unknown driver is the hero of the 54th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, taking his team to a win in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener, the biggest sports car endurance race in North America.
The No. 2 Extreme Speed Motorsports Honda Ligier P2 was fast when Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek were driving, but when they put Derani behind the wheel, it turned into a rocket ship. He steered the car to victory lane a full 26 seconds ahead of the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Chevrolet Corvette DP, which was ahead of the No. 90 Visit Florida Corvette DP. Gentleman driver Ed Brown, who helps finance the No. 2 Tequila Patrón-sponsored team, also drove a brief stint.
“I have no words,” Derani said. “Just to be here, it’s kind of unreal. The last two and a half hours were pretty tough and intense, with the Taylor brothers pushing us hard. I have to thank my team for the great car they gave me.”
Elsewhere, the excitement was more than compelling in the GT Le Mans class. Oliver Gavin and Antonio Garcia battled to the checkered flag in the two factory-backed Corvettes, with Gavin prevailing by a fender. Third was the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR.
Gavin shared the win with teammates Marcel Fassler and Tommy Millner. Their fight over the last 15 minutes of the race was so close that for a while, it looked like third place might be the best spot, but the teammates kept it close but clean.
So what was Gavin’s strategy?
“Don’t let him by!” he said. “We’re teammates, the cars are very equal, and we are good friends. I’ve raced with him for many, many years. I knew he was going to be looking for a weak spot and pounce at the right point.”
In the GT Daytona class, Rene Rast nursed the No. 44 Magnus Audi R8 LMS GT3 to victory with an almost-empty gas tank, just ahead of the charging No. 540 Porsche 911 GT3 R, and the No. 93 Dodge Viper GT3-R.
“It was one of the hardest races in my life,” Rast, an Audi factory driver, said. “Somehow we won it with a big team effort.”
His co-drivers were Marco Seefried, Andy Lally and John Potter. It was the first Audi race for the team, Magnus Racing, which won at Daytona in 2012, driving a Porsche.
The battle for the overall victory saw multiple leaders in the Prototype class, including the No. 0 DeltaWing and the No. 60 Shank Racing Honda Ligier, both of which retired long before the end of the race.
Toward the end, it appeared the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP was the only car that could challenge the No. 2, but it simply lacked the speed. It also hurt that driver Jordan Taylor was ill with a virus and was not able to close out the race, complaining of fumes in the car, and his brother Ricky had an upset stomach.
Veteran Max Angelelli, 49, stepped in and took the car to the finish, but he himself was sick after the race and was transferred to a local hospital for evaluation. He is conscious and stable, IMSA said.
In the GT Le Mans class, the Corvettes dominated the closing stages, but the Nos. 911 and 912 Porsche 911 RSRs, led respectively by 24 Hours of Le Mans winners Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber, were always near the front, and Bamber’s team got third in the No. 912. The No. 911 suffered an axle failure and finished eighth in class
In Prototype Challenge, the No. 85 ORECA-Chevrolet took the win by four laps, after having a 20-lap margin during the overnight. Driver Kenton Koch crashed on cold tires in the wee hours, but the big lead meant there was plenty of time to fix it. Second was the No. 52, third was the No. 20.
“It’s pretty unbelievable to be able to come here and pull this off,” said Koch, the 2015 Mazda Prototype Lites powered by Mazda champion who made his WeatherTech Championship debut. “It’s wonderful.”
The heralded debut of the Chip Ganassi-fielded Ford GTs was a disappointment. Both the No. 66 and 67 cars suffered early electrical issues that affected the transmissions, as one locked into sixth gear, the other into first. Repairs were made and the two cars continued, and proved to be very fast when everything was working, but both had more problems, including a complete transmission replacement for the No. 67. In the end, the 66 finished 31st overall, while the 67 finished 40th.
“We certainly had our share of reliability issues, and that is not uncommon in a brand new car’s debut,” said Raj Nair, executive vice president, Global Product Development, and chief technical officer, Ford Motor Company. “As we have said, the first time these two particular cars hit the road was literally at the Roar (Before the Rolex 24) test here a couple weeks ago.”
The two other Ganassi cars, the Ford EcoBoost Riley Daytona Prototypes, had a disappointing day. The No. 02 “star car,” which won in 2015 with IndyCar drivers Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon, and NASCAR racers Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray, was fast but ran into problems, including a crash by Larson that dropped the car to 13th overall at the finish. The sister No. 01, staffed by lesser-known but accomplished sports car specialists, ended up fifth overall, but was seldom a threat for the win.
Scott Pruett, a longtime Ganassi driver, left the team during the offseason and joined the No. 5 Action Express Corvette DP team, the defending season champions, in search of a record sixth overall win. The car was usually near the front, but finished fourth, denying Pruett the record.
All day and all night, the competition was fierce, and there were 21 caution flags for a total caution time of five hours and 10 minutes. Having four classes of cars, going four different speeds, with drivers who have a variety of skill levels, “It was just about survival this year,” Ricky Taylor said.
In GT Daytona, which adopted the global GT3 rules over the off-season, all eyes were on the five very fast Lamborghini Huracán GT3s. But problems — including a puzzling late-night collision between two of them, which were running first and second — only one of the five Lamborghinis was competitive at the end, the No. 28 which finished fifth in class, 18th overall.
The two Mazda Prototypes, which had been saddled with uncompetitive diesel engines the last two years, debuted new, powerful gasoline engines here, but mechanical issues, including a broken flywheel, parked both cars early.
In Prototype Challenge, the No. 85 ORECA-Chevrolet took the win by four laps, after having a 20-lap margin during the overnight. Driver Kenton Koch crashed on cold tires in the wee hours, but the big lead meant there was plenty of time to fix it. Second was the No. 52, third was the No. 20.
“It’s pretty unbelievable to be able to come here and pull this off,” said Koch, the 2015 Mazda Prototype Lites powered by Mazda champion who made his WeatherTech Championship debut. “It’s wonderful.”
