Jeff Gordon Will Make His Second Career Start in The Rolex 24 Later Today at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
Story & Photos By: ISMA WEATHER-TECH SERIES MEDIA
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. —January 28, 2017– Four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon will be among the more than 200 drivers who will participate in this weekend’s Rolex 24 At Daytona.
The 55th running of the event at Daytona Int’l Speedway will take the green flag at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and conclude 24 hours later at the 3.56-mile road course.
Fifty-five cars are scheduled to take the green flag and the No. 10 Cadillac DPi that Gordon shares with Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli will start fourth on the grid.
Gordon says adjusting to the prototype race car has been a learning experience.
“After Wayne Taylor called me and talk to me about the Cadillac program and these new DPi cars I was really excited to get a chance to a drive a car like this,” Gordon said Friday. “I’m always learning something, every time I get in the car. I can be learning something I’m doing wrong or learning something I’m doing right.”
Gordon said very little translates from a stock car to a sports car.
“It’s all the things that are completely different from driving opposite to a stock car – how long it takes for heat to get to the tires, how you get into the brakes, how much load the car has in the center of the corner … it’s all different. I’m having a blast and I like taking on the challenge, but it’s a steep learning curve in a short amount of time.”
In addition to the Prototype class, three other classes will compete in the Rolex 24: GT Le Mans (GTLM), GT Daytona (GTD) and Prototype Challenge (PC). Former Indy 500 winners Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan are in GTLM, Ryan Hunter-Reay is in GTD while another Indy titlist, Buddy Rice, is co-driving in PC.
Other big-name competitors that will be racing in the Rolex 24 include IndyCar drivers James Hinchcliffe, Conor Daly and Sebastien Bourdais. Hinchcliffe is competing in the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class, Daly is in the PC class and Bourdais is a teammate to Dixon and Kanaan in the GTLM class.
