Strong Sophomore Run For GB Autosport in Rolex 24 At Daytona
Daytona Beach, Fla. (25 January 2015) – Just one year after their debut in the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and the Rolex 24 At Daytona, GB Autosport returned to Daytona International Speedway and tackled the grueling endurance event like seasoned veterans this weekend.
A promising run that saw the No. 81 Tully’s Coffee Porsche 911 GT America lead laps throughout the first half of the event was hindered as a night time incident forced them behind the wall for repairs. But the teamwork and fast action of the GB Autosport squad allowed the ‘Coffee Rocket’ to quickly return racing and bring home a seventh place finish.
For the world-famous endurance event, the Tully’s Coffee-sponsored team assembled an international pool of talent for their driver lineup, with Irishman Damien Faulkner, Americans Michael Avenatti and Mike Skeen, Polish star Kuba Giermaziak and Scotsman Rory Butcher, with two of the drivers (Butcher and Skeen) leading laps throughout the event.
An issue during the qualifying session robbed the team a chance to set a proper time and forced them to start from the back of the pack. But the team did not allow the disappointment to deter their podium focus. No stranger to the Porsche GT America machinery or to hustling the ‘Coffee Rocket’ up the pack, Faulkner took the green flag and immediately set to work, making his way all the way into the top-10 before the first caution period fell just under an hour into the event.
But as the race picked up steam, a challenging moment arose as fluid sent Faulkner spinning out of control at full-speed. After a quick pit stop to assess the car and fix the bodywork, Faulkner was able to rejoin the field in 12th position.
Thankfully, the rest of Faulkner’s first long stint played out drama-free for Team Tully’s as the Porsche ace raced up to run as high as second place before pitting to hand the car over to Butcher.
Butcher’s stint began quietly as he steadily worked his way up to third position. He encountered a small hiccup just under six hours into the race when contact from a competitor put him into the barrier and robbed him of his hard-earned positions. But Butcher refused to quit and almost immediately regained the lost positions and continued his charge up the pack. A subsequent stop for fuel as the crew managed to sort out the drivers request for a banana, Butcher made the most of the fresh tires and slotted into the class lead.
The plucky Scot continued to demonstrate his quick adaptation to the multi-class chaos that can emerge at Daytona as he remained in the top-five, challenging for position until another bit of contact necessitated a pit stop.
The GB Autosport crew again displayed their excellent teamwork as they bandaged the battle-worn car and took advantage of the stop to do a driver change and buckled Skeen in for his first stint. After rejoining the field under caution in seventh position, Skeen followed in the footsteps of Butcher to work his way up to lead the class in short order after returning to green flag racing.
For the remainder of his stint, Skeen kept his head down and kept the No. 81 in fighting position, leading the field off and on, as he maintained pace with the leaders and pitted just before the 10-hour mark to hand controls over to Avenatti.
Avenatti rejoined the field securely in seventh position and went to racing under the lights of Daytona International Speedway. Unfortunately, an issue in Turn-1 left Avenatti with damage to the front left end of the car and forced the team to take the ailing ‘Coffee Rocket’ behind the wall for repairs.
Although no team looks to have issues during a race, GB Autosport entered the lengthy endurance event prepared for anything and the excellent crew made quick work of extensive damage to return the Porsche to the track in under half an hour.
A quick stop in pit lane for Avenatti allowed him to pass the controls over to Giermaziak and drive into the night. Thanks to the speedy work of the crew, Giermaziak rejoined the field just outside of the top-10, prepared to make up for lost time.
The balance of Giermaziak’s night stint in the car finished without incident as he powered the battered but strong Porsche around the course, eventually handing it over to Butcher just over the 13-hour mark.
Butcher and Skeen both put in stints throughout the night and into the early hours of the morning, each steadily ticking off laps and making up for lost time as they combined to pilot the ‘Coffee Rocket’ back into the top-10 as the sun rose over the Speedway.
By the time the famous Rolex clock showed just over six hours remaining to race, it was time for Faulkner to again hop back behind the wheel of the ‘Coffee Rocket’ and turn some laps.
Excellent strategy calls gave the Tully’s Coffee-sponsored team back a few lost laps, but the pace of the overall race ultimately left Giermaziak unable to compete for a podium as he completed his last stint and handed the car over to Avenatti, who drove the car home the final hour and half of the race and made an excellent pass for position late in the going to take it to the checkered flag in seventh place.
Despite having spent almost an hour longer in the pits than the class leader due to contact from multiple competitors, the team proved their strength by persevering to an impressive top-10 finish and were also the third place Porsche finisher.
“Seventh place at Daytona is not a bad result at all and it is definitely an improvement over last year,” said Team Manager Cole Scrogham after the race. “But I have won a few of these and I will tell you, once you get a taste of that it is hard to swallow anything less. Especially when you have worked so hard. It took everything out of my cookbook to get that car from 17th to the top in just six and half hours. And then when you get that done you start believing that this could be the one. But Daytona dashes your hopes in just a few minutes and the laps are so hard to get back here. Seventh is a great result, but we had hoped for more. And it goes without saying that I am so pleased with the crew. It’s a great group of guys and they never gave up. We are just right on the edge of being great so we are looking forward to Sebring.”
GB Autosport now has a six-week break in action before they go back racing at Sebring International Raceway on March 18-21.
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GB Autosport Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Quotes:
Damien Faulkner – “In my second stint we were having a few small issues with the gearbox so for me it was just a matter of being smooth and making no mistakes. I got to have a few good battles out there so that was a lot of fun. I’m very proud of Michael Avenatti and how he brought the car home. He did a great job and had a really nice, steady stint and did a great job getting position back from the No. 33 Viper at the end, I couldn’t have done any better myself. We didn’t come here to finish seventh, we definitely wanted to finish higher, we were really shooting for the podium and if we hadn’t lost so many laps refitting the radiator then I think we could have done that. But that is all ifs, buts, and maybes and at the end of the day seventh is not a bad result and I am so pleased with the whole team. The crew was up the whole time and worked so tirelessly and Mario (Prezel, Engineer) and Cole (Scrogham, Team Manager), they are always there, like soldiers so I’m really happy with everyone. I think we performed really well as a team and now on to the next.”
Michael Avenatti – “This race was not without its drama, like any 24-hour race. But this race is really all about the crew that we have assembled and the great job that they did. And especially after the incident in the middle of the night, these guys have come so far in a year and are really the best crew in the paddock. I don’t think I can speak highly enough of them and the job they do and their hard work and perseverance. These guys have a lot of character and I am just really proud to call myself a member of their team. This is the second time I have had the chance to take the checkered flag at Daytona and it is always a thrill. I wish we could have been on the podium but seventh is not bad at all and we have started the season off well.”
Rory Butcher – “My very first stint was just mad, crazy things were happening. For instance, an Audi spun in front of me on a yellow while he was warming up his tires and clipped our car. And then about 20 minutes later the Ferrari spun me in Turn-6 so it was really lucky to just bring the car back in one piece, much less a top-10 finish. It was so exciting as well though, to be able to make up some places off of the restart and lead our class was so cool. The team were all really great, giving me high fives and everything. My second stint was more challenging just because it was so early in the morning and I hadn’t had any sleep, but I was able to keep concentration and a consistent pace. It’s a shame we weren’t able to get on the podium like I feel like we could have been but it is quite an achievement just to finish the race. I’m absolutely delighted with this opportunity with GB Autosport and how all of the guys have treated me. I’m so impressed with how the mechanics handle themselves, especially in situations where things go wrong. They managed to solve any problems really quickly. So I’d just like to say thanks to Michael (Avenatti) and Tully’s Coffee and Cole (Scrogham) and also Damien (Faulkner) because he has been a great support as well.”
Mike Skeen – “It was a great opportunity for me to get to run with GB Autosport in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. We mesh really well and had a lot of fun, regardless of the troubles we had in the race. That is kind of what you expect coming to a 24-hour race, it is going to be tough and you are going to have problems. But we came out with a solid top-10 finish and we were one of the higher finishing Porsches so that is great. I’m excited to be going to Sebring now with everyone with a bit of momentum having worked with everybody and having gotten a feel for how everyone works and I think we will be strong.”
Kuba Giermaziak – “My first stint was really pretty good, the pace was good and we were the fastest Porsche running and until we had the issue in the middle of the night we were constantly the fastest Porsche on track. If you calculate that we did spend over an hour more in the pits than the leader then we would probably at least have been fighting for a podium. So of course it is a shame, but in a 24-hour race we just needed to bring it safely home, we just had some unlucky things happen. I think with everything that happened to us in the race, seventh place is a really good result. For me personally I was really happy to work with GB Autosport, this was my first race with them and I hope we can do more because I really enjoyed it. The whole team did a great job and the mechanics repaired the car so fast so I’m happy with this result.”