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 DAYTONA,
FL (February 1) -- Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. had a successful debut,
both on and off the track, in the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona
this past weekend. The 24-hour race placed demands not only on the
teams and drivers, but also on the 20-plus members of the Hoosier
staff that were on hand to service the event. The race had it all,
with racing under the sun, under the moon, and in the rain. Despite
the dramatic changes in the racing conditions, the Hoosier brand never
faltered in the new Super Grand Sport (SGS) class competing in the
24-hour endurance race. Fifty-three teams were entered in this year's
race, including Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Scott Pruett to
name just a few of the skilled drivers competing in the event. Three
different classes compete in the event including the headline Daytona
Prototypes (DP), the Grand Touring (GT) and the SGS class. In the end,
it was the 30th qualifying team of Doncaster Racing that finished
first in the SGS class christening in the Hoosier-era in the Rolex
Series. The team, consisting of Jean-Francois Dumoulin, Robert Julien, Greg Pootmans and Marc
Lieb, finished an amazing 9th overall ahead of many of the higher
horsepowered cars in both the DP and GT classes. The event was the
first of 12 in the Rolex Sports Car Series sanctioned by the Grand
American Road Racing Association.
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 The
overall winner among the 53 competing teams in the Rolex 24 at Daytona
race was Bell Motorsports in the #54 Pontiac Doran. They beat out the
Howard-Boss Motorsports team driven by Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt,
Jr., and Andy Wallace which held as much as a 3-lap lead until a
late-race suspension problem ended their chances of winning. Bell
Motorsports drivers Terry Borcheller, Forest Barber, Andy Pilgrim and
Christian Fittipaldi pocketed $100,000--the largest ever payout in
Grand-Am Series history. Finishing in 2nd overall and 1st in
the GT class was Orbit Racing. The new Hoosier-only SGS class was won
by the Doncaster Racing #91 Porsche GT3-Cup finishing 9th overall. The
team, consisting of Jean-Francois Dumoulin, Robert Julien, Greg Pootmans and Marc
Lieb, had a best lap time of 1:59.699. Finishing in 2nd place in
the SGS class (12th overall) was the Turbo Performance Team #38
Porsche GT3-Cup driven by Randy Probst, Marc Bunting, Andy Lally, John
Littlechild, and Michael Levitas with an average lap time of 1:59.361.
Rounding out the final podium spot (13th overall) was the #71
Porsche GT3-Cup Doncaster Racing with an average lap time of 1:59.549.
The 3rd place SGS team was driven by Dave Lacey, Greg Wilkins, Mark
Wilkins, Tom Nastasi, and Kenny Wilden.
The top finishing SGS team pocketed $13,500 for their
efforts. The winning team members in each of the three classes also received a
specially engraved Rolex watch valued at $6,100 each. A total of 15
watches were awarded valued at $91,500.
The Hoosier-tired SGS cars more than held their
own finishing in 9th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 19th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 27th,
29th, 30th, 31st, 38th, 39th and ahead of eight DP cars and six GT
class cars. The DP class runs on Goodyear tires and the GT class runs
on Dunlop tires.
The 24-hour Rolex race also experienced yellow flag racing due to
rain which tested the Hoosier rain tires. According to Hoosier
Grand-Am Track Service Manager Tim
Gilvin both the slick and the wet tires performed extremely
well as evidenced by the stellar finishing positions.
Driver Jean-Francois Dumoulin commented, "It
was great. The setup was really good on our car and the (Hoosier)
tires worked really perfect for that. In the dry conditions the car
was really fantastic and in the rain, especially when it was really
wet, I was surprised how good the tires were. But as soon as it dried
off, it got a little bit of bumps but I was really, really happy with
the performance of the car and the tires in the really wet
conditions."
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 Hoosier's
Tim Gilvin
stated, "It was a tremendous effort throughout the 24-hour event on behalf of the entire Hoosier support staff. It was
the first time our corporate staff has ever been involved in this type
of high-profile endurance event and I'd say we passed with flying
colors. We broke down into several teams which allowed some members to
get some sleep while others who weren't resting [were able] to maintain Hoosier's
high-level of track-side service during the entire event."
Gilvin
concluded, "We received so many compliments from Grand-Am
officials and competitors on the appearance of our support personnel
who were sporting Hoosier drivers suits, as well as, the unrivaled
service provided by the entire Hoosier staff that were on hand for the
historic event."
The
Rolex Series will next race on February 26-28, at Homestead-Miami
Speedway in 250-mile event.
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