With Joe Policastro, Jay Policastro and me left over from last year's driver line-up, we selected Johnny Mowlem and Robin Liddell to fill out the remaining slots. This gave me great cause for optimism heading into the race as both of them are very fast drivers with lots of Porsche experience and are veterans of many twenty-four hour races.

PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING

You always have very little practice time during the two days leading up to the race because you have to cycle in all the drivers and the crew has to have time to make all the necessary preparations for the race.

Fortunately, we had a very successful test weekend in early January and had developed a pretty good understanding of what we wanted from the car.

After two practice sessions I qualified our car third in GT, but unfortunately our results were thrown out for a paperwork violation and we had to qualify again on Friday after the first thirty positions had been locked in. On the second day we were the quickest GT car and actually set the fastest qualifying time of any GT3RS on either day, but we still had to start the race in thirty-second position overall. I wasn't particularly upset by this since we had plenty of time to make up the positions.

THE RACE

The start of the 24 Hours of Daytona is always a little nerve wracking because you never want to be the guy who takes one in the door with twenty-three and a half hours remaining. We also had the added element of uncertain weather although at race time it was still dry.

I got off to a cautious, but strong start. We were planning to start by doing single stints and then moving to doubles after the first time through the line up. My first run ended up at a stint and a half because we made a fuel stop during the caution period at the thirty minute mark so I stayed in the car. We were moving up steadily and by the seventy minute mark I had moved us into the lead in the GT class. Robin and Johnny followed with strong stints and we made a good call in the pits so by the time I got back in at around 5:30pm we were leading the GT class by a lap.

By the time Johnny Mowlem got into the car it had already started to rain. It wasn't a genuine downpour, but rather a constant drizzle that kept the track surface covered in a layer of water. I found the rain stints to be a lot of fun, provided that the visibility was adequate. I did a double stint, staying in until around 6:15pm without incident. When I pitted Johnny got back in and he and Robin each ran double stints, which got us to about 11:40pm.

I got in next at 11:40pm and this time there was some drama. During the pit stop we neglected to clean the windshield,which immediately became impossible to see through. I was pretty much guessing where the track was and trying to look out the side windows to find references that would get me around the course. I almost drove right into the turn two guard rail on several occasions. I drove off the right side of the road on the way to the kink once. The bus stop was impossible to navigate. I would look at the green lights on the banking and when I got to the last one I would start to count. When I got to a certain number I would brake for the bus stop and hope I was somewhere near the right spot. When I was following another car and the spray factored into the equation it was even worse. We were having radio problems - we could hear the crew, but they couldn't hear us - and I didn't really know how much time I was losing until I pitted. I should have pitted immediately and had the windshield cleaned. I could have made the pit stop back in a few laps.

When the stint finally came to an end, I pitted for fuel and a window cleaning and went back out. Within a few laps Rodger was calling me on the radio to say that we were the fastest GT car on the track. When I finally came in at 1:45am, I looked at the difference in the lap times, and realized how much time I had cost us by staying out when I couldn't see. It was over a lap, but I made some of it back in the second stint, so in total our lead fell from three laps to two while I was in the car.

Robin drove for the next hour and a half and I went back to the trailer to try and relax. While I was lying down there was a full course caution and the radio problems caused us to miss a wave by which cost us another lap. Our lead was down to one lap over the Flying Lizard car.

Shortly thereafter, there was a three hour full course caution. Conditions were bad initially, but then the track was in pretty good shape and they just kept circulating the cars under yellow. The rumor was that the tire companies were out of rain tires and we wouldn't have enough left to finish the race without a protracted caution period. I doubt anybody would have anticipated twenty hours of rain, but that's what we got.

I got back in the car at 7:10am and it went green after a few laps. Within a lap or two it started to rain worse than it had the entire race. This time my windshield was in pretty good shape, but the rain was coming down so hard that it was overwhelming the windshield wipers. They just couldn't push the water away fast enough to provide any visibility. At least this time everyone else was in the same boat - no pun intended.

The track went full course yellow just as about five cars hydroplaned off the track. Shortly thereafter the race was red flagged for the first time since the 1980's. The red flag lasted from 7:27am until 10:10am. I got out and sat in the pits watching it continue to pour. When it finally cleared up I took the wheel with about three hours remaining.

We restarted in wet conditions. The Flying Lizard Porsche was about six or seven cars ahead of me in line, almost a full lap down. Porsche factory driver Mike Rockenfeller was behind the wheel. When the green flag dropped I pushed hard to get through the traffic in front of me, but it was very difficult because many of the remaining car's positions were already well established this late in the race, so they weren't bothering to go very fast. I'm sure some of them were wondering why I was in such a rush, but we couldn't afford to give up any more of our lead. When we both got through the traffic and things stabilized, Rockenfeller was about fourteen seconds up the road. We were definitely two of the fastest cars on the track at that point. We were running roughly the same lap times and the gap didn't really change as long as it was wet.

As the track dried out we both pitted for slick tires. When I left the pits the car was darting from right to left abruptly on all parts of the track. At first I thought maybe it was the cold, new tires, but that sort of thing usually goes away in a lap and a half. I started to worry that one of the front wheels didn't get put on properly during the pit stop. It was very violent and went well beyond a vibration. I thought about pitting, but I knew that if we added an extra stop we would probably lose the race. For a while, I tried to baby the car thinking that it might keep the wheel on, but I started to lose a tremendous amount of time to the second place car. He was quickly another thirty seconds up the road and gaining.

I decided that the wheel would either stay on or it wouldn't and I started to push very hard. I was able to stop the bleeding and the gap stabilized. I finally pitted at 11:35am and Johnny took over the controls. After the pit stop we still had a one minute and fifteen second lead. Both cars were going to have to stop for a splash of fuel so as long as Johnny could run close to Rockenfeller's pace we would be okay.

Unfortunately, we had lost the rear window in the early morning hours and the air was traveling over the roof and inside the car and causing a parachute effect on the straights. Johnny was still able to maintain most of the gap until the last round of stops with about half an hour to go.

The weather was looking very uncertain at this point. Fortunately for us, the Flying Lizard team had to pit before we did so we didn't have to guess on tires. We just decided we would do whatever they did. They took on two right side tires and some fuel, which meant they were staying on slicks. Their stop took forty seconds.

We told our guys that we were going to do the same thing on our stop and that they had to do it in less than forty seconds. Our guys came up big in the clutch and nailed the stop in twenty-four seconds, adding another sixteen seconds to Johnny's lead.

The rest of the race was treacherous. Both cars were on slicks and the track was starting to get pretty damp. With nothing to lose at this point Rockenfeller was pushing very hard, and going quite quickly for the conditions. Johnny just needed to hang on to the car and keep a quick enough pace to keep Rockenfeller at bay. He did what he needed to do and we ended up winning the race by less than seven seconds. It was my second class win at the 24 Hours of Daytona and consequently my second Rolex, but certainly the most exciting one.

It was an amazing battle between two very good teams over twenty-four hours in the worst possible conditions. To come down to the last lap of the race, and with such a small margin of victory was incredible. Joe and Jay Policastro, Johnny and Robin, Rodger Hawley and the entire Orbit crew (which included my brother Paul as pit strategist) were all magnificent throughout the test days and the entire race weekend. This one definitely took everything that all of us could muster.