| RACE NEWS & VIEWS |
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| January 2024 News |
| Article Index |
01/11 - Haas F1 Replaces Team Principal
01/18 - Marco Andretti Racing Stock Cars
01/21 - Fastest Field Ever for Rolex 24
01/18 - Marco Andretti Racing Stock Cars
01/21 - Fastest Field Ever for Rolex 24
Haas F1 Replaces Team Principal
Jan 11 - Guenther Steiner has ran the Haas F1
team for Gene Haas since it's inception in 2016.
Steiner is being replaced by their engineering
director Ayao Komatsu, who has also been with
the team since it's beginning.
Haas F1, the only "American" team on the grid,
has never had a podium finish.
Their best year was in 2019 when drivers Kevin
Magnussen and Romain Grosjean helped them
finish 5th in the championship with 93 points.
In 2021, with rookies Mick Schumacher and
Nikita Mazepin, they finished last with zero
points. They also finished in last place in 2023.
I've thought from the beginning that Steiner was
clueless and over his head. I'm surprised Haas
has stuck with him all of these years. His williness
to talk to the media gave them some exposure at
least.
Jan 11 - Guenther Steiner has ran the Haas F1
team for Gene Haas since it's inception in 2016.
Steiner is being replaced by their engineering
director Ayao Komatsu, who has also been with
the team since it's beginning.
Haas F1, the only "American" team on the grid,
has never had a podium finish.
Their best year was in 2019 when drivers Kevin
Magnussen and Romain Grosjean helped them
finish 5th in the championship with 93 points.
In 2021, with rookies Mick Schumacher and
Nikita Mazepin, they finished last with zero
points. They also finished in last place in 2023.
I've thought from the beginning that Steiner was
clueless and over his head. I'm surprised Haas
has stuck with him all of these years. His williness
to talk to the media gave them some exposure at
least.
| Ayao Komatsu & Guenther Steiner 2019 |
Fastest Field Ever for Rolex 24
Jan 21 - New track records are not a frequent
occurrence at Daytona International Speedway.
But perfect, cool conditions, combined with a
year’s worth of development on the Grand Touring
Prototype (GTP) cars that comprise the top class
of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar
Championship, created a festival of speed Sunday
in qualifying for the 62nd running of the Rolex 24
At Daytona.
Defending GTP class champion Pipo Derani
smashed the five-year-old benchmark for the
3.56-mile Daytona road course en route to the
Motul Pole Award, lapping the famous facility in
1 minute, 32.656 seconds (138.318 mph) in the
No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R. That edged
the similar Cadillac Racing entry prepared by Chip
Ganassi Racing and driven by Sebastien
Bourdais by 0.071 seconds.
Derani, who also claimed the 2021 IMSA Daytona
Prototype International (DPi) championship and
owns a prior overall victory in the Rolex 24 (2016),
was more than a second under the existing track
record of 1:33.685 established by Oliver Jarvis in
a Mazda DPi in 2019. Prior to that, one must go all
the way back to 1993 to find a faster trip around
DIS, when PJ Jones set what would be an
enduring target near the end of IMSA’s original
GTP era in the All American Racers Toyota Eagle
Mk III.
All nine GTP cars that participated in Sunday’s
qualifying session lapped faster than Jarvis’
previous track record.
Jan 21 - New track records are not a frequent
occurrence at Daytona International Speedway.
But perfect, cool conditions, combined with a
year’s worth of development on the Grand Touring
Prototype (GTP) cars that comprise the top class
of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar
Championship, created a festival of speed Sunday
in qualifying for the 62nd running of the Rolex 24
At Daytona.
Defending GTP class champion Pipo Derani
smashed the five-year-old benchmark for the
3.56-mile Daytona road course en route to the
Motul Pole Award, lapping the famous facility in
1 minute, 32.656 seconds (138.318 mph) in the
No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R. That edged
the similar Cadillac Racing entry prepared by Chip
Ganassi Racing and driven by Sebastien
Bourdais by 0.071 seconds.
Derani, who also claimed the 2021 IMSA Daytona
Prototype International (DPi) championship and
owns a prior overall victory in the Rolex 24 (2016),
was more than a second under the existing track
record of 1:33.685 established by Oliver Jarvis in
a Mazda DPi in 2019. Prior to that, one must go all
the way back to 1993 to find a faster trip around
DIS, when PJ Jones set what would be an
enduring target near the end of IMSA’s original
GTP era in the All American Racers Toyota Eagle
Mk III.
All nine GTP cars that participated in Sunday’s
qualifying session lapped faster than Jarvis’
previous track record.
DRIVER
Tom Blomqvist
Scott Dixon
Alex Palou
Josef Newgarden
Colton Herta
Marcus Ericsson
Pato O'Ward
Felix Rosenqvist
Kyffin Simpson
Christian Rasmussen
Scott McLaughlin
Kyle Kirkwood
Alex Rossi
Romain Grosjean
Tom Blomqvist
Scott Dixon
Alex Palou
Josef Newgarden
Colton Herta
Marcus Ericsson
Pato O'Ward
Felix Rosenqvist
Kyffin Simpson
Christian Rasmussen
Scott McLaughlin
Kyle Kirkwood
Alex Rossi
Romain Grosjean
CLASS
GTP
GTP
GTP
GTP
GTP
GTP
LMP2
LMP2
LMP2
LMP2
LMP2
GTD PRO
GTD PRO
GTD PRO
GTP
GTP
GTP
GTP
GTP
GTP
LMP2
LMP2
LMP2
LMP2
LMP2
GTD PRO
GTD PRO
GTD PRO
| CAR# 31 01 01 7 40 10 2 22 81 18 8 14 9 60 |
IndyCar Drivers Racing the Rolex 24:
| GTP Pole - Pipo Derani - 1st on grid |
| LMP2 Pole - Ben Keating - 10th on grid |
| GTD Pro - Seb Priaulx - 23rd on grid |
Race starts at 2pm on Saturday, January 27th.
| POLE SITTERS |
Jan 21 - 14 current IndyCar drivers are racing in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona
Marco Andretti Racing Stock Cars
Jan 18 - Marco Andretti is planning to race more in stock cars this year. He has signed
with Cook Racing Technologies to compete in 13 ARCA races and 7 Nascar Truck series
races.
For the past three seasons, Andretti has competed in the six-race SRX Series, which is run
on short asphalt and dirt oval tracks during the summer. He won a race in his first season
and won the series championship in 2022.
His most recent IndyCar start came in last year’s Indianapolis 500, when he finished 17th in
an entry fielded by Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian.
Andretti made his NASCAR national series debut in 2022 in the Xfinity Series, competing at
the Charlotte Roval. During the 2023 season, he made three Truck starts, all with Spire
Motorsports.
Jan 18 - Marco Andretti is planning to race more in stock cars this year. He has signed
with Cook Racing Technologies to compete in 13 ARCA races and 7 Nascar Truck series
races.
For the past three seasons, Andretti has competed in the six-race SRX Series, which is run
on short asphalt and dirt oval tracks during the summer. He won a race in his first season
and won the series championship in 2022.
His most recent IndyCar start came in last year’s Indianapolis 500, when he finished 17th in
an entry fielded by Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian.
Andretti made his NASCAR national series debut in 2022 in the Xfinity Series, competing at
the Charlotte Roval. During the 2023 season, he made three Truck starts, all with Spire
Motorsports.