We woke this morning to clouds and a light, steady drizzle. Knowing the cars would be out regardless, we hustled to get dressed and out the door. I turned off the radio when we got within half a mile of the track – no need for tunes when there are racecars running! We jumped out of the car just in time to see them coming in from the first practice of the day. Perfect timing for our first jaunt through the paddock. Again, concentrating was hard. Every turn found us face to face with another gorgeous car and their drivers.
I had a chance to talk with Paul Dalla Lana for about 15 minutes. He revealed the M3 took 2 full seasons to shake out the kinks! I asked him about his pre-race routine: he skips all the pre-race fanfare on pit road and “gets quiet”. After seeing the madness on pit road before the BMW Performance 200, I can’t blame him! It was mayhem with seemingly every fan out to get pictures with their favorite drivers and cars.
Before we knew it was race time. “Drivers… Start your engines!” and they were off for a couple of reconnaissance laps. Cars were already sideways, backwards and generally off track through Turn 2 due to the wet conditions. The race hadn’t even started!
Nevertheless, the new BMW M5 pace car peeled off. The GS class came through first with everyone jockeying for position while trying to keep it on the track.
The ST class was next and surprisingly, they kept the start clean too. The drivers seemed to be settling into a good rhythm when the GS cars started lapping those in the ST class. You guessed it: Yellow flag. It meant everyone could duck into the pits to put slicks on though. The track was drying quickly and things were about to speed up. (Full disclosure: We have a particular interest in the Turner cars seeing as Will has helped us out the past year and will continue to do so in 2012.) The TMS cars came out of the pits tail to nose.
Then Said and Auberlin started to pick their way through the field. We were on the edge of our seats as they went from 14the & 15th… up to 9th and 10th… up to 6th and 7th (the 96 car qualified 14th, the 97 car qualified 26th)! It was a brutal finish with several yellows the last 25 minutes of the race. Every
restart had us up on our feet, hoping no one would get punted… passed… or both. In the end, the Rousch Mustang beat the rest of the field with relative ease.
And that was just the warm-up race! Rolex 24 starts tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned for more updates from Daytona!
Nevertheless, the new BMW M5 pace car peeled off. The GS class came through first with everyone jockeying for position while trying to keep it on the track.
restart had us up on our feet, hoping no one would get punted… passed… or both. In the end, the Rousch Mustang beat the rest of the field with relative ease.
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