But even before getting into the car to win his newest timepiece, the custom-built Rolex Daytona Chronograph that is awarded only to the winning drivers, Negri felt like he had everything he needed, right at home, with wife Cláudia and his daughters Nathalia and Ana Cláudia.

Success in auto racing often requires equal parts fortune, good luck, and talent. Following a path that many before him had travelled Negri, who was karting teammates with the late Formula 1 World Champion Ayrton Senna, rode the wave of multiple karting championships to be named “Driver of the Year” in his first season of Formula Ford competition.

Without the same sponsorship as others, though, his path was often forked as he took whatever opportunity he could find to keep racing. That attitude saw him impress as he went up against some of the biggest names in the sport, even though he often didn’t have the current year car, or best chassis. He fought his way up to British Formula 3 and won, returning to do the same in the highly competitive International Formula 3. But when the next step to Formula 1 didn’t materialize, Negri didn’t give up, moving to Mexico to keep racing single seaters, and winning the Indy Lights Pan-Am Championship.

A shot at the US-based Indy Lights championship, which proved to be the launching pad for compatriots Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves, came in compromised equipment. Despite showing flashes of speed, it didn’t lead to the next thing for Negri.

But he never stopped working. His sensitive feel for a race car and his ability to break down what it took to make the car faster made him an ideal development driver and driver coach. First for Skip Barber and then for Formula BMW, Negri was asked to develop not just the cars, but also the drivers who were racing them. Turns out, his tips were sculpting the next generation of racers as drivers like Graham Rahal, AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and James Hinchcliff, all benefitted from Negri’s coaching.

But as much as he enjoyed the huge seat time and seeing his young racers progress, what Negri really wanted was the same as ever–to race and win.

Fortunately, his coaching helped to create new opportunity, as a partnership with Mark Patterson saw the duo turn an exploratory run of races in 2005-which netted a pole and a podium-into a five year run in Rolex Series competition that yielded two big race wins and two Pro-Am Championships for Patterson. After Patterson moved his racing focus to the global stage, Pew was tabbed to join Negri, and responded with aplomb, also winning the Pro-Am Championship twice (2010, 2011) and constantly impressing with stout lap times.

“I can’t even begin to describe what kind of influence Ozz has had on my team,” offered Team Owner Mike Shank, who seems to generate as much loyalty as he shows. “He put this organization in position to win the 24, and it all goes back to 2004 when we first ran him and he got us on the podium in just our second Rolex Series race. Ozz was the guy who developed Mark (Patterson, 2-time Rolex Series race winner and 2-time Pro-Am Champion with MSR Daytona), and John (Pew) into the drivers that they are today.”

The big win at Daytona was a welcome relief for the group, which had previously taken second in the 2006 running of the race.

“I mean we worked very very hard, for several years, to earn this,” said Negri. “Every day, at the kart track working with John (Pew), and training for the triathlons, and working on data, all those pieces came together for that win. It is incredibly gratifying to have it all come together the way it did, for me and for Mike, John, AJ, and Justin. I’ve had ups and downs and it’s in those times that you know who is on your side, and who isn’t. Mike (Shank) and John (Pew) put so much faith in me to perform, and it feels so good to have that turn into a result like this. You have to relish this moment because we all know how very hard it is to have everything come together perfectly to win a race like this.”

But for Negri, his life away from the track is even more complete than the one he lives at it. While his racing luck before joining up with Shank was not always enviable, his fortune off the track was much better.

“Claudia (wife) was my next door nieghbor and I met her when I was 13. I’m so lucky,” said Negri, before going into the tales of having her by his side as he was racing in England, living off of almost nothing. Now with two teenage daughters and recently re-settling in Aventura, Negri is relishing every day.

“This is all icing on the cake,” says Negri of the Rolex win. “For me, being with my daughters and my wife is the perfect day. It doesn’t matter what we do. It’s family, and that’s the biggest thing. I have to sacrifice some of that time to go out and race and to train, but I am very blessed to have their support and understanding. I feel so happy with the Rolex win, but it’s nothing compared to what I have at home.”

The 50th Anniversary race win was well-documented, with thousands of images capturing the event, the crowd, and the highlight moments of the weekend. But for Negri, there is one favorite image of the entire race.

“Me and Nathalia hugging in victory lane. THAT is the photo I’ll be getting for the house!” smiled Negri.

It’s been awhile since I have done my last blog and a lot has happened since our last race of 2011 to say the least!!

Where  do I start?

The first great thing was the announcement that we formed a new Indycar team for 2012. My partners on this project are local Columbus, Ohio  businessman Brian  Bailey and NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger. We purchased the equipment and took  delivery of chassis #15. We have also announced that we will run Lotus power in the car.

A lot has  been written about who will drive the Indycar for us and what  I can tell you is that we are doing everything we can to be on the grid at St. Petersburg for race #1. Paul Tracy is our leading candidate and we are working on this every day to make this happen.

I feel like I need to also  acknowledge the death of Dan Wheldon. Almost everything has been said that can at this point and I will only add that this was a tragic accident and was the first time that I have lost somebody that I have worked with directly. It’s very hard to cope with knowing that he had a wife and kids.

The one great thing is that our team was able to put a Daytona Prototype two-seater ride in the auction and it raised a good chunk of dough for his family.

During this off season we knew we would have to update our G2 Riley to a new G3 Riley. The timing of this change-over got pushed back pretty severely during the early winter. While  we waited for the new car,  a critical move for us was running the G2 car at the November tests to work on our mechanical package. This one step really helped our engineers to get the chassis really balanced.

As we approached the beginning of December we started to really put our plans together for both the No. 6 car and the No. 60 car. In the  No. 60, we decided to go back to the driver lineup that almost won it for me in 2006:

John  Pew, Ozz Negri, Justin Wilson and AJ Allmendinger. In the No. 6 car, we brought back Michael McDowell and added the Sunoco Daytona Challenge  winner Felipe Nasr, as well as Jorge Goncalvez and Gustavo Yacaman. A really young bunch of guys that have a ton of potential.

We were able to take delivery of the first Riley G3 car in the middle of December. It was a lot of work that my guys at MSR and the Riley tech guys hit hard for a week solid to finish the car. We headed straight to Daytona for a one-day test so that GRAND-AM could see how the car runs on the track. The plan was then to head right to  Windshear wind tunnel to verify what we had seen on the track.

The  one-day test at Daytona went very well. Pew and Allmendinger drove the car and both really felt the car was easy to drive and very balanced. We knew we needed to spend more time with it to really get the maximum out of it but for the first time to run the new body we were feeling pretty good.

One of the hardest issues we faced during the December test and the three-day  test was where we really stood relative to the other cars. I have been in this series for nine years and have never seen more sandbagging. All we could do was control our team and get the car as good as we could.

One other major factor was the air brake that GRAND-AM mandated for the G2 cars. At the three-day test, GRAND-AM made us run a 7 1/2 inch air brake between the wing mount plates  which really rendered the G2 cars uncompetitive. For the race we got GRAND-AM to relax the rules a bit and cut away half of it. Still far from fair for my No. 6 car.

We approached the three-day  test like we do every year. Each car has a very set plan based on who is driving. We really try to stick with this plan as we have learned over the years what’s most important to focus on depending on the drivers’ experience at the 24.

We knew that mechanically both cars were exactly where they needed to be and that we needed to maximize the aero program right away.

For the most part, all three days went very smoothly. We did have a crash with the No. 6 car but we were able to get that fixed and get the car back up to speed pretty quickly. All the drivers, engineers and crew really seemed to be working well together and we were very pleased.

For the next two weeks the guys at the shop worked from 7am until 8pm every night with only the one weekend off. There were huge lists of things to get done in every department, but I have to tell you that the guys got every single thing done – including our pit stop practice, spare body practice, fuel flow checks and loading the rigs!! All of that and not one complaint.

Approaching the race weekend we knew that we had very good racecars. We spent a lot of
time making sure that our cars were reliable. We have lost this race at least twice with broken car bits and it was  mandatory that we have zero failures.

We decided the week before that we would not go for the pole and stay focused on the race. Practice went exactly how we wanted. Both cars had good speed and would start the race from P6 for the No. 60 and P8 for the No. 6. Again, both cars were very balanced and ready for the race.

Next, a couple of things happened that set the tone. We had installed our race motors on Thursday night on both cars. Everything seemed normal and both cars got out for the second practice on Friday, but then it all fell off the tracks. First, the No. 6 car’s motor decided it was going to start to eat itself within six laps of practice – forcing an engine change right away. Next, the No. 60 car had abnormally high gearbox pressure and we did not know why.

The  engineer on the No. 60 (Dale Wise) insisted we not run the car like this and after much debate we decided to pull the pinion gear out to get to a port that  he predicted was  plugged. To every one’s surprise – he was right. After a four hour process we found two tiny bee-bee sized bits of rubber stuck in a port which would have ended the No. 60 car’s  race way early. A real miracle.

So with both cars 100%, we  were ready to start the 50th Rolex 24. We decided to do a leak check on the No. 6 car and start from the back. Not a huge deal and we knew that McDowell could handle the initial GT traffic and get back up front.

At the green flag Ozz moved forward in the No. 60.  He was up to P2 in short order and it looked very good for us right away. We went up to P1 before the second hour and Ozz reported that the car was very good and getting better with rubber going down on track. Meanwhile McDowell steadily moved forward and there were no  issues at all in either car.

As the hours wore on,  we got a sense that things were going to go our way. Both cars stayed on the lead lap for the majority of the race. All the drivers in both cars did their  stints and made virtually no mistakes. We talked for an hour in the team meeting and went over every thing that has taken us out of races in the previous eight years, and it appeared to have worked. We literally put gas, tires, oil and drivers in the cars. Not one issue!!

As the morning broke, Gustavo was in the No. 6 car and reported a flat tire. The best part of this is that he remembered exactly what to do when this happens and limped the car into the pit lane without hurting the car very much. The downside was that the car went two laps down while he limped it in. The upside was that the guys had managed to be running on the lead lap in P4 when this happened, and  based on our new Lucky Dog rule, the No. 6 car would soon be back on the lead lap after two more cautions. Great calls by the engineers on the No. 6 car (Petersen and Chrystos) had this car back in contention and one of only three cars on the lead lap.

For the No. 60 car there was something really brewing. We had been in the position in 2008, when the car was very fast and lady luck would turn its head on us, but this time felt different. For the entire 24 hours nobody seemed pressured. It was weird actually. I must have had 10 people tell me that everything seemed very calm in our tent the entire race almost like we expected to win. I can safely tell you that I did not feel that way!! I was worried about everything.

At around the 4am mark the No. 60 car engineers (Wise and Schaffner) and I decided a key moment in our race – we decided to mix up the driving order and triple stint Justin, Ozz and AJ until the end of the race. We also decided to end the race with AJ. I believe this was the key to our win and here’s why: by triple stinting our drivers we could rest AJ for 6-7 hours, let him have pure sleep. This plan worked perfectly.

Justin ran his triple – leading 80 laps and setting our team’s fastest  lap in this stint. Ozz kept the car at the front during his whole stint and had a mega battle with Allan McNish and kept the Le Mans winner at bay the entire time. Mind you neither one of these guys hurt the car even a little bit and both reported that the car seemed to be getting better!!

When it was time for AJ’s final stint, I could see he was ready to go. Completely clear headed and ready to do battle with the No. 8 and No. 01 cars.

What happened for the next 2 1/2 hours was some of the best wheel-to-wheel racing that the Daytona 24 has ever produced. AJ pulled huge moves off going around the outside of Turn 1 and could not be denied. With an hour to go it was clear that we controlled the race and we could set the gap at any level we wanted to. All that AJ asked was that we give him the gap and the lap time Dalziel was doing in the No. 8 car.

In the meantime the No. 6 car was back on the lead lap and still in the hunt in P4. When the No. 01 came in for its last stop, we all saw something you rarely see, the gearbox was broken on the No. 01. It was a freak of nature as the Ganassi car never breaks. This put our No. 6 car solidly in P3. Oh boy this was looking pretty good now!!

And then … We Win!!!! AND  P3!!! Holy Cow!!

How do I begin to explain how good this feels. We have been trying for nine  years and to finally pull it off and double podium at the same time…Wow!!

There are so many people to thank for all the support over the years but I’m going to  try:

THANK  YOU!!!!

Drivers:
John Pew, Ozz Negri, AJ Allmendinger, Justin Wilson, Michael McDowell, Felipe Nasr, Jorge Goncalvez, Gustavo Yacaman.

Past  Drivers: Mark Patterson, Paul Mears, Mike Borkowski, Zak Brown, Mark Blundell, Martin Brundle, Michael Valiante, Burt Frisselle, Brian Frisselle, Paul Tracy, Helio Castroneves, Ian James, Sam Hornish, Ken Wilden, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Raffa Matos,  Colin Braun, Marc Goossens, Kelly Collins, Mike Newton, Thomas Erdos, Graham Rahal, Ryan Dalziel, Cort Wagner.

Sponsors:
Ford Racing, Curb Records/Mike Curb, Live On, Continental Tire,

Team Members:
Marybeth  Shank, Dale Wise, Jeff Schaffner, Brett Dozmati, Justin Harnisfager, Dave Leiter, Darin Pigg, Kevin Wimer, Brian Goggin, Ralph Lohr, Tom Finley, Jeff Chrstos, Erik Petersen, Ed Daood, Trent Butterfield, Bob Lohr, Jason Givens, Brian Bailey, Dave Metz, Jason Prosnik, Jason Weiser, Craig Ford, Barry Waddell, Chris Wheeler, Packy Wheeler, Casey Heerman, Kim Freeman, Chris Howard, Ryan Marshall, Mike Curb, Rod McLeod , Jill, Carrie, Patrick Gallagher, Tara Ragan, Molly Kraus, Skippy Hutton.

Media:
Sunday Group Management: Matt Cleary.

Motor:
The Ford Motor Company Roush/Yates Engines-John Maddox, Adam McMaster, Jamie Allison, Pat Dimarco, Andy Slankard and Bernie Marcus.

Chassis:
Bill and Bob Riley and all the guys at Riley Tech.

And  finally a big thank you to my wife Marybeth for allowing us to take huge risks, not letting me over spend, and always having my back.

If I have missed somebody please accept my apology and know that we appreciate everyone that has had a hand in building this team to what it is today.

We have a lot to  be thankful for. Nine years of trying finally pays off. We have even more to look  forward to and I hope that all of you will continue to support us.

All  the Best,

Mike

“BurHop” co-drove the same car since the two joined the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge fulltime in 2007. Starting out by winning the ST championship with Turner Motorsport, they also shared the wheel for Compass360 Racing, RSR Motorsports and Kinetic Motorsports, racing BMWs, Acuras, Minis and Kias in 53 races. They both return to C360R in 2012 – with a major difference.

Burrows was signed to drive with Andrew Novich in the team’s No. 74 Dr. Kimberly Henry / Speed Secrets Honda Civic Si entry, with Hopwood tabbed to share the driving duties with experienced pilot Bo Roach in the No. 77 Joe Marina Honda/Luna-C Racing  Honda entry.

There were a lot of items on the to-do list as the pair took on new cars, new co-drivers, and a new season. But helping to make the transition easier was the fact that the duo were doing it in familiar surroundings, having run with C360R on the way to second in the championship in 2008 on the strength of two wins.

“Being back at C360 was a lot like coming home,” Burrows said. “In fact, it was like coming back to a newly renovated home. After we finished second in the 2008 championship, Ray (Lee, Technical Director) and Karl (Thomson, Team Principal) have gone on and finished first or second in every championship since. As good as the guys were with the Acuras back in 2008, they are even better now with the Honda Civics, and that high level of preparation was a huge attraction for us to come back.”

The Daytona race weekend had a bit of a first day of school feel as everyone got to know everyone else, and learned where everything was.

“It was different for both of us, but after Daytona, we know we’ve got some great co-drivers,” said Hopwood, who is a high-school teacher. “It was a fun weekend, just getting to know and work with Andrew and Bo. Fortunately, they are smart, quick guys who happen to also be a lot of fun to be around outside of the car. So it’s a new program for us, but you have to go where the opportunity is and that is the biggest thing for both of us. Ray and Karl really have a great program in place, and with the potential that the 2012 Honda Civic Si has already showed, I think there is a lot of optimism about how we can pick up some momentum this year.”

It wasn’t just in the garage where the two champions got a look at each other’s bumpers, as the two were on track battling for position late in the BMW Performance 200.

“Adam had the penalty and that played out with our pit stops so we were fighting over pretty much the same piece of track,” Hopwood said. “That was certainly a first for us in GRAND-AM, but we had done that for probably hundreds of laps in Spec Racers so it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

Despite getting along great with their new co-drivers and becoming acclimated to the new Honda Civic, It was still a bit odd for Burrows and Hopwood as the race weekend progressed.

“I had more than one moment where I’d look over and see Trevor also on the pit box during practice and I’d think, ‘wait, who is in the car?!” joked Burrows.

The duo will look to grow that momentum, and get a little more used to competing rather than sharing, when the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge resumes March 29 at Barber Motorsports Park.  Be on the lookout for an upcoming GRAND-AM video which will feature Hopwood, Roach, Burrows, and Novich as the foursome were handed the mic and interviewed each other as part of a special video series for GRAND-AM.

Having seen first hand the impact that some outside help can have on a racer’s career, Allmendinger is very pleased to announce a new program that will see a deserving young karter receive a scholarship to race in the 2012 World Karting Association championship starting March 23-25 at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, South Carolina. The scholarship winner will also be set to compete  in the Rotax Grand Nationals in August and SKUSA SuperNationals in November.

While Allmendinger was lucky enough to have a winning personality to go with his tremendous on-track skill set, he knows that being the full package is key to getting attention and earning the sponsorship and support needed to move up. To that end, the scholarship prize winner will also receive media and management training from Walldinger Racing, Allmendinger’s management firm.

Allmendinger’s scholarships included prizes from the Skip Barber Racing School (where he finished second in the 2001 National Championship and won the 2002 Barber Dodge Pro Series Championship) as well as being selected to compete by the TEAM USA Scholarship, run by  long time broadcaster and motorsports benefactor Jeremy Shaw.

“I was very lucky, so many different times through my career, to get the support that I needed to keep racing and keep moving up,” said Allmendinger, who opened the 2012 season with a win in the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona for Michael Shank Racing. “So I feel very fortunate to be in a position to try to help someone else who is trying to do the same thing. I’ve had really great partners through my career and I think you can expect some exciting announcements as we go forward with this program. I am really looking forward to this being the start of something good for some young racer out there.”

Beginning today, Serious applicants ages 13-16 are asked to send their CV, racing credentials, photo, and short summary of their racing goals to:

Karting@ajallmendinger.com

Deadline for entry is March 10, 2012.

NASCAR Now will air Monday-Friday with half-hour episodes originating from ESPN’s studios in Bristol, Ct. A one-hour weekend edition will air on the morning of each NASCAR Sprint Cup race and NASCAR Now will air a weekend wrap-up edition starting in late July when ESPN’s NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage begins with the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis.

AJ Allmendinger, driver of the Shell-Pennzoil Dodge for Penske Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, joins NASCAR Now this season as a guest reporter for the weekend edition programs. “The Daily Dinger” segment will feature Allmendinger in off-beat interviews around the racetracks with drivers, crew chiefs, fans and others or reporting on a unique aspect of that day’s race.

Mike Massaro will continue as the primary host of NASCAR Now with ongoing hosts Allen Bestwick, Nicole Briscoe, Marty Reid and Shannon Spake. ESPN SportsCenter anchors Lindsay Czarniak, Michael Yam and Michelle Bonner also will fill in as occasional NASCAR Now hosts. Marty Smith will again be the lead reporter for the program while Briscoe, Massaro and Spake will also serve as reporters.

Former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie of the year Ricky Craven will continue as an analyst for NASCAR Now and other ESPN studio programs such as SportsCenter. ESPN NASCAR analysts Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, Andy Petree, Tim Brewer and Brad Daugherty also will contribute to NASCAR Now as will ESPN pit reporters Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Dr. Jerry Punch and Vince Welch. NASCAR Now also will continue to have contributions from ESPN.com motorsports writers Ed Hinton, Terry Blount and David Newton along with ESPN the Magazine senior writer Ryan McGee and former NASCAR pit crew member D.J. Copp.

The program will originate from Daytona International Speedway for three shows surrounding the Daytona 500. In past years, NASCAR Now also has originated from remote locations including the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the White House, Chicago’s Navy Pier and other racetracks.

NASCAR Now and all of ESPN’s NASCAR television content is also viewable digitally through WatchESPN and WatchESPN.com, the groundbreaking online-accessible authenticated version of ESPN. WatchESPN is available on computers, smartphones and tablets through WatchESPN.com and the free WatchESPN app, which are accessible to fans who receive their video service from an affiliated provider.

Visit www.espnmediazone.com for ESPN’s latest releases, schedules and other news, plus photos, video and audio clips and more.

About NASCAR on ESPN:
ESPN produces comprehensive, multi-platform coverage featuring telecasts of the final 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup races, including the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Additionally, ESPN is the television home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series. ESPN’s NASCAR coverage extends to ESPN.com, SportsCenter, ESPN the Magazine, WatchESPN, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio and ESPN International, among other ESPN platforms. ESPN aired 262 NASCAR Cup Races over a 20-year period starting in 1981 and returned to NASCAR coverage in 2007. The network’s award-winning, live flag-to-flag coverage on ESPN has been honored with 19 Sports Emmy Awards, as well as many industry honors. It is widely credited for helping to popularize the sport nationwide.

Unfortunately in every sprint race, every step matters, and all it took was one quick misstep for the Frisselle brothers’ run in the 2012 Rolex 24 At Daytona to be compromised.

The pair joined Jim Lowe and Paul Tracy in the No. 77 Combos/Circle K Ford-Dallara for the historic 50th running of the event and battled back after an early-race motor issue to finish seventh.

Brian qualified the car 10th and as he opened the 24-hour endurance classic, he immediately noticed that the No. 77 was down on power. Following his hour-long opening stint, the team sent the No. 77 Ford to the garage where the Roush-Yates engineers quickly identified the problem, replacing a coil and spark plugs to have the car back on track, fighting from several laps down.

Burt returned to the order deep in the field, but the persevering team continued on with all four drivers cycling through and running clean and trouble-free laps. The team did everything they could to make up time. But in a race that saw few cautions and ran a blistering fast pace that set a new DP-era record of 761 laps completed at Daytona International Speedway, the group just did not catch the lucky breaks they needed.

“It wasn’t what we wanted,” said Brian. “I was really disappointed to start off with that coil issue right at the beginning, but other than that the car ran very smoothly the rest of the race. Burt and Paul did a great job and I’m just happy to finish this long race. We’ve seen cars come back from being several laps down, so we didn’t want to give up. But this race just was not ours. I think it shows how perfectly it has to go to win this race–one small problem and that was it. Thanks to the team for the effort, all day and all night and all day. On to the next one.”

“It was a bummer that we fell down so many laps right at the beginning because I feel like if we hadn’t of had that one issue I think we would have been in contention for a top-five,” added Burt. “We knew that we didn’t have the outright pace, but once we got the car sorted it was just fuel and tires the rest of the way and that would have probably paid off with a stronger finish. At least we made it to the finish and got a start on the Endurance Championship here. Hopefully we’ll be back in action soon, and can build on this start to the year.”

The next stop on the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series circuit is Barber Motorsports Park March 29 – April 1.

Opening the 2012 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season with a run to sixth in Friday’s BMW Performance 200, it was then back to Daytona International Speedway on Saturday for Marsal as the Rolex Sports Car Series staged the historic 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona.

In addition to Marsal’s full-time campaign in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge with Turner Motorsport teammate Boris Said, he was also tabbed to run the 24-hour endurance classic in the highly-competitive GT category for the team, joining Bill Auberlen, Paul Dalla Lana, Dirk Muller and Dirk Werner in the No. 93 BMW M3.

After a mammoth drivers meeting, morning autograph session, and a huge grid procedural build up to the race, Marsal first took control of the No. 93 machine during the evening hours. Opening with a nearly hour long stint, Marsal kept to the Turner Motorsport program and kept the laps clicking off as he worked through the huge GT class field, with the faster DP machines a constant presence as well.

Keeping the car clean and trouble-free among the 44-car GT class, he took to the track in the 25th position and moved up to 23rd before handing the BMW machine over to co-driver Dirk Werner.

“It went well – for me it’s all about maintenance and making sure the car stays out of trouble and I made sure I did that,” said Marsal following his first stint. “The tire wear was fine. Will said it was going to get slippery at the end of the stint and that’s exactly what it did. The track is actually in fairly good condition. It’s not that time yet where there is parts and debris everywhere and nothing is really oiled up yet.”

The flat out pace produced a record-setting run for the winning DP car, with the big GT class field not producing the expected run of yellow flag periods.

“It’s actually really amazing at the few cautions we’ve had with the amount of racing and the amount of cars out there. Everybody seems to be doing what they’re supposed to be doing!” said Marsal.

He returned to take the reigns of the BMW at 4:30 AM to run a 45-minute stint and again displayed his consistency and patience as he ran 15th in the order. After handing the car over to Werner, Marsal had ample time to rest up before returning to his duties behind the wheel around noon on Sunday. With the main goal of keeping the car out of trouble and running clean laps, he again maintained a focused and calm demeanor inside the cockpit as the drivers motored for a solid finish.

“I didn’t put a tire wrong this year, which is what Turner wanted me to do,” said Marsal of his second-ever Rolex 24 race start. “My job was to make sure the car stayed in one piece, so that goal was achieved. Unfortunately a bolt got sucked into the intake which blew into our motor and kept us down on power through most of the race.  So, we didn’t have the car to win it – we just didn’t have the speed. But I just couldn’t believe how fast this race was – I’ve never seen this race run so quickly with so few cautions. This was a 24-hour sprint race.”

Marsal now has a two-month break from GRAND-AM race action as he next heads to Barber Motorsports Park for Round 2 of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge championship March 30-31 with co-driver Boris Said. The duo will look to carry the momentum of a solid sixth place result in the BMW Performance 200 at Daytona and capture some more championship points with another strong finish at Barber.

“I’m really looking forward to the next Continental race. Boris and I worked really well together this weekend – we seem to like the same set-ups and we’re just really meshing well, so I’m super pumped to get going at Barber in a couple months. I’m still getting used to the GT car, but I’ve done the GS car for three years now and I know it like the back of my hand. We had a good finish there last year and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian led a Riley sweep of the podium as John Pew, Ozz Negri, AJ Allmendinger, and Justin Wilson took Riley to its eighth consecutive Rolex 24 victory.

A name that is already synonymous with victory, the win further solidified the Riley reputation as Riley Technologies broke Porsche’s record for consecutive chassis victories.

Fighting the team all the way to the finish was the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport entry of Ryan Dalziel, Lucas Luhr, Allan McNish, Enzo Potolicchio, and Alex Popow. A spirited battle for the lead between McNish and Allmendinger with over two hours remaining in the race saw the duo making side to side contact at full speed on the oval, with both Riley entries continuing to the finish unscathed.

Completing the Riley Tech podium sweep was the No. 6 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian Ford-powered entry. The second-generation DP design, driven by the youngest line of of racers in the event with Michael McDowell, Felipe Nasr, Gustavo Yacaman, and Jorge Goncalvez, finished less than one minute behind the winning entry of the sister Mike Shank machine. The No. 6 had been the highest qualifier of the previous generation designs.

The weekend opened with the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Riley scoring the pole in qualifying and the Riley machines were once again the class of the field, leading 711 of a new DP-era record 761 laps with a total of 22 different drivers leading the race. The victory also marked the 11th Rolex 24 At Daytona overall race victory for a Riley-designed machine in the last 17 years, with Riley-penned machines also having numerous class victories to the firm’s credit.

In addition to sweeping the top six positions overall, Riley Technologies also showed well in the 44-car GT class field scoring two top-10 results with the No.70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 of James Hinchcliffe, Sylvain Tremblay, Jonathan Bomarito and Marino Franchitti finishing the race in sixth and the No. 40 Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 of Joe Foster, Patrick Dempsey, Tom Long, Charles Espenlaub and Charles Putman finishing 10th.

Adding to the impressive weekend outing was the fact that the final Riley DPG3 design was not approved by GRAND-AM until late in the off-season, creating a narrow timetable to have everything completed. By making the most of the vendor partners and team relationships that Riley Technologies enjoys, a tremendous group effort brought the ultimate reward with the big race finish.

“This 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 was a huge event, so to introduce a new design and have it finish 1-2 in its very first race is outstanding,” said Riley Technologies Vice President Bill Riley. “We had a late start on this project and our shop and our composite vendors have worked non-stop for the last two months preparing for this race. The teams did not have all of their parts in hand until they were at the track in Daytona. Having a team run a second-generation DP right to the podium was also very cool. Congrats to Mike Shank and his entire group for just an incredible performance, all weekend long– a great accomplishment after a lot of hard work. Everyone had such high expectations for this race, and I think that the quality of the racing was some of the best we’ve seen. We are very excited about the 2012 GRAND-AM season, and this was the best way possible to kick it off.”

2011 marked Riley’s eighth consecutive Manufacturer Championship, and Riley’s DP designs have 85 wins to their credit, including eight consecutive Rolex 24 At Daytona victories.

The firm will look for continued success in Daytona Prototype, Rolex GT and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition as GRAND-AM next heads to Barber Motorsports Park March 30-31.

But not to be neglected in the shower of winning confetti is the outstanding run to the podium that the sister No. 6 Ford-Riley machine enjoyed with Michael McDowell, Gustavo Yacaman, Felipe Nasr, and Jorge Goncalvez combining to finish third, less than 45 seconds behind the race-winning car. The line-up was the youngest in the field and utilized the previous-generation “DPG2” to excellent effect to rally from three laps down to lead the race and come home with a podium finish.

“The 6-car guys did everything and more than I was asking them to do for me,” said Team Owner Mike Shank. “If they hadn’t had that one little problem with the cut tire, they’d have been right there fighting for the win.”

Despite starting the race from pit lane after having to do a last-minute motor change, an extra pit stop to change brake pads, and a second additional stop after a narrow escape from a cut tire, the No. 6 DPG2 Ford-Riley still came back from three laps down to lead the race and finish third as team strategist Erik Peterson called a shrewd race.

“The first motor had an issue, and the Roush-Yates engineers were all over it,” said Shank.  “Obviously we raced hard for over 2700 miles with the Fords, but there was something they didn’t like about that motor, so we just made the call to put in a different one. It cost my guys a bunch of sleep before the race even had started, but it worked out.”

Deep into the race the team fought off another setback as a tire went down, costing several laps. But it could have been much worse as Yacaman was behind the wheel at the time and sensing something was amiss, headed right to the pits before the tire began to delaminate and cause body damage.

“You know, I had probably 1,000 questions to ask Mike (Shank) before the race started, and he answered them all in one seven-page email,” said Yacaman. “I knew what I had to do. I knew in case of emergency what we needed to do. If I had a flat tire, I knew exactly what we needed to do. I think it’s preparation and being cool-headed, and also, you know, a little bit of luck. Michael Shank did an amazing job preparing, getting ready both of the cars. We had no mechanical failures. We had no driver mistakes.”

All this race resilience from a group of drivers with an average age of 22 and with three of them making their first-ever run in the huge endurance challenge.

Another key factor was the team’s preparation.

Last year, Mike Shank oversaw his team’s first-ever three-car assault on the race, with a huge scope of planning and preparation paying off with all three cars making it to the finish in the top-10. Once again this year, the Shank-managed squad was able to keep the cars on the right side of the pit wall, running to a new DP-race record 761 laps.

“That’s the tough balance with a lineup like this–young guys have all that speed and don’t think twice about the toll that this race can take on you,” said Shank. “But they also, especially the guys coming over from open wheel, bring that sprint mentality and sometimes that can catch you out in the Rolex 24. You have to be–as we saw–inch perfect for 24 hours and if you get too aggressive, or lose your patience for just one second, you can lose the shot at a podium. These guys didn’t do that and way exceeded our expectations. And it was good to have a guy like Mike (McDowell), who has raced the 24 so many times even though he’s still a youngster, in the line up for us. It was a great mix, and a great result.”

“These guys not having a lot of experience in endurance cars doesn’t make them any less capable of running well and having patience and doing the things that we did in this race,” added McDowell. “It was just running through scenarios and just telling them how to prepare for the GT traffic and just walk through it.”

“You have a little bit of pressure because you have the whole team pushing you, so you have to be fast and give the car to the other guys and don’t crash,” said Goncalvez. “So I think we all did a really good job. That’s why we are on the podium, I think.”

“I’m surprised to be (on the podium) with these guys,” added Nasr. “I think we all did a good job.  For my first ever time doing a 24, I’m surprised, I need to say. It was an unbelievable experience for me, and I just can’t wait to come back here in the next years.”

Next up on the 13-race GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series schedule will be the Porsche 250 on Saturday, March 31 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. All Rolex Series races are televised on SPEED and Motors TV, and broadcast on the Motor Racing Network.