Graham Rahal won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2011 and received the coveted watch that the winner receives – but has yet to wear it. Rahal put it up in a case and has left it there ever since.
“It’s signed by my team owners and co-drivers,” he said. “That will never leave its box, but maybe if I get a second I’ll wear it.”
The 25-year-old will search for his second win as he joins Dirk Mueller, John Edwards and Dirk Werneer in co-driving the No. 56 BMW Team RLL Z4 GT entry this weekend. The team qualified seventh for this weekend’s event.
“It’s a great place to race and it’s very different from what we do in IndyCar,” Rahal said. “To be an ultimate driver, to be one of the greats, you need to be a part of races like this.”
Rahal was confirmed as part of the team, after working at being offered a spot.
“The first sports car I drove was a BMW M3 when I was a junior driver back in 2004, which was a very prestigious thing,” Rahal said. “When I drove the M3 from that time on I really pushed to get the opportunity to come back. And it didn’t quite work out. They have so many factory drivers in Germany that drive DTM and World Touring Car and other things in the winter that they’ve always needed a place for them to race so they always came to do Daytona and Sebring.
“So it didn’t really give me an opportunity to jump in the seat, but this year it all came together for me. For them to have the faith in me to give me the opportunity means a lot. I won Daytona in a BMW, so to try to do it again in a different category would be pretty fun.”
His father is proud that his son and other IndyCar drivers are partaking in the event this weekend as “it just shows the world how good they are.”
