Racing to make Florida the safest, healthiest, and most sustainable state in America

TALLAHASSEE, FL (January 28, 2021)—Safety will be at the forefront in Daytona this week as team Hardpoint takes the track to compete in the Rolex 24. The team’s car will sport the Florida Chamber Safety Council logo in an effort to raise awareness and promote workplace safety in Florida.

“Racing is an incredible sport, but it can be a dangerous workplace for drivers, crew members and spectators,” said Katie Yeutter, Florida Chamber Safety Council President & Chief Operating Officer at the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “It is necessary for employers to commit to safety culture in workplaces of all kinds, including the racing community. The Florida Chamber Safety Council is proud to invest in team Hardpoint to promote workplace safety as they race in a safe and competitive fashion.”

During Saturday’s race, the Florida Chamber Safety Council will be creating a video series with the team’s drivers, crew and other safety leaders to highlight safety best practices in the workplace.

Serving as the National Safety Council’s Florida’s chapter, the Florida Chamber Safety Council sets the national standard for safety leadership as a one-stop platform to help Florida employers develop employee-driven programs that empower personal accountability for workplace safety and health. The Safety Council is an incubator of research, education, and leadership for safety initiatives and best practices, and the go-to resource for Florida businesses with the goal to make Florida the safest, healthiest, and most sustainable state in America.

For more information about the Florida Chamber Safety Council and to schedule workplace safety trainings, visit flchambersafety.com.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., (January 28, 2021) — Following an incident in Michelin Pilot Challenge practice on Wednesday afternoon, the decision has been made to retire the No. 16 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport for the remainder of the weekend. The Wright Motorsports car’s leading driver, Ryan Hardwick, will also withdraw from the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the season-opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Hardwick’s condition is stable and the driver was kept overnight at a local hospital for observation, but due to a concussion he will not be able to drive the No. 16 Porsche 911 GT3 R in Saturday’s Rolex 24 At Daytona. The 1st Phorm entry will still compete in the event, with Trent Hindman joining the existing Wright Motorsports roster of Patrick Long, Jan Heylen, and Klaus Bachler.

“It’s unfortunate that I won’t be able to join the team for the big race,” said Hardwick. “I wish I was driving with them, but sadly that won’t be possible. When I first learned I wouldn’t be able to drive, Trent was immediately one of the first drivers I thought of to step in. I want the team to continue and our 1st Phorm car to be on track to compete in this event. I’ve followed Trent’s career for the last few years, and I think he’ll be a good fit. Trent is joining a really great team, and I wish them the best of luck this weekend. He’s in the best hands.”

Already at the circuit, Hindman was able to begin getting settled with his new team on Thursday morning, immediately beginning the team introductions, seat fittings, and team procedure reviews, in preparation for the first practice later in the morning. The 25-year-old American has several sports car racing championship titles, most recently winning the 2020 GT World Challenge America Powered by aws Silver Championship, as well as the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar championship GTD class title.

“First and foremost, what’s most important is that Ryan is okay,” said Hindman. “Filling in for the Rolex 24 under these circumstances is never ideal, but I am grateful to John, Ryan, and the Wright Motorsports team for trusting me with this opportunity. The No. 16 Porsche looks to be a strong contender for victory come Sunday, and I certainly look forward to doing everything I can to make it happen.”

The first official practice begins on Thursday, January 28 at 11:05AM. The team will have a total of three practice sessions on Thursday, offering almost four hours of track time for the team to get settled into its new lineup.

The Rolex 24 At Daytona will begin at 3:40PM Eastern on Saturday, January 30th, airing live on NBC for the first hour, then move to NBC Sports. For just $3.00, fans can watch the race live with no interruptions on NBC Sports Gold’s TRACKPASS, which is available on smart TVs, tablets, computers, and cell phones. IMSA Radio is slated to provide comprehensive coverage of all on track WeatherTech sessions worldwide, and international audiences can find their Rolex listings via imsa.com/internationalcoverage.

1st Phorm
1st Phorm is a sports nutrition company based in St. Louis, MO. In 2009, CEO Andy Frisella and his business partner Chris Klein started the brand, and since then, it has become the fastest growing supplement company in the world. 1st Phorm has set the standards in the industry for quality and helping people reach their goals. This new racing partnership is not their first time in the exotic car scene either. 1st Phorm has been the title sponsor for the Gold Rush Rally for six years running. With over a million followers across social media, 1st Phorm has amassed a huge cult-like following known as, “The Legion of Boom.” They stand for a movement in the fitness world. To turn it back to what it was meant to be. Helping others improve their lives, to be a good human… and to drop the excuses and do the work. 1st Phorm is a winning brand and they don’t expect anything less when it comes to their race team. For additional info: www.1stphorm.com

Mountain Motorsports
Mountain Motorsports is a group of motorcycle and powersports dealerships with multiple locations in the southeastern United States. The company was founded by lifelong friends Ryan Hardwick and Justin Price when they opened their first location as a single-line Honda dealership in Sevierville, Tennessee in 1999. The company has since grown into one of the largest retailers of motorcycle and powersports vehicles in the nation, spanning nine dealership locations representing eleven of the industry’s most well-known brands. For additional info: www.mountainmotorsports.com

Una Vida Tequila
Una Vida translates to One Life. That is how this brand started. By people who want to live their “One Life” to the absolute fullest and to their highest potential. A group of guys from the Midwest who love great quality tequila, and want their One Life to have meaning and impact others.

One Life, One Tequila is our CORE BELIEF. We’re building the only tequila brand you will ever need to drink. Una Vida is bigger than just tequila we’re also building a culture of people who want to live their life to their utmost potential.

Our story begins and continues to grow bottle by bottle. It’s a life mission for us to create a community of people who all raise a glass knowing they’re living their ONE LIFE! For more information, visit unavidatequila.com

Wright Motorsports
Wright Motorsports is the premier Porsche race engineering facility in Ohio and a multi-series, international racing team known for superb car preparation, expert race strategy and driver development. Located in Batavia, Ohio, it is owned and directed by John Wright, a certified Porsche factory-trained technician. As a crew chief John Wright has played a key role in winning eight driver and seven team championships in World Challenge, IMSA (ALMS) and the Grand-Am Rolex Series. Wright Motorsports won the team championship in Porsche GT3 Cup USA in 2012, 2013 and 2015, and went on to win the Pirelli World Challenge Overall, Sprint, Team and Manufacturer’s titles in 2017. The 2020 season will see the team return to IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship. For more information, visit wrightmotorsports.com

A Race Engineers’ Perspective

(Houston, Texas, January 28, 2021)… Rick Mayer, race engineer of the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM team, shares his preview of this year’s 59th annual Rolex 24 At Daytona, January 28-31, 2021.

The driver line-up for Risi Competizione for this year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida features Italians Alessandro Pier Guidi and Davide Rigon, along with Brit James Calado and Frenchman Jules Gounon.

General: We qualified fourth (4th) in the qualifying race during the Roar on Sunday. The race forecast is mild, highs in the 70s. Most of the GTLMs raced here twice last year with the same spec cars and same spec tires. The tires being the same as last year shouldn’t put us at a large disadvantage. Each team had to pick their Daytona dry tire allotment in December. All manufacturers have hard, medium and soft tires to choose from, with Daytona being a predominately soft tire track. This shouldn’t be an issue for anyone as the tires are unchanged from 2020. GTLM cars are allowed 37 total dry tire sets for the event, which includes all the practice sessions and the race. Quantity shouldn’t be an issue, if you selected the right compounds.

The pit rules are the same this year with fuel and wheel changes at the same time and Prototypes (DPi, LMP2, LMP3) pitting first under the safety car and all GT’s pitting second. This should work out as the GTDs are required to take fuel slower. This should allow all the GTLMs to get out of the pits before the GTDs, as fueling determines the pit stop time, unless it’s a really small amount of fuel. There’s a fueling advantage of six (6) seconds on a full fill (from empty) for the GTLMs. Minimum full fill time (from empty) is regulated at 34 seconds for GTLM and 40 seconds for GTD. Safety car fuel stops rarely occur when you need a full fill from empty so the actual difference will be proportionately less. I think we’ll see some GTDs mixed with GTLMs on restarts. The GTDs are so fast on the banking and with their ABS it’s difficult for GTLMs to pass without risk. The LMP3s with the Pro drivers are able to do the same lap times as the GTLMs. But the LMP3s are regulated to 290kph (180 mph) on top speed, making the GTLMs faster on the banking. Restarts could be tricky. The addition of LMP3’s this year will likely increase the accidents and the amount of safety cars, as it did when we raced with LMPCs, particularly if the weather changes. It will also create restart issues in the race. The LMP2 and LMP3 are Pro-Am and they have significantly harder spec compound tires than GTLMs. These cars will struggle on restarts to get heat in their tires. The Am drivers will really struggle here. Expect GTLMs and LMP3 and some LMP2s to be fighting for track position.

The pit boxes are arranged this year so under a safety every GTLM and every Prototype have a clear in and out of their pit box; meaning pit lane boxes are ordered P-GT-P-GT-P, etc. So, under safety car stops the car in front and behind should not be in their pit box; some of the GTDs weren’t so fortunate last year.

Competitiveness: The IMSA WeatherTech specific balance of performance (BoP) GTLM rules evolved from last year’s Daytona, and this year’s Roar, without accounting for other 2020 races. IMSA uses a Daytona-specific BoP. The BoP is nearly unchanged from the 2021 Roar with only small changes and no changes to the Ferrari. Last year BMW had a significant advantage on the banking with power, but the Roar BoP addressed this. This year the Porsche ‘should’ dominate the pace. The new Corvette fared well and should run up front. But the Ferrari will be quicker than last year. The GTLM competitors “displayed” performance will vary. This is just the start to the long season. Risi is only signed up for this race; most of the others are signed up for the season, except BMW. Showing what you have at Daytona might result in a BoP reduction that will carry through for the entire season. Teams will be cautious of what they show and when and how much true pace they display.

Setup and Track: Clearing traffic at Daytona is significant in setup considerations. There is a tradeoff between lower downforce (lower drag) for banking speed and higher downforce for better braking and power down at corner exits. Trimming downforce too much can be slower overall on the banking from compromising the exits leading onto the banking; but there is a limit. There are also different minimum wing angle rules for each car specific to Daytona. Each car is built to a very car-specific homologation, very little can be changed by the team. The only way to really control banking speed (other than power) is by wing angle, to control drag. In addition to braking and power down at corner exits, the higher downforce also helps with the bus stop and tire longevity/degradation. But little passing is done in the infield so banking speed is important; if lap times are similar, choose better banking performance. These are all significant factors when racing for 24 hours, not just a lap time.

The Race: There were many safety car periods in the races where we had significant car count in Pro-Am prototype classes. Their larger grid this year will likely add more safety car periods with more Am (amateur) driver content in faster cars. This was the case when we had LMPC cars running in the series. Clearing GTD traffic this year will again be challenging. And LMP3s, with Pro drivers, have similar lap times to the GTLMs. The lap times are closer than ever between GTD and GTLM. GTDs have very good banking speed, some better than GTLMs. Combine that with their ABS (not allowed in GTLM) and it’s hard for GTLMs to pass GTDs cleanly. The IMSA pit stop rules are intended to remove the potential to gain time in the pits. Cars are BoP’d, in part, to ensure the same number of laps in a fuel stint and the same time to take a stint load of fuel in a pit stop. The only real way to gain in the pits is to save fuel on track (use less fuel per lap) and either make less pit stops or shorter stops as the pit stop time is determined by the time it takes to fuel the car. Strategy still comes into play, particularly in the closing stages of the race. One less stop in the last three (3) or four (4) hours, or stretching a couple stints to avoid a late fuel splash, could determine a win or podium.

Risi Competizione (Ferrari GTLM) has a better chance this year than the previous years. We’re cautiously optimistic this year. We’ve had the same core crew at Risi for several years; team familiarity reduces errors. We have a great driver lineup with four (4) very experienced drivers who have all raced at Daytona; they all know the F488 GTLM and have raced with Risi in the past. Let’s hope this familiarity plays to our advantage and we have a good result!

Television: In America, NBC carries live network coverage of the Rolex 24 At Daytona beginning at 3:40 PM on Saturday, Jan. 30, in America and is broadcast across several NBC channels, including NBC, NBCSN, the NBC Sports App and TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.

Radio: IMSA Radio will have live coverage throughout the weekend on RadioLeMans.com and SiriusXM Radio. Also see imsa.com for live timing and scoring. Visit www.IMSA.com for more information.

For more information about Risi, please go to www.risicompetizione.com and follow us on Facebook/RisiCompetizione, Twitter @RisiComp and Instagram @RisiComp.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla (27 January 2021) – Rebel Rock Racing wrapped up a three-day Roar Before the Rolex 24 test session at Daytona International Speedway right on plan, putting the final touches on preparation for the No. 71 Urban Grid Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R for Friday’s BMW Endurance Challenge, the opening round of the 2021 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.

Frank DePew and Robin Liddell logged six hours of practice during the test, with a best lap of 1:55.538-seconds. Liddell was fifth-fastest in Saturday morning’s rainy session.

“I feel like we’ve had a successful test,” DePew said. “The car has been slowed down quite a bit [by a significant off-season Balance of Performance adjustment], so I’m not sure how competitive we’ll be, but we’re going to do the best we can.”

The team led the Grand Sport class with two victories in 2019 – its first full season – and won a four-hour event at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta last season.

“I certainly think we’ve got a good package and we can have a good race, even though we won’t have the speed that this car is capable of,” Liddell said. “Then we’ll just have to see what everybody else does and how we can move forward.”

At four hours in duration, Daytona joins Watkins Glen as the lone endurance events on the 10-race schedule. This year, the team will use a two-driver lineup for the long races as DePew continues to accelerate his progress in the IMSA ranks.

“We’ve made a decision that Frank’s going to do more driving,” Liddell said. “He’s at the point where he has been progressing at this level and getting quicker, and having the extra time in the car in the race is ultimately a good thing. It gives me a lot of driving to do, but I think overall it will be quite interesting to see how it all works out.”

DePew is up to the challenge of opening the race with a double-stint of approximately 90 minutes.

“This will probably be the first time that I’ve raced more than an hour and a half or more straight,” DePew said. “I’m looking forward to spending more time in the car.”

While slowed by the BOP adjustment, Rebel Rock is looking to capitalize on the durability and reliability of its Camaro to build a foundation for its full-season campaign.

“I think we’ve got a well-gelled team now,” Liddell said. “We rolled off the trailer with a very good setup. The car was good from the beginning – balance and handling wise – and that’s testimony to some of the work Pratt & Miller is doing away from the race track. Charlie (Ping) our engineer is a good strategist and the guys are doing a really good job in the pits, so I think with all of that we can execute very well. If we’re in the hunt at the end, that’s really where we will find out if we’ve got a car that can compete or not.

“Our main goal is to maximize the points, and bigger-picture wise, try to smooth out some of these peaks and troughs we’ve had in the past. If we can just smooth that out and be more consistent with our results, hopefully we can find ourselves in a good spot at the end of the year.”

Practice for the BMW Endurance Challenge begins with a one-hour practice beginning at 1:45 p.m. (all times ET) on Wednesday. Thursday will have a 45-minute session at 9:45 a.m., followed by GS qualifying at 2:45 p.m. Friday opens with a 20-minute warm-up at 9:10 a.m. The BMW Endurance Championship gets the 2021 season underway at 1:10 p.m., and will be televised live on the IMSA TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.