Daytona24: Porsche Motorsport pre-race notes

Rolex 24 at Daytona Gets Green flag at 3:30 PM; Rain Dominates Early Race Forecast

13 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars and three Porsche-powered Daytona Prototypes will start the 48th running of Rolex 24

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida - January 30 - A steady rain should be falling this afternoon as 44 cars, including 16 with Porsche power, will take the green flag for the 48th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

"Rain is part of sports car racing, and especially 24 hour racing at Daytona, so our teams are prepared," said Paul Ritchie, president of Porsche Motorsport North America.

"If the track is already damp when the cars head for the grid, they will be fitted with Pirelli rain tires, which are grooved to allow water to pass through versus the slick tires which have very little grip in the wet. The cooler temperatures actually help the teams in several areas, including a more reasonable cockpit atmosphere for the driver and better engine performance," said Ritchie.

Other items

--The #23 Foametix/Battery Tender Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entered by Alex Job Racing spent qualifying day at Alex' race shop near Orlando after a Thursday morning crash which crunched the car's rear end. The car arrived back at the track yesterday just in time for the second qualifying session, at which driver Martin Ragginger put in the top time of the GT cars which qualified Friday (the top 20 positions were locked in on Thursday). Ragginger's time would have put the car 12th on the GT grid.

--Rolex 24 Grand Marshall Vic Elford, the 1968 race winner in his Porsche 907, will address today's drivers this morning in the drivers meeting before the start of the race. Yesterday, Elford told a gathering of media yesterday, when asked what the keys to success are in an endurance race, said he tells drivers they have to take to the track expecting to win, and be mentally tough to be prepared for all situations. Vic's winning Porsche 907 is on display in the Daytona International Speedway Fan Zone in the infield.

--Porsche factory drivers are at Daytona in force, driving Porsche 911 GT3 Cup customer cars, including Richard Lietz (car #44), Wolf Henzler (car #66), Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long (car #67), and Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas (car #71).

-source: porsche motorsport