SAMAX - Rolex 24 18h

The No. 17 SAMAX Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car is still in the hunt for
a top-10 GT finish in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, but the team's No. 11 Tuttle
Team Racing/SAMAX Riley was out of the race after 16 hours.

 

The No. 17 Porsche was pushing for a class podium finish with stints from
Johnny Mowlem, David Shep and Bryan Sellers. The charge was stopped when
Sellers was cut off in traffic and had contact with another car, damaging
the car's center radiator. The crew quickly replace the radiator, but
dropped back to eighth at 18h. Boris Said reported the No. 11 Riley was
losing power during his last stint in hour 14. Kyle Petty took over at
15h38, but rapidly lost oil pressure and the team decided to retire from the
race.

 

Dr. Steve Bunkhall (No. 11 engineer):  "The engine was losing oil pressure
and clearly we had to stop before it failed. Over the last hour, Boris
reported that he was losing speed. It's frustrating because he said that
when he was running with the quicker cars, the car handled great and he
could beat them under braking, but we were just losing out on top speed. The
guys have worked so fantastically hard to get this car ready and come here
at all, and so hard during the last 16 hours to keep it running, it's just a
shame it's finished this way."

 

class race position

 

car          start            6h             12h             18h

 

11           26               12             14               out

17             9               11               4               8

71           13                 9             out              

 

race report

 

car          time             driver                      action

 

11           11h20           Tuttle in                  [addition to
previous report]

               12h35                                           spin; pit –
tires, fuel, oil

               12h57           Said in                     pit – driver
change, tires, fuel

               13h5                                            contact –
lost deck lid, right rear tire puncture

                                                                  garage –
broken brake line, bodywork damage

               14h49                                           pit – tires,
fuel

               15h38           Petty in                    pit – driver
change, tires, fuel

               15h40                                           garage – oil
pressure problem, out of race

               

17           13h22           Mowlem in                pit – driver change,
tires, fuel, brake pad change

               14h29                                           fuel

               15h28           Shep in                    pit – driver
change, tires, fuel

               15h48           Sellers in                  pit – driver
change, tires, fuel

               16h49                                           contact;
garage – replaced center radiator

               17h19           Arnold in                   pit – driver
change, tires, fuel, back on track