Have to say it was the right decision. Everything was falling of the track. Everyone was aquaplaning, nothing much most drivers could've done in fairness...I got flashbacks to Brazil 2003 and 2007 German GP. Alonso was massively impressive. His stints in the rain rank up there with his best drives ever.
No, thanks, I'll just stick to my $35 Casio "atomic" watch that always tells perfect time. After all, isn't that what a watch is for?
I actually think that visibility was more of a problem than traction. That looks like what took out the #63 Ferrari.
Approaching 6 PM, there is STILL a solid shield of rain over Daytona, and it's not supposed to start letting up until 3 AM tomorrow morning!
Says the guy with a Ferrari. Why not stick to a $12k Nissan Versa? It gets you from A to B with no issues. After all, isn't that what a car is for?
When I was getting my steel/gold Daytona engraved lat year, they asked for my name. I told them first name, "Rolex 24", and last name "Winner", and the jeweler just laughed and said you wish.
Two inches of rain feel on a track that didn't have good drainage and a ton of time spent slowly following a pace car combined with poor visibility makes for a challenging time. Both Penske and Taylor said they had never seen such bad conditions. That's saying something IMO.
No doubt visibility played a huge part also. Villanders crash into the porker shower just that...could barely see anything ahead of him!
Just to elaborate a bit on this...Alonso will be racing at Sebring that weekend, BUT it's for the WEC 1000 miles of Sebring held on Friday evening. The actual 12 Hours of Sebring will be the following day as regularly scheduled and he will not be a part of that. Still lame for Toyota to say for contractual reasons he will be racing the 1000 miles. https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/2019-sebring-schedule-released/
When interviewed after the race, Alonso said he was calling for the race to stop while still in second place. He said visibility was near zero and the car's traction control was still kicking on in sixth gear on the straights. Body parts were all over the track from crashed cars and he was fearful for his safety. Nasr went off and he then passed him for the lead which he says he was thankful for but he admitted was also rather lucky. He said while under caution the Audi R8 pace car lost control leaving the bus stop and nearly crashed into the wall. He said the red flag then came out. Alonso's interviews in America are always very candid and honest. America has really opened up a new (good) side of him.
I'd bet money if he was planning on running both races he would hold himself back in the WEC to preserve energy and strength for the IMSA race. Sebring is an absolutely brutal track and Toyota has invested an incredible amount of money into their program. They want results and likely want total dedication to their program when they are at the track.
The lights were out on the pace car and they were planning on going green the very lap they then decided to then go red flag on. This was announced in the coverage.
At least a Ferrari made it onto the podium. Too bad that Risi missed the class win by under 2 seconds!
Because the coverage team probably didn't know what was going on. The lights went out around the bus stop, and they assumed the race was going green, but everyone pulled into the pits instead. It was likely a case of the Race Director making a call and the coverage team not knowing until afterwards along with most everyone else. He announced it shortly after the pit in. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2094764170561229
Such a pity that what had been a good competitive race was ruined by the rain. Having been to Daytona denizens of times when they ran in the rain (day and night and before the place was lit up like a Walmart parking lot), it's amazing how they can race side-by-side on the banking like that the fastest cars going 80MPH faster than the GTs as the water pours off the banking like a waterfall. Sunday morning/afternoon reminded me of the 1996 Daytona Finale when an Atlantic storm was blowing in and Daytona was getting the brunt of it. Organizers had the opportunity to move the start time up but chose instead to keep the start time per TV agreement and sure enough the moment the green flag dropped, the skies opened up and it was a virtual monsoon for the next two hours. That particular weekend, at the direction of DIS's notoriously inefficient security, I had to trudge through fields with rain water up to my knees. I may only imagine how it was for everyone yesterday. Such a shame and of course a lot of teams with bruised feelings. Hopefully, Sebring will be better. BHW
Drainage was mostly fixed when they remodeled the infield back around 2004. What did you think about that commentary at the end from Jr Jr Jr? He sat there like a bump on a log. We got more from AJ Allmendinger.
I mainly listened to Radio Le Mans during the race but did have NBCS's audio on during the final portion. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind Jr. Jr. Jr. as he seems like a cool enough guy, but his (and the other guy, no idea who he was) inclusion was rather wrong headed. I mean with the likes of noted sports car drivers turned commentators such as Bill Adam at home on the couch, I don't really get it. Jr. Jr. Jr. had done the 24 Hours once and the other guy openly stated that it was the first time he even BEEN to the race. So, other than their obvious NASCAR ties, how do they get those seats? Constantly comparing sports car racing to NASCAR is not what sports car fans want to hear. While I'm happy to at least have live TV from Daytona this year (last year's FOX debacle meant that it wasn't shown in the Miami market on TV or live streaming at all) I'm not going to nit-pick too much. It was nice that they covered the Alex Zanardi story but by the third time they ran it, it seemed rather sensationalized which is what they seem to go for. The fourth time they ran the Zanardi feature it was over the top. Again, pity about the conditions which force networks to go into vamping mode. They handled it pretty well from what I saw. I had plans to attend Cavallino on Saturday but conditions in Palm Beach were just as bad and dealing with a complaining girl friend while being rained on didn't seem all that appetizing so we stayed home. BHW
Well, apparently some teams thought they were going green as well. The #33 Mercedes gave up the lead in GTD to make a pit stop on that assumption, and never got it back.
Just starting to go through my pictures from Daytona, but I think this one sums it up pretty well. When the rain came, it came hard. I have read a lot of people complaining about IMSA stopping the race. But for those of us that were out there we experienced just how bad it was. I think they should have stopped the race even earlier. No reason to endanger, cars, drivers, fans and officials when the conditions are so ridiculous. Image Unavailable, Please Login _DSC0850E by Alex Eichmiller, on Flickr
Nice shot! Remember well the days, hanging out on those guardrails in the rain, cold, wind freezing my ass off but getting golden images. Such a shame about the rain, it was a good race up to that point. BHW
Someone involved with the race should investigate whether it would have been feasible to stop the clock at 18 hours and run the last 6 hours a day later; I know there might have been some logistical issues, and many fans would not have been able to stick around, but it would have made for a heckuva better race finish! NASCAR and NHRA do it fairly regularly.
