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Hot
News & Press from Doran Racing
Rolex
24 Notes
Hour 1 (around 2 p.m.):
- Didier
Theys was extremely careful at the start but
he was also extremely fast. By the end of lap
1 he had moved from his 31st
starting spot to 20th, and by the end of lap 2 he
was 16th.
- There
was a full-course caution on lap 10 due to debris in NASCAR Turn 3. The
team made its first pit stop at that time.
- We
are having radio problems; Theys can hear the pit
crew but the pit
crew can't hear him.
- At
the end of hour one Theys is seventh overall, on
the same lap as the
leader with 26 laps down.
- Terry
Borcheller is leading in the Bell Motorsports DORAN
JE4 Pontiac
followed by the SunTrust Riley Pontiac and the Howard-Boss Crawford
Chevy. The
Michael Shank Racing DORAN JE4 Lexus is 11th.
Hour
2 (around 3 p.m.)
- Ten
minutes ago, around 2:50 p.m., it started to
rain. Rain is predicted throughout the night.
- About
15 minutes ago the Doran-Lista team, with Theys behind
the wheel,
was as high as second place. We had been running
third but when the Fabcar Porsche #59 pitted that moved
the Riley Lexus #01 into the lead and the
Doran-Lista team into second place.
- Several
pit stop occurred at the end of hour two. At
the point in the
official rundown Theys is third overall on the same lap (lap 58) as
the leader. Borcheller is leading in the Bell Motorsports DORAN
and the Howard-Boss Crawford #2 is second.
Hour 3 (around 4 p.m.):
- At
3:13 p.m., lap 57, the Doran-Lista team is second
overall, trailing only the Bell Motorsports DORAN
JE4 Pontiac.
- We
do a driver change at some point here, with Theys
getting out and Marc
Goossens getting in.
- At
3:29 p.m. (lap 65) there is a report that the Doran-Lista
27 spun out
in turn one. The conditions aren't good. We still don't
have radio contact
and our car's windshield wipers aren't working. That isn't
as bad as it sounds
though, because most of the spray goes over the top of the car due
to its
high speed.
- The
damage to the Doran-Lista #27 isn't too bad; a wheel
was bent and
there is some bodywork damage. The contact was with the #88
ASM Team Brisa Porsche. It is being driven by four drivers
from Portugal but it's unclear who was
behind the wheel of that car at that time. Goossens was driving
the #27 when
the incident occurred.
- At
the end of hour two the Doran-Lista team is ninth
overall, one lap
down (83 laps to our 82 laps.)
- Borcheller
is leading in the Bell Motorsports DORAN JE4 Pontiac
followed
by the Chip Ganassi Racing Riley Lexus and the SunTrust Racing
Riley Pontiac.
Hour 4 (around 5 p.m.):
- At
4:38 p.m., on lap 95, Marc Goossens in the
Doran-Lista DORAN Lexus #27 and the Seike Motor Sport
Porsche #56 got into each
other. It's not known who was in the #56 at the
time.
- The
#27 made it back to the pits under its own power
but the team loses
about 10 laps to make repairs. All the repairs are made in the pits,
however;
it was not necessary to go back to the garage area.
- Kevin
Doran: "We replaced the splitter, crash box,
radiator and nose. The right sidepod was destroyed."
- Marc
Goossens: "A
Porsche missed his braking point in the chicane on
the backstretch. He went straight and he came from the right and we crashed. I
don't know which Porsche it was.
"The first time was exactly the same thing in the chicane.
"Traffic and the weather conditions are difficult. We
have no radio
contact and no windshield wipers."
- Jan
Lammers got into the car after the repairs were made
and he's flying,
trying to make up some time.
- At
the end of hour four the Doran-Lista team is 29th
overall, nine
laps
down to the leader, the SunTrust Racing Riley Pontiac #10,
109 laps to 100
laps. The Chip Ganassi Racing Riley Lexus is second overall
and the Howard-Boss
Crawford Chevy is third.
Hour 5 (around 6 p.m.):
- The
Doran-Lista team is in 20th place, eight laps
down to the leader, the Bell Motorsports DORAN JE4
Pontiac. The Howard-Boss
Crawford Chevy is second and the SunTrust Riley Pontiac
is third.
- Lammers
is flying. If
he's not the fastest driver on the track at this
point he's close to it.
- The
rain is starting to let up. The track is still
wet but it's not
raining as hard as it was.
Hour 6 (around 7 p.m.):
- Catching
up a little, here are how our driver changes
have gone so far: Theys drove the first 43 laps. Goossens
drove from lap 43
to 94. Lammers then got in and drove 64 laps,
getting out at lap 158 to turn
the wheel back over to Theys. Theys just got in
the car.
- Gambling
a little to try to make up some time, the team had
put slicks on
when the rain let up a little, but unfortunately the rain has picked
back up.
- Theys
isn't able to go as fast as Lammers did because he's
on slicks
instead of rain tires and it's raining steadily now.
- At
7 p.m. the Doran-Lista team is in 12th place, eight
laps down, 157
laps to the leader's 165. The Howard-Boss Crawford Chevy is
leading followed by
the SunTrust Riley Pontiac and the Chip Ganassi Racing Riley Lexus.
Hour 7 (around 8 p.m.):
- Around
7:45 p.m. the Doran-Lista team pitted for four
Goodyear rain tires, fuel, and to clean the windshield
thoroughly. Theys
stayed in the car.
- Around
8:05 p.m. Theys came back into the pits unexpectedly,
since he can
hear the crew but the crew can't hear him. The reason he needed
to pit was
because he had a flat right front tire due to contact with someone. In
addition to changing all four tires the team gave the car fuel and
another
windshield-hosing.
- The
Doran-Lista team is 13th overall, 11 laps down, 183
to the leader's
194. There is no one else on our lap but there are four
cars nine laps
down, so if we can make up two more laps and get in front of those
cars we'll move
up the standings considerably.
- The
Howard-Boss Crawford of Andy Wallace, Tony Stewart
and Dale Earnhardt
Jr. is leading following by the Bell Motorsports DORAN JE4 Pontiac
of Terry
Borcheller, Forest Barber, Andy Pilgrim and Christian Fittipaldi. The
SunTrust Riley Pontiac is third, one lap down to the first two
cars.
Hour 8 (around 9 p.m.):
- At
the eight-hour point the Doran-Lista team is still
in 13th place. We're 12 laps down to the leader
(206 to 218), which is the
Howard-Boss Crawford Chevy of Andy Wallace, Tony Stewart and Little
E. The
Ganassi car is second and the Bell Motorsports DORAN JE4 is third.
- It's raining even harder now. Theys is still in the car.
- Although
there's nobody else on our lap, there are two cars
one lap ahead
of us: the Red Bul Ferrari GT car and the Michael Shank Racing
DORAN JE4. The latter is making its first start ever.
- There
have been 22 lead changes and six cautions for 20
laps. The
attrition level is remarkably low considering the bad conditions.
Hour 9 (around 10 p.m.):
- Theys
just got out and Goossens is now driving
again. Timing and scoring has had a problem and
said there will be no hour nine
report from them; they said they'll resume at hour
10.
- After
the pit stop for the driver change, this corner believes
we're in
11th or 12th place, 14 laps down, but that's totally unofficial.
- Theys
drove 69 laps in his last stint, from lap 158 to
lap 227, when
Goossens got back in.
Shortly after Goossens got in, around 10:05 p.m., the lights
went off in
our pit area and so did our scoring monitors. The same thing
happened to several other pit areas too. A few minutes later
they came back on.
- We are currently working under a light drizzle.
- Didier
Theys: "You can't see anything. With no wipers,
all the rain
goes into the windshield. It's very bad. It's pretty
slippery and there are big
puddles everywhere."
- When
asked about the puncture, he said, "There
were two GT cars running
together. One didn't see me and we touched, causing the
puncture."
- Theys
added that the car is "running OK," and he said he
really isn't
that tired right now.
Hour
10 (around 11 p.m.):
- We're
back in the top 10! The Doran-Lista #27 is
in tenth place overall, 13 laps down. The Michael Shank
Racing DORAN JE4 is
right ahead of us in ninth place, on the same lap.
- The
leader is the Howard-Boss Crawford #2 followed by
the Ganassi Riley
#01 and the Bell Motorsports DORAN JE4 Pontiac #54.
Hour 11 (around midnight):
- The
lap charts aren't in yet but unofficially
we're in ninth place, still 13 laps down. No
one else is on our lap but there's
a GT car in eighth place, one lap ahead of us, so hopefully we'll continue
to
march forward. The Michael Shank Racing DORAN JE4 is in tenth place.
- We'll head down to the pits and try to find out more in just
a minute.
- The
Howard-Boss Crawford #2 is still leading but the
Bell Motorsports
DORAN JE4 is back in second place. The pole-winning Ganassi car is third.
- Our
photographer, Rick Dole, just gave us a CD and our
Webmaster, Craig
Van Eaton, is busy preparing to post the new shots.
Enjoy!
Hour 12 (around 1 a.m.,
the half-way point):
- Marc
Goossens has been in all
this time, about three hours, and he's brought us
up to seventh place, 15 laps
down. He drove from lap 227 to lap 312 (85 laps).
- Goossens
didn't have any contact this time and he has done
an excellent
job; before he pitted a little after 1 a.m. he was setting the fastest
laps of
anyone in the race. Two laps before he pitted he did a 2:02 to
the leader's 2:06.
- Jan
Lammers just got in the car to relieve Goossens. There
is still a light rain falling.
Marc Goossens: "As soon as it rains a little bit more [meaning
the rain
picks up a bit], you can't see anything in the car. There is
a close call every corner.
- "The
radio is working now, at least most of the time. The
only problem
is the wipers. Everything else is fine with the car; you just
can't see."
- Goossens
was surprised to learn that he was the fastest driver
on the
track right before he came in.
- "I
didn't look at the lap times; I was too busy," he
said. When
he got
out of the car he was stiff and his hands were sore from all
the concentration
he needed to have in the cockpit.
- "It's
definitely the worst conditions I've ever been in
during a race,"
he said, and then added, "Well, 2002 at Le Mans was very similar
to this. "The
spray just sits there on the windshield, and then
you can't see
anything," he explained.
- The
Howard-Boss Crawford #2 of Andy Wallace, Tony Stewart
and Dale
Earnhardt Jr. is still leading followed by the Bell Motorsports
DORAN Pontiac #54
and the Howard-Boss Crawford #4 of Elliott Forbes-Robinson,
Butch Leitzinger,
David Brule Sr. and Jimmy Johnson.
- Ron
Mathis, engineer: "We're
running as fast or faster than anyone out
there, but we don't have the time to catch them outright;
we need for the
others to have problems too."
- Stay tuned. As
we walked back to the media center to file this note,
the pole-winning Gannasi Riley #01 was being pushed
back to the garage area,
around 1:20 a.m. The rumor is that it has some sort
of a leak. They
replaced
that car's radiator a little before 1, but apparently
that didn't solve the
problem.
Hour
13 (around 2 a.m.):
- Lammers
is still in the car. We're
up to seventh
place overall and fifth in the Daytona Prototype
class. We're still 14 laps down
to the leader, but there are two GT cars ahead of
us in the overall
standings. The one in sixth, the Flying Lizard
Motorsports Porsche #74, is on our same
lap and the one in fifth, the Orbit Porsche #44, only has two more laps
than
we do.
- The
Howard-Boss Crawford #2 is still leading. It has
a two-lap lead over
the Bell Motorsports DORAN JE4 Pontiac #54. The Howard-Boss Crawford
#4 is
third, one lap behind the #54.
- We're
chasing them as hard as we can and Lammers is setting
the fastest
lap times right now of anybody. We're doing all we can do, but we need
some
good luck.
- Counting
everyone, there are 21 people in the press room.
That's at least two less than there should be...
Hour 14 (around 3 a.m.):
- Jan
Lammers just got out and Didier Theys got back in.
- According
to the official hourly results sheet we're seventh
overall, with
those two Porsches still in front of us.
- The
Howard-Boss Crawford #2 still leads followed by the
Bell DORAN #54
and the Howard-Boss Crawford #4.
- Is
this the most rainy race that Jan Lammers has ever
been in? "I
don't know if this is the worst rain conditions or
not; I couldn't
see!" he joked. "It's worse than Le Mans 2002. There
were some races in Japan
that were pretty bad too, but this is definitely among the worst.
In 32 years
of racing you can't remember them all. "The
rain comes in the car and combined with the rain on the windshield
and the spray, you can't see anything. I mean nothing," he
continued. "It might be better if we took the windshield out,
but that might be against the rules; I don't know."
- There
was a full-course yellow right after we pitted for
that driver
change due to the standing water. We used that opportunity
to pit for new front
brake pads, to work on the windshield and to work on the radio
problem, which
is back. We also got tires and fuel.
- We
had to have the officials black-flag Theys in order
for him to know to
come in due to the radio trouble.
Hour 15 (around 4 a.m.):
- We
had Theys pit again under this long full-course
caution to clean the windshield again. The conditions are really bad.
- We're
beginning to worry about a possible shortage of Goodyear
rain
tires. One rumor is that if it keeps raining through the morning,
the Daytona Prototypes may run out of rain tires around 7 a.m. Such
a long rain during this
race is unusual, especially since we're in Florida and this much rain
wasn't
predicted in any of the five-day forecasts.
- We're
under a very long full-course caution for standing
water in the
turns and perhaps as a tire-saving measure.
- With
these stops we're officially eighth overall and sixth
in class,
still 14 laps down to the Howard-Boss Crawford #2. The other Howard-Boss
car is
second and the Bell DORAN is third.
Hours
16 and 17 (around 6 a.m.):
- Not
much to report. The race has been under
a full-course caution for three hours now.
Theys drove around under caution for 24 laps and then
Fredy Lienhard got in
on our lap 386. We're still under a full-course
caution due to standing water
in the turns and a lack of rain tires for the Daytona
Prototype class. We've
been under that caution for three hours now.
- The pace car has been bringing the field down pit lane. We
waved to
Lienhard as he passes our pits and, nice guy that he is, he waved back.
- We're
still in seventh place.
- The
green may wave again pretty soon.
Hour 18 (around 7 a.m.)
- At 6:25 a.m. we went
back to green-flag racing
after three hours and 15
minutes under a full-course caution. Goossens
was in the car at that point.
- Unfortunately it started to rain harder than
ever around 7:26 a.m., and we
went back to a full-course caution at 7:28
a.m. Ten
minutes later (7:38
a.m.) the officials waved a red flag, marking the
first time in 15 years that this
race has been stopped completely. Our
car is on pit road with a tarp over
it. The crews can't do any work on
the cars but the drivers can get out.
- We had to catch up with our hourly reports
post-race because we spent this
time chasing after the SPEED pit reporters, campaigning
for them to do a piece
on our Lista cabinet promotion. Theys
and Lienhard are at the motorcoach;
Lammers and Goossens are chatting with
the crew in the pits. We showed them
J.J. O'Malley's book on the Rolex 24, and
both were very interested. Fredy
Lienhard gave members of the pit crew the book
for Christmas.
- We're eighth overall and sixth in the
DP class, 14 laps down to the
Howard-Boss Crawford #2. The Bell
Motorsports DORAN JE4 is second and the
Howard-Boss Crawford #4 is third. The
Michael Shank Racing DORAN JE4 is right
in front
of us in seventh overall.
Hours 19-21 (8 a.m. to 10 a.m.)
- We're still under red. Calvin
Fish ended up doing the Lista
cabinet piece
on SPEED; he did a great job.
Hour
22 (11 a.m.)
- We
went back to a full-course
caution at 10:23 a.m. and
then green at 10:29
a.m.
- At
11:05 a.m. we pitted for
fuel and slicks.
- We're
sixth overall and fourth
in DP. We're
12 laps down to the leader,
the Howard-Boss Crawford #2.
Hour 23 (around noon)
- We came into the pits about
8 minutes ago to clean the
radiator; we were
overheating a little due
to all the sand and grime
that we've been picking up
with all the water. Once we clean
things out, the temperatures straighten
out.
- At
11:54 a.m. the overall
leader, the Howard-Boss
#2, comes into the pit
with a flat tire. It's smoking
from the front end too.
- We're
sixth overall and fourth
in DP, 11 laps down to
the leader, which is
still the #2.
Hour 23 (around 1 p.m.)
- It's
not over until it's over!
At 12:41 p.m. the SunTrust
Riley #10
dropped out with a broken driveshaft
while running third.
- Then,
at 12:53 p.m., on lap 519, the leader,
the Howard-Boss #2, spun out
due to a broken right-rear suspension
and wheel. The
car is towed to the
pits and retires from the race.
- Three
minutes later, the Bell Motorsports
DORAN JE4 #54 takes over the
overall lead. If we can make up one more lap
before the checkered we'll get
fourth overall and second in DP. Lammers
is in the car.
- We
do just that! The DORAN JE4s
in the field finish first overall
and
first in Daytona Prototypes (Bell
Motorsports); fourth overall and
second in
Daytona Prototypes (us); and seventh
overall and fourth in Daytona Prototypes
(Michael Shank Racing). Wow!
One-Two Punch!
Bell Motorsports DORAN JE4 Wins Rolex 24;
Doran-Lista DORAN JE4 Battles Back for Second!
If
you're reading this and you haven't entered the contest
for the Lista
cabinet give-away, please go to www.listaintl.com and
do that now so you don't
miss out on your chance to get a really nifty mobile tool box!
There
is live timing and scoring at www.grandamerican.com too.
For more information:
Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications
E-mail: [email protected]
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