Making the most of his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Sunoco IMSA 200 Challenge prizewinner Lewis Plato delivered an impressive performance in Friday’s IMSA 200 race at Daytona.

Driving the Sunoco Chevrolet Camaro, Lewis and his team-mate, 2013 TransAm Champion Cameron Lawrence from Windermere in Florida, were delighted to cross the finish line in 20th place. However, the story could have been very different, as they had ran as high as third overall during the race, but late fuel stop and a series of Safety Car periods delayed their progress in the closing stages.

Lewis arrived in Daytona at the beginning the of the week and tested the Mitchum Motorsport prepared Camaro, which was now proudly displaying the blue and yellow Sunoco livery in homage to the original Sunoco Camaros of the late 1960’s and early 70’s. Immediately, the 20-year old from Billericay in Essex felt comfortable in the car and found himself lapping the 3.56-mile banked track three-seconds quicker than he did during the ‘Roar before Daytona’ test at the beginning of the month. He also set a time quicker than any of the other driver’s in a pre-2014 specification car.

Lewis was nominated for the 15-minute qualifying session on Thursday morning and, having completed just one quick lap, the red flags appeared for almost the remainder of the session. However, the 2013 Radical Clubman’s Cup Champion had posted a time that was good enough to claim 17th on the grid, an excellent start position within the 68-car strong field.

In keeping with Daytona tradition, the build up to the race was a high profile affair and, with Lewis first to drive, he was eager to do the best job possible. When the lights went green he held his own, although Lewis admitted afterwards that he was cautious during the first few laps.

It was clear that Lewis was learning quickly and, as the laps went by, he started to move up the field. Consequently, by the end of his 50-minute stint, he pulled into the pits in 10th place. A fantastic performance on his Daytona debut.

After a quick stop for fuel, tyres and a change of driver, Cameron pulled out of the pits to find the Safety Car had been deployed - a piece of good fortune as it turned out, as he joined the race in third place!

However, the Safety Car periods that followed were not so kind and, to make sure the Camaro could make it to the end of the 200-mile race without issue, the team signaled a refuel stop with just ten-minutes to go. Rejoining amidst another Safety Car period resulted in another frustrating loss of places and, as such, Cameron took the chequered flag in 20th position whilst still running under Safety Car conditions.

Even though it wasn’t the result that could have been, the team were delighted with the outcome of the race as a whole and were impressed with Lewis’ pace and race strategy. Looking back at his first taste of Daytona Lewis said:

“This has been a fantastic experience. I have learnt so much. Having come from a Radical, I now know what it’s like to compete in a larger and more conventional car. But, even more different than I’m used to is the racing itself. There’s so many more cars, so you’re always racing against someone and, because there’s such a difference in performance between them, you need to be aware of where everyone is around you all of the time.

“I gave this opportunity my best shot and overall, I’m very satisfied with the way things went as we definitely had the potential of finished in the top-ten. Having stayed to watch the rest of the weekend’s racing and now knowing what the Daytona experience is like, my goal – having done the IMSA 200 - is to compete in next year’s 24-hour event. I really have to thank Sunoco and the Mitchum Motorsport team for providing me with such a great prize.”

Managing Director of Anglo American Oil Company Anders Hildebrand was also delighted with the outcome of race and praised Lewis’ performance:

“Considering this really was a case of ‘in at the deep end’ for Lewis, he really did a great job and I believe that his pace surprised many of the more established drivers. He drove a faultless race and, if the dice had rolled in a different direction, he and Cameron could well have ended up in the top-ten. Lewis’ performance reassures me that we made the right decision to introduce the IMSA 200 prize three years ago as it’s proved to be a great introduction to endurance racing in the USA and an excellent platform for driver development.”