Mike Rockenfeller drove the fastest race car during the Rolex 24 At Daytona, but it wasn't the winning car. The Monaco driver had to settle for third place, acknowledging it took more than speed to win the 24-hour endurance race, held Jan. 28 and 29 in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Rockenfeller and his co-drivers, Lucas Luhr of Monaco and Patrick Long of Las Vegas, set the pace with the fastest practice, qualifying and race laps. Luhr qualified the No. 23 Alex Job Racing Porsche-powered Crawford on the pole position with a lap of one minute 44.009 seconds (123.22 mph) on the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway infield road course.
Luhr drove the first double race stint, briefly relinquishing the lead for an early pitstop. Rockenfeller took over at 1h50 and returned to the track in fifth place. He regained and held the lead until a broken half-shaft seal sent him to the garage for repairs at 2h27. The pitstop cost seven laps and dropped the car back to 36th place. The three drivers then charged through the night, steadily regaining laps and positions until Rockenfeller took the race lead at 16h5. An hour later, the car was the only one on the lead lap of the race.
Trouble struck again with a second axle failure at 18h15. The replacement took five laps, relegating the car to fifth place. Another strong drive put the trio third, just six minutes from the end of the race, and they finished on the podium.
"I'm happy for Porsche, Crawford and the team that we at least had a podium. For sure, we had the best car and the best driver lineup," Rockenfeller said. "But it's a 24-hour race – it's you against the race. Usually, the team wins that has the fewest problems. We were unfortunately not the one this year.
"I'm disappointed because I really, really wanted to win and I knew we had a chance. But we were third with a new car and engine combination, so that's pretty good. Everyone saw that we were the quickest all the time and we pushed the car to the limit almost the whole race. I'm happy to be part of it; I'm happy to be on the podium."
