DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 2, 2003) – Goodyear teams captured two class victories and a pair of top-five finishes overall in the Rolex Sports Car Series’ 2003 running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Scott Maxwell, David Brabham and David Empringham co-drove their Ford Multimatic to victory in the new Daytona Prototype class and finished fourth in the overall scoring. The Mosler MT900R driven by Jerome Policand, Michel Neugarten, Andy Wallace and Joao Barbosa took the GTS class title and finished ninth overall.
“We were very content with the way the tires performed with the new Daytona Prototype class,” said Bob Shaffer, marketing manager, sports car racing. “Congratulations to the Multimatic and Mosler teams for their class victories.”
The twice-around-the-clock test marked the first-ever racing appearance by the prototype class. Cars from the new class led much of the early portion of the race and the Porsche Fabcar driven by Hurley Haywood, J.C. France, Scott Goodyear and Scott Sharp posted the fastest lap of the race. The fast lap lasted 1 minute, 50.619 seconds.
“The car is brand new and this was our first real test with it,” said Brabham. “The Goodyear tires were very good with it.”
Policand, Neugarten, Wallace and Barbosa won a late-race battle with the Corvette driven by Charles Morgan, Rob Morgan, Lance Norick and Jim Pace to claim the GTS victory. The Corvette finished 10th overall.
“We never gave up,” said Wallace. “We charged after the others and, luckily for us, everybody seemed to have problems.”
The Corvette driven by Justin Bell had the quickest time in qualifying. Bell teamed with his father, Derek Bell, and Simon Gregg and Kenny Wilden to finish 30th in the race. Justin Bell’s qualifying time was 1 minute, 49.394 seconds, an average speed of 117.155 mph.
The 41st renewal of the classic was held under warmer than usual daytime conditions. Goodyear is the sole tire provider for the Daytona Prototype and GTS classes in the Rolex Series.
“We anticipate further tire development down the road,” Shaffer said. “We’re encouraged that so many of the new cars finished the race on their first time out.”
Drivers in all forms of racing know that whether their cars are new or old, they can count on Goodyear for competitive, reliable tires.
