No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Rolex 24 At Daytona winners

 

“Your last one is always your best. This was tough. There were a lot of really hard, fast cars that we’re up against. Everybody did a great job driving car. You always had to push hard in the car. The conditions were pretty treacherous because it was rain, then it was dry, then it was a little bit of wet and you weren’t sure to go to wet to dry (tires) and then it would rain again. That makes for a really tough race. Those conditions are just horrible to drive in. In my view, this is the most difficult 24-hour race in the world and it is a true test of man machine ad team. You can’t appreciate all the effort that has gone into the cars on the track. I can’t say enough for all of the Ganassi guys.”

 

“It was exciting. Last year, I felt like we had a stronger car. A car that you thought whatever happens we were fast enough to win. This year, if it came down to it, it would have been a lot harder. I think everything worked out pretty good. We pushed very hard. Every stint I was in the car, I pushed really hard. It’s a good way to start the year. Having Dario, Scott as well, Memo in the car, each one did their part. We all worked, we all did what we need to do.”

 

“It’s a good way to start ’08. Chip and Felix gave us the equipment to do the job. The cars are prepared perfectly. The brake changes, all those things, they just took less time. I felt my job was to get through my stints and stay on the pace and not put any dents in the car. It was made more difficult every time that I got to the car, it seemed to rain. I didn’t want to really point out to Chip that rain has been following me around since Indy last year. It was a team effort and really happy to be up here.”

 

“That means a lot to me to win at the Rolex 24. It’s a race that I’ve watched a long time. To win it, it means a lot. As far as anything for me, the big thing was when it rained so heavily was just trying to keep the car on the track. It was pretty treacherous conditions. During my first stint in darkness with the rain, that was pretty interesting.”

It’s almost better to finish fourth on something like this. Second, you were kind of close. We were there pretty much all night long just sticking to the plan, taking care of the car. Typical story, it’s a long race and to get bit like that as late as we did, it kind of stinks. On a positive note, the team got second-place points to start the season with. I put money on them for a repeat for the championship.”

 

“I’m honored to be here as well. I’m very pleased for the same reasons that Vasser mentioned to help the team out getting second place in points. Last year they had to go on a tear to win the championship. Hopefully this gives them a better start for the season. I’m happy to see that for them.

 

“In some ways, coming to run the Rolex Series, in the past, it’s really been a release of sorts and something to have fun with. But coming in, having the honor for these guys invite me to the team and come drive for them, I’m thinking championship. That pressure was on my mind just like it would be for a Sprint Cup Series race. I would hate to be the one that kept them from winning a championship this year. So that’s same pressure was on my shoulders. I was sharing with Jon that I appreciate he and Alex and Bob for inviting Vasser and I for screwing it up and we didn’t.”

 

“This is the Rolex 24. This is a big race. It’s very difficult to get through it all without making any mistakes. I’m really proud of being able to race with all these guys. They all did an excellent job. I had a lot of fun. It’s a bit of a bummer that we could not pull out a win. We were watching the board all the time to see the 01 up there and us right below to know that any little thing could go wrong might put us up front. We were hoping but it didn’t work out but we’re in good shape for the championship.”

 

“We were a little discouraged from our test days and our qualifying efforts. We were all looking one another in the eye and telling each other a top-five finish would be great. We were convincing ourselves of that. But each and everyone of us knew we were (fooling) one another and wanted to win this damn thing. It’s good. This is a championship we are after and we’re certainly in good position for that.”

 

“This is part of the 24-hour race, we were up, we were down, but we dealt with it and finished 6^th. The team never gave up, the mechanics did a good job with a fantastic engine that Ford gave us, with help from the Yates guys. The pole was nice yesterday, but I would’ve traded it to get the Rolex watch today.”

 

“This time last year I was just running around here being a spectator and this year racing in it was totally unexpected. We started testing and the SunTrust guys really helped me out. It was just great getting to drive next to my dad; hopefully I can do it again.”

 

“We didn’t get enough test time on the Proto-Auto Lolas, so we took a conservative path here to make sure we got some points that we could come away with. That’s why we brought the Rileys, we knew they could last 24 hours. We’re going to bring the Lolas to Homestead.”

 

 

“I had a cut right-front tire early in the race, and I just managed to bring it in without much damage. Unfortunately, that put us a lap down. This type of race is all about not having trouble. As you can see, the winner had no trouble. To put this project together in four-six weeks with Wayne Taylor, it was an incredible result, and we are extremely happy to finish third.”

“It was an incredible effort. I don¹t know what the expectation was coming in, but when you’re teamed up with the Captain, Roger Penske, you’re only shooting for the best. To be able to have a podium finish is incredible. These two guys are such wheel men, it helped me learn what I needed to do to take care of the car and find a pace to run.

 

It’s tough running a lap time, but if you’re over-exceeding your ability, you can get into trouble. Finding a 90-percent capacity to run the car was what I needed to do. I found that by listening to these guys and Roger. It was a great effort by Tim Cindrick, he’s a leader on top of the pit box. That allowed us to do our job. We struggled with some overheating issues and had to pit many times, and that took us off the lead lap at 4 a.m. this morning. Just to see us persevere and pull through was exciting, and I didn’t stop laughing the whole time. To finish third right out of the box gets your excited for next year.

 

I was driving blind, not knowing anything about driving in the rain, at night. I live a sheltered life in NASCAR. We don’t drive in the rain. I was smiling from ear to ear. I was driving at night, I’m going 200 mph, I’m in a sports car at Daytona. It was a blast.”

 

 

“Kurt’s very modest. The whole time he’s saying he’s not quite up, but he did an amazing job, at night and in the rain, with zero experience in the wet. And then he brought the car in, in second position. Overall, it was an amazing effort, and a lot of fun, the whole time. They threw everything at us, and we kept the car on the road. It’s a special race, a special way to start the season off. I had a blast. It was a good time to get to know everyone on the team better, and to kick off our season in the Indy Car. I really hope we get another chance to come back next year to get another crack at it.”

 

 

“It’s incredible. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve got to really thank Pirelli for helping me on a big learning curve with the first stint out with the cold tires. I had a nice little contact with the wall and I learned a lot about cold tires at that point. Two and a half hours in the wet last night was really quite interesting. To see all these drivers in this field and be out there in the field with them in the wet and to watch them and to be a part of that is really quite special. I learned a lot. I had a lot of fun. We had a lot of bad luck but the team has really rallied to keep the car out there. We wanted to finish this race. We had a great time and I can’t wait to do it again.”

 

 

­“It was pretty special. I¹ve all dreamth of this since I¹ve started racing. To win at Daytona has been a dream of mine for a long, long time. When I first talked of getting a Mazda running against the Porsches, it seemed like a joke back then. There was so much that had to happen, so many pieces we had to build. Then we had to convince other people to believe in our dream, and pull on from there.

 

Today is really the culmination of a lot of work from a lot of different people who all had a dream, to come here and race against the best. I must say, in all the years I¹ve been racing, the GT field was by far the stiffest, strongest field I¹ve ever seen in any GT race anywhere in the world. I¹m proud of the accomplishment of my teammates. It¹s a dream come true.”

 

“Our biggest mechanical problems is my ears. I had fluid in my ear yesterday and couldn¹t hear anything. Also we lost the driver¹s side mirror, which is a problem, especially here, but our spotters did a great job. The car was flawless.”

 

“It was a reasonably uneventful race. We all had our moments, but the key thing was that everyone on the team did their job, and did it to the best of their ability. That in the end is why we won. This victory is definitely going to give us a good place to start.

Means focusing on race to race, doing your job. It¹s nice having the lead going into Homestead. Hopefully, we can maintain it.”

“My lowlight was spinning in the chicane and bouncing off the tire wall. Going back to the pits I was thinking of all the work the guys did to get here. The guys in the pits were amazing. The pit stops went like clockwork, they were perfect and the guys drove their hearts off. He got some breaks near the end with the pace car and got some laps up, which helped out a lot, but that¹s the way it is with pace cars. It¹s great to do it for Mazda, that¹s all I¹ve ever raced.”

 

“I want to thank SpeedSource and Mazda for the opportunity to be part of the team. It was a very difficult race for us. The conditions were very difficult, especially during the night. Right when I got on the lead lap, I had a spin, and basically lost everything I had gained. Sylvain got in the car, I went to bed, and when I came out to drive again we were back on the lead lap. I felt then again we had a real shot at winning the race, and things just started working our way. The guys from SpeedSource worked really, really hard and they deserve this. It was a great time.”