By Mike Knapp
Between the excitement of the Rolex 24 weekend and seeing a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch (a bucket list item of mine) from my hotel in Orlando on Sunday night, it was a pretty good few days in the Sunshine State.
It was great to be back at the Rolex for the first time since 2020. I had wanted to come back before this, but things just never worked out, but it was great to be back with Abby, Doug, a couple of the PAIN Tour guys, and my son, Kevin, who had a blast and is already looking forward to next year.
Next to the racing — and the rocket launch — one of the best things about the weekend was the weather. Even though it’s Florida, it’s also January, so the weather can sit all over the spectrum. I remember in 2020 sleeping in my winter coat next to a firepit because it was pretty damn cold.
Not a problem this year, as we got lots of sun and 70-degree days, and really pleasant nights. Whew.
There were a lot of IndyCar related storylines, and I was happy that one of my predictions in last week’s blog came true — that an IndyCar driver would win a fancy-schmancy Rolex watch, which Josef Newgarden did as part of the Penske Porsche Motorsport team, which beat Whelan Cadillac Racing to the stripe by just over two seconds in what was a very bizarre finish.
Premature flag, anyone?
Crazy to think that it was the first time a car under the Penske banner had won the overall title since 1969. The winning car covered 791 laps and about 2,518 miles, or about the same number of miles I drove over the weekend.
Here’s a list of the IndyCar drivers who caught my eye this weekend
scott mclaughlin
One thing I love about blogging is that there is no rule that says I have to be objective.
Good.
Because it’s my opportunity to say that McLaughlin is my second-favorite IndyCar driver. My history with Alex Palou — and his massive amount of talent — makes him my guy, but over the last couple of years McLaughlin has put himself one step below.
The guy was incredible this weekend. He was on track for 7 hours, 55 minutes, which was over two hours more than any of his three teammates. He posted on Twitter that he burned 6,500 calories, did a quadruple stint (4 hours) at one point, and helped his team to a P5 in the LMP2 category.
He’s more than proving that he can drive the wheels off of anything and is one of the best drivers in IndyCar. Now, if he can only get IMS figured out…
Tom blomqvist
A sports car driver is gonna sports car.
While it remains to be seen on how he does on the IndyCar side, there is no question his talent in sports cars. He came into the weekend looking to win the overall title for the third straight time, and to pick up his sixth sports car win over the last three seasons.
He and Felipe Nasr put on an incredible show over the final stint, running in each other’s tracks and taking the race right to the finish line. Blomqvist also had the fastest lap of the entire race at 1:35.554.
That’s what’s so crazy about this race. Back in the day, it was a matter of saving the car and surviving the 24 hours. The pole speed was 1:32.656, and they are running the race just below qualifying pace. It’s pretty unreal.
The o1 GTP car
I’ll throw this under one umbrella.
The 01 Cadillac Racing team was stacked, and for half of the race, the combination of Alex Palou, Scott Dixon (a 5-time Daytona winner), Sebastien Bourdais (we know all about him) and Renger Van Der Zande (who has two overall wins under his belt), qualified second and led close to half of the first 150 laps.
One of the goals of teams involved in 24-hour races have is to make it to sunrise, and unfortunately that didn’t happen, as mechanical issues forced them to retire after 13 hours and 432 laps of racing.
No doubt if their car hadn’t let them down they would’ve been in the thick of it at the end.
Josef Newgarden
The reigning Indy 500 champion didn’t have the best weekend behind the wheel, as his lap times were well down the list in his class.
Still, his team won, and he became the 12th driver to win the 500, and IndyCar title, and the Rolex in their career. He also became the fifth driver to win the Rolex as the reigning 500 champion, which was last done by Helio Castroneves two years ago.
The rest of the Crew
Overall, IndyCar was well represented at the Rolex 24, with over half of the currently confirmed field involved in the race.
Here are how some of the others did:
Colton Herta — 3rd in GTP
Christian Rasmussen — 1st in LMP2
Pietro Fittipaldi — 4th in LMP2 (Pretty impressive run considering he didn’t know he was racing until Friday when he stepped in for an injured driver)
Pato O’Ward — 6th in LMP2 (The team was P1 in its class in qualifying and led 208 of the first 336 laps but had bodywork damage and lost time on the track)
Alexander Rossi — 10th in GTP Pro
Kyle Kirkwood — 11th in GTP Pro
Romain Grosjean — 12th in GTP Pro
Felix Rosenqvist — 11th in LMP2
If you want to know more details on the race, check it out here.
It was great to see IndyCar drivers back on track, but it will be even better when they all converge on St. Pete. Just five more weeks to go!
Your INDYCAR Experience 