Late collision decides Daytona 24 Hours

Weekend Racing Wrap

Posted on

| Written by

A late collision between the two leading drivers of the Daytona 24 Hours decided the outcome of the race with just minutes left on the clock.

WeatherTech Sportscar Championship

Round 1 of 12: Daytona

NASCAR star Jeff Gordon, Max Angelelli and brothers Jordan and Ricky Taylor took the victory for Cadillac in the Daytona 24 Hours. However the decision moment of the race proved deeply controversial: Ricky was involved in a collision with the leading car of Felipe Albuquerque.

Taylor dived to the inside of Albuquerque at a gap that was always likely to close and inevitably the pair collided. Albuquerque was sent spinning off but the stewards decided no action was necessary. Taylor held on to win despite a furious Albuquerque hunting him down over the final laps.

Cadillac dominated the race from the start. They held the top three places until the eighth hour when the number 31 car lost six laps in the pits. Rain had begun to fall shortly before they hit trouble and in the pit stops which followed Brendon Hartley’s Nissan became the race’s the first non-Cadillac leader. But he ground to a halt soon afterwards, removing Cadillac’s closest threat.

As the race passed the halfway mark the heavens really opened, leading to nearly four hours under caution. The track began to dry with four hours to go however, causing drivers to rush to the pits and the order to shuffle considerably. Cadillac remained out front however with the battle always on, eventually culminating in the late collision with just seven minutes of the twenty-four hour race to go.

Over to you

What did you make of the Daytona 24 Hours? Do you think the stewards were right to take no action on the late race incident?

And did you watch any racing action last weekend that we haven’t covered? Please let us know in the comments below.

Next weekend is the 15th running of the Bathurst 12 Hours.

Weekend Racing Wrap

Browse all Weekend Racing Wraps

24 comments on “Late collision decides Daytona 24 Hours”

  1. I thought Albuquerque closed the door too late, yes you can say the gap was going to disappear but you can say that about anyone going round a race track. He was along side Albuquerque, front wheel to rear wheel and turned in too late IMO. Taylor wasn’t running wide from what I could see (need on board but can’t find any?), hugged the white line.

    1. You’re not wrong, Taylor didn’t run wide, Albuquerque just moved over on him.

      https://youtu.be/5M5eZfqVI3c?t=28

      Still, as I review this video, I’m finding myself more and more okay with the decision the stewards made. Taylor picked out the gap, and while you can expect Albuquerque to be watching his mirrors mid-corner I’m just not sure Taylor didn’t anything other than be aggressive. It’s just a consequence of the insanely limited visibility prototypes have these days.

      1. @bob-loblaw
        Yeah, I thought that move was borderline okay too. Definitely extremely aggressive, but Albuquerque had it coming with the gap he left. It’s a shame the race was decided by such an incident, but a penalty would’ve been worse.

  2. It clearly wasn’t a clean move (that goes without saying), but it didn’t seem nefarious, either. Albuquerque opened the door more than a full car width and Taylor went for it under braking at which point Albuquerque slammed it shut with Taylor’s nose at the 1/3 mark on the car. It’s tough to put any fault on Albuquerque given that Taylor wasn’t halfway up, but Taylor went for the gap the moment it opened and didn’t force it open on his own.

    Aggressive and an unfortunate consequence, and possibly beyond the realm of what a racing incident really is, but as far as racing incidents go it was on the bleeding edge of the line that defines racing incident vs. punishable incident. Wouldn’t have been surprised to see it go either way and wouldn’t have faulted the stewards either way.

    1. I would agree with that analysis, Albuquerque got caught napping.

  3. He slammed the door on him and got spun out. Racing incident.

  4. I wonder what happened to that other NASCAR guy, Jeff gordon ;)

    1. He’s one of the WTR drivers..

      1. There was a typo in the article earlier, thats why i said it.

  5. Their decision was also consistent with how they called the rest of the race. Isn’t consistency what fans and drivers alike ask for the most?

    Keep it up for the entire season and I’ll be happy. Oh, and I like the new DPi’s.

    1. @henslayer That’s why I was happy they didn’t decide on a penalty just because it was for the lead in the final hour. We’ve seen many GTD and GTLM cars do some door banging and even PC cars, and they all got away with it.

  6. I thought it was the right call, he closed the door like the video shows and got punted. Can’t blame either guy. And wow, Jeff Gordon adds to his resume. What a legend and what’s his next move? Le Mans will surely come his way and I remember an interview a few years back saying he would love to try the Dakar Rally.

  7. Porsche win in GTD and a podium in GTLM (which could’ve been a win too), and a strong outing for Vanthoor in the #912 although it did not result in a podium. Good weekend, and very glad to see the Porsche is right up there in its first race. Predicting a good season in both DPi and GTLM. May the best (Porsche) win.

  8. I’d suggest that everyone take another, closer look at how that incident unfolded, in real time rather than slow-motion. Albuquerque did a fairly obvious early brake-check move on Taylor.

    While brake-checking a closely following competitor is not always a violation, it is a slightly dirty move. The car behind can either brake early in response, or hit the back of the lead car, or go outside (and lose the line), or, as Taylor did, go inside into the small gap.

    At that point, Albuquerque could have made more room, but instead he chose to hold his line and take the hit, and hope no one noticed (and penalized) his brake-check move.

    Essentially, it was a coin-toss for both drivers, with both bending the rules slightly while hoping the stewards saw it their way.

    Personally, I never side with a brake-checker, since IMO it’s a form of overt blocking, rather than simple defense of your racing line.

  9. Disagree entirely with the opinion that Taylor was OK in his desperate move to first place.

    His rate of closing was way too high and that speed then simply rammed the lead car out of the way.

    It showed poor decision making on his part and then seeing his dad and mom crying over this amazing great moment of their childs success make me feel like how can you be proud of this example of driver talent. What a sad moment.

    1. did you watch the same video?
      the lead car spun because he slammed the door while Taylor was alongside, simple as that

      look at where’s the corner apex at..

    2. @BT52 – The fact you are the ONLY person in these comments that thinks so is quite telling in your assessment. He didn’t ram him at all, the door was closed while 1/3 of the car up on him. He kept to the inside line, didn’t run wide, he was hit as the door was closed. As said above by @Ram “He slammed the door on him and got spun out. Racing incident.”

  10. ChuckL8

    The lead car never has to move out of the way for the guy in second place. The guy in second place needs to display skill sets to get around the leader NOT CRASH HIM OUT OF THE WAY

  11. As for other races, the Toyota Racing Series is underway in New Zealand. Amongst the contenders is Red Bull Junior Team member Richard Verschoor. Verschoor won two distinct F4 championships last year in his rookie season in car racing and as such has already accumulated 24 super licence points. He is now doing very well in the Toyota Racing Series, on tracks and in a car all unknown to him, leading the championship after three rounds (3 races per round).

    This past weekend was a bit less than the previous two but he still had a second and a fourth place. Two rounds to go.

    So maybe the weekend racing wrap could cover this series too as there is not much else going on for now. :)

  12. all the above took away some superb driving in the other classes and it took 4 factory Fords and some aggressive tactics to beat one private Ferrari!
    All in all a superbly entertaining race and worth the cold and rain to experience. The use of color coded lights and position indicators on the cars is also a fantastic idea, that makes it easy to follow each car in its class and thus far more entertaining for the fans-experienced or not. Hats off to IMSA for a great organisation.

  13. Taylor tried an impossible move when behind, and that decision was based on desperation as the race was ending.

    That apex as stated by others was not nor would have been the apex used by all other competitors during the previous 23hrs 55min.

    Seeking and then justifying this as the correct decision of proper racing tells me that many of you were also Earnhardt fans who mastered the art of ” wreckin ya” on the last lap.

    This is such a lack of racing skills and is so very obvious the Taylor family should fined, banned from the results and lose all points from the Rolex24

    Such a great thing for young racers to witness and learn from…just cheat…

    1. charles rippon
      3rd February 2017, 9:35

      BT 52 clearly has an axe to grind!!

  14. One of my old FSAE teammates is the Cadillac Racing Program Manager. Super proud of her and the team for their epic feat! Obviously a lot goes into it – what an incredible way to start the year.

    Anyway, looking forward to the 2017 F1 circus… so close!

Comments are closed.