Rolex 24: IndyCar driver update

Spencer Pigot

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Spencer Pigot experienced a baptism by fire in an extended first stint in the Rolex 24 At Daytona endurance sports car race.

Unfortunately, the fire that his No. 55 Mazda Motorsports Prototype experienced shortly after Pigot finished the stint sent any chances for victory up in smoke.

Pigot, who has successfully climbed the Mazda Road to Indy ladder by winning four advancement scholarships that have him poised to debut in the Verizon IndyCar Series in six weeks with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, hopped into the No. 55 around 9 p.m. ET Jan. 30 with the car three laps behind the leaders. Four stints later, a worn-out Pigot had the car back on the lead lap.

Shortly after, around 2 a.m. today, transmission problems surfaced, sparking a fire that forced co-driver Tristan Nunez to pull the car off course. The damage proved too extensive and the Mazda retired after 327 laps.

Immediately following his stint, Pigot said it was the longest he’d ever been in a race car.

“The original plan was for me to only do three stints and then they asked me if I felt all right enough to do another one," said the native Floridian. “That fourth stint was a lot of fun; I was finally up with all the DPs and Prototype cars. It was more of the same class instead of always passing GT cars. I’m glad I got to stick around that last stint."

With the car retiring soon after, Pigot wouldn’t get another chance behind the wheel. But he learned plenty in his lone stint.

“There’s lots of dust and dirt on the track, there’s a lot of oil on the track," he said. “A few of us all spun on oil late in my stint there, so that was kind of tricky.
Just a lot of cars, a lot of traffic. Sometimes you can’t really do much but just wait until the straightaway (to make passes). Way different than what I’m used to, but I really enjoyed it."

As dawn surfaced at Daytona International Speedway and the marathon race reached the 17th of its 24 hours, several teams with INDYCAR drivers remained in contention.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2012 Verizon IndyCar Series and 2014 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race champion, had taken two turns driving the No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette DP that held the overall lead after 17 hours. Also on the lead lap in the Prototype division were the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP that included Rubens Barrichello and the No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP with Simon Pagenaud, who tweeted about the four-hour overnight stint he drove that included a small fire in the cockpit.

The defending champion No. 02 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford EcoBoost DP, with Verizon IndyCar Series stars Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan in the fold, had made up two of the 10 laps it lost in the garage with brake issues earlier in the evening.

In the GT Daytona class, the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Audi, with Tristan Vautier among the driver lineup, wasn’t able to take the initial green flag due to battery problems but fought its way back onto the lead lap and was running third in class.

Both of the Ganassi Ford GTs suffered numerous setbacks throughout the night but both continued plugging away to complete laps. Sebastien Bourdais and Ryan Briscoe are among the stable of Ford GT drivers.

Finally, the No. 100 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 that included Graham Rahal ran strong until a brake rotor exploded and ended the car’s debut around 4 a.m.