IndyCar driver quotes from Rolex 24

Scott Dixon in the Ganassi No. 02

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – 54th annual Rolex At Daytona endurance sports car race features nine current Verizon IndyCar Series drivers and 25 who have competed in at least one Indy car race in their careers (11 of whom are Indy car race winners).

The past five Rolex 24 overall winners have featured at least one driver who was a current Verizon IndyCar Series driver at the time.

The following are selected quotes from drivers following qualifying for the 24-hour race Jan. 30-31. Drivers are listed with their 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series team and their 2016 Rolex 24 At Daytona entry:

Mikhail Aleshin (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports; No. 37 SMP Racing BR01/Nissan, Prototype class): (on winning the pole position Jan. 28) “It feels great. I’m very happy to be at this track and this race with SMP Racing. It’s the first race in the U.S. for the BR01 car. I was developing it with other drivers through all of 2015 and I’m very happy that one of our great results is to be the pole sitter in Daytona. It’s one of the greatest races and one of the most difficult, for sure, that I have raced. The competition is very tough. If you just see the list of drivers who are participating here, I would say it’s the same level as Le Mans. A result like this for us is very important." … “It feels like a good start of the season, that’s for sure. I’m very happy to be back in INDYCAR with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Definitely it’s a very good start of the year."

Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi Racing; No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford EcoBoost/Riley, Prototype class): “It’s just been one of those days where it’s been wet for the majority and, come qualifying, it was a bit of a monsoon, especially for the last half. It is what it is. We didn’t qualify that well, but in a 24-hour race that doesn’t matter too much. I did a bit of grass checking there at the end. I was literally going half throttle on the straight in third gear, came into pit lane and there was a massive lake there. Instead of going down pit lane, I started going to the right and took on the grass. The car’s fine and they’ll get through their engine change and get ready for the race." … “We’ve had a few little issues, as far as straight-out speed we haven’t been where we’d like to be. We really just don’t have the pace that we would like. It is a 24-hour race and the team’s very good at it, and the car’s pretty robust, too, so hopefully that comes into play."

Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing; No. 100 BMW Team RLL BMW M6, GT Le Mans class): “It’s always nice to get back in these things and we won Daytona five years ago, so we’ll try to get another watch this weekend. It’s great to be back and kind of kick off our season." … “It’s cool for me to be in the No. 100 car. We’ve got a reflective paint scheme that will look pretty cool at night. A hundred years of BMW and you’ve got the new M6 coming out here. It’s a very cool car. It’s amazing they can make such a big car perform the way that it does."

Ryan Briscoe (not a full-time driver in the Verizon IndyCar Series this season; No. 67 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT, GT Le Mans class): “Qualifying was a mess. We only got one timed lap with our car. We went out late and there was a red flag so we came in and on the next green-flag run, I think we were the only one to get a timed lap. We just put a time on the board, it wasn’t great. It’s been an interesting day. It’s really the first time that we’ve got to run the Ford GT in these conditions, so it’s been really good actually just to check inside the car with the fogging, demisting and the wiper. It’s the first time we’ve used the wiper on this car, so it’s all sorts of first experiences that you want to do in practice and not in the race. It’s been a productive day; I’ve been really happy with the car. I feel confident about our setup in dry conditions." … “The car is just amazing to drive, to look at, to sit in, to feel. It’s just a beautiful car. I’m really excited to be part of the program. The guys at Chip Ganassi Racing have been (working) absolutely nonstop. It’s going well, really making progress, getting the comfort of the car better all the time. I’m really happy with it."

The complete list of Rolex 24 drivers who have competed in an Indy car race, in alphabetical order, is (*-current fulltime Verizon IndyCar Series driver): Mikhail Aleshin*, A.J. Allmendinger, Richard Antinucci, Rubens Barrichello, Townsend Bell, Sebastien Bourdais*, Ryan Briscoe, Ryan Dalziel, James Davison, Scott Dixon*, Christian Fittipaldi, Jack Hawksworth*, Ryan Hunter-Reay*, Nic Jonsson, Tony Kanaan*, Katherine Legge, Lucas Luhr, Jan Magnussen, Nicolas Minassian, Simon Pagenaud*, Martin Plowman, Scott Pruett, Graham Rahal*, Scott Sharp, Tristan Vautier. In addition, Spencer Pigot is yet to drive in an Indy car race but will drive for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in at least three events this season.