Preview: 24 Hours of Daytona
When the engines will roar at Daytona this weekend, it will mark the begin of a new era. For the first time ever, Fischer Motorsport will compete in a VSCA sanctioned event, as the new league opens its first season. Also, the 24 Hours of Daytona will be the first time the team competes with two new Porsche 911 GT3 R. Leading the charge will be the team’s Dallara P217 P2 Prototype.
Over the past three years, Fischer Motorsport has competed in GT sports car series and championships using the Porsche 911 RSR GTE and Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. With the retirement of the RSR, the team will now focus on entering the 911 GT3 R in most of its competitions, starting this weekend at Daytona.
„We’re excited about the Porsche 911 GT3 R. It continues our long-standing relationship with Porsche on the iRacing service and we have immediately fallen in love with the new car. It truly is a 911. And at that, a truly amazing car and piece of engineering.“, team manager Benjamin Fischer says.
„As for the balance of performance, we have seen that really, any one of the manufacturers can be first on any given day, if you go by the test days so far. I think that’s exactly what VSCA is looking for and what the fans want. As a team, we feel that we aren’t the fastest right now, but there is still work to be done and it’s a long race, so a lot can happen.“
The No. 84 Porsche 911 GT3 R will be piloted by German drivers trio Manuel Mayer, Benjamin Fischer and Nelson Eberth, who was signed on by the team on a one-race deal just yesterday, as a short notice replacement for Nathan Manning, who is out due to COVID-19.
„We miss Nate terribly. We know he’s at home and fighting this thing. We are certainly keeping him and his family in our thoughts a lot. I send him text messages here and there to check on him. We know he’d have loved to be here with us. I know this race means a lot to him.“, Fischer explained.
Fortunately, the team was able to find a replacement rather quickly in the form of Nelson Eberth, a fellow Bavarian friend of Manuel Mayer who has experience from previous 24 Hours of Daytona starts and other endurance events.
„I didn’t expect this at all. On Wednesday I got this call and the team asked me, if I was available to meet, to discuss this. And then everything happened so quickly, it’s been a bit crazy. But here I am and I’m definitely looking forward to the race. I intend to make the most of this opportunity, that’s for sure.“, Eberth said.
The No. 85 Porsche 911 GT3 R meanwhile will be piloted by Pascal Theis, Marton Tihanyi and Tobias Abel. After finishing second last year, Theis and the No. 85 team hopes to climb to the top step of the podium this year, although it will be quite different on the way there.
„The fact we’ve got full course cautions this year, since we run this event in VSCA, changes everything, really. We’ve done a lot of preparation work for strategy and the key is, to stay out of trouble on restarts and throughout the race, so you’re in a position to attack at the end.“, Theis explained.
Last but not least, Kyle Birnie and his brother Jason, along with David Koopmans and Niclas Pedersen, will team up to pilot the team’s primary entry, the No. 14 Dallara P217 in the P2 prototype class, that will compete for the overall victory in the event.
„Winning the 24 Hours of Daytona would mean the world to me. I truly believe we have a great car, that is capable of winning this race. And we have a strong lineup of drivers. We just have to avoid mistakes and stay out of trouble and then make the most of the chances we get in the race.“, Jason Birnie said.
The 24 Hours of Daytona, Round 1 of the eight-race 2022 VSCA SportsCar Championship that will ultimately conclude at Road Atlanta in October this year, will take the green flag on Saturday, January 22nd at 1:45 pm local time.