Building on the success of last year’s inaugural, Historic Sportscar Racing staged its 2nd annual Classic 24 at Daytona presented by IMSA last weekend as the history-rich Rolex 24 at Daytona was celebrated under sunny Florida skies. The Classic 24 format features six chronologically based race groups with each running four one-hour sprint races during the designated 24 hours to determine a winner on aggregate. Each run group is then subdivided into four or five separate classes. The festivities kicked off with a tribute to the legendary John Greenwood, who passed away earlier this year, followed on Friday evening by a dinner celebration to benefit the Racing for Kids charity,
After running annually for its first two outings, plans are afoot to hold the Classic 24 at Daytona every other year, alternating with a major vintage event at Le Mans, so the next race will take place in 2017.
This year’s event drew nearly 200 cars and more than 300 drivers from 15 different countries on four continents to Daytona International Speedway. Among the star drivers participating were Brian Redman, Derek Bell, Bobby Rahal, Jochen Mass, Jürgen Barth, Danny Sullivan, Andy Wallace, Gijs van Lennep, Butch Leitzinger, Elliott Forbes-Robinson, Charlie Kemp, Patrick Long, Scott Sharp, Jack Baldwin, David Murry, Dieter Quester, Jeff Kline, Toni Seiler, Didier Andre, Christophe Tinseau, Gunnar Jeanette and Jean Marc Gounon.
The “overall” victory went to Butch Leitzinger and Doug Smith in the Rogers Motorsports Audi R8 LMP, giving Smith two overall wins from two tries, as he won last year alongside Andy Wallace. When all was said and done on Sunday afternoon, the following racers were awarded BRM Chronographes watches as Group winners of the Classic 24 at Daytona:
Group A (1960-’72) – Gray Gregory/Randy Buck – 1971 Chevron B16
Group B (1973-’82) – Robert Blain/Ron Maydon – 1975 March 75S
Group C (1983-’93) – Mark Patterson/Christian Zugel – 1986 Porsche 962
Group D (1994-2002) – Dean Baker – 1998 Riley & Scott MkIII-Judd
Group E (2003-’10) – Doug Smith/Butch Leitzinger – 2005 Audi R8 LMP
Group F (HSR Sports & GT cars) – Robert Spence/Scott Jachthuber/Cody Ellsworth – 1972 Porsche 911/ST
Other notable class winners, within group, included: Bobby Rahal, who joined Jim Farley for the B-3 class victory in an ex-George Dyer 1974 Porsche 911 RSR; Charles Monk and John Higgins in C-2 driving the same 1985 Camel Lights Porsche Fabcar they raced in IMSA nearly 30 years ago; and debuting drivers Franklin Pray (F-2) and Roberto Bengoa (E-5) who enjoyed Classic 24 Hour wins in their first HSR race weekends. For complete information please visit www.hsrrace.com
