It was a historic weekend during the Rolex 24hours race in Daytona, where Jeff Gordon and the Taylor brothers managed a fantastic win in what was the most difficult endurance race Daytona ever seen in the last years.
The race started from early sunshine and 70 degrees Fahrenheit progressing to rain and 45 degrees overnight. The Cadillac teams managed to negotiate the other 52 race cars on the track and Mother Nature. Just 20 minutes into the race, Ricky Taylor took the lead in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac. Since that time, the Wayne Taylor led team had only a few hiccups during the 24 hours, one for a fire bottle pit lane infraction and a few late on track miscues. Other than those minor racing incidents, the No. 10 Cadillac DPiV.R never came to the garage and only needed gas, oil, tires, and a fresh driver.
Meanwhile, the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPiV.R team used strategy and speed to get to the back of the No. 10 in the early morning hours. At 10 a.m., Joao Barbosa filled Max Angelelli’s mirrors. As the raced progressed into the last hour the combination of Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Filipe Albuquerque made it a two Cadillac DPiV.R battle for the coveted Rolex Daytona watches. With 16minutes left, Ricky Taylor made a run at Albuquerque into Turn 1. The two had their Cadillac DPiV.R prototypes touching side panels.
With 10 minutes remaining Ricky Taylor drove his Cadillac DPiV.R to the apex of Turn 1 to make a pass on Albuquerque in the Mustang Sampling Cadillac. Taylor and Albuquerque touched, Albuquerque spun and Taylor went on to win the 55th running of the Rolex 24 Hour At Daytona.
