2001 Daytona - 24-Hour

The 2001, Grand American Road Racing Championship (Grand Am) was the series second season. A business model which controlled costs, had stable rules and avoided being on dependent of automotive manufacturers attracted private teams. Based on the failure of the United States Road Racing Championship in 1999 critics suggested that the Grand Am would suffer a similar fate – races cancelled and the season cut short. However, that was not the case and all nine events were held as scheduled.

As in 2000, there were five classes: Sports Racing Prototype I and II (SRP-I and SRP-II), Grand Touring Sport (GTS – the former GTO class), Grand Touring (GT – the former GTU class), and American GT (AGT).

In 2001, there were ten-races - beginning with Daytona in February and ending in November at the same track. The series visited the same venues as 2000. Watkins Glen International gained a second date - running as a support event to NASCAR.

Daytona opened the 2001 season with 120-entries and 79-starters. The best-subscribed class was GT with 34-cars and the least – 8 in American GT. At the finish 41-cars were classified as finishers.

Despite mechanical problems, poor weather and more powerful Sports Racing Prototypes - Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell, Franck Freon and Chris Kneifel were able to capture the overall victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona. The No. 2 Chevrolet Corvette C5-R moved into the lead with the retirement of the Dyson Riley & Scott MK III.

It was heartbreak again for the Dyson team. The No. 16 Ford-powered Riley & Scott driven by James Weaver, Andy Wallace and Butch Leitzinger qualified on the pole. Unfortunately, history repeated itself and with a comfortable lead, at 9:30-a.m. Sunday morning, the team lost an engine and retired with less than three hours remaining in the race. It would take over an hour for the No. 2 Corvette to take the lead.

The winners of the American GT class were Kenny Bupp, Doug Mills, Dick Greer and Simon Gregg driving a Chevrolet Camaro. Although the team finished twenty-eighth overall and over 100-laps behind the overall winner, they won their class by a large margin. Twenty-laps clear of the second place American GT class car.

Looking for an advantage, Kevin Doran replaced the team's Judd-powered Ferrari 333 SP with a new Crawford SSC2K. The Andy Scriven designed car was equipped with a Judd V10. The Crawford driven by Didier Theys, Freddy Lienhard, Ross Bentley and Mauro Baldi retired after 181-laps with transmission issues. After three races Doran abandoned the Crawford in favour of the team's Ferrari.

The biggest pre-event news was the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C5-R entry driven by Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Jr. The pair shared the car with Andy Pilgrim and Kelly Collins. Just after midnight, the team replaced the transmission only to discover the half shaft was the problem. Thirty-one minutes later the car was back on track. The team was able to make up the deficit and finish fourth overall and second in GTS.

JET Motorsports entered a V8 powered BMW M3 E46. Team owner Tony Jennings hired a talented line-up to share the driving duties – Terry Borcheller, Boris Said and Hans Stuck. The car qualified second in the GT class and Stuck recorded the fastest GT race lap. But the BMW retired after 490-laps with an oil leak – twenty-first in class.

Finishing second overall and just 8-laps behind the No. 2 Chevrolet Corvette C5-R was the White Lightning Porsche GT3RS. The GT class winning car was driven by Mike Fitzgerald, Christian Menzel, Lucas Luhr and Randy Pobst. Qualifying fourth in the GT category the team was never out of contention although they faced stiff competition from the JET BMW and Morrison Mosler.

Klaus Bytzek entered two Porsche 911 GT1 EVOs. Bytzek shared the No. 0 with Scott Maxwell, David Empringham and Richard Spenard. A second entry, No. 01, was driven by Larry Schumacher, Harry Bytzek and CGTCC series regulars - John Brenner and James Holtom. Maxwell was the fastest GTS qualifier but the car suffered transmission problems - the 01 car fared much better finishing third in GTS.

Joao Barbosa had the fastest lap time for the GT class in the No. 02 Morrison/Mosler Racing Mosler at 1:52.346. The Mosler MT900R was a mid-engine sports car powered by Chevrolet Corvette motor. Sharing the driving duties was Scott Deware and GM engineer John Heinricy. They retired on lap-61 following an accident.

Another team to benefit the most from the No. 16 Dyson Riley & Scott retirement was the Downing Atlanta team. It took the Mazda Kudzu driven by Howard Katz, Jim Downing, A.J. Smith and Chris Ronson nearly three hours to complete enough laps to take the Sports Racer Prototype lead. They won the class and finished eleventh overall.

The Archangel Motorsports team entered two Lola B2K/40s in the Sports Racing Prototype II class. The No. 21 car was driven by Andy Lally, Paul Macey, Peter Seldon and Martin Henderson. They won the category - finishing thirteenth overall and a comfortable 23-laps in front of the second place Sports Racing Prototype II Mazda Kudzu of Team Spencer.

A pre-race favourite for the over-all win was the No. 12 Risi Competizione Ferrari 333 SP. The driver line-up included sports car veterans - Ralf Kelleners, David Brabham, Allan McNish and Eric van de Poele. The car started third behind the No. 16 Dyson entry and the Robinson Racing Riley & Scott. The Risi car raced hard with the lead Dyson car which may have led to their downfall as they retired with engine problems.

There were three Porsche GT1s entered at Daytona. Canadian Klaus Bytzek entered two cars one of which finished sixth overall and third in GTS. Gunnar Jeannette, Paul Newman, Wayne Jackson and Michael Brockman drove the No. 76. Unfortunately, they only completed 37-laps and were the second car to retire from the race.

Thed Bjork picked up a Grand-Am class track record in the Sports Racing Prototype II division driving the No. 79 Lola B2K/40. Although mostly unknown to most North American sports cars fan he had won a number of Scandinavian Touring titles. He shared the car with Niklas Loven, Larry Oberto and Stanley Dickens but the car retired after 415-laps with transmission issues.

Finishing 4-laps behind the class winning GT car was the Porsche GT3RS entry of Freisinger Motorsport. Founded by Manfred Freisinger the company had been preparing and racing Porsches since 1967. The Freisinger car driven by Wolfgang Kaufmann, Lance Stewart and Ciril Chateau qualified fifty-seventh overall but moved up to a third place finish.

One of the surprises in the GTS class was the Marcos Mantara. The car was powered by a 6.2-liter Chevrolet engine and had a well-developed chassis as the result of competing in the FIA GT series. By late Saturday evening the No. 24 entry driven by Cor Euser, Calum Lockie and Herman Buurman split the two factory Corvettes. However, a number of problems caused the entries to finish fourth and fifth in the GTS class.

Two cars were able to set new Grand-Am class track records during qualifying. One of these was the No. 44 Team Amick Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette recording a lap time of 1:51.295 at a speed of 115.154-mph. This was 2.781-seconds under the previous American GT track record. The car was driven by Joe Varde, David Amick, Lyndon Amick and Bill Lester – they finished third in class.

The Japanese team of Toshio Suzuki, Shinichi Yamaji, Tsuyoshi Takahashi and Shogo Mitsuyama drove the Club Yellow Magic Ferrari F355. They finished thirtieth overall and seventeenth in the GT category. A second Ferrari F355 entry competed in the GTS category finishing thirty-six overall and seventh in class.

The Saleen S7R entered by Paul Gentilozzi's Rocketsports team was plagued with engine problems during practice and qualifying. The car driven by Johnny Miller, Scott Pruett, Anthony Lazarro and Gentilozzi started fifth in GTS. Unfortunately, they retired after only 50-laps with suspension damage caused by an accident.

Proving that a 24-hour race is a test of perseverance are the entries of the Flis Team and No. 96 Tropic Zone Racing. The Flis Camaro was shared by Craig Conway, Doug Goad, Rick Maugeri and Erik Messley - they finished second in American GT. The Tropic Zone Oldsmobile Cutlass took fourth with drivers - Dave Bacher, Anthony Puleo, Hans Hauser and Robert Dubler.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	GTS	O'Connell / Fellows / Kneifel / Fréon	Chevrolet Corvette	656	-
2	GT	Menzel / Pobst / Fitzgerald / Luhr	Porsche GT3RS	648	-
3	GT	Kaufmann / Stewart / Chateau	Porsche GT3RS	644	-
4	GTS	Pilgrim / Earnhardt / Collins / Earnhardt, Jr.	Chevrolet Corvette	642	-
5	GT	Rosa / Babini / Caffi / Rosa	Porsche GT3RS	637	-
6	GTS	Schumacher / Bytzek / Brenner / Holtom	Porsche GT1	632	-
7	GT	Baron / Petty / Buitoni / Hindery / Kester	Porsche GT3RS	630	-
8	GT	Law / Drendel / Murry / Wagner	Porsche GT3R	629	-
9	GT	Auberlen / Gleason / Fairbanks / Miller	BMW M3	627	-
10	GT	Plumb / Hiskey / Culver	Porsche GT3R	627	-
11	SRP	Katz / Ronson / Smith / Downing	Kudzu DLY Mazda	624	-
12	GT	Stanton / Hajducky / Suzuki	Porsche GT3R	618	-
13	SR II	Lally / Macey / Henderson / Seldon	Lola B2K/40	600	Transmission
14	SRP	Weaver / Leitzinger / Wallace	Riley & Scott Mk III	598	Engine
15	GT	Pumpelly / Ivankovich / Pumpelly / Dilorio	Porsche GT3R	595	-
16	GT	De Castro / Cattaneo / Bicciato / Bugané	Porsche GT3R	593	-
17	GT	Buttiero / Collin / Bagnall / Burgess	Porsche GT3R	590	-
18	GT	Hane / Thiel / Horn / Jurasz	Porsche GT3R	585	-
19	SRP	Forbes-Robinson / Dyson / Papis / Jönsson	Riley & Scott Mk III	584	-
20	SRP II	Grupp / Hampton / Spencer	Kudzu DLM Mazda	577	-
21	SRP	Field / Rosenblad / Field / Field	Lola B2K/10	566	-
22	SRP	Baldwin / Robinson / Hoerr / Lazier	Riley & Scott Mk III	563	Engine
23	GT	Friedman / Merzon / Demeroutis / Wilson	Porsche Carrera	563	-
24	GTS	Euser / Lockie / Buurman	Marcos Mantara	562	-
25	GT	Mancini / Collini / Rapetti / Neugarten	Porsche GT3RS	561	-
26	GT	Kitch / Parker / Gaylord / Oberholtzer	Porsche GT3R	560	-
27	GTS	de Castro / Van der Kolk / Lassally	Marcos Mantara	557	-
28	AGT	Bupp / Greer / Mills / Gregg	Chevrolet Camaro	553	-
29	GT	Gaughran / Marks / Miller / Takahashi	Porsche GT3R	547	-
30	GT	Suzuki / Takahashi / Mitsuyama / Yamaji	Ferrari F355	543	-
31	GTS	Zonca / Sangiuolo / Duno / Gooding	Dodge Viper	530	-
32	GT	Gabel / Safina / Lowman / DeQuesada	BMW M3	530	-
33	AGT	Conway / Messley / Goad / Maugeri	Chevrolet Camaro	528	-
34	GT	Bunting / Assentato / Schearer / Ahlgrim	BMW M3	510	-
35	GT	Gutiérrez / Smith / Vuillaume / Cartier	Porsche GT3R	505	Oil Leak
36	GTS	Peroni / Ring / Sergey / Montermini	Ferrari F355	505	-
37	SRP II	Whitehead / Zacharias / Giangrande / Hall	Lola B2K/40	498	Transmission
38	GTS	Felbermayr, Jr. / Felbermayr / Ried / Ried	Porsche GT2	495	-
39	GT	Jennings / Borcheller / Said / Stuck	BMW M3	490	Oil Leak
40	AGT	Varde / Amick / Amick / Lester	Chevrolet Corvette	488	Accident
41	GTS	Maxwell / Empringham / Spenard / Bytzek	Porsche GT1	479	-
42	GT	Hürtgen / Orcutt / Lorenz / Langfermann	Porsche GT3R	477	-
43	SRP II	Pootmans / St. Jacques / Julien / Woodman	Lola B2K/40	473	Engine
44	GT	Lister / Youles / Moss / Turner	Porsche GT3R	471	Accident
45	GTS	Marshall / Marshall / Van Overbeek / Holt	Porsche GT2	470	Accident
46	SRP	Kelleners / Brabham / McNish / van de Poele	Ferrari 333 SP	462	Engine
47	SRP II	Davis / Dudek / Durand / Clinton	Lola B2K/40	460	Accident
48	AGT	Bacher / Puleo / Hauser / Dubler	Oldsmobile Cutlass	407	-
49	GT	Buckler / Michaelian / Earle / Malagamuwa	Porsche GT3RS	354	-
50	GT	Goldin / Finlay / Rankin / Goldin	Mazda RX-7	351	-
51	SRP	Dayton / Burton / Sutherland	Lola B2K/10	347	Engine
52	GT	Richter / Calderari / Bryner / Alzen	Porsche GT3R	315	Accident
53	GT	Riccitelli / Quester / Duez / Hofer	Porsche GT3R	310	Engine
54	SRP II	Björk / Loven / Oberto / Dickens	Lola B2K/40	241	Transmission
55	AGT	Willes / McNeil / Leavy	Chevrolet Corvette	238	Accident
56	GT	Foster / Schultheis / Neuman / Bleustein	Porsche GT3RS	233	Accident
57	GT	Diez de Villarroel / Orti / Warner / Zitza	Porsche GT3R	222	Engine
58	SRP II	Lewis / Lambert / Seiler	Pilbeam MP84	216	Accident
59	SRP	Schroeder / Wollek / Haywood / Maassen	Lola B2K/10	209	Engine
60	GT	Morton / Schrom / Mazzuoccola / Hayner	Porsche GT3R	185	Accident
61	SRP	Theys / Lienhard / Bentley / Baldi	Crawford SSC2K	181	Transmission
62	SRP	Roussel / Macaluso / Sezionale / Forgeois	Norma M2000-01	179	Engine
63	SRP II	Bucknum / Sherman / Duder	Lola B2K/40	138	Accident
64	AGT	Curran / Smith / Snyder / Scheuren	Chevrolet Camaro	125	Accident
65	AGT	Hitt / Thompson / Nagle / Bogusz	Chevrolet Corvette	117	-
66	SRP	Snyder / Argetsinger / Longhi	Riley & Scott Mk III	112	Engine
67	GT	Haupt / Kumpen / Rice	Porsche GT3R	108	Engine
68	GT	Zadra / Couceiro / Gallade / Huisman	Porsche GT3RS	106	Engine
69	SRP	Konrad / Heath / Slater / Salles	Lola B2K/10	96	Electrical
70	SRP	Simon / Simo / DeVries	Riley & Scott Mk III	92	Engine
71	AGT	Montgomery / Penton	Chevrolet Camaro	67	-
72	SRP	Trenery / Emmett / Trenery / van Schoote	Riley & Scott Mk III	62	Transmission
73	GT	Barbosa / Deware / Heinricy	Mosler MT900R	61	Accident
74	GTS	Gentilozzi / Pruett / Miller / Lazzaro	Saleen S7-R	50	Suspension
75	GTS	Warnock / Colombo / Sá Nogueira / D'Agostin	Porsche GT2	48	Accident
76	GTS	Vann / Bingham / Ara / Nearn	Dodge Viper	45	Accident
77	GT	Byrne / Millman / Kester / Collucci	Porsche GT3RS	37	Engine
78	GTS	Jeannette / Jackson / Newman / Brockman	Porsche GT1	37	Oil Leak
79	SRP	Schroeder / Volk / Mirro / Waddell	Riley & Scott Mk III	3	Engine

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