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Daytona

Rolex

04/02/2001

Grid

Talk

©Andrew S. Hartwell

Some of the comments made along the grid just before the start:

#31 GT White Lightning Porsche – Christian Menzel: “This is my first time at Daytona and I complement the organizers. The track is fantastic. But we have a lot of traffic and some amateur drivers and that will make it dangerous.”

Randy Pobst – “I hate to make predictions but I think it is safe to say we are the favorites in this class. I hope that isn’t a jinx. There are too many situations that can come up in a 24 hour race. We are going to be cautious in the race but it looks good.”

#89 SRPII Porsche Haus Racing Nissan Lola – Greg Pootmans “You have to stay focused and drive with precision and confidence. You have to remember you aren’t going to win the race in the first few laps. I’m comfortable that everyone around me on the grid is a professional. I hope everyone is in the same frame of mind. I’m glad I am not starting way in the back though. That could be a different story!”

#3 Corvette – Kelly Collins – “The weekend is going good. We have been finding a set up. We just need to stay out of trouble. Everybody says that but the ones who stick to that rule and get through the first 12 hours, then, when the sun comes up, they can look to make a race of it, if the have the car left.”

On the loss of the Oreca Vipers as competition for the vettes: “They will be back next year and we will be back next year. They will be honing their skills and their craftsmanship to come back with an even better car. But there not being here hasn’t really changed anything. That Porsche GT1 over there…somebody makes the rules so they are in our class. When that car had 700 horsepower it was reliable. Now it has 600 horsepower. They have good drivers. All we can hope for is that something goes wrong. And the Saleen is a pure racecar. And we don’t have team orders so the other GM Corvette is out to win too. There is plenty of competition for us without the Vipers.”

#56 Seikel Motorsport Porsche – Gabrio Rosa “We are running a new model Porsche. We are all italian drivers including Alex Caffi. We are prepared and we hope for the best. We got this car in the beginning of December. We had good test days and now we are here. Practice and qualifying went well. Our Yokohoma tires should be good in the rain.”

#54 Jet Motorsports BMW M3 – Tom Milner “I think we feel gooda bout the car. It never turned a wheel until it came here. We were at the test days with one of our 6 cylinder cars. This one never turned a wheel until this weekend. Of course, even if the car is perfect I am still always concerned about the drivers! They are a concern even if the car is parked!”

#5 Rocketsports Saleen S7R – Steve Saleen “This is obviuosly our best new car debut to date. One of our drivers hit the wall on Thursday so qualifying didn’t go as well as we hoped. The repairs kind of put us on the back burner with getting all the problems squared away. We have done a lot of testing and development on the car so we feel pretty good. We have already sold 6 of the race cars and about 25 of the street cars.”

#21 Archangel Motorsports Nissan Lola – Paul Macey “We have been looking forward to this for months now. Andy Lally and I were just looking at each other and thinking how lucky we feel to be here in a car that is capable of winning. Our job is to keep our noses clean and see where we are tomorrow morning. If we are still in it we will go faster then.

“I feel confident in this car. This team won the season last year and I feel highly confident we will be there in the end.”

#62 Spencer Racing Kudzu Mazda – Ryan Hampton “This is a great group to drive with. They know how to have fun and the have a lot of experience. The car is very well prepared. I think the handling characteristics of the Kudzu give up a little bit to the Lola, but this car is a little easier to drive.

“It is nice to be with a competitve team that is well prepared.”

#8 Konrad Lola – Franz Konrad “The car was late coming back from Australia. We missed the test days so we struggled with the setup, but now it is fine. We will probably do the ALMS, but the Grand Am is possible too. I would like to run the ELMS.”

#8 Champion Racing Lola-Porsche – Hurley Haywood “This car will be reliable because anything that has a Porsche motor in it is going to be reliable. This is my 30th Daytona race. I love all aspects of this race!”

#20 Dyson Racing Riley & Scott MK111 – Max Papis “I have a good feeling about Daytona. It has always been a great race. Rob Dyson is a great man to race for. I have almost won this race five times so now we are going to go for the win this year.”