Race Report: Rolex 24 at Daytona
Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Emotions ran high as Brumos Racing returned to Daytona International Speedway to defend their 2009 Rolex 24 championship, and see Hurley Haywood climb into the cockpit for his final run at Rolex win #6. Unlike last year’s race with its run of good luck, this year seemed to hold only misfortune as the Brumos team was dealt one setback after another before an engine failure retired the car, ending their bid for a repeat win.

Qualifying driver Darren Law started the race in a torrential downpour that rained out most of the opening ceremonies and created hazardous conditions, causing the race to start under a yellow flag. As the track dried and the race got underway, things looked promising for the #59 Brumos Porsche Riley, as Law, Donohue, Matos and Leitzinger each took the lead of the race during their stint. The #59 logged 41 laps at the front of the pack before Darren Law radioed his crew during his second stint that there was a problem with the rear axle. The car went back to the garage as the crew scrambled to change out the rear end and get it back on track.

Returning to the race down many laps, the drivers charged hard to regain lost ground. The second setback occurred when a damaged front splitter brought David Donohue back to the pits for repair. The crew’s hard work again got the car back on track and back into the race. It was an emotional time for the team as Hurley Haywood took his final stint, turning in a trouble-free performance and drawing a round of applause when he stepped out to hand the car over to Raphael Matos.  Matos was in the car only a short time when smoke billowed from the back, signaling the end of the day for the Brumos car due to a blown engine.

Brumos full-time drivers Donohue and Law gave high marks to the team for their perseverance through the setbacks. Donohue said, “Our guys put in a big effort as they always do, it just wasn’t meant to be for us. We had a good start and who knows what we might have looked like Sunday afternoon. We have a bit of a break to regroup for Homestead and hopefully we can salvage something from this race and still be contention for the championship.” Law agreed, saying, “I feel bad for the entire Brumos team, it was such as shame their hard work ended this way, especially for Hurley’s last Daytona 24 effort. It was an honor for me to be on his team for such a special race”

Despite the disappointment, Haywood remained practical. “Of course I would have liked to get my 6th win, but our car was fast and we led the race for many laps. The engine failure was unexpected - the car was running perfectly and then the engine blew, so we will be doing some further research to determine exactly what happened. We had fallen back due to the other problems, but had survived and were still in the race. A lot of people have asked me if I will reconsider retiring to go out on a better note, but the result didn’t change my mind.  I will just hope that it will be a long time before anyone gets a 5th win so I can hang onto the record for a while yet. I’m heartbroken over our finish, but I am thrilled for my teammates from last year, Joao Barbosa and Terry Borcheller, for their win with the #9 Action Express Porsche V8.”

As the checkered flag dropped on the 48th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Brumos #59 ended the day 11th in the DP class. The team will take advantage of the short break to prepare for their next race which will be held at Homestead Miami Speedway on March 6th.

Posted on 02/03 at 11:59 AM