Ten driver stories at Le Mans and Daytona
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Ten driver stories at Le Mans and Daytona

After having finished 2nd four times at Le Mans, S

Double winner in the LM P2 class at Le Mans (2011 and 2012), Tom Kimber-Smith finished 2nd in the LMPC class (10th overall) driving the Oreca of 8Star Motorsports. The Brit and team owner Enzo Potolicchio were also teammates in La Sarthe in 2012.

After completing his first two 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012 and 2013, Alex Brundle was 5th at Daytona driving the best classed LM P2 car: the Oreca-Nissan of the American team Muscle Milk Pickett Racing.

Winner and runner up in the LM GTE Pro class at the 24 Hours in 2013 in a factory Porsche 911, the Austrian Richard Lietz and Frenchman Patrick Pilet dominated in the GT Le Mans class at Daytona (6th overall) at the wheel of a factory Porsche North America 911.  All classes considered, the automaker Stuttgart boasts one hundred victories at Le Mans and seventy-six at Daytona.

Entered at Le Mans in 2013 in a Corvette in two different classes (LM GTE Pro and LM GTE Am), brothers Jordan and Ricky Taylor joined forces at Daytona driving a Corvette DP car aligned by their father Wayne. Finishing 2nd, they were the toughest opponents for winners Sébastien Bourdais-Joao Barbosa-Christian Fittipaldi.

Of the three former Le Mans winners at the start of the 24 Hours of Daytona, Mike Rockenfeller was the only one in the top five at the finish, in 4th place at the wheel of a Corvette DP car of the team Spirit of Daytona.   Significantly delayed, Timo Bernhard (Porsche 911, Daytona GT class) finished 49th, while David Brabham (HPD ARX-03b) was forced to retire from the race.  In 2010, Bernhard and Rockenfeller had shared their Le Mans victory with Frenchman Romain Dumas in an Audi, while Brabham dominated in 2009 in a Peugeot along with the Spaniard Marc Gené and Austrian Alexander Wurz.

After the 24 Hours of Daytona, competitors in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, the new American endurance series, will return to Florida for the 12 Hours of Sebring, from March 12th to the 15th (more information available at www.imsa.com)

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translated by Rainier Ehrhardt / ACO

The 82nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place June 14th and 15th, 2014.

Photo : DAYTONA BEACH (FLORIDA, USA), DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY, 24 HOURS OF DAYTONA, SUNDAY JANUARY 26 2013, PODIUM.  From left to right – Patrick Pilet, Richard Lietz, and Nick Tandy, winners in the GT Le Mans class in a Porsche 911.

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