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AIM/Doncaster - Rolex 24 12hr |
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Sunday, 28 January 2007 |
Veterans of the Rolex 24 At Daytona know a lot can happen during the night hours. AIM Autosport caught a mid-race gremlin when the No. 61 Lexus-powered Riley Mk XI would not restart after a race stoppage at 11h26. Although the car required a push-start to continue, it still held sixth place at half-distance, with Mark Wilkins, Brian Frisselle, Burt Frisselle and David Empringham handling driving duty. The Doncaster Racing car lost a lap to the pace car during a a caution period at 9h25, but regained track position to move up to third after 12 hours. Lance David Arnold, Tom Papadopoulos, Johnny Mowlem, Dave Lacey and Greg Wilkins continued to alternate driving stints.
class race position
car start 6h 12h 18h 24h
17 GT 10 5 3
61 DP 17 8 6
race report
car time driver action
17 7h15 change pit – Arnold in, tires, fuel
8h25 change pit – Papadopoulos in, tires, fuel
9h37 change pit – Mowlem in, tires, fuel
10h40 Mowlem pit – fuel, tires
12h10 Mowlem pit – fuel, tires
12h56 change pit – Lacey in, fuel, rain tires
61 7h18 change pit – Brian Frisselle in, tires, fuel
8h25 change pit – Empringham in, tires, fuel
9h45 change pit – M Wilkins in
10h50 M Wilkins pit – fuel
11h26 M Wilkins engine won't restart
12h25 change pit – Burt Frisselle in, tires, fuel
Ian Willis, AIM co-owner: "We haven't had any problems 'til
now. We were under yellow, Burt checked up and the engine stalled. It
looks like we've lost either the ring gear or the starter piston
because it won't turn over when he engages the starter. Now we'll have
to bump-start on each restart, but the SunTrust team has been doing
that for a couple of hours. If they can do it, we can do it! We started
27th because the car stalled on the grid, so we're doing all right."
Mark Wilkins: "At the half-distance, I can't believe where
we're at. Our main focus is to just keep running the car and hope that
luck's on our side. The crew are doing a great job, and Burt, Brian and
Dave are just driving the wheels off the car. It's awesome."
Lance David Arnold: "I'm driving consistently and that's
important for the first part of the race. We're in a good position, we
have good speed, so we'll see what happens in the night."
– aimautosport.com –
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