Brumos Racing Sets the stage for
2012 Season with Rolex Podium
With countless hours of hard work and preparation behind them, Brumos
Racing was happy to get back
on track at the 2012 season-opener Rolex 24 at Daytona. With momentum of the 2011 Championship behind them, the
drivers and crew were confident of their ability to deliver a strong performance and hopeful of
delivering a Rolex 24 win as well. The challenges were many, with one of the largest and most
competitive fields in Rolex 24 history. Although the hoped-for win proved elusive, Brumos delivered a
dominant performance, with the #59 leading the race for 281 laps before ending on the podium with a 3 rd
place finish.
Andrew Davis faced the daunting task of qualifying the Brumos Porsche
911 GT3 in the 45-car GT
field. The crew’s hard work put
him at the front of the line as the session began, and he delivered,
capturing pole position for the
#59. Davis described the race as a grueling event, adding, “This is the
first of my eleven Rolex 24
starts where I can say we had a flawless run. There was no time spent in
the garage, behind the pit
wall, in a tire wall, or in the penalty box. At the end, we struggled
with a
power steering issue and a
misfire so unfortunately we weren’t able to challenge for the win after
leading so much of the race. I
am so proud of the Brumos crew and appreciate all of the support we
receive from the entire Brumos
organization.”
Leh Keen also gave high
marks to his crew. “We had a stellar performance and raced for the win
the
entire 24 hours,” he said. “Our
podium finish gives us a great start to defend our championship for
2012, and such a strong run
throughout the race also helped us in the Endurance Championship. This
was personally my best finish
at a Rolex 24 and I am very proud of that. It was really special to
share
the podium with Hurley Haywood
on his final Rolex 24 race. All in all, any time you leave a race
soaked in champagne, you have
had a good day. I can’t wait for the rest of this season and the
chance to show everyone what
Brumos can do.”
It was fitting that
Hurley Haywood ended his 40th Rolex 24 back on the podium, but he was
already
focused on season ahead. “This
was such a hard race,” he said. “We were lucky to have a good car
underneath us, and our guys did
a great job of driving it. All in all, we ran a trouble-free race until
the end. Marc was doing a
Herculean job of driving, never knowing from corner to corner if he was
going to have power steering or
not. But our performance at this race has painted the picture – it has
shown our competitors that we
are going to be the team to beat in 2012.”
Marc Lieb’s performance in the closing stint was applauded by his
teammates, as his efforts kept the
#59 on the podium despite the
challenges. Lieb joined his co-drivers with praise for the crew,
saying, “It was an amazing
effort, the car was fantastic and the crew did an awesome job with the
pit
stops. Leh and Andrew were
perfect and then we had Hurley doing his 40th
race, getting in the car
when he didn’t drive much in
practice, but doing an awesome job. I can see it’s going to be really
difficult this year in the
Rolex Series GT class with this level of competition, but Leh and Andrew
have the ability and they can
do it. I’m sure it’s going to be a great 2012 for Brumos.”
For Dan Davis, the
podium represented a new milestone for the Brumos GT effort. Davis said,
“Brumos accomplished something
this week that we have strived for a long time, and that is to finish
on the podium at the 24 hours.
We were fortunate enough to do that in our DP car and now we are
on the podium again for the 50th
anniversary of the Rolex 24. We were also on the GT pole, which I
think is a tremendous salute to
our team and our drivers. Our strategy didn’t work out quite as we
had planned, but a 3rd
place finish in this race is something to be really proud of. I thank
all our folks
for their hard work and
dedication to what we’re trying to do - that is, to win races. I thank
everyone
at all of our Brumos
dealerships, too, for all that they do to enable us to continue to go
racing.”
The Rolex 24 at Daytona finish puts Brumos in 3rd
place in team points standings, and in 2nd
place in
the North American Endurance
Championship, just one point shy of the lead. Following the post-Rolex 24 break, Brumos is back in action
on March 31st in the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
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