Rolex 24 at Daytona: Battle Axis 68 makes it to the end!

The TRG / Axis of Oversteer car driven by Chris Cummin, Kevin Estre, Damien Faulkner, Carlos Gomez and Ben Keating crossed the finish line at the 50th edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona in twenty fourth position in class.

The team completed 640 laps and after starting on the last row and managing to make its way up to as far as 8th place had second gear fail in the middle of the night. Second gear is crucial at Daytona and from then on the race became an excersize in damage control. Unfortunately Sunday morning the gearbox on the Porsche GT3 let go and had to be swapped for a new one.

The TRG mechanics put in another stellar effort to get the guys back on track and in a position to cross the finish line even after the car was punted by one of the McDreamy/Dempsey Racing Mazdas with about an hour and a half to go.



The GT class was won by Magnus Racing in the 44 Porsche of Andy Lally, Richard Lietz, John Potter and Rene Rast from the TRG / Sargent & Lundy GT3 of Steve Bertheau, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Marc Goosens, Wolf Henzler and Spencer Pumpelly.

Don't miss our giant high resolution photo gallery, after the jump...


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Rolex 24 at Daytona: Morning report

The TRG/Axis of Oversteer 68 lost second gear overnight and the guys have had to struggle. Unfortunately, second is key in the 911 at Daytona in turns 1, 3, 5 and 6. Not having it is at least a 2 second per lap penalty.

As of now 68 is in 12th place, one lap down from 11th. Damien Faulkner is in the car.

TRG's number 67 car is currently leading GT with Marc Goosens at the wheel.




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Rolex 24 at Daytona: Middle of the night.

After being up as far as P8 in class, the 68 TRG Axis of Oversteer car was hit with a penalty caused by a glitch in pit lane after a driver change: CG and his crew chief did not understand each other and we forced a DP car to take to the grass.

Currently, Kevin Estre is out and running P13 and 2 laps down but pushing like crazy. He set the team's best time in the race on lap 315.

We'll see what the morning brings.


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Rolex 24 at Daytona: 6 Hour Report

Approaching 6 hours into the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytone and the number 68 Axis of Oversteer/ TRG car is sitting in P13 in class one lap down from the lead.

All drivers so far have double stinted, coming in just for fuel.
Because of the (cough!) slight collision in practice, Team Axis missed qualifying and Damien Faulkner had to start from the very back of the field, second to last.

Damien put in a stellar drive and fought his way up to to 25th from 65th. He handed the car to Carlos "CG" Gomez who got it back on the lead lap thanks to some yellows and now Keving Estre got it all the way back to P12 in class. Next up into the night is Chris Cummings.

Long way to got, key is to be in the zone in the last few hours...



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Rolex 24 at Daytona: Live Timing and Scoring

Live timing and scoring

Our car is 68, it started DFL and after 1 hour is up to 39th with one pit stop (double stint, driver and tires)

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Rolex 24 at Daytona Friday Gallery

Full screen looks nice...
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Rolex 24: Getting Ready

Nothing is left to chance at TRG. The team goes through more than an hour of driver change practice.

In the video Carlos Gomez hops out and Damien Faulkner comes in the Axis of Oversteer Porsche GT3. Target time is 30 seconds.



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Daytona Day 2: Back in action.

Big props to the TRG mechanics for rebuilding number 68 overnight. Turned out the damage was even more severe than it first appeared at first.

Kevin Estre was P2 in final practice. It will be nice, in the next 5 years, when Kevin becomes a superstar, to say his first Rolex 24 was with Axis of Oversteer! . --> READ MORE