HSR Classic Daytona presented by IMSA Race Weekend Days 3-4
Daytona Beach, FLSaturday, November 10, 2018
For the fourth time, the HSR Classic Daytona presented by IMSA Race Weekend took place at Daytona International Speedway.
A four-day affair, this exciting event has as its heart a 24-hour race spanning its third and fourth days. This race began in 2014 as a tribute to the legendary Rolex 24 at Daytona. It involves six period-correct run groups of cars which rotate through a full day of racing. Each car has four sessions on the track during this time. In each group, the car which covers the most ground in the least time is crowned champion.
At the end of the weekend, the six champion vehicles received their awards. Most of the champions were repeat winners; the only new faces were Jim Cullen and Frank Beck in their Olthoff Racing '68 No. 101 Lola T70, in Group A.
Groups B and C had return champions, with John and Ryan Harrold and Kevin Wheeler taking the victory (their fourth straight!) for Group B in their Team Mean/KMW Motorsports '79 No. 94 Chevron B23/36, and Group C's Tommy Dreelan and Aaron Scott winning the day in an '87 No. 14 Celtic Speed Porsche 962.
Moving on to Group F, Mike Gaulke and Thomas Merrill brought their JWE Motorsports '74 No. 99 Porsche home in first for the second year in a row.
Group E was won by Andy Wallace and Doug Smith, co-driving a 2005 No. 38 Audi R8 LMP for Rogers Motorsports.
Steve Cohen and Ray Snowdon drove their Sundry Racing '92 No. 5 Oldsmobile Aurora GTS-class car into history both as winners and as the first production-based GT car team to top the Prototypes from an overall Group D win.
For the second time consectutively, the HSR Classic Daytona will be followed up by the HSR Classic 12 Hour at Sebring, Pistons and Props, presented by the Alan Jay Automotive Network, from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2. You can find tickets for the Sebring event here.