8Star Motorsports finished a close second at the Rolex 24 at Daytona after hours of battling with CORE autosports in the opening round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.
The team, made up of quartet Rob Huff, Enzo Potolicchio, Mike Marsal and Tom Kimber-Smith had to fight misaligned steering as well as severely worn Continental Tires to compete with their rivals after the final hours of the 24 hour race turned into a three hour sprint.
8Star boss Potolicchio soaked in the celebrations as he stood on the podium, stating afterwards: “It’s not as good as winning. But, hey! Second place is not too bad, given that it’s the first time with the car for the team.”
Three caution periods which hit the last three hours of the race helped Kimber-Smith get within three tenths of a second of CORE’s Colin Braun, but a final caution period which narrowed up the pack couldn’t help the ailing ORECA FLM 09 mount any substantial bid for glory on the banking of Daytona.
Looking upon the battle-scarred #25 machine, 8Star Motorsports Team Manager, Gary Neal, said: “It has been a really long weekend with all the pre-race dramas, so it’s nice to bring the car home on the podium. The team had a few issues to contend with at the end and nobody was sure the car would make it, as it was getting very hot. But we made it!”
