The SunTrust Racing team finished the 50th Rolex 24-Hour at Daytona prematurely after their Chevrolet/Corvette DP suffered a valve train problem.
The #10 car started well before fading fast in the opening half hour in the hands of Max Angelelli, who promptly pitted. After a short stop it soon became clear the problem was terminal.
‘It’s really disappointing,’ said owner Wayne Taylor. ‘There’s a problem in the valve train; quite honestly, we’re not exactly sure what it is, but there is a problem, enough for us to pull the car out.
‘We came into this weekend feeling very upbeat. Everybody, all of the support we’ve had from GM, SunTrust, Dallara and Corvette, everybody. We’ll just go back, regroup and we’ll comeback at the next event.’
SunTrust driver Ryan Briscoe was particularly disappointed not to have the chance to take part in the 5oth Rolex 24-Hours at Daytona.
‘It is just tremendously disappointing,’ he said. ‘The effort that everyone on the whole team put in and Wayne (Taylor), Max (Angelelli), Ricky (Taylor), the engineers, all the mechanics; this is a big race for this whole team and proud to be a part of it. But obviously it hurts right now not to have a shot at winning the 50th.
‘We are all sort of hanging our heads a bit low right now, but proud of the work everyone did.’