Allan McNish has vowed to return to the Rolex 24 at Daytona as the Briton still searches for his maiden win at the Florida circuit.
Competing in a one-off race for Starworks Motorsports, McNish, along with team-mates Ryan Dalziel, Sebastien Bourdais and Alex Popow, finished the race in sixth, despite being in contention for a podium finish and even the win for the first 22 hours of the race.
A sticking accelerator was the start of the team’s problems in the final two hours, with McNish taking two trips off the circuit and narrowly avoiding contact, which could potentially have ended his race altogether.
Almost immediately after the accelerator issues were fixed, the Starworks Riley-BMW then began to encounter brake issues, costing the team 11 laps and all hopes of a podium finish.
McNish branded the race “long, frustrating and sometimes cruel – a typical Daytona 24 Hours!”
“We lacked the outright pace and straight line speed of the BMW powered cars throughout, so we were forced to reduce our disadvantage in the way we set up our Riley-Ford.”
2013 marked McNish’s 8th appearance at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, with his highest placed finishes coming in 1998, 1999 and 2012, finishing second overall. McNish has vowed he will return in 2014 as he searches for the elusive first win and Daytona Rolex watch.
