Lance Stroll does not believe racing in the Rolex 24 at Daytona is beneficial for young drivers with Formula 1 or single seater ambitions, despite the Canadian having raced in the event in 2016.
Stroll raced at Daytona for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing alongside Alexander Wurz, Andy Priaulx and current Formula 1 rival Brendon Hartley and finished fifth in 2016 before dominating the FIA European Formula 3 Championship with Prema Powerteam, although he put the experience down as ‘just for fun’.
Lando Norris will make his own debut at Daytona with United Autosports in 2018, with the 2017 European Formula 3 Champion joining fellow Briton Philip Hanson and two-time Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso, but Stroll questions whether the race will be beneficial to the likes of Norris or not.
“It’s a great race and super-cool, but I don’t think it’s really useful,” said Stroll to Motorsport.com. “I don’t know if it’s beneficial or not.
“I just had a great time and it’s a blast, especially when you have a good car and you have good team-mates, it really makes it a fun race, and a good race.
“It’s something different and it’s always cool to drive other cars. It’s a great week, the whole week leading up to it, the Roar [pre-event test], and the race itself.
“I had a lot of pleasure doing it. It’s a different car, a different everything, I was just in it for the fun of doing it, and not much more.”
Despite his doubts, Stroll says he would consider returning to the event in the future, providing he had the time on his hands to commit to it.
“I would do it again for sure if I had some time on my hands,” said Stroll. “There are other priorities in off-season time, and doing other things rather than driving race cars can be good sometimes.”
