CHAMPIONS OF ENDURANCE
Records were broken as drivers and machines were pushed to their limits at the latest edition of Rolex 24 at DAYTONA
CAPTIVATING, DRAMATIC AND DEMANDING, the Rolex 24 at DAYTONA sits alongside the 24 Hours of Le Mans as one of the most famous and revered endurance races in the world. Enticing the world’s greatest drivers and continuously pushing the modern automobile beyond the established limits of reliability, the competition is the ultimate test of man and machine. A partner of track racing in Daytona Beach from its very beginnings in the late 1950s, Rolex has been title sponsor of this celebrated ‘twicearound-the-clock’ motor sport challenge since 1992.
This year’s event was held in January and marks the 58th edition of North America’s most prestigious endurance race. The defending No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R. clinched victory, completing an unprecedented 833 laps, equivalent to 4,772.48 kilometres. Sharing driving duties for Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 10 Cadillac were Renger van der Zande, Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon and Kamui Kobayashi.
Following the team’s victory – and in recognition of Rolex’s enduring relationship with Daytona Beach as well as its commitment to excellence– each of the winning drivers received a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona. “It was fantastic,
the best car I have ever driven at Daytona, you could push every lap and that made it very special. It is an honour to race and work with some of the finest drivers in the world, including Scott Dixon this year and Fernando Alonso in 2019,” van der Zande remarked. “A Rolex watch is the best trophy you can receive, and to take it home to my family makes me especially proud. I now have two watches to pass on to my two children, I’m extremely happy.”
Rolex’s close ties with motor sport dates back to the 1930s, when Sir Malcolm Campbell broke the 300 mph (483 km/h) land speed barrier at the wheel of his World Land Speed Record car, Bluebird, with a Rolex on his wrist. Since then, Rolex’s presence in motor racing has since grown steadily, its support extending to revered endurance events such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the FIA World Endurance Championship and, of course, the Rolex 24 At DAYTONA. The latter, in particular, is revered for attracting the world’s best drivers as knowledge and expertise is shared across motor racing disciplines in this longstanding event.
In an exciting development, ahead of the race, the IMSA (International Motor Sport Association) and the ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest) announced the creation of a leading category that will contest both the Rolex 24 At DAYTONA and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Marking a new collaborative era in endurance racing, the LMDh (Le Mans Daytona H) class will bring the finest racing to the most prestigious events around the world in 2021. And, for sure, Rolex will once again be present to celebrate the quest for excellence and the commitment to continually push the boundaries of engineering and human endeavour.