Hoggard’s baptism of fire after tough Daytona race
BRDC British Formula 3 runner-up Johnathan Hoggard was hampered by diffuser damage and gearbox woes on his endurance racing debut at the Daytona 24 Hours last weekend.
The 19-year-old Briton was at the event after winning the Sunoco Whelen Challenge and was due to race a Riley/multimatic prototype in the LMP2 class entered by NASCAR squad Rick Ware Racing. But after an accident for team-mate James Davison curtailed their pre-race test, the squad then withdrew from the race when its funded bronze driver quit.
Sunoco scrambled to get the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award winner into a Performance Tech Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan Evo in the GTD class.
After completing his opening double stint in sixth, Hoggard’s prospects of success were shattered when co-driver Eric Lux was rear-ended entering the pits by Alex Riberas in the Heart of Racing Aston.
Repairs cost the car four laps but, despite significant rear diffuser damage, Hoggard lapped within 1.3 seconds of the quickest Lamborghini time set by factory driver and race winner Andrea Caldarelli and helped the team win back a lap.
But its race was ended with four hours to go by terminal gearbox problems.
“It’s not the result the team wanted or deserved,” Hoggard reflected.
“We started off well, but I had a knee injury which put another spanner in the works, so we had to figure out a new way to do driver changes, and then I also had to learn to right-foot brake.
“It has been a great experience, racing during the night time is mega, I’ve really enjoyed it.”