Scott Menlen
- Feb 1, 2021
- 3 min read

Albuquerque, Rossi, Castroneves, Taylor Win Rolex 24 at Daytona

Corvette Racing Wins GTLM Rolex with Taylor, Garcia, Catsburg

Detroit, MI (Monday, February 1, 2021) - After a dreary Rolex 24 a year ago, the 2021 rendition of the legendary auto racing event was nothing short of spectacular. The endurance race was slowed by 12 full-course cautions with a low attrition rate. Only 11 of 49 cars dropped out. A compelling 24-hour race came down to the final 20 minutes and perhaps one driver's crucial decision.

With 90 minutes remaining, Wayne Taylor and team had to decide whether or not to keep driver Rickey Taylor in the car or make one final driver change. The Wayne Taylor owned Konica Minolta Acura team preferred Rickey Taylor to remain in the car for the duration of the race. But Rickey Taylor made a critical decision to step out of the car and place Filipe Albequerque in the car for the final stint. Though Taylor is one of the fittest in the field, he was concerned about fatigue. Arguably, this could be the winning decision, as Albuquerque had a fight on his hand in the closing stage of the race.

With 17 minutes remaining, Renger Van Der Zande made his first overtake attempt on Albuquerque in the infield section of the course.

Albuquerque held him off and began to open up a gap as Van Der Zande struggled with the handling of his Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac in dirty air. The second attempt came five minutes later when Alburquerque was hung up in traffic. Van Der Zande latched onto the back bumper of Alburquerque's Konica Minolta Acura but again, once in clean air down the Super Stretch, the Acura pulled away from the Cadillac. Then, with seven minutes and forty-five seconds remaining, disaster struck for Chip Ganassi Racing as the right rear tire blew at the exit of the final corner. Van Der Zande limped to pit road and rejoined the race in P4.

Harry Tincknell, the final stint driver for Mazda Motorsports, moved into P2 when Van Der Zande came to pit road, but that was short-lived. With 4 four minutes remaining, Kamui Kobayashi in the Ally Cadillac passed Tincknell for the second position.

As the checkered flag flew, Filipe Albuquerque (Konica Minolta Acura) crossed the finish line first, Kamui Kobayashi (Ally Cadillac Racing) second, and Harry Tincknell (Mazda Motorsports) third.

The Rolex 24 at Daytona attracts some of the greatest racing drivers from around the world, and they faired well in this year's event.

NASCAR - Jimmy Johnson P2, AJ Allmendinger P4, Chase Elliott P8, Austin Dillon P10

IndyCar - Helio Castroneves P1, Alexander Rossi P1, Simon Pagenaud P2, Scott Dixon P5, Spencer Pigot P18, Colton Herta P27, Sebastian Bourdais P34, Zach Veach P38

Formula 1 - Kamui Kobayashi P2, Kevin Magnussen P5, Robert Kubica P48

NASCAR, or IndyCar, or Formula 1, and then, there is Juan Pablo Montoya who, remarkably, could represent all three major disciplines of motorsport. Forty-Five-year-old Montoya finished fourth overall driving for Meyer Shank Racing.

Era Motorsports collected their Rolex watches in victory lane with drivers Dwight Merriman (USA), Kyle Tilley (GBR), Ryan Dalziel (GBR), and Paul-Loup Chatin (FRA) in the LMP2 class.

In GTLM racing competition, Jordan Taylor (USA) made the motor city proud in the Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R. Taylor drove to Rolex 24 glory at Daytona International Raceway with teammates Antonio Garcia (ESP) and Nicky Catsburg (NLD).

Former IndyCar driver, Spencer Pigot (USA), piloted the Riley Motorsport Ligier JS P320 to the win with co-drivers Gar Robinson (USA), Scott Andrews (AUS) and Oliver Askew (USA).

It was an underdog turning heads in the GTD ranks; The Winward Racing team of Russell Ward (USA), Philip Ellis (CHE), Indy Dontje (NLD), and Marco Engel (DEU) drove their Mercedes AMG GT3 to a Rolex win in their first attempt. The triumph marks the first Rolex win for Mercedes.