
The team’s fate was dealt with a crash at 2 a.m.
Jimmie Johnson of The American Legion had high hopes that his team could win this past weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. Unfortunately, the No. 48 Ally Cadillac at Action Express had to overcome a variety of issues, including an incident that involved Johnson.
Instead of collecting Rolex watches, the four drivers of the Cadillac DPi-V.R. finished fifth.
The deciding factor in the 24-hour IMSA Sports Car race came in the dark of night, shortly after the midway point in the race around 2 a.m. Eastern.
Johnson was the driver of the No. 48 Ally Cadillac when he was involved in contact with the No. 13 LMP3 of AWA Racing in Turn 3. Johnson’s No. 48 spun off course, damaging the suspension in the right rear.
The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, who represents The American Legion in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES for Chip Ganassi Racing, brought the car into the garage to fix the damage.
Because the damage was significant, by the time the Action Express crew repaired the damage and the No. 48 return to the track, it was 21 laps down to the DPi leader.
“All in all, we had a reasonable Ally Cadillac and a reasonable opportunity to win,” Johnson said. “I was overtaking a P3 car into the night. My right rear tapped his front going into the Esses in Turn Two, and with that touch, it broke the rear suspension and sent me off spinning into the grass. That is where we lost all of our laps.
“I went through there 50 or 60 times through the course of the weekend and that one time I tapped another car and broke the Ally Cadillac. Every lap matters for us. We are not regulars. For Action Express and Hendrick Motorsports the more reps we get behind the wheel the better we will be.”
The other drivers on the team included Kamui Kobayashi of Japan, Mike Rockenfeller of Germany, and José María López o Argentina.
All four drivers got seat time over the final five hours of the race. Unfortunately, they were not in contention for a win. They were able to turn laps on pace with the DPi race leaders and finished fifth. They finished second last year.
“Obviously, it was a shame not to be fighting with the leader,” Kobayashi said. “I think we had good pace. I think we had the potential to fight, but maybe not to win. I think for the 24 we had a good run with Jimmie, José María and Mike. The team did a great job. We did our best. Ally and Action Express gave us a good car. This has been my first race of the season for the last couple of years and puts me into a good mood for the season. Thanks to the team and IMSA for a great couple of weeks.”
The No. 48 Ally Cadillac showed plenty of promise in the first 12 hours of the race, leading the event at times.
Kobayashi started third in the No. 48 Ally Cadillac DPi-V and had the car in the race lead just 10 laps into the twice around the clock race.
“To have the pace early on is pretty good,” Kobayashi said. “But we still have a long way to go. I think the most important thing is to not have any contact during the overnight. The most difficult part, especially with the cold temperatures, is going to be going out with cold tires. We’ll see how it goes. There’s still a long way to go.”
On lap 75, López inherited the race lead from Kobayashi and, from there, he put in a solid double stint.
Unfortunately, Lopez’s second stint was not without incident. He locked up the tires in Turn Six and saved the No. 48 from hitting the tire barrier. However, a few laps later, the No. 01 DPi hit the No. 48 in the rear.
“I had a very good first stint,” López said. “I felt very comfortable in the car. Somehow, we got stuck on the pit lane during the second stint and we lost the lead there. Then, I made a mistake in Turn Six. I locked up the front tires. A few laps later, I got hit in the back by another DPi car. I don’t know who it was. It was quite surprising because it’s a 24-hour race. I think the car had a little bit of damage in the rear. After that, I had to survive. It was pretty hard. My screen was really dirty. I couldn’t see much. It’s a 24-hour race so I took it easy.”
During Johnson’s double stint, the Ally Cadillac crew replaced both the front and rear ends of the car. Fortunately for the team, they were able to make these changes under yellow and the car’s lap times improved by more than second.
“The start went really well,” Johnson said at the time. “The car balance was good, and we had a lot of potential in the car. Now that we’ve gone through all four driver and have had enough cautions to change some parts and pieces on the car, we’ve realized the significance of the damage that was done to our car when the No. 01 got into the back of us when José was in the car.
“Fixing that was worth a big chunk of speed. Then, we noticed there was some damage to the nose. We changed the nose. The car was probably a second-and-a-half faster after that last caution, when I was in the car, and we were able to change the front and the rear. So, now I feel like there’s a lot more potential back in the car. Hopefully, we are right back on the pace where we need to be.”
That was before the team’s fate would be dealt a major blow with the crash at 2 a.m. that would ultimately take them out of contention for the victory.
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next heads to Sebring International Raceway for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Advance Auto Parts March 16-19.
Johnson returns to duty with The American Legion at Chip Ganassi’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES team. He will drive the No. 48 Carvana/American Legion Honda in every race this season, beginning with the Feb. 27 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Johnson will also compete in the 106th Indianapolis 500 on May 29, making his first start in the historic race.
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