After 24 hours of fiercely intense competition among 41 cars, the SpeedSource Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8 team won the GT class at the Rolex 24 in Daytona. What a way to kick off the 2008 GrandAm season! The SpeedSource driving team of Sylvain Tremblay, David Haskell, Nick Ham and Raphael Matos started from the pole, and led 323 of 664 laps, on their way to ninth overall and the class win.
Intermittent rain showers for over half of the race created inclement turmoil and posed a severe strategic challenge for the racing teams. The dangerous combination of a wet track and race cars led to a total of 24 caution periods, many the result of on-track incidents. The SpeedSource team was challenged by the slippery conditions with multiple spins, one of which resulted in minor body damage to the rear of the car including a broken taillight. Other than the taillight, the rotary-powered Mazda ran flawlessly throughout the grueling day-night-day race.
The SpeedSource Mazda team beat the runner-up Porsche by over five laps. The win was Mazda's 22nd class win at the race, ending Porsche's lengthy winning streak at the biggest 24-hour race in America. In its wake, the champion SpeedSource number 70 RX-8 left behind over two dozen Porsche 911 GT-3s, a handful of Pontiacs, a pair of Ferrari 430 Challenges, a Corvette and a BMW M6. Although fierce attempts were made, including a total of 55 lead changes among 10 cars in the class, no one managed to pass the RX-8 for the final 185 laps.
"This was a great win for the entire SpeedSource team. Endurance racing in particular is a team sport and I am so proud of our collective effort. Thanks especially to our new partners at Castrol, who believed in our ability to deliver. Thanks also to Fresh from Florida for their support of our in-car camera, as well as the many rotary enthusiasts who have supported our efforts," remarked SpeedSource owner/engineer/driver Sylvain Tremblay.
Mazda was well represented in the top-ten winner's circle. Sharing top-ten honors with the Castrol Syntec RX-8 were two other SpeedSource-built RX-8s. Finishing fifth in the GT class was the SpeedSource FXDD RX-8 of Emil Assentato, Jeff Segal, Nick Longhi and Lonnie Pechnik. The final top-ten car was the RX-8 of Racers Edge Motorsports driven by Ken Dobson, Robert Thorne, Craig Stone and Drew Staveley.