By alley - Nov 14, 2015, 3:31 PM ET

Classic 24 under way at Daytona

Photo courtesy of Don Bok.

The HSR Classic 24 Hour at Daytona Presented by IMSA – a time machine celebrating the 53-year history of the Rolex 24 At Daytona – is underway at Daytona International Speedway.

The unique event, sanctioned by Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR), features nearly 200 cars competing in six race groups each representing cars from a different decade that were eligible for the Rolex 24 and other major endurance races. The first group took the green flag at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Each group competes for approximately 50 minutes, with the cycle repeated four times. Group A is set to take the checkered flag at 8 a.m. Sunday, with the event ending when Group F finishes its fourth segment at 1 p.m. Sunday. The cars completing the most laps in each class in their four segments will be declared the winners.“This is what it’s all about, and I’m glad to be a part of it,” said Bobby Rahal, the 1981 Rolex 24 winner and current car owner for BMW Team RLL in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. “This event celebrates the history of the sport.”Rahal will be driving in Group B, sharing the No. 30 Porsche 911 RSR that George Dyer and Brad Frisselle drove to victory in the 1977 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida.Rahal joins a group of racing legends including Jochen Mass, Brian Redman, Derek Bell, Gijs van Lennep and Jorgen Barth who participated in a Friday evening benefit dinner that raised funds for Racing for Kids.“This is better than ice cream,” said Mass, a former winner at Le Mans and in Formula 1. Redman is piloting the No. 51 BMW CSL, a car similar to the BMW he drove to the overall victory at Daytona in 1976.“This BMW is very nice to drive,” said Redman, a three-time winner of the Rolex 24. “We don’t rev it as high as we did back in the day. We ran 9,000 RPM back in 1976. I remember in that race when we dropped a cylinder during the night. But by running at maximum RPM on five cylinders, we were still faster than the fastest Porsche RSRs!“This is really a fantastic event,” added Redman. “This is only its second year, and we have 60 more cars than last year. It’s like it already has seven or eight years of history behind it. Congratulations to the HSR for a great job.”Reigning IMSA WeatherTech Championship Prototype titlist Joao Barbosa was an interested spectator during the fan walk, showing the race cars to his sons Rodrigoe and Gil. One of them was the Rollcentre Racing Pescarolo that he drove to a fourth-place finish at Le Mans in 2007, a car competing in Group E.“It’s good to see all the cars from when I was a fan growing up,” Barbosa said. “I’m here only to watch, but I’ve got my helmet in the trunk just in case.”Tickets for the Classic 24 are be available at the gate. For additional information, please visit

www.classic24hour.com

Source:IMSA

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