Classic 24 Hour at Daytona wrap-up

After taking the lead on the fourth and final segment, Butch Leitzinger held on to give the No. 38 Rogers Motorsports 2005 Audi R8 its second overall victory in the HSR Classic 24 Hour at Daytona Presented by IMSA.

Leitzinger, a three-time overall winner of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, joined Doug Smith in the unique event in which competition was divided among six race groups – each running four segments. In 2015, Smith won the inaugural race in that car, co-driving with Andy Wallace.

Classic 24 videos:

• RACER Video: IMSA GTO Ford Mustang with Richard Dean at Daytona

• RACER Video: Richard Dean Porsche 962 at Daytona

• In the Classic 24 garage

Leitzinger and Wallace completed 87 laps in a total time of two hours, 49 minutes, 21.552 seconds in Group E.

Eric Curran finished sixth overall and won Class E-2, co-driving the No. 230 Coyote DP with current car owner William Hubbell. This was the car Curran formerly raced in Grand-Am competition for Ted Marsh in Whelen Engineering colors.

Other current IMSA competitors included in Class E included Mirco Schultis and Mark Kvamme, sixth in E-1 in a Starworks Motorsport ORECA FLM09, and Cory Friedman, second in E-5 in the No. 097 Autometrics Porsche 997 Cup. IMSA steward Elliott Forbes-Robinson also competed, taking seventh in E-1 in an ORECA FLM09.

Dean Baker won in Class D in a 1998 Riley & Scott Mk IIIb/Judd, winning over Spencer and Bruce Trenery in a 2006 Riley Daytona Prototype once campaigned by Beyer Racing.

Andrew Davis and Cooper MacNeil finished second and third in Group D-4, driving classic Alex Job Racing Porsche 993 RSRs that won at Daytona and Sebring in 1999. Davis took second, co-driving the No. 22 Porsche with Pat Womack, while MacNeil was third in the No. 23 he shared with his father, David MacNeil.

“This race was great as always,” Cooper MacNeil said. “My father went faster and faster in each session, and it was great to see that. Sure, this racing keeps us in shape, but we do it more for the fun.”

“The Classic 24 more than lived up to expectations,” Davis said. “Having Alex Job and the team here made it a lot of fun. All four of our drivers set our fastest lap in the final session, so that’s a great feeling.”

Longtime Grand-Am and ALMS driver Mark Patterson won Group C honors in a former Vern Schuppan Rothmans Porsche 962. Patterson, runner-up finisher with Justin Wilson, Ozz Negri and AJ Allmendinger for Michael Shank Racing in the 2006 Rolex 24, last raced in the Rolex 24 in 2011, when he finished fourth for Shank Racing/United Autosports with Zak Brown, Mark Blundell and Martin Blundell.

“That was the year that the top four cars were within four second at the finish,” Patterson recalled. “This was my first historic race ever. It’s wonderful to be back at Daytona – and I haven’t been here [to Victory Circle] very often.”

Longtime Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge owner/driver Randy Smalley brought four of his RSR Motorsports Mini Coopers, driven by himself, Bob Smalley and former team drivers Mark Congleton and Chris Knox.

“These cars are now 13 years old,” Smalley said. “We ran them through their life cycle in the Continental Tire Challenge, until we couldn’t race them anymore. Last year, I decided to restore them for vintage racing, and they are now actually faster than their Continental Tire Challenge days.

Bobby Rahal won his class in Group B-3, co-driving the xx George Dyer/Brad Frisselle Sebring-winning Porsche 911 RSR with Jim Farley.

Other class winners included: Group B, Robert Blain and Ron Maydon in a 1975 March 75S; and Group A, Gray Gregory and Randy Buck in a 1971 Chevron B16.

After running for two consecutive years, the HSR Classic 24 Hour at Daytona Presented by IMSA is planned to run every other year, alternating with a major vintage event at Le Mans’ Circuit de Sarthe.