Rolex 24 reliability a big worry for prototype teams

A recent IMSA Prototype champion said it best at the mid-December Daytona test: "This race is going to be won in the garages. The best ones or the fastest ones to fix all the little problems everyone will have is going to win."

Nightmarish tales of electronic gremlins related to every Cosworth steering wheel (used on 10 of the 12 new-for-2017 cars in the Prototype class) continue to linger; gearbox cooling issues with multiple manufacturers using Xtrac transmissions have those teams hoping for cool ambient temperatures across throughout the race; and a wide array of other problems – from recalcitrant alternator belts to blown engines – have teams preparing for worst-case scenarios.

The days of torrid 24-hour qualifying-style battles at Daytona will likely return in 2018 – once the Prototype field has suffered and cured the new-car failures that will inevitably take place – and according to leading drivers from the three Daytona Prototype international brands, having mechanical or electronic interruptions is all but guaranteed.

"It will be the most unpredictable 24 Hour in the prototype category in many, many years here for sure," said reigning Prototype champion Dane Cameron, who races a Cadillac DPi-V.R for Action Express Racing. "I think that is for sure the common theme. Nobody really knows where they stand, nobody really knows; is it a $20,000 part that will let you down or a five-cent part? We are not sure yet because nobody has enough miles. Everyone is a little behind on where they would like to be."

Scott Sharp's Tequila Patron ESM team and its ultra-new Nissan Onroak DPis arrived stateside just a few days before Christmas. With a shortage of testing mileage, the sports car veteran has modest expectations for ESM's fortunes once the green flag waves.

"The reliability is the hugest thing as you are going into [Daytona and] Sebring and you want to be getting points in all these races," he said. "So for us, if we are able to get both cars to the end, and certainly have one in the running in some form at the end, I think we would be feeling pretty successful from where the true inception of our program started, which was only a couple weeks ago."

So what might we expect to see in the race? Opinions vary.

"For us, it absolutely had to be flat out the past couple of years and it had turned into a sprint race," Cameron said of the bulletproof Daytona Prototypes that were retired last year. You might see little more pacing, [but] I don't think you're going to see people rolling around trying to survive to the end. Instead of seeing 10/10ths for 24 hours, you might see eight or nine [tenths] for the first two hours and then see if everything is okay and the people for sure going to turn to a sprint at the end.

"But I don't think anybody knows who has the strongest package at the moment or who's going to make it to the end. There's going to be a lot of surprises I think all throughout. So it will be a different game plan I think for everyone. I think everyone's going to have their own idea on what they think is the best."

The Mazda team, as evidenced by its conservative approach in practice and qualifying, is going to leave the sprint portion of the race until the end is in sight.

"Your head is kind of spinning," said veteran Mazda ace Jonathan Bomarito. "I think for the first 20 hours, [it] is getting in the flow of all of that, understanding the race, conserving the car. And like [Cameron] said, the cars that are on the lead lap for the last four hours, it is a sprint race, for sure."

Bomarito also thinks the high attrition rate will shift the focus from the race taking place on the 3.56-mile circuit to the rapid-fire fixes going on in the Daytona garage. And provided most teams encounter reliability problems as expected, extended garage time might not kill everyone's chance of coming away with a decent finish.

"Once you went out, you lost 20 or 30 laps you knew your race was done, you were finishing next to last," he said of the most recent race dynamics at Daytona. "Now, I think if you lose [five or] 10 laps, instead of losing 30, that could be a few spots. And for a championship, those extra five, six points could make a big difference.

"So, I think that fight and the struggle that the crewmembers are going to go through in the middle race when you have these little gremlins, if we do, or whoever does, are going to be even more important this year."

Race car drivers are accustomed to being celebrated for their heroics in the car. By the time the checkered flag waves on Sunday afternoon, Prototype mechanics could emerge as the true heroes of the event.