Come 8:00am on the morning of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Kyle Kirkwood, driver for Vasser Sullivan Racing, will already be an hour and a half into his work day. The inexperienced flag will not wave for nearly six extra hours. It is the identical state of affairs for the 230-plus drivers participating within the fabled 24-hour race that runs throughout Saturday and Sunday: a 24-hour race, plus the remainder of “race day.”
However for Kirkwood, it is really races, plural. He’ll be piloting each the Lexus group’s No. 14 GTD Professional and No. 12 GTD entries in the course of the enduro.
Coming into his sixth season in endurance racing, and fifth Rolex 24, Kirkwood’s logged loads of time behind the wheels of each Lexus’ automobiles in IMSA races, even clinching a few wins with the group. In the course of the Roar Earlier than the 24, Kirkwood advised Motorsport.com he was prepared for this 12 months’s problem, despite the fact that he solely received the decision to take the wheel — sorry, wheels — a number of weeks in the past.
Twin driving comes with lots of bonus problems, notably o
“I imply, if you’re advised two weeks earlier than, there is no preparation that may go into it. So that you simply must be prepared. You’ll want to be prepared for something that this world can throw at you.” He says that driving would be the straightforward half. The toughest elements? Holding observe of drive time, and staying hydrated.
Managing the clock
Drive time turns into tough if you’re shifting between two automobiles. Drivers within the IMSA collection are topic to run a minimal period of time over an endurance race. For Rolex, particularly, these minimal drive instances are two hours for the Grand Touring Daytona Professional (GTD Professional) and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) lessons, and 4.5 hours for the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) and Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) lessons.
However there is a caveat: a driver can solely be behind the wheel for a most of 4 hours in any six-hour interval — and people hours comply with the motive force, not the automobile. Strategically, the sooner a group can get their drivers to satisfy minimal instances throughout a race, the better it’s to keep away from driving penalties if something occurs.
And the entire great thing about an endurance race just like the Rolex 24 is that chaos is certain to indicate up. If, say, Kirkwood have been to get sick and solely completes the drive time in one of many two Lexuses he is driving, the opposite automobile shall be disqualified. “It’s extremely, crucial that I keep properly sufficient to get by way of the minimal drive time,” he stated. “In order that’s actually the brute of the primary 12 hours for me.”
The #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 Kyle Kirkwood will drive
Picture by: Andreas Beil
Which automobile is which?
Additionally tough for Kirkwood’s two-car monte: ensuring he is in the best automobile on the proper second. The 2 Lexus RC Fs he is driving appear like twins: the No. 14 has purple accents for GTD Professional, and the No. 12 has inexperienced accents for GTD. However the total paint scheme — highlighter yellow over black — the interiors, and the silhouettes are the identical.
Here is one state of affairs Kirkwood’s already working to forestall: “You may be coming in sooner or later and neglect which automobile you [are in], and also you pull into the flawed pit field,” he says. “So I am already harping on the group to let me know, as a result of I take advantage of actually the identical insert — the whole lot on the sprint is similar. You’ll be able to’t inform that you just’re in a distinct automobile.
“The one factor which you can inform [is] completely different is that you just’re speaking to a distinct engineer. So it is vital for me to know — even after doing two hours, six hours, no matter, no matter it has been — that they’re reminding me which automobile I am in and which automobile I am on the brink of get in.”
Downtime is not a very long time
When Kirkwood lastly has the possibility to get out of the automobile, scheduling will permit him a number of hours of break time, however it dwindles rapidly. Roughly half-hour are spent getting out of the automobile and debriefing along with his engineer concerning the run. They’re going to discuss by way of precisely what occurred, and what’s developing for the following stint.
Self-care comes after: consuming, rehydrating. The hydration half is the important thing. With temperatures in Daytona anticipated to remain beneath 70 levels (ambient), the automobiles ought to keep cooler within the cockpit. Something hotter than that and conserving his physique in correct working order will get laborious.
“It is scorching contained in the automobile,” says Kirkwood. “You are at a excessive sustained coronary heart fee for a protracted time period. It’s extremely exerting if you’re in one in every of these automobiles — and if you’re doing it twice, it’s good to just be sure you’re always feeling your self.”
After he refuels, Kirkwood has a while to loosen up. He all the time begins with a bathe.
The #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 Kyle Kirkwood will pilot
Picture by: IMSA
“I take a bathe after each single stint. It’s simply good to reset, go lay in mattress, lay on the sofa — no matter it could be. However you solely actually have about an hour of downtime after you add up all these issues, as a result of you must be again on the stand an hour earlier than you get again within the automobile.
Kirkwood’s additionally attempting to stay Zen about what’s taking place out on the observe.
“I did a superb job of with the ability to wind down after a stint [last year] and have full belief within the drivers which can be within the automobile,” he remembers. “I believe that is in all probability what will get guys essentially the most — as a result of you may have any individual else driving a automobile that you just’re driving. You are curious to the place we’ll find yourself, if something’s occurred, if we’re main, if we’re not main. These form of [thoughts] simply maintain going by way of your thoughts, proper? Having the ability to shut that off and have full belief in your group and your drivers is definitely what permits you to loosen up between your stints.”
Nighttime means nothing
Because the hours shut in on midnight, with the automobiles working beneath the lights of Daytona Worldwide Speedway, the adrenaline retains Kirkwood shifting. Regardless of the excessive speeds and alter in lighting, he says he’ll simply neglect what time it’s as he stays locked into the duty at hand.
“It is extra simply conserving your focus [as] the large factor, and understanding that you just in all probability are getting drained, despite the fact that you do not discover that you just’re getting drained,” says Kirkwood. “Some some reactionary stuff may decelerate now that you’ve got gone a very long time with out some relaxation.”
Whereas the Rolex clock standing beside the pit lane, simply earlier than the exit, continues counting down, Kirkwood may try and catch a wink of sleep throughout a break. It’s tough, even within the early hours of Sunday morning. If he is ready to catch a nap, it would come within the 2:00am to six:00am window, simply earlier than dawn.
“As quickly as the sunshine comes up, you are feeling such as you’re on the dwelling stretch — despite the fact that there’s a very long time to go when the sunshine comes up,” says Kirkwood. “That is form of when all people will get within the race mode and issues begin to occur on the race observe. So that you get a bit bit extra amped up if you begin to see some daylight within the morning.”
The ultimate push
Because the solar rises, Kirkwood may have cleared the primary 12 hours of the race and stayed awake for twenty-four hours already (minus a number of potential minutes of shuteye). His schedule might require one other stint in a single or each of the Lexus RC Fs. With the assistance of his engineers he’s efficiently saved observe of what automobile he’s in, and he’s saved up on his hydration. The group shall be targeted on pushing throughout these remaining hours to take the checkered flag at 1:40pm, whereas having accomplished essentially the most distance.
When the Lexuses make their remaining cease within the pits, it can have been 31 hours since Kirkwood final had an actual evening’s sleep. If both (or each) of his Vasser Sullivan Racing automobiles win their respective class, he’ll be a part of celebrations, images, and post-race interviews for an additional couple hours. The Rolex clock might have zeroed-out, however Kirkwood’s clock continues ticking.
After which, when Kirkwood’s lastly finished at Daytona Worldwide Speedway, he’ll catch a flight for California, the place he’ll be doing IndyCar testing as the motive force for Andretti International’s No. 27 automobile. Perhaps then, he says, he may lastly get some relaxation.
On this article
Lalita Chemello
IMSA
Kyle Kirkwood
Vasser Sullivan Racing
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Author : Motorsports
Publish date : 2025-01-24 20:31:46
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