DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (January 31, 2020) – Team Hardpoint EBM survived the most grueling test of sports car racing to score a top-10 finish in the team’s debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona. Despite losing six laps overnight to an issue with the splitter on the No. 88 VB Enviro Care/Richard Mille Porsche 911 GT3 R, the team and drivers Katherine Legge, Christina Nielsen, Earl Bamber and Rob Ferriol persevered at Daytona International Raceway to complete the race in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona (GTD) class opener with a 10th place finish.
The team completed 737 laps around the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway, running 2,623.72 miles and falling just eight laps short of the class winners over the twice-around-the-clock race.
“We took delivery of the Porsche 911 GT3 R approximately three weeks ago, and three of our drivers took their first laps in the car in a shakedown about four days before the Roar,” Ferriol said. “The team spent 10 days leading up to the Roar working 18 to 20 hour days, getting the car prepped and getting the gear prepped and getting down here. The first thing that was said over the radio at the checkered flag was that it wasn’t the finish we wanted, but we wouldn’t have finished without the crew and this entire team. That’s a pretty cool thing.”
From 13th on the grid, the team had climbed as high as fifth place overnight with Bamber behind the wheel before a driver change to Nielsen in the 5 a.m. hour. Soon after, the bracing that holds the splitter in place broke in the midst of her run, sending the No. 88 Porsche to pit lane for repairs and falling five laps down.
“Obviously everyone comes to the race to win, but I think a top-10 finish for us the first time out at the 24 is a great result,” Bamber said. “All the drivers did their jobs. It was really cool to get it to the end. I think we showed great speed and great promise. We had that little issue with the splitter and we just couldn’t recover from that. But that’s motor racing and we’re going to roll on to Sebring. We’ve got a lot of things that we can improve on but if we’re already this strong, I’m looking forward to what it means when we can improve on it.”
Legge and Bamber teamed up to run most of Sunday, save for a planned double stint for Ferriol in the 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. hours. It was a high-stress situation for Legge, making her return to motorsports following a dramatic crash in Europe during the 2020 season. Asked to carry the team through the long Sunday hours, Legge delivered, before handing the car to Bamber in position to pick up the top 10.