“We took the lead early. We just ran my own pace. Max was pretty quick so I let him go. I can kind got shuffled back on the pit stops and had to restart in the back and fought our way back up to forth as I handed the car off to Ian. Overall, I think we need to find better grip. The track seems really slippery right now. A lot of guys are going off. Overall, I handed the car off without any marks.”

 

“It’s brutal. It’s so bad out there right now. It’s a struggle just trying to figure out where everybody is going. We were catching the GT cars in groups of like 10 cars. That’s something the last couple of years that I don’t remember catching groups of cars like that. It’s always going to be like that. It’s always going to be a struggle. You just got to stay clean and be patient when you have to be.”

 

“The first year that I did it, I was so jazzed about it and excited I never went to sleep. We were running good. I was afraid something was going to happen if I magically feel asleep. I paid the price of that at the end of the race. I learned last year to take it easy and go back to the bus and relax. Maybe not sleep before the next stint but definitely after that get some rest before the 4 a.m. stint.”

 

“We went with the safe choice at the very beginning of the race. We had the rain tires on there and as soon as we went out it was pretty much dry or it would be in two laps or so. We’re pretty happy with the way the cars handling. I feel good in general, had some decent little scraps a few times. I had a little incident with two Krohn cars who I thought were not using good judgment for the 24-hour race, but we came out okay with that. I feel pretty good about that.

 

“We definitely realized it’s an extremely long race, so it really doesn’t matter. Even if you sit in the ditch for awhile, you can still win this race. We tried to make up a little bit of time on the start of the third stint by leaving the same set of tires on. I did a double stint on the second set of tires. We were a little worried about them when they started to vibrate a little, but everything seems to be running well.”

 

“Its funny how at these races you kind of size up who you think your competition is going to be. In the first few hours it doesn’t always work that way. The No. 67 Porsche looks pretty fast. Sylvain was running pretty close to him for most of his stint, and I was doing a similar thing. Emmanuel was in the car while I was driving. Emmanuel and I raced in Porsche Super Cup in 1994 together. I’ve raced against him for quite a long time. It was good to be back out there with him.”

“It is my first race in the DP and it went really well. Me and my dad have been talking a lot about how the race is going to go. Sometimes I’m going to have a good stint and sometimes I’m not going to have such a good stint. This was a good smooth stint and I’m looking forward to my next one.

 

“It’s been real fun. We’ve been talking so much about the experience at this track and at this race. He’s got a lot to teach me. It’s made it a lot easier on me having him right next to me supporting me.”

 

 

“It’s been a lot of fun out there. The car’s running great. It’s really strong. We were having lunch earlier and saw the thing come in with tracks going everywhere. It didn’t look good, but we’re lucky that full course yellow was out there at the time. We only lost one lap. The team has done a great job with all the pit stops getting us back in the lead. It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve done two stints. The second stint was a lot better for me. The second set of tires seemed a lot better. It was back to how I remembered it. It’s feeling good out there.

 

“For some reason our main radio swapped channels on us when Helio was in the car so we lost radio communication. That would’ve been a worry because there was no communication. We didn’t know when he was going to come in the pit. The full course yellow came out when we had about a gallon left in the car, so we switched channels and got contact back. At that point, I was going to hop in the car and pull him out because I was in touch and knew what was going on. We got communication back and he stayed in a little bit longer. We figured out the problem when I got in the car and switched to the right channel. “

 

 

 

“I had a great experience out there. We have a great car, we’re just really trying to stick to our rhythm. I tried not to put the car into any bad situations. Even doing that, I found myself in a sandwich with two Porsches. At first it didn’t bother me because I’m use to the rubbing with the Sprint Cup car. Then I remember you can’t touch people with these. There are some Martinsville doughnuts on the side of this thing right now and it is from yours truly.”

 

“It is very competitive. I think what mixes things up a lot, there has been some confusion on what the new rules are. We fell victim of that at the start of the race. We were on rain tires and came down pit road and we thought that when the pack went by, they would put us at the tail end and they held us and we had 10 or 12 cars start on pit road. That threw off the cycle. I think that’s the reason why you have seen so many changes.”

 

“The one that has surprised me that has shown a lot of speed here is that 61 car. We came out at a similar spot and he marched off through there. Those guys are real quick right now.”

 

“I’m going to go back to bus, stretch a little bit and get something to eat and make sure I get plenty of fluids in me and try to nap when I can. The most difficult thing is to get rest between your stints. I wish we didn’t have the feed in the motorhome because that would really help me fall asleep. I know I will just sit there and watch for hours and hours and not get the sleep I need until 3 in the morning.”

 

 

“Well, it was really weird. The car was running just perfectly. We changed drivers, left the pits. They stopped us at the end of pit lane. The car shut down. When I went to fire it up, there was no power to the starter motor. The guys pushed me and there was still no power and it wouldn’t start on the bump start. So while they were pushing me back to the garage, I was playing with the windscreen wipers and I hit the starter button again and it went. So we’ve got some sort of electrical gremlin going on in the switch panel. But the car is so good. We’re thinking we’re going to have to push start it again. We’ve got a good car, so we’ve got our work cut out for us trying to get back on the lead lap, like we did last year from five laps down.”

 

 

I’m smiling from ear to ear just loving the fact that I was driving at night in the rain, something that I’ve never done before, and our car is in the top 10 on the lead lap. There’s still a long way to go. The mentality I took was just protect the race car and let some off the faster guys with more experience go ahead.”

 

 

“The start of the race was hectic,” Hand said of his stint. “A lot of the cars in front of us pitted. They were all on rains and pitted for dry tires. The Ruby Tuesday guys made the right decision and we started on dry tires. The car is pretty darn good right now. We’ve got a new Porsche motor in the car and it is running a lot better than the one we had in earlier in the weekend.”

 

 

 

“I wanted my first stint in the Ruby Tuesday/Alex Job car to be nice and clean,” Auberlen said. “We had some work cut out for us because an impact gun went bad on us. But, when we got out, the car was quite good. We caught some people – caught the main group. The car stayed good three quarters of the way through the stint. Then, we overbuilt the rear tires a little bit on pressure. But, they will make adjustments for the next stint. Now, it’s just a distance race. We’re going to keep it going, stay on the lead lap, don’t get in trouble and be there at the end.”

 

 

 

“It was exciting to be running in the top three,” Long said. “I think I was a little overanxious early on the second restart. I got some pick up on my tires and just pushed the car a little too hard and lost a couple of positions. But, by the end of the stint, when the fueled burned off and I calmed down a little bit, the lap times were really solid and consistent. I was pretty happy with my stint. We are going to keep soldiering through. There is a long way to go.”

 

 

“It’s been an event-filled race,” Team Owner Alex Job said. “I think I saw a stat on the monitor that read there have been 14 lead changes. At the moment, we are leading – which is really good. We’ve got about a 40 second lead. It was a great call by crew chief Mike Evans to come in for rain tires when we did. That was a crucial call.

 

“Before that, unfortunately Joey got run off [the track] and spun. So, we had to come in and make a stop. The power steering wasn’t working and the front splitter was cracked. We dropped back to 11th. But, we are the quickest car right now in the wet and things are looking good. The forecast is for rain off and on all night. If that’s right, it is going to play right into our hands. And, maybe we can start to get some sort of a lead before the sun comes up in the morning.”