Wednesday, February 1, 2017 – Fresno, CA – In their debut race in the IMSA WeatherTech P2 Class, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports finishes P9 after facing torrential rains, near freezing temperatures and mechanical gremlins during the 2017 Rolex 24.

The PR1 team and drivers Tom Kimber-Smith, Jose Gutierrez, Michael Guasch and RC Enerson completed a successful pre season test at the Roar earlier in January. Although the test was not free of issues, they were able to use the time between the Roar and the Rolex 24 to remedy those glitches and prepare for the 24 Hour race.

“It was kind of a frustrating week for us. We came here after the Roar with the expectation of having a smooth run, but we quickly found out after we’d arrived that the issues we had at the Roar had been solved, but now we had more issues,” explained Guasch.

“We spent the majority of the practices trying to resolve the new issues before the qualifying session. Qualifying went pretty smoothly, we just didn’t really have the outright pace because we hadn’t been focusing on set up but rather working to fix other problems, but after qualifying we came into more issues. The entire crew did a great job finding and fixing the problem, and I'm very proud of our team and finishing within the top ten and gaining fifth place points for the Endurance Championship,” said Guasch.

The PR1 crew worked endlessly to find and resolve the new problem they discovered after qualifying, but it wasn’t until the race had already begun that they found the source of the issue.

“We figured out that the issue was an actuator in the gearbox, but we didn’t find this out until three laps into the race,” said Kimber-Smith.

“The team has been working extremely hard to fix everything they thought the problem was, but it’s pretty hard when you don’t know what the problem actually is. Again, the team worked so hard for the entire weekend and at the end of the day, we did finish the Rolex 24, which is a very big success for us having the new car in a new class. So that’s definitely a highlight for the week. I’m disappointed we weren’t a little further up, because I think if we just ran, and we didn’t have to come back to garage and lose those laps, just with the pace we had, we would have finished fifth. We were able to finish inside the top ten, which is a great accomplishment, so we’ll take that and move forward to Sebring.”

Although his co-drivers have raced at Daytona before, the 2017 Rolex 24 marked the first 24 hour race for Verizon IndyCar driver RC Enerson.

“I still can’t believe the Rolex 24 has already come and gone. It was such an amazing experience and unlike any racing I’ve ever done in the past,” said Enerson.

“Once we sorted through all of the mechanical issues, we had great pace, and I think we would have been on track for a top five finish. But it was such a crazy racing experience. Getting a knock or a call at 3:00 AM and being told to be in the pits in thirty minutes to get in the car is definitely a different type of racing than I’m accustomed to, but it was awesome. I’m hoping to fit more sports car races into my schedule this year. The whole experience is new to me, but it’s a lot of fun.”

The Rolex 24 saw more than 10 hours of rain causing the demise of several competitors but allowing the PR1 drivers to make up laps and positions.

“The rain started during my second stint, and it rained a lot. It was definitely a little sketchy but also fun at the same time. The visibility was very poor, but we were able to make up some positions during that time,” said Gutierrez.

“Throughout the race we were making a lot of changes to the car, almost using the race as a practice, but we noticed the car continued to get better and better as the race went on. This is a new car for us, so I’m pleased to have finished the race, and to have finished ninth. I think moving forward we’re only going to get faster and finish higher each time. Now I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do at Sebring in March.”

The next race for the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports team will be the 12 Hours of Sebring on March 18. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date with all of the team and driver racing news and to find out when and where you can watch our next race live!