February 2, 2022 – Daytona Beach, FL - PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports finished 4th at the 60th Edition of the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona season-opener, with the #52 Wynns/RainX/4Horsemen/Client Command scoring valuable points for the 2022 IMSA Michelin North American Endurance Cup Championship.
High hopes surrounded PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports after their performance at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 where they locked the front row with their #52 and #11 entries in the LMP2 class. Co-Drivers Ben Keating, Mikkel Jensen, Scott Huffaker and Nicolas Lapierre began the race in the LMP2 pole position, in the 10-car LMP2 class with Keating behind the wheel.
"This was a tough pill for the whole PR1 team to swallow. We ended up in 4th, which is the first step off the podium." said Ben Keating. "We ran a good race the whole 24 hours. We kept our car clean. We kept it out of the garage. We ran a perfect race. We did everything we could possibly do to win the race, and this is why the final result is hard to take. Without Safety Cars, we win the race by multiple laps. But with Safety Cars that allow each car to recover lost laps and get back into the race after having issues, then we were always at risk of it being a close race."
"For whatever reason, our #52 Wynn’s car was slower on straight-line speed compared to the competition, which made us a 'sitting duck' on the restarts after a safety car." Keating added. "All of our drivers did a great job. Mikkel drove his heart out in the last 20 minutes to hang on to a podium, but the Jumbo car was just too quick."
"All-in we ran a race that we can be proud of. We ended up 8th OVERALL and 4th in-class, which is super strong. We are tied for the lead in the North American Endurance Cup points. There are some good things that came from the race, but this win is what everybody on the team really wanted and it is hard to feel good about falling short when you want it so bad." Keating finalized.
"It was a frustrating race as we seemed to be one of the favorites at the Roar last weekend." said Mikkel Jensen. "Somehow we didn’t have the pace in the Rolex 24 and we have to investigate why so we can come back stronger.".
"Big thanks to the crew for their hard work in pitlane and to my teammates for staying out of trouble so we could manage to bring the car home in 4th. Let’s come back stronger at Sebring where we need to defend last year’s win.", Jensen finalized.
Scott Huffaker said, "First of all, thanks to everyone at PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports for all their hard work all through Roar and the Rolex 24. It was definitely not the result we were looking for, but it was the best we could get.", he finalized.
"It was quite frustrating and disappointing to not end up on the podium." noted frenchman driver Nicolas Lapierre. "The team did a good job in terms of pit stops and strategy. Drivers as well. We had no mistakes, no penalties on a 24-hour race, which is quite positive and great."
"The problem was the pace was not good enough to fight for a win." he added. "From the beginning we were lacking pace, so we need to analyze what happened and react for the next race. It was my last race with PR1 for the season, So I wish all the best to drivers and for the team get the Championship again. I will be in Sebring racing WEC in the same weekend next race, so I will support them, and cheering for them and I hope they can fight back." he finalized.
PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports returns to action for another historic endurance race, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented By Advance Auto Parts at Sebring International Raceway, March 16 – 19.
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